Developed for Teachers by Teachers

Transcription

1 Developed for Teachers by Teachers Uses a multisensory approach so children of all learning styles can succeed Activity-based, K-6 Bible curriculum for today s Christian school student and teacher! Developed for teachers by teachers Uses multisensory approach to learning First semester each year is Old Testament and Second semester is New Testament Sixth grade ties it all together and ends with Revelation Four-part weekly lessons allow for Chapel once a week For more information, please contact your Christian Schools Account Manager at ext or visit Through-the-Bible Curriculum for Christian Schools FREE K-6 Lesson Sampler HRO_BibChoicesCVR_bn.indd 1 5/2/08 12:20:15 PM

2 Thank you for choosing to review Biblical Choices for a New Generation. This multisensory, activity-based Bible curriculum was created for kindergarten to grade six. It was developed by teachers, for teachers so teachers of all experience levels will find it easy and exciting to teach. As you explore this lesson sampler, please be sure to make note of these things: Lesson plans designed to save you time by making needed information easy to find Varied activities to engage all types of learners Four session lesson plans leave one day free for chapel Comprehensive course outline which includes both Old and New Testament each year in kindergarten to fifth grade, and Revelation in sixth grade We hope you find the information contained in this sampler helpful and complete. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. Standard Publishing Christian Schools Account Manager 8805 Governor s Hill Dr. Ste. 400 Cincinnati, OH ext. 6802

3 kindergarten Students will come to know and love the great God who created their world. second grade Students will come to know and love the great God who set us free first grade Students will come to know and love the great God who does the impossible. third grade Students will come to know and love our great God and choose Jesus to be Lord of their lives. fourth grade Students will come to know and love our great God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. sixth grade Students will come to know and love the God of eternity fifth grade Students will come to know and love the great God of faith who is ever faithful. Course outlines Pages

4 yearly themes K Kindergarten The God of Creation First Grade The God of Impossibilities Second Grade The God of Freedom Third Grade The God of Choices 4 Fourth Grade The God of History 5 6 Fifth Grade The God of Faith Sixth Grade The God of Eternity 4

5 celebrate the uniqueness of each student All students have different personalities, learning styles, and abilities, but they can all be successful if they have the right opportunity. Biblical Choices provides that opportunity by using activity-based lessons that promote understanding and retention. The students gain confidence in themselves because they succeed at learning not to mention they have fun! both new and experienced teachers will love it Created by teachers, for teachers, Biblical Choices is a one-of-a-kind Bible curriculum that speaks to the needs of both teachers and students. The lesson plans are clear, concise, and easy to use. Whether you ve been teaching for twenty years or you re just starting out, the lesson plans are friendly and accessible. why use Biblical Choices? Sequential study of the Bible balances Old and New Testament coverage each year starting with Genesis in Kindergarten and ending with Revelation in the Sixth Grade. New themes each quarter tie into the yearly theme; quarterly projects summarize the content of the lessons; final quarter project is a Bible Fair a fun activity to incorporate with a year-end open house. Bird s Eye View gives an overview of the lessons for the quarter, so you can quickly and easily see what will be covered over the entire quarter without flipping through numerous pages. Unusual Items Checklist provides a complete list of all the items you will or may need in the upcoming quarter no more last minute surprises for supplies or searching through the lessons to see what you need. Stand-alone lessons assume no prior knowledge, making the curriculum friendly for new students and new teachers by providing the necessary information to understand the current lesson. Bible memory is integrated right into the lessons and taught in fun and creative ways, making it real to the students. Core Values Tied to Choices students formulate their own Bible-based, personalized value-systems anchored in the values Jesus taught us to live by. Parent Letters allow you to easily communicate with parents without the hassle of writing letters yourself, though you are free to customize. Look for this symbol throughout the sampler to point out great features. 5

