ELEMENTARY TECH VOLUNTEER TRAINING

 
 

OUR MISSION

The Life Kids Ministry exists to inspire and equip families to love God and love others. Through the service you do as an Elementary Tech Volunteer, you have the opportunity to create an environment for spiritual growth and to equip teachers to bring the gospel to the next generation.

TECH VOLUNTEER EXPECTATIONS

  • Arrive 30 minutes before the service starts to attend our Team Prayer Huddle located outside of the Nursery. There, you can check yourself in via iPad, put on your name-tag, and fill out availability forms for upcoming months. After the Team Prayer Huddle, please go to the Elementary room and connect with your team.

  • You are in a role of leadership and are an ambassador of Christ when you are serving in your role. Tech volunteers are expected to always conduct themselves with patience, love, and grace towards both the children and the other volunteers.

  • Keep discussion age-appropriate and biblically-centered with the mission in mind. The children will mimic everything that you say and do, please lead by example.

  • Remain in the classroom throughout the duration of the service. If you need to leave the classroom for any reason, please contact the Life Kids Director. Please do not bring a child outside of the classroom unless in the case of a fire alarm or evacuation. The only adults allowed to bring a child outside of the classroom are the child’s parents and the Life Kids Director.

  • When you are not running tech during service, it is expected that you assist the Lead Teacher with whatever they may need. This may include: organizing the tech booth, giving the teacher bible bucks, building relationships with kids, etc. There are always opportunities to serve more! Never let yourself get bored in your position.

  • The tech booth is designed to be a one-person position. We ask that no one accompany you in the tech booth (except in cases of training).

  • Please remain off of your phone during the service, unless contacting Lexi or Rachel. It will be helpful to pre-program these numbers in your phone incase you are in need of assistance during the service.

    • Lexi Priolo: 623-853-7919

    • Rachel Blanchard (Early Childhood Coordinator): 602-803-9335

Planning center

At New Life, we use a helpful tool to communicate volunteer schedules and lesson plans called ‘Planning Center Services’ that can be accessed on desktop, mobile, or through the app. Once you join the team, you will receive an email welcoming you to Planning Center Services. Through this email, you can set a password and access the database. If at any time you forget your password, please contact the Life Kids Director for a password reset.

  • ACCEPTING REQUESTS: Our Life Kids Ministry schedules our volunteers a month in advance. For example, during the month of November, you will receive an email requesting you to serve during the month of December. Through this email, you can ‘Accept’ or ‘Decline’ service requests depending on your personal schedule.

SAFETY CHECK-INS

WHAT ARE SAFETY CHECK-INS? Safety Check-Ins occur approximately 10 minutes after the start of each service. During safety check-ins, one teacher in each classroom will pick up the classroom radio and read off a script to our Safety Team, checking in and notifying them how many kids you have in your classroom.

WHY DO WE DO SAFETY CHECK-INS? New Life has been blessed with an incredible Safety Team that strives to serve our Life Kids Ministry. The goal of safety check-ins is to establish good communication with our Safety Team, grow your comfort with using the radio in case of an emergency, and allow the Life Kids Ministry staff to have awareness of the condition of your classroom before your teaching time begins.

WHAT DO THE SAFETY CHECK-IN ‘SCRIPTS’ LOOK LIKE? Below is an example of the script placed next to the radio in each classroom:

POLICIES

In order to ensure the safety of our Life Kids, we have important policies in place. Please familiarize yourself with these policies and acknowledge below that you agree to adhere to all policies and procedures.

THE TECH

PROPRESENTER

WHAT IS PROPRESENTER? ‘ProPresenter’ is the program that runs slides and videos that are presented onto the projector.

HOW DO I USE IT? Propresenter is very easy to use. Changing slides and videos is as easy as clicking on those slides/videos on the screen of our Mac Computer.

WHEN DO I USE PROPRESENTER DURING THE SERVICE? You will use ProPresenter during the service when playing video countdowns, playing worship song videos, putting up bible verse slides, playing bible story videos, etc.

SPOTIFY

WHAT IS SPOTIFY? ‘Spotify’ is the program that we use to run background music in the Life Kids Room.

HOW DO I USE IT? It can be accessed on the Mac Computer in the tech booth and can be used by simply pushing the Play/Pause button. Please play ONLY the ‘K-5 Mix’ Playlist. No other songs are allowed to be played while children are present.

