Little JAM Sessions preschool ministry choir curriculum: Caregiver’s companion guide to Little JAM Sessions Love Unit.
I John 4:11 Since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Love Unit Jesus Session
- Love Is
- Love Makes Time
- Love Gives
- Love Serves
- Love Touches
- Love Speaks
A note on week 5. We will be discussing healthy touch such as high fives and hugs. We ask that you speak with your child about the difference between safe and unsafe touch. Here is a great article on exactly how to do that. I love how they term it safe and unsafe rather than good and bad to keep the focus off of the child feeling shame.
Books on Love (including Chapman’s book) can be found on the Story Graph.
Love Unit Art Session
Love is in the air! With Valentine’s Day coming up, we focus on heart-shaped crafts. Want to do more love crafts at home? Here’s some great ideas.
Love Unit Music Session
I love music! In this unit, our song is “Languages of Love.” We sing about the five love languages.
Love Music Playlist
Here are some fun videos to keep the Love theme going.
Little JAM Sessions preschool ministry choir curriculum: Caregiver’s companion guide to Little JAM Sessions Christmas Action Unit.
Luke 2:11 A savior has been born to you, he is the messiah, the lord.
This unit is all about Christmas. We meet characters along the way that introduce us to the themes of advent.
Action Jesus Session
- Prophecy
- Mary and Joseph say Yes
- Hopeful Wisemen
- Peace-bringing Angels
- Joyful Shepherds
- Love of Jesus
Books on the Nativity can be found on the Story Graph.
Action Art Session
Christmas is such a fun time to do crafts. We will be working on fine motor skills with gluing and folding and threading.
Christmas is a super-busy time, so if you need some things to keep your littles entertained, Here is a website with lots of fun ideas. And below are 3 helpful sites about having more Jesus and less stress with preschoolers at Christmas.
Action Music Session
The Nativity song, titled “Gift to You,” focuses on giving gifts of love, joy, hope, and peace.
Action Music
Here are some fun videos to keep the Nativity theme going.
Little JAM Sessions preschool ministry choir curriculum: Caregiver’s companion guide to Little JAM Sessions Give Thanks Unit.
I Chronicles 16:34 Oh Give Thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
Being thankful doesn’t always come naturally. We don’t just fall into it. It’s why we parents are always reminding our preschool kids to say thank you. Gratitude is easiest when we have what we want, when life is going our way. But Little JAM Sessions reminds our kiddos to be thankful always, for the important things like God’s love and for the little things too. If you’re doing this Unit with the Thanksgiving holiday approaching, we can be inundated with food prep and in-laws, costume parties and pumpkin spice everything and forget to actually be thankful. Each morning at breakfast or on the way to school, tell your kiddo three things that you are thankful for that day. Modeling gratitude is one of the best ways to raise thankful children.
Give Thanks Jesus Session
- Thankful for God’s Love
- Thankful Always
- Thankful for Friends
- Thankful for What we Have
- Thankfulness Reduces Anxiety
- Thankful for Salvation
Here’s some helpful advice from the Child Mind Institute on how to raise a thankful child.
Bring gratitude back into Thanksgiving or any time! Here’s a fun game from Teach Beside Me called The Pick-up Sticks Gratitude Game.
Play this with the kiddos and adults to remind everyone — including yourself — what you’re thankful for.
Give Thanks Art Session
In this unit, we play with a lot of creative expression versus realism in our art. It’s important for littles to feel secure in choosing favorite colors and designs. It’s okay if they want to color their leaves pink and purple. But patterns and mazes require absolutes. In life, some things are opinion and some things are fact. This is reflected in our crafts. We also introduce a variety of sensory experiences. Here’s some fun ideas on how to explore texture at home.
If you are doing this Unit leading up to Thanksgiving, this helpful article in Mother Mag discusses the tricky job of explaining Thanksgiving to littles in an accurate and age-appropriate way. One tip mentioned is to ask what they already know. Working through the JAM at Home worksheets is an excellent opportunity to do just that.
Give Thanks Music Session
The Thankfulness Unit’s song is “Let’s All Be Thankful.” We sing about being thankful in good times and in hard times.
Give Thanks Playlist
Show your gratitude to these musicians by purchasing some of their music.
Here are some suggested books on the Story Graph.
And here are some fun videos to keep up our thankfulness.
Little JAM Sessions preschool ministry choir curriculum: Caregiver’s companion guide to Little JAM Sessions Besties Unit.
I Thessalonians 5:11 Encourage one another and build each other up.
Friendship is all about being a better friend. JAM Sessions want to help remind your littles what friendship means. Social Emotional Learning is crucial at this stage in your child’s development so let’s lean into that learning. I recently read on article from Begin Learning about 8 ways to teach kids about friendship. Many of those ideas are implemented in JAM Sessions, including teaching characteristics of a good friend. Our model for friendship comes from Galatians 5:22-23a. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control.”
Besties Unit Jesus Session
- Being a Kind Friend
- Being a Peacemaking Friend
- Being a Patient Friend
- Being a Good Friend
- Being a Gentle friend
- Being a Faithful Friend
Books on Friendship and on the Fruit of the Spirit can be found on the Story Graph.
Besties Unit Art Session
Friendship Unit will introduce different skin tones. The in-class activity will involve mixing paints to create these. ALL skin tones are good skin tones. This is an important lesson that children can learn early. Multicultural inclusivity begins young. It doesn’t mean being “colorblind,” but rather, appreciating the variations of color. This article by Embrace Race is a good place to start learning. Having friends of all colors makes us better people.
Mixing paints to create colors is a fun activity. Here is a fun video on mixing colors.
Besties Unit Music Session
Our Friendship song is called “Be a Good Friend” and it incorporates modeling the Fruit of the Spirit as a guide to being a good friend.
Besties Playlist
Here are some fun videos to keep the friendship theme going.
If you’re little one has trouble making friends, no worries, HERE is the start of my blog series on how to make friends.