6 session01 how lessons work through the Bible by semester, by quarter Biblical Choices Bible Curriculum has a scope and sequence that s organized so that each grade level studies a single theme from the Old Testament in the first semester and the New Testament in the second semester Kindergarten through Fifth Grade. Sixth Grade ties together biblical faith and Christian living with its yearly theme. The annual themes are developed quarterly. Children easily come to see how the work of God through the atoning act of His Son, Jesus, is the central theme that ties the Bible together as one story of divine redemption. stand-alone lessons Every lesson stands alone, assuming no prior knowledge. When necessary, lessons refer you to what students have already covered, making certain all students have the necessary information to understand the lesson at hand. The first lesson of every new semester reviews the year before just to refresh memories and bring new students up to speed. At the beginning of every week, a helpful section for teachers, Before Session 1, walks you through what you need to accomplish before you teach Session 1 of the lesson. What day you actually teach Session 1 may not be Monday, depending on when you have chapel. Similar checklists help keep you prepared on a daily basis. Most teachers discover they can t do all the activities suggested. We ve packed in plenty because the length of classes and abilities of students can vary greatly. Choose and use what works best for you. four-part weekly lessons Each week in every age level, Biblical Choices is divided into four 30-minute instructional sessions Attention Getter, Bible Information, Student Action, and Bold Choices leaving one day each week free for chapel. These segments emphasize hands-on interaction, current interests of students, and life-application all adding up to dynamic, life-changing, values-based Bible time. We want teaching Biblical Choices Bible Curriculum to be your favorite part of the day, too! 6 attention getter This segment says, Here s why you should care. Enthusiasm is sparked through a variety of approaches. Examples: PAGE 90 A current personality whose life mirrors the choice made by the week s Bible character Seeing how today s world is much the same as it was in biblical times Singing songs that reinforce the lesson and memory verse Seeing how this lesson fits into the big picture An object lesson or experience that introduces the lesson focus Something different from how you introduced the lesson the week before L E S S O N P R E PA R AT I O N LESSON FOCUS This lesson will focus on the reality that our faith is made complete when it is entwined with the active demonstration of our love for God. CHOICE TO BE MADE I will combine my faith in God with my actions to maintain a complete faith. A LIVING AND ACTIVE FAITH 2 L E S S O N 1 SCRIPTURE TEXT James 1:2-8, 12-18, 22-25; 2:14-26; 3:13-18; 5:13-18 MEMORY VERSES JAMES 2:21, 22 Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. SCRIPTURE SCHOLAR VERSE JAMES 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES Listen to object lesson stories. Develop story morals. Present their story morals. Discuss the problem of the missing connection between belief and action. Sing the lesson songs. MATERIALS AND PREP Notebook paper and pencils Parent letters to go home QUICK OVERVIEW 1. Present lesson stories. 2. Pair off students and allow them to create morals for the stories. 3. Encourage students to share the morals. BIBLICAL CHOICES FOR A NEW GENERATION 4. Introduce the theme for this week s Bible lessons. ATTENTION SCRIPTURE 5. Introduce this week s Scripture Scholar GETTER TEXT Verse. Before Session 1 James 1:2-8, 12-18, 22-25; 6. Close 2:14-26; the lesson by singing the lesson Provide notebook paper and 3:13-18; 5:13-18 songs. pencils. Provide the Parent letters. MEMORY VERSE JAMES 2:21, 22 BIBLE Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when INFORMATION Before Session 2 he offered his son Isaac on the altar? Provide the James Listening Grid You see that his faith and his actions (Student page 39). were working together, and his faith Provide Bibles. was made complete by what he did. STUDENT ACTION Before Session 3 Provide white or light-colored construction paper (one sheet per student). Provide pencils, erasers and rulers. Optional Provide crayons and markers BOLD CHOICES Before Session 4 Provide Bibles. GRADE 6 SECOND QUARTER: A LIVING AND ACTIVE FAITH LESSON 1 PAGE 91 SESSION 1 SCRIPTURE SCHOLAR VERSE JAMES 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ATTENTION GETTER Start Lesson INTRODUCTION Every day the newspaper reports horrible accounts of the devastation brought by home fires. Very often, the investigating fire marshal has been known to comment on the fact that such fires might have been prevented. You may have heard statements like, If only they had tested their smoke alarm, they would have been able to escape with their lives and possibly even have saved their property. Ironically, these families did believe in the value of the smoke alarm. They believed installing this device in their homes would insure the safety of their family. They believed in smoke alarms; yet, they did not take the time to properly service or test their alarms. They were not prepared to face the threat of fire. Fire departments have reported the presence of smoke alarms in many homes they have attempted to save. However, upon investigation, they have discovered that most of the time these smoke alarms did not contain working batteries. If the adults in these homes had been asked whether they thought their children, pets, and homes were worth more to them than the cost of two-dollar batteries, they would have answered, Of course. These adults believed in smoke alarms, but they did not do their part in keeping the smoke alarms in working order. There once was a man who, for as long as he could remember, wanted to be a doctor. So he worked diligently through his highschool years in order to secure a spot in the finest medical school in the country. He believed in the healing power of medicine and knew how valuable a good doctor is to society. Yet when it came to his studies, he had a different opinion than most. He believed that his time was better spent reading than actually going to anatomy classes, working in the hospital, doing lab work, etc. He did, however, read every medical book that he could get his hands on. He believed in medicine, so he read. One day, as the young medical student was on his way to the library for another armload of books, his neighbor stopped him. I need your help. My husband is very ill. Please come into my house quickly. And so the young man went into his neighbors house. Once inside, the young man stood over the man who was clutching at his chest and moaning. The wife was frantic. Can t you help him? I know you are a student doctor! Well, I believe in the power of medicine, and I have read many, many books. But I ve never really worked with a sick person before. The woman could not believe her ears. How can you call yourself a doctor? Then she quickly called the paramedics to help her husband. The young man believed in medicine, but he was not prepared to face a patient in need. Each session begins with a helpful reminder to the teacher of objectives and needed preparation.