WHEN DO I USE SPOTIFY DURING THE SERVICE? You will use Spotify during ‘Free Time’ before and after service. This is to allow for background noise and to create a welcoming environment.

MASTER FADER

WHAT IS MASTER FADER? ‘Master Fader’ is the program that we use to control the sound level in the classroom.

HOW DO I USE IT? It can be accessed on the iPad found in the tech booth. To make the sound level louder, raise the bar in the ‘MAIN’ column. To make the sound level quieter, lower the bar in the ‘MAIN’ column.

WHEN DO I USE MASTER FADER DURING THE SERVICE? You will use Master Fader on the iPad whenever you want to raise or lower the volume of videos or songs.

ROOM LIGHT DIMMERS/STAGE LIGHT SWITCHES

WHAT ARE THE ROOM LIGHT DIMMERS? The Room Light Dimmers control the lights around the entire room and can make lights bright, dark, or anywhere in-between. The Room Light Dimmers are the tan sliders on the bottom of the picture.

WHEN DO I DIM THE ROOM LIGHTS? Only during the Bible Story Video.

WHAT ARE STAGE LIGHT SWITCHES? The Stage Light Switches control the spotlights on the stage. They are the 4 white switches on the top of the picture.

WHEN DO I TURN THE STAGE LIGHTS OFF? During the Bible Story Video and occasionally when the Lead Teacher tells you to.

FIRST SUNDAYS

FIRST SUNDAYS

WHAT ARE FIRST SUNDAYS? ‘First Sundays' happen on the ‘First Sunday’ of each month as a service of review and celebration. During ‘First Sunday’, children will review what they have learned in the previous month and reward themselves by purchasing prizes in the Bible Bucks Store with their previously earned Bible Bucks. As a Tech Volunteer, you play an integral role in the ‘Bible Bucks Game Show’.

WHAT ARE BIBLE BUCKS? Bible bucks are the Elementary Ministry’s reward system for attending service, participating in discussion, and memorizing scripture.

WHAT DO FIRST SUNDAY LOOK LIKE? See below for an example of First Sunday tech service flow.

WHAT IS MY ROLE DURING FIRST SUNDAY? During the Bible Bucks Game show, leave the ‘Bible Bucks Game Show’ slide on the screen, leave the music off, and help the other volunteers in the Bible Bucks Store.

TECH SERVICE FLOW

see below for service flows for the two different types of services you will experience

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

EXPECTATIONS FOR KIDS

Kids and volunteers thrive when there is structure in the classroom. When children don’t know what you expect of them, they don’t have the opportunity to meet those expectations. It is important to have clear expectations that are well-communicated to the kids. Here are some helpful steps as tech volunteer when it comes to classroom expectations:

  1. When a child misbehaves, gently correct them in a way that doesn’t shame them in front of the other children. Try telling them what they can do instead. For example, “Jimmy, at church we don’t run in the classroom but instead, you can play basketball with your friends.”

  2. If a child misbehaves again, alert the Lead Teacher and they will have a discussion with that child independently.

NOTE: Children are never allowed to be in the tech booth. If a child tries to get in the tech booth, please alert the Lead Teacher.

CHILD PICK-UP PROCEDURES

EXAMPLE OF CHILD NAME TAG

EXAMPLE OF PARENT TAG

SAFETY IS OUR #1 PRIORITY

MATCHING NAME TAGS: When a child is being picked up, ensure that the parent’s pick up tag matches the child’s name tag. Verify that the 4 digit code matches and remove the child’s name tag from their shirt. You can then place both 'parent tag’ and ‘child name tag’ in the trash.

WHAT IF A PARENT LOSES THEIR PARENT TAG? Contact the Life Kids Director and the parent’s ID will be check with the ‘trusted people’ we have in our database.

COMPLETION OF ONLINE TRAINING

This online training will continue to be a reference for you throughout the entirety of your serving career in the Life Kids Ministry. If you have any questions about the Elementary Ministry, please contact the Life Kids Director.

Thank you!

Thank you for completing this online training. We appreciate your commitment to the Life Kids Ministry and are so grateful for your investment int he next generation of Christ-followers.

Please acknowledge your completion of the online training by filling out this form.

 

Please email Lexi Priolo at lexipriolo@nlcc.org for more information or with any questions.