Every Sunday at 10:15 am, I walk over to the room with a purple door to see my Sunday school class of 4th graders. For the next hour and a half, we talk, tell stories, make crafts, play games. We talk about the Bible, about Jesus, and about what it means to follow God in their own lives today.

When I started teaching Sunday school for the first time, almost two years ago; it took a bit of time for me to figure out how to best relate to the 4th graders. How smart they are!

I’m still learning. And a handful of nine and ten-year old kids sure can teach you many things. They continue to surprise me with their thoughts, their imagination, and the way the world looks in their eyes. (Their world is, in many ways, profoundly different from the world I grew up in. Sometimes I am astounded. Read: One of the most important things you need to take on a camping trip to survive is your iPad!??)

Still each week, I am often left fascinated by the wonderful ways these little humans are just themselves.

 

“Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong.”  Exodus 23:2

 

Yesterday, after storytelling and discussion about a Bible story, we did a craft that the kids got to do in pairs. They were to come up with slogans that would encourage them to do do what is right, especially when the wrong choice is the easy choice. The example we gave them was straight out of our curriculum, ” Be wise about what you see with their eyes.”  We encouraged them to rhyme, but more importantly to make their work applicable in their own lives.

After much thought and animated, even heated, discussions, each pair of students came up with some fantastic nuggets of wisdom. Catchier and spunkier than I could’ve ever come up with at their age.

Meet my fourth graders!

1. If you litter, your Future will be bitter. 

 

2. Don’t be a fool and don’t cheat in school. 

 

 

 

3. Fear isn’t evil, it tells you what your Weakness is. 

4. Loyalty makes your friends HAPPY. (And makes them trust you and God will be proud of you.)

 

 

5. Know the fact before you act.

(In the context of placing the blame on others.)

 

6. Honesty is the best way to be TRUSTWORTHY. 

Pretty awesome, right?