7 Bible information session02 Bible content is taught through Bible stories, Scripture searches and activities, and memory verse games. Student involvement in these varied activities helps them retain Bible information. Examples: Bible stories told with puppets, drama, pictures, or student involvement Scripture searches, discussion, puzzles, and activities to help students retain the information Memory verse games designed to make learning God s Word fun and memorable student action session03 Here s where students get to demonstrate what they ve understood about the Bible content from the day before. If something isn t clear, you have the opportunity to discover it and reteach it. Children respond to the lesson through art projects, role-playing, and other hands-on projects. Examples: Doing art projects Solving problems Role-playing and other dramatic activities Talking together in buzz groups and brainstorms Interpreting the focus of the lesson in some hands-on manner session04 bold choices This segment helps students discover for themselves, What am I going to do about what I ve just found out? Children are encouraged to apply the lessons to their lives through family activities, homework assignments, and real-life situations. Examples: Suggested weekend family activities Homework assignments Summary quizzes and tests Discussing hypothetical situations the children can identify with and applying the lesson focus to today s choices

8 sequential study One thing that makes Biblical Choices stand out from the crowd is that the course begins in the first semester of Kindergarten in Genesis, and concludes in the last lesson of the fourth quarter of Sixth Grade in Revelation. In between, students go systematically through the Bible. Our through-the-bible approach takes students through both the Old Testament and the New Testament, but it does so by spending the first semester of each school year in the Old Testament and the second semester of each school year in the New Testament through Fifth Grade. Sixth Grade ties it all together and concludes with a study of Revelation. No teacher teaches all year without talking about Jesus. Lessons tie the Old Testament semester and the New Testament semester together with a yearly theme, developed quarterly. As it s developmentally appropriate, the materials tie the Testaments together so that students understand that the Bible is the unique story of the divine plan for the redemption of mankind. A look through the course outline will tell how the prophets are tied in with the kings and the letters are tied in with Acts, lending historical credence to this Bible study. A sequential approach makes it possible for teachers to discover what students did in Bible class the previous year and what they will do the following year. Our plan prevents students from covering the same materials over and over so that they don t miss out entirely on some important biblical concepts. course structure Each year is divided into four quarters. Unique quarterly themes tie into yearly themes. Each quarterly theme is supported with seven content lessons. The eighth lesson in each quarter is a special project designed for review. special projects/ year-end Bible fair Quarterly projects summarize the main content of the seven previous lessons. Occasionally, they call for a display or use of crafts completed during the quarter. When a lesson suggests that you make a sample of a craft, keep it for display use. The final quarter of each year outlines plans for a Bible fair a fun activity to incorporate with a year-end open house. If you don t want to do the allschool Bible fair, you can still use the review suggestions for a helpful year-end review. unusual items checklist/ bird s-eye view Many teachers like the Bird s-eye View feature of the curriculum. They like having a quick overview of the seven lessons for the quarter so they have a map of where they are going and what they are doing with the materials. The Unusual Items Checklist at the beginning of each quarter is a much appreciated page also. It prevents things from sneaking up on busy teachers at the last minute. An advance copy of the checklist put in the hands of a room parent or volunteer can mean someone else is shopping