How did you get started writing your own curriculum?
How many class divisions do you have?
How do you do your Sunday morning classes versus your Wednesday night classes?
How do you provide the lesson materials to the teachers?
How do you staff your classes?
How do you teach the whole Bible age appropriately?
How can I adapt your curriculum for teaching younger kids?
How did you get started writing your own curriculum?
I am passionate about teaching the Bible chronologically to kids in an age appropriate way. And, because I couldn't find a commercial curriculum that taught the Bible to kids systematically, precept upon precept, I began to write my own. Too often Children’s Sunday school curriculums teach topics, such as Faithfulness, and they springboard from one familiar story to another: from Noah to Jesus Feeding the 5000; then to Daniel in the Lion’s Den and on to Jonah in the Belly of the Whale. The children never really understand the context of the Bible story and how it fits into the whole picture. The Bible is 66 books woven together to tell the story of God’s plan of redemption.
I actually started with the series on Creation. 20 years ago, I could not find a single commercial curriculum that taught the first 11 chapters of Genesis in a systematic way that was understandable to children. After attending several of the “Back To Genesis” conferences by Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis (www.answersingeneis.org), I was inspired and empowered by the Holy Spirit to write a curriculum that could bring that conference to the Sunday school class room.
Then when God moved us to Utah, we found that many of the people who had a heart to serve in our Children’s Ministry did not have a good foundation in the Bible. Most were new believers and many of them came out of Mormonism with a lot of confusion about the Bible.
My lessons are designed to enable a teacher to do expositional teachings to children. The idea is to have the kids read the passages in their own Bibles and the teacher explain the scriptures and give good practical application that is age-appropriate as they go along. I want the kids to learn that God’s Word is exciting and meaningful. But, I also wanted to ensure that the teachers were teaching sound doctrine!
Even though I’ve scripted the lessons, I’m not expecting the teachers to read my lesson materials verbatim to the children as they teach. It’s there for them to use to get background information and suggestions for child-appropriate personal application. This gives the teachers a good foundation so that they have confidence in knowing and understanding the Bible lessons for themselves when they teach their class.
How many class divisions do you have?
We are a very small fellowship. We have about 40 kids in all. And our church building constrains us. We have only 4 classrooms. One room is for our "Little Blessings" (6 months until potty trained). Another room is for our "Movers and Shakers" (Pre-school age). A third room is our "Kid's World" class (1st through 6th grade) and our 4th room is the Youth Group.
It can be challenging because of the age differences, but it works. It's kind of like Little House on the Prairie - a one-room school house. On Wednesday nights, because it's a mid-week, "school" night, I try to do more games and hands-on activities to keep it lively and fun. The older ones help the younger ones. Our kids are used to it and so are the teachers… so it really works well.
I usually try to teach to the middle age of the class. I know some of the younger ones won't get everything… but I am very fun and very animated (the "drama queen"!) So, I know that the younger ones are at least enjoying themselves. If I "dumb it down" too much, I'll loose the interest of the older ones. And, it's the older ones that really help to carry the class. The younger ones like being included with the older ones. And the older ones are a big help and good example to the younger ones.
How do you do your Sunday morning classes versus your Wednesday night classes?
We always have a full house on Sunday mornings, so I consider that the main teaching time where I systematically teach through the Bible chronologically. Wednesday nights is not as well attended and is usually our core families. I consider that the supplemental time where we can go deeper into a particular subject, so I teach topically during our mid-week services. For example if we are teaching about Moses on Sundays, then on Wednesday nights we can teach the series on the Ten Commandments.
How do you provide the lesson materials to the teachers?
I have set up a file system for each lesson where I put a copy of the lesson, plus any game, craft, or activity ideas and samples. I keep all the Lessons in green folders, Songs in blue folders, Crafts in red folders, and Games ideas in yellow folders. That way when a teacher is scheduled to teach a particular lesson, they can instantly see if there's a game idea, etc. As the years go by the files are enhanced with more ideas to inspire the teachers.
I also make a book out each set of lessons for each of the teachers. I take a master copy of each lesson in a series along with the Forward, Schedule, and Man Cov files (manual cover) to a copy place. I have them copy the manual cover on white glossy photo stock and have them spiral bind a book for each teacher on rotation.
Another way is to make up a three-ring binder for each teacher containing copies of each lesson in the series.
The two-column layout of these lessons is designed so that you can copy and cut the pages in half to fit into your Bible. When the children observe that you are teaching right out of the Bible, rather than from a curriculum book, it validates God's Word and gives your teaching more authority.
How do you staff your classes?
I like to have at least 3 teachers doing each class so that they can rotate. I like a three-way rotation the best where a teacher is "off" one week, the "helper" the next, and the "teacher" the third week. This helps keep them refreshed and it assures the children will get continuity from one week to the next. When a teacher precedes "teaching" with "helping", she knows what was taught the previous week and can seamlessly dove-tail into it.
Some people like having two teams of two that rotate one week "on" and the next week "off". Then, each pair of teachers can trade teaching/helping roles between them. If they do that, the teachers only have to teach once every 4th week. However, there is no "cross-pollination" between the teams; Team A never observes Team B (or vice versa) so neither team has first-hand experience with what was taught the week before. So, that is less "seamless" for the children between teachers. It's harder to review and reinforce what they learned the previous week.
Anyway you do it, it's nice to have several teachers doing a class, that gives them more flexibility for vacation and sick days and the teachers seem to last longer before getting burned out. Our teachers have been serving faithfully for years!!!
How do you teach the whole Bible age appropriately?
The lessons that I have developed are primarily for grade-school age children, although you can adapt them for other ages including Youth and even Women's ministry, etc.
