God’s Garden
God’s Garden Children’s Ministry 2026
End of 2025-2026 Sunday School Year
Teachers
Sacred Seedlings (nursery): Mari Fujii, Christine Ozawa and Mari Visitacion
Super Sprouts (preschool-K): Karen Chou, Mary Asano and Leighton Horio
Best Buds (1st-2nd): Kiyomi Yanai, Lisa Bantilan and Jayne Williams
Giving Tree (3rd-5th): Jim Mar, Rob Hikido and Clarissa Johnston-Abril
March 2026
April 2026
May 2026
June 2026
Teachers
Sacred Seedlings (nursery): Mari Fujii, Christine Ozawa and Mari Visitacion
Super Sprouts (preschool-K): Karen Chou, Mary Asano and Leighton Horio
Best Buds (1st-2nd): Kiyomi Yanai, Lisa Bantilan and Jayne Williams
Giving Tree (3rd-5th): Jim Mar, Rob Hikido and Clarissa Johnston-Abril
March 2026
- March 29: Palm Sunday Procession. The children did a Palm Procession at the start of service and also sang a song.
April 2026
- April 3: God’s Garden teachers meeting over Zoom
- April 5: Easter Egg Hunt. We had an Easter Egg Hunt in the garden of the Issei Memorial Building. The CAF and MYF youth hid the eggs and the children and families went over after service at 11:15 am to find the many, many hidden eggs. And the Easter Bunny (Shelley Nakashima) joined in the festivities!
May 2026
- May 17: Last Day of Sunday School
June 2026
- June 7 : Graduation Sunday
- June 15-19: Kids Camp
Start of 2026-2027 Sunday School Year
Teachers
Sacred Seedlings (nursery): Mari Fujii, Christine Ozawa and Mika Visitacion
Super Sprouts/Best Buds (preschool-1st): Mary Asano, Lisa Bantilan, Karen Chou, Leighton Horio, Jayne Williams and Kiyomi Yanai
Giving Tree (2nd-5th): Jim Mar, Rob Hikido and Clarissa Johnston-Abril
We have 23 children from toddler to 5th grade. On a given Sunday, we have an average of 12 children attend Sunday School. Some Sundays are less, some are more, so it’s hard to predict with families’ busy schedules. But the teachers have been doing an amazing job planning fun activities while being flexible and adjusting when necessary.
This year, we decided to try a different class format to help with the fluctuating attendance and to help support the changing classroom dynamics. We’re using Rm 11/12 and Rm 14 in the Education Building for two Sunday School classrooms. All the children start off together in Rm 11/2 where they watch a short Bible Story video and one of the teachers will do a brief introduction of the Bible lesson. Then the children split up into two groups based on grade level—usually preschool to 1st grade and 1st/2nd to 5th grades. The younger group starts off in Rm 11/12 with the Super Sprouts/Best Buds teachers and the older group goes to Rm 14 with the Giving Tree teachers. Halfway through (about 20 min or so), the children switch classrooms. All the children get to interact with all the Sunday school teachers and get to do a variety of activities centered around the Bible Story.
For our curriculum this year, we started with Deep Blue Rotations. Deep Blue Rotations had wonderful activities, but the children and teachers missed the Bible story videos that accompanied the Big Faith curriculum. So after about a month and half, we decided to go back to the Big Faith curriculum we had used the last couple of years.
Aug 2026
Aug 5: God’s Garden Teachers Meeting. We meet over Zoom to go over curriculum and class structure.
Aug 16: Rally Sunday We welcomed back all the children, youth and teachers.. Rev John blessed their backpacks and we distributed Bibles to our 3rd graders. This year we have four 3rd graders. After service,Children and Youth Ministries Families hosted Fellowship Tea.
Oct 2026
Oct 25: Trick or Treating: the children did trick or treating at the different classrooms. Teachers passed out goodies. CAF and MYF decorated classroom doors in the Education Building and passed out candy. After service, we had a small Halloween party in Rm 26. We had some Halloween games. Kara Tanoue lead some fun Halloween-themed cooking activities for the kids–ghost hot dogs and spider cookies.
Teachers
Sacred Seedlings (nursery): Mari Fujii, Christine Ozawa and Mika Visitacion
Super Sprouts/Best Buds (preschool-1st): Mary Asano, Lisa Bantilan, Karen Chou, Leighton Horio, Jayne Williams and Kiyomi Yanai
Giving Tree (2nd-5th): Jim Mar, Rob Hikido and Clarissa Johnston-Abril
We have 23 children from toddler to 5th grade. On a given Sunday, we have an average of 12 children attend Sunday School. Some Sundays are less, some are more, so it’s hard to predict with families’ busy schedules. But the teachers have been doing an amazing job planning fun activities while being flexible and adjusting when necessary.
This year, we decided to try a different class format to help with the fluctuating attendance and to help support the changing classroom dynamics. We’re using Rm 11/12 and Rm 14 in the Education Building for two Sunday School classrooms. All the children start off together in Rm 11/2 where they watch a short Bible Story video and one of the teachers will do a brief introduction of the Bible lesson. Then the children split up into two groups based on grade level—usually preschool to 1st grade and 1st/2nd to 5th grades. The younger group starts off in Rm 11/12 with the Super Sprouts/Best Buds teachers and the older group goes to Rm 14 with the Giving Tree teachers. Halfway through (about 20 min or so), the children switch classrooms. All the children get to interact with all the Sunday school teachers and get to do a variety of activities centered around the Bible Story.
For our curriculum this year, we started with Deep Blue Rotations. Deep Blue Rotations had wonderful activities, but the children and teachers missed the Bible story videos that accompanied the Big Faith curriculum. So after about a month and half, we decided to go back to the Big Faith curriculum we had used the last couple of years.
Aug 2026
Aug 5: God’s Garden Teachers Meeting. We meet over Zoom to go over curriculum and class structure.
Aug 16: Rally Sunday We welcomed back all the children, youth and teachers.. Rev John blessed their backpacks and we distributed Bibles to our 3rd graders. This year we have four 3rd graders. After service,Children and Youth Ministries Families hosted Fellowship Tea.
Oct 2026
Oct 25: Trick or Treating: the children did trick or treating at the different classrooms. Teachers passed out goodies. CAF and MYF decorated classroom doors in the Education Building and passed out candy. After service, we had a small Halloween party in Rm 26. We had some Halloween games. Kara Tanoue lead some fun Halloween-themed cooking activities for the kids–ghost hot dogs and spider cookies.
Nov 2026
Thanksgiving activities will be planned. Family service will be on Nov 22, so no Sunday school that day.
Dec 2026 [upcoming]
Dec 20: Christmas Pageant Dec 28: Camp Mochi
Thanksgiving activities will be planned. Family service will be on Nov 22, so no Sunday school that day.
Dec 2026 [upcoming]
Dec 20: Christmas Pageant Dec 28: Camp Mochi
Posted in Charge Conference 2026