for supplies before they are needed. It s worth noting that the checklist gives advance warning when arrangements need to be made for special speakers or field trips. LESSON 4 1 John: The Real Righteousness Focus: This lesson will focus on the characteristics of real righteousness that can only be attained by living a PAGE 88 Grade 6 Second Quarter LESSON 1 notebook paper, pencils white or light-colored construction paper (one sheet per student) rulers LESSON 2 envelopes (one per student) 4 different colors of stick-on labels or stick-on stars Roget s Thesaurus or dictionary costumes and props (see lesson for suggestions) 8-foot length(s) of roll paper, old magazines, glue, colored markers notebook paper, small rubber bands stapler optional tape player, instrumental praise tape LESSON 3 optional chart or diagram of tongue muscle scissors, stopwatch or watch with second hand, two large books glue, pencils white construction paper (one per student) LESSON 4 music stands, kazoos, tape recorder GRADE 6 SECOND QUARTER: A LIVING AND ACTIVE FAITH PAGE 87 notebook paper and pencils dictionaries and thesauruses LESSON 1 James: A Complete light-filled life. The children will match, candle, flashlight, picture of Faith examine the analogy of God and light, lighthouse Focus: This lesson will focus on the along with practical ways to exhibit reality that our faith is made complete righteousness to others. LESSON 5 when it is entwined with the active notebook paper and pencils demonstration of our love for God. large onion LESSON 5 1 John: Real Love, An Active Sixth Grade LESSON 2 James: The Problem Demonstration Second Quarter With Prejudice Focus: This lesson will focus on the Focus: This lesson will focus on the incredible qualities of God s love, the Quarter Goal: As the students pitfalls of prejudice. As the students ramifications of claiming that love as study the book of James, they will the focal point of our lives, and the study the books of James and discover the meaning of prejudice and need to actively seek opportunities to the warning against bias and demonstrate that love. 1, 2, and 3 John, they will be discrimination. They will have the opportunity to evaluate their feelings challenged to model their living and attitudes towards those that are LESSON 6 2 John: Saturated in different from themselves and will be Truth and (active) faith to everyone in encouraged to see the beauty in disparity. The students will be challenged importance of saturating our lives in Focus: This lesson will focus on the their circles of influence. to value God s worth in all people. truth. The children will see that a firm grasp of the truth is the best method to detect deceivers of God s message. LESSON 3 James: Retraining the Tongue Focus: This lesson will focus on the LESSON 7 3 John: Holding the need for all Christians Many to retrain their teachers Ropes like tongues. As the students examine the Focus: This lesson will focus on the book of James, they will be encouraged to assess their own use of words those who have dedicated their lives to vital support ministry that sustains and the powerful effect their speech Bird s-eye foreign missionary service. The children will see that they too are able to View has on all of their relationships. The children will be challenged to use their hold the ropes for missionaries words to glorify God. around the world. of the curriculum. LESSON 8 Quarter Project Focus: This lesson will focus on a review of the major themes and characters from the second quarter s Bible lessons. BIBLICAL CHOICES FOR A NEW GENERATION LESSON 6 pictures of assorted warning signs magazine ads depicting use of alcohol and cigarettes jar of honey and moist sponge poster paints, roll paper (one piece per group 4-6 feet long) kitchen-size sponges cut into geometric shapes (1 1/2" to 2" in size) scissors and large markers notebook paper and pencils LESSON 7 10 to 15-foot length of rope yarn (24" per student) large ball of yarn or string National Geographic or similar magazines hole punch scissors and glue reference books (atlas, encyclopedias) names of missionaries sponsored by your school or church LESSON 8 refer to lesson options PARENT SUPPLIED nothing for Lessons 1-7 LESSON 8 refer to lesson options 8