While my lessons are designed to enable a teacher to do expositional teachings, I have concentrated on teaching the main narrative stories in the Bible rather than going verse-by-verse through every book. My intent is to give the kids the big picture of God's plan of the redemption of mankind and how God's Word tells His story (history).
I think that by the time they are in Youth group they should know how to navigate around in their Bibles and they should know the first 11 chapters of Genesis very well since that is the foundation of the whole Bible. Grammar school age kids are having enough trouble learning how to read. It's hard for that age group to grasp deep spiritual concepts. It is not until they are in the Youth group that they learn more about how to study the Bible inductively.
A couple of years ago I switched our grade-school age classes from using the New King James version of the Bible to using the New Living Translation. I love the Hands On Bible that Group publishes. It's so much easier for them to read and understand.
It's not about making sure they remember every fact that you teach them. It is way more important that they have a positive experience at Sunday school, where they have learned that God loves them and that church is a good, safe, fun, loving place to be. That will ensure that they want to keep coming back. And as they do, they will gather "head knowledge" about the Bible at their own speed.
How can I adapt your curriculum for teaching younger kids?
While the lessons I have developed are primarily for grade-school age children, my curriculum is a great tool for any teacher’s own personal growth. If your teachers are not already well grounded in the Word, they can use my teachings to get background information and some suggestions for child-oriented personal application. This way your teachers will feel more confident in telling the story in an age-appropriate way to the children in their class.
It is never a good idea to read a story to Pre-School age children. It’s much better to tell the story them using lots of visual aids. Maintain eye-contact and be engaging! Get into the story using your voice and facial expressions. Get the kids involved, too. For example if the story is about a storm, have the children make storm noises. Hands-on learning activities are always the best way for the kids to really comprehend and remember the lessons.
Visual aids are essential. I love Betty Lukins’ Bible in Felt pieces since they are so colorful. (See http://www.schoolhousesource.com/betty_lukens.htm ) I use those in the grade-school classes, too. The manual that goes along with the set writes out the stories in a way that is age-appropriate for younger kids and that is very helpful to the teachers.
Puppets are great tools, as well… I have one teacher that is fantastic with them!!! She sits on the floor with a circle of kids and puts them on her feet as she tells the story. She is very fun!!
Here are some other ideas for teaching younger children.
Choose 12 of the most well-known Biblical characters and feature one per month each year starting with God, the creator. Tell stories about that character each Sunday all through the month. You don’t have to tell the same story about that character each week. There are loads of stories to tell about David, for example.
Sing songs, do finger plays, play games, and make crafts that reinforce what you teach them about that person. Here is a list of 12 suggested Bible Characters. And, in keeping with my passion to teach chronologically through the Bible, you can arrange your schedule so that you teach about Jesus during December:
| 1. Adam and Eve | 7. Joshua |
| 2. Noah | 8. David |
| 3. Abraham | 9. Elijah |
| 4. Jacob | 10. Daniel |
| 5. Joseph | 11. Jonah |
| 6. Moses | 12. Jesus |
You can pick any Bible characters you want, but stick to the same ones year after year, that way you can build up your files for each month, adding various ideas for crafts, games, songs, etc. Make posters and other bulletin board scenes to enhance your teaching. Kids this age need lots of visual aids.
Don’t worry about repeating the stories over and over. Repetition is a must for this age. By the time the child has gone through these lessons for a couple of years and enters the pre-school class, he or she should be familiar with these people from the Bible.
You can get tons of great ideas from the internet for songs, crafts, games and finger plays, etc. I keep a set of file folders for each Bible character and each time a lesson is taught, our teachers add to the ideas in that folder.
Having a simple theme song for the month about each Bible Character helps "jell" that month’s teachings, even if you are rotating teachers. Make up simple lyrics and put them to tunes that are already familiar to everyone, especially the teachers! Here are some examples:
|
God Created the World (Tune: Happy Birthday) God created the world. God created the world. He made all the animals, And He made you and me. |
God Parted the Red Sea (Tune: Farmer in the Del) The water fled away, The water fled away. The people walked across dry ground. The water fled away. |
For other theme songs, click on the following links:
You can search the internet for various finger play games. Here is one example:
I am passionate about teaching the Bible chronologically. The kids need to know this is God's Story from start to finish. I think there is nothing better than the Betty Lukens' Bible in Felt pieces and the book that goes along with it. (See www.schoolhousesource.com/betty_lukens.htm)
We started our file system for this age based on a coloring book that we got from Gospel Light, called the Really Big Book of Bible Story Coloring Pages: (See www.gospellight.com). The pages in this book have an illustration to color on one side of the page and an easy, "kid-appropriate" Bible story written out on the other side. This makes a great take-home paper that helps keep the parents informed about what we are teaching and gives them a tool for reviewing the lessons after church.
We pulled this book apart and made a file folder for each lesson. Then as each lesson is taught, the teachers add to the file various songs, games, and craft ideas. The internet has a wealth of ideas for games and crafts and other supporting lesson-reinforcement ideas. Just do a search for Pre-school Bible Stories.
In keeping with my passion for teaching chronologically through the Bible, I have organized the following teaching schedules for our Mover's and Shaker's class. I have included both individual memory verses for each lesson and a memory verse for each group of lessons for your preference:
For both the 1's and 2's and the Pre-School age classes, it is a very good thing to have what I call "Transition Time" songs that help the kids know when it's time to move from one activity to the next. It's an amazing thing, but once you've all gotten familiar with these songs, whenever you start to sing one, the kids automatically go into that next period of time. For example, if you start to sing "It's Time To Pray" the kids instantly fold their hands and bow their heads! Or if you sing the snack time song, they go to their little tables and fold their hands (they know that's the signal I'm waiting for before I give them their snack!) It's like magic!!!
If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact Sheila by eMail at: ccuv-ChildrensMinistry@usa.net