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Policies and Procedures

CAPTION: Student reward charts for attendance and bringing bibles.
(Photo taken by Emily Morris.)

Policy for picking up children after church services

It needs to be repeated that parents/guardians need to go downstairs directly after the church service to escort their children upstairs. If there is another designated adult who is allowed by the parent/ guardian to escort the child, the parent /guardian needs to speak to the junior church teacher and let them know directly. This policy is in place to keep unfortunate incidents of children leaving the church with the wrong people from happening. We appreciate your participation in keeping our children safe.

Policy for older / younger guests in Junior Church classrooms

For safety and fairness to youth we will allow only those students of the correct age to be in their designated classrooms (with the exception of first time visitors or those who are guests only). If someone has come 3-4 times then they will need to be considered regular attenders and go to their age appropriate class. We hope to mentor and train youth and/or adult helpers to assist in the classrooms in the near future.

Behavior Policies

The Junior Church teachers base their behavior policies on praising positive behaviors and establishing consequences for negative behavior. Different ages respond to different kinds of rewards, so each class level may be different. However, the similarities will be what the teachers expect:

• Being respectful to God, self, others and "things."
• One person speaks, and all others listen. (Except if teacher allows for group discussion.)
• Using good manners.
• Building up (encouraging) words and ways.
• Keep all hands, feets and objects to oneself.

Positive Reinforcements

The Junior Church teachers want their students to know when they are doing a good job. Here are some of the ways they will be showing and telling students a behavior is good. (Some rewards depend on class level)

• Sticker charts for attendance, bringing Bibles, bringing friends, saying a memory verse, etc.
• Getting a trinket/piece of candy at the end of class from treat box.
• Verbal praise
• High fives
• Good verbal/written message to student and/or parent
• Displaying student work

Consequences for Negative Behavior Choices

The Junior Church teachers have set limits for their students. As in the real world and the rest of their lives, they learn that there are consequences for good choices and poor choices. As Our Heavenly Father, God also corrects us when we choose to go outside His Will. Having consequences is, therefore, a healthy part of learning to grow up as a Christian. Some of the ways consequences will be demonstrated in class are:

• Verbal correction "This is the behavior I don't want to see, please do this behavior instead."
• Reminder of rule
• Time out (length of time according to age of child)
• Child writing out a short letter to parent explaining repeated negative behavior
• Speaking to parent about how to work together to change negative behavior
• Using a stop light system in the classroom (If your name is on green - great, yellow - warning, red - stop and time out, black - student needs to be taken upstairs.)