9 Sometimes a teacher needs to bring unusual items from home or request items from parents for a special lesson. The checklist will alert you to those needs also. games for quarterly review At the end of the first quarter, teachers will discover game ideas for use as review tools. Use these games at the end of each quarter along with any other ideas for review. Bible memory In Biblical Choices Bible Curriculum students memorize most of the important Bible passages all Christians should know the Ten Commandments, the Lord s Prayer, John 3:16, Romans 8:28, Hebrews 11:1, the Greatest Commandment, and so much more. Verses are taught in creative, fun ways using a variety of memory-verse techniques. And they are taught by integration into the lessons so students feel a need to know and want to remember. One of the primary goals of Biblical Choices is to hide God s Word in the heart of every student so that it s there to guide their choices not just for a school year, but for a lifetime. hymn studies In Fifth Grade, students discover the stories behind many traditional hymns of faith, especially as they are related to great doctrines of the faith. Bible study tools/quiet time In Sixth Grade, students polish Bible study skills they ve been learning all along. They use a variety of references to help them find what they need to know. They ll also define their personal apologetics and do a study of Revelation. Early on, and throughout Biblical Choices Bible Curriculum, students are encouraged and guided to develop personal and private devotional and prayer time using the Word to get to know the Father and His Son in a first-hand way. core values tied to choices Time and again, the choices students are asked to make help them formulate their own Bible-based, personalized valuesystems anchored in the values Jesus taught us to live by.

10 student and teacher resources Each student has a colorful Activity Pad featuring games and activities. Tear-off pages simplify preparation. 10 The Student Book contains coloring, drawing, printing, and other ageappropriate activities. The interactive CD-ROM includes assessments, editable parent letters, music, sound effects, clip art, and lesson helps.

11 student pack Student Book Two-color, perforated pages that include writing, drawing, and recall/recognition activities. Student Activity Pad Full-color booklet of hands-on activities that include drawing, cutting, gluing, playing games, and more! teacher kit Teacher Book Three-ring binder with complete lesson plans. (A sample lesson from each level is included in this booklet.) CD-ROM contains lesson helps, assessments, clip art, parent letters (English and Spanish), music, and sound effects. Student Pack (Book and Activity Pad) one is included forreference. CD-ROM Master files for the worksheets, skits, project directions, quizzes, and more. Clip art that allows you to easily create your own backdrops, posters, signs, and more. Music that is appropriate for the lessons. Weekly parent letters give details of the lesson, but are customizable to reflect what happened in your classroom if you choose to edit them. We also have them available in Spanish, but the Spanish version is not able to be edited. Assessment suggestions and directions, and where appropriate, test masters are also included. 11

