1) Welcome: 2) Songs: Start the Story Hour with the learning our names song. Go around the circle or table and introduce each child. Here is a cute little song to reinforce the idea of stars in the sky: (sing like Twinkle Twinkle) Twinkle twinkle little star, How I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the night. Twinkle twinkle little star, How I wonder what you are. Twinkle twinkle little star How I wonder what you are God has put you in the sky And sometimes I wonder why But it’s good t shine up there You remind me of God's Care. 3) Prayer... Ask God to work the Holy Spirit in our hearts to give us the faith to move mountains. 4) Theme: Remind the children of the theme of the unit: God works among his covenant people to prepare the world for the Savior. Hebrews 12:1&2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us… look to Jesus.” Today we are going to hear a story about Abraham. Abraham and his wife Sarah had no children, but God promised to make their descendants as many as the stars in the sky. How would God do this? Abraham had to trust in God. 5) Bible Story: Today’s Story is "Abraham" . Read pages 33-38 (R 37-42) from the Read and Learn Bible (Scholastic). 6) Text: Today’s Text is: Genesis 15:5 "...Look towards the heaven, and number the starts, if you are able to number them... So shall your descendants be." 7) Crafts: Number the stars... Here is a simple craft that small children love to do. Give each child a sheet of black or dark blue constructions paper for the "sky." Provide lots of star stickers and allow the kids to put as many stars in the sky as they like. Then, challenge the children to count the stars! Or you can use the coloring page below, and do the same idea... lots and lots of stars. Most dollar stores sell packs of about 500 star stickers in gold, silver, red and blue. Worth every penny. If you have a star punch, you could punch out stars from colored paper, for some variety. 8) Closing Prayer... say the Lord's Prayer together with the children. 9) Going Home: Sing the closing together. Then, check to see if all the children have collected their crafts and coloring sheets before they go home. Say goodbye and tell them that you enjoyed learning about God together and were happy to have them today! You were, weren’t you? 10) Optional Coloring Pages: check out www.coloring.ws/abraham.htm for some free coloring pages