Your Mission Friends who just completed kindergarten are about to take a big step as they move up to children’s missions. This transition from Mission Friends to Girls in Action (GA), Royal Ambassadors (RA), or Children in Action (CA) is an exciting time for these rising first graders. This is a time when they are becoming more independent, their reading and writing skills are increasing, and their peers become more important to them. We give some pointers to help make this a smooth transition.

• Get together with the leaders of children’s missions groups to plan for this time of transition. Share ideas of what each of you can do to help rising first graders with this move.

• Invite children’s missions leaders to visit your Mission Friends class and introduce them to the kindergartners. Ask them to tell kindergartners some of the activities they will do in the children’s missions groups.

• Provide children’s missions leaders with the names of kindergartners who will move up into the children’s missions groups. This will help them prepare to welcome these children.

• Take a walk to find the children’s missions classrooms during the week before promotion. This will help new first graders to feel comfortable as they find where they will go for children’s missions.

• Pair each kindergartner with a child in GA, RA, or CA. Plan an activity in which partners work together. When promotion time comes, the kindergartners will have a familiar face when they move up to children’s missions.

• Plan a Helping Others activity in which kindergartners and older children can work together. Find Helping Others ideas in Big Enough to Help Others.

• Provide a copy of Missions Journey: Kids Adventure to each Mission Friend who will be promoted. 

• Give each kindergartner a Mission Friends Promotion Certificate, available here.