12 kindergarten the God of creation First Quarter God Created the Perfect World 1. Gn 1:1-8 God s Wonderful Plan 2. Gn 1:6-12 God s Beautiful World 3. Gn 1:14-18 God s Amazing Space 4. Gn 1:6, 9, 10, 20, 21 God s Pretty Fish, Bugs, and Birds 5. Gn 1:20-25 God s Interesting Animals 6. Gn 1:26-28; 2:7, 1-25 God s Love for His Best Creation: People 7. Gn 2:1-3 It Was All Very Good: God Rested 8. Gn 1:1 2:3 QTR REVIEW: God s Creation Pageant K Second Quarter Choices in the Family 1. Gn 1, 2 How Do We Make Choices? 2. Gn 3:1-24 Adam and Eve: Sin Is a Choice to Disobey 3. Gn 3:1-24 Sin Vs. Mistake 4. Gn 4:2-16 Cain and Abel: Violence Is the Wrong Choice 5. Gn 4:2-16 Cain and Abel: Jealousy Hurts 6. Gn 4:8-12 Cain Chose to Lie: Lying Is a Bad Choice 7. Gn 4 Obeying Your Parents is a Good Choice 8. Gn 1:1 3:24 QTR REVIEW: Family Convention Third Quarter God Becomes the Perfect Person 1. Mt 1:18-24 God Promised the Coming of Jesus 2. Mt 1:18-24; Lk 2:1-20 Jesus Is Born 3. Lk 2:40-52 Jesus Grows Up to Do His Father s Work 4. Mt 6:8, 25-34; 7:7- God Promises to Care for My Needs 5. Mt 7:7-11 God Hears My Prayers 6. Mt 19:16-26; Phil 4: God Promises to Help Me Do My Best 7. Jn 4:4-32 God Wants Me to Be Nice 8. Selections: Mt, Lk, Jn QTR REVIEW: Promises Performance 12 Fourth Quarter Jesus Is Our Example 1. Lk 18:35-43 Jesus Is Loving: He Cares for Others First 2. Lk 19:1-10 Jesus Is Not Mean: He Is Nice to People 3. Mt 19:13-15 Jesus Makes People Feel Better 4. Jn 18:33-38 Jesus Always Tells the Truth 5. Lk 15:11-24 Jesus Tells Us to Forgive Others 6. Jn 6:1-14 Jesus Tells Us to Share What We Have With Others 7. Lk 5:1-11; 6:12-16 Jesus Wants Us to Tell About God s Love 8. Selections: Lk, Mt, Jn REVIEW: The Year-End Bible Fair

13 KINDERGARTEN the god of creation Introduction and How-to Kindergarten The God of Creation Welcome Check to Biblical out the Choices Introduction and Kindergarten How-to. Bible It Curriculum: tells you how to make the The most God of of Creation! the quarter s lessons! We at Standard Publishing hope you will find this curriculum to be teacher-friendly and easy to use. It is our hope that your Kindergarten students will come to know and love the great God who created their world over the next 32 weeks. Overall Structure Kindergarten is divided into four quarters, each with its own theme: First God Created the Perfect World ; Second Choices in the Family ; Third God Becomes the Perfect Person ; Fourth Jesus is our Example. Each quarter is divided into seven lessons and a quarter project. Lessons Each lesson is divided into four sessions: Session 1 Attention Getter ; Session 2 Bible Information ; Session 3 Student Action ; Session 4 Bold Choices. The sessions are designed to be presented sequentially; however, since most schools allot one day of Bible time each week for chapel, the sessions are flexible enough to accommodate this day. Each teacher should present the sessions around to his/her school s chapel day. Quarter Projects The last week of each quarter is devoted to a quarter project. These projects are designed to serve two purposes: for evaluation of students retention of each quarter s lessons (through different review games, memory verse challenges, etc.), and for presentation of material learned (through open houses, class performances, etc.). The four quarter projects featured in Kindergarten are: First a Creation Pageant ; Second a Family Convention ; Third a Promises Performance ; Fourth a yearend Bible Fair. The quarter projects are flexible enough to work with any schedule and/or class size. Be sure to tailor these projects to best fit the needs of your students. Music Kindergartners need to express themselves through song, so each lesson usually incorporates singing, often more than once! On page 18 you will find a suggested music list consisting of praise choruses, carols, gospel songs, and hymns. The list is divided by quarter, indicating which songs will work best with each quarter. All songsheets, piano scores, and copyright information can be found on the CD-ROM and, except where noted, one copy of each song may be printed off and made into a transparency. The tracks available on the CD-ROM can be played either on a compact disc player or by a computer. The CD-ROM contains many lesson helps and extras! Parent Letters Each lesson includes a letter to the parents that should be sent home with each student after Session 1. These letters are a handy means of communication between you and your students parents regarding themes and memory verses studied during Bible, as well as ideas for reinforcing and supplementing Bible learning at home. Also, these letters inform parents of your need for volunteers for special projects and/or events, classroom needs, costumes, props, 2001 Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 13

