The first 5 weeks are normal Sundays but the readings are pretty tricky!  There is a lot to digest so make sure you read the reflection for the reading to help you interpret it for your tamariki. And then the following 4 weeks are for Advent!  Or Te Haerenga mai a Īhu (the coming of Christ). 

For these 4 weeks leading up to Christmas, we focus on the 4 common themes of Advent; Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace.

We use the regular reading, and reflect on how this might be a sign to us of the theme for that week.  If you choose not to use these lesson plans, we do have an alternative Advent series that follows along our Te Harinui; Te whānautanga mai a Īhu Karaiti book.  You are welcome to use whichever is right for your tamariki. 

Each week we have provided lesson ideas for you to follow. There are estimated times suggested for the different parts of the sessions, but you will know your group well enough to know how long things will take.

As a reminder, each week there is the following:

• A template of a lesson plan that you can follow
• A description of resources needed
• A brief reflection on the reading
• One or two activities that you could try

Please note, the reflections are incredibly brief. For more information, or if you would like to know more about the context of the story, follow this up with your parish priest. We have provided some contact details on our website for the different Amorangi offices. 

The reflection is designed to provoke the inquiring mind of the leader so that you can have some ideas about where the reading might be going, and how you might share that message with tamariki. The pātai for tamariki are what we expect you to talk about with the tamariki.

We have started putting the whole reading into the lesson plans, however where necessary, have indicated which parts of the reading you might like to focus on.This is because there may be multiple messages in the one reading and we need to focus on one message. Tamariki only need to focus on one key message.

Introduced in Term 2, we continue with utilising ‘kupu o te rā/word of the day’ and a ‘rārangi o te rā/verse of the day’. This is for those of you who are trying to strengthen your Māori and want to learn a key word each week, and those who found the whole reading may be too much for your tamariki. Hopefully the key verse sparks and inspires some good korero amongst you.

This term we have applied whole readings into the lesson plans for the leader to read. However, where necessary, we have indicated which parts of the reading you might like to focus on. This is because there may be multiple messages in the one reading and we need to focus on one message. Tamariki only need to focus on one key message.

The introduction line that has been put before each reading is the introduction line that comes from the Anglican Prayer Book that we use. This has been intentional so that tamariki and whanau can learn from the get-go how to present the Gospel reading for the week. This way, if whanau transition to wanting to do readings in Church, they are already prepared for it ☺

Just remember, if you change where you start the reading from, you need to change the verse number in the introduction line. And remember, you DON’T need to provide an ending verse – because the Gospel is never ending!

If you have feedback on the lessons, we have an evaluation form available. 

This is a new initiative that is broadly available, and we would like to know how you find the rauemi/ resources given. We take this feedback on board and try to improve our lessons. The more we can understand how tamariki ministry works in the different rohe, the more we can help you, and the Pihopatanga, grow our whānau in Christ. 

Feel free to mention everything; the good, the bad, and the crazy.