14 Biblical choices for a new generation and/or pictures students need sent with them from home, etc. All parent letters are available on the CD-ROM and can easily be edited. You have the choice each quarter between two appropriate letterheads (one in black and white and one in color) into which you can import the text of each letter. Also, each parent letter is available in Spanish for your students who speak Spanish at home. More information about producing the parent letters is available on the CD-ROM. Options, Options, Options For those teachers who need extra activities, or are looking for variety, we ve included several optional activities, sometimes three or four per lesson! These are designed to take learning one step further, usually through a hands-on experience, a trip outside, or a presentation from a guest speaker. Remember, no one has time in life to do everything, especially busy teachers! So, try incorporating just one per lesson or two or three per quarter. See how your students like the optional activities and either schedule them again for next year, or try new ones. You might even develop some optional activities on your own great! Be sure to write them down (and share them with other teachers). Teacher Helps Before the first lesson of each quarter you will find a Bird s-eye View highlighting the goal of that quarter as well as providing an overview of each lesson and what students will learn. Also, you will find an Unusual Items Checklist highlighting some items you will need to furnish (and those you can encourage parents to furnish) for each lesson. Some lessons don t require any unusual items, and some require several, so be sure to refer to these pages often during your lesson planning. Before each lesson, you will find a Prep page that details materials and activity pages that need gathered before each session, as well as crafts you may need to provide samples for, and other reminders. Furthermore, depending on how you choose to structure your Teacher book, each lesson is designed such that you can remove from the binder only those pages you will need to refer to for each lesson. Be sure to assemble your Teacher book to best fit your needs. Other Goodies We all like those, don t we? In addition to all of the above, you ll find special Notes areas in the Teacher book where you can record student reactions to specific activities, highlight what worked and what didn t from each lesson, etc. And, you ll find Grab an Idea boxes filled with even more ideas for relating Bible to other areas of the curriculum. We hope these pages will inspire you and prepare you for entering the exciting realm of teaching the truths about God, His world, and His Word to thinking, feeling, questioning, loving, creating, being K s! God s blessings to you as you lay the foundation for a lifetime of Bible learning for your students session by session, lesson by lesson, quarter by quarter, year by year. Tailor lessons to fit your students needs and your teaching style! Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

15 KINDERGARTEN First Quarter: God created the perfect world Kindergarten First Quarter Quarter Goal: The seven days of Creation will be highlighted during the seven weeks of this quarter. God s world is a perfect and beautiful picture of God s greatness. A great overview of each quarter s goals pops up before the first lesson of every quarter to help you focus! Lesson 1: God s Wonderful Plan This lesson will focus on God s power expressed in the creation of our universe. As the children learn about the first two days of creation, they will realize that God created the world according to His perfect plan. Lesson 2: God s Beautiful World This lesson will focus on God s love of beauty as it was expressed in the creation of the earth s seas, land formations, and bountiful vegetation. As the children learn about all that came into being on the third day of creation, they will see that there is much beauty to behold in nature, and that God made these wonders for our enjoyment. Lesson 3: God s Amazing Space This lesson will focus on God s majesty as it was expressed in His creation of the heavenly lights: the sun, the moon, and the stars. As the children learn about all that came to be on the fourth day of creation, they will discover the vastness of our wonderful universe and the importance of the sun, the moon, and the stars. Lesson 4: God s Pretty Fish, Bugs, and Birds This lesson will focus on the fifth day of creation when God created living creatures to dwell in the water and birds and flying bugs to fill the air. Appreciation of water in its different forms, and its role in sustaining life, will also be discussed. Lesson 5: God s Interesting Animals This lesson will focus on the amazing creativity God employed when He created the animals that dwell upon the earth. The children will be taught some of the many functions these creatures perform in the cycle of nature. Lesson 6: God s Love for His Best Creation People This lesson will focus on God s love for His best creation: people, made in His image. The children will be encouraged to appreciate the miracle of human life and recognize how precious people are in God s sight. Lesson 7: It Was All Very Good; God Rested This lesson will focus on God s pleasure in viewing all that He had made and His delight with the outcome of creation. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested. Lesson 8: Creation Pageant The children will review the creation week by portraying parts of the creation in a Creation Pageant and by making Creation Cookies Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 15

16 Biblical choices for a new generation Kindergarten First Quarter This handy checklist at the beginning of each quarter helps you organize ahead. We ve made your list for you! TEACHER SUPPLIED LESSON 1 Inflatable globe or ball Clothespins A balloon for each child LESSON 2 Optional: A video about plant life and land formations Several cups of sand, gravel, or kitty litter Magazine pictures of beautiful scenery, flowers, trees, etc. LESSON 3 A blindfold or bandanna LESSON 4 Books about ocean life, water, etc. Optional: A tape or CD of ocean or other water sounds Optional: A jar for the bug hunt activity LESSON 5 Optional: A tape or CD of animal sounds LESSON 6 Magazine pictures of individual people A stamp pad A large hand mirror LESSON 7 A toy (or real) microphone LESSON 8 quarter project A children s version of the Bible Instrumental music such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, Praise Strings, etc. Cookie cutters shaped like objects of Creation (such as a moon, stars, animals, etc.) PARENT SUPPLIED LESSON 5 Optional: Refreshments for Pet Day Optional: Someone to videotape Pet Day LESSON 8 quarter project Optional: Pre-baked cookies to decorate Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

17 2 second Quarter KINDERGARTEN L e s s o n 4 THE GOD OF CREATION choices in THE family Everything you need to know to be on the right lesson plan! Cain and Abel Violence Is the Wrong Choice The children will discover that hitting, kicking, and hurting another person is wrong and is not the way to settle arguments. 17

18 Biblical choices for a new generation L e s s o n P r e pa r at i o n LESSON FOCUS This lesson will focus on the wrong choice that Cain made when he used violence to solve a problem in his family. The children will discover that hitting, kicking, and hurting another person is wrong and is not the way to settle arguments. CHOICE TO BE MADE I will try not to hurt another person when I am angry. Weekly choices help students build values! attention getter Before Session 1 Collect the Ways to Obey charts the children have returned. Purchase a bag of jelly beans. Decorate a jar for jelly beans. Optional: Check students recognition of choices with the K-2-4 Good choices/bad choices visual (on CD-ROM). Provide the K-2-4 Parent letters (from CD-ROM). bible information Before Session 2 Gather props for the students pantomime of the Cain and Abel Bible story: garden tools, plastic fruit/vegetables, and stuffed animals. Review the Bible story. student action Before Session 3 Provide your sample No Sin coloring page from Lesson 3 (Student page Prep 21). Lists know Provide what the you ll Hugs Not Slugs! coloring pages and (Student when page 23). need you ll Provide need 12" it x 18" all sheets of colored construction week long! paper for making posters, one per student. Provide glue and crayons. Speak to your administrator and other teachers about hanging the students posters around campus. bold choices Before Session 4 Provide a large piece of white roll paper and print the K-2-4 Declaration of Peace on it (from CD-ROM). Be sure to leave plenty of room for children s signatures. Provide music to play during the signing ceremony. Optional: Provide a special pen for signing. choices in the family 18 2 L e s s o n Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! Notes

19 KINDERGARTEN second Quarter: choices in the family Lesson 4 SESSION 1 SCRIPTURE TEXT Genesis 4:2-16 MEMORY VERSE Romans 13:10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES Listen to a modern-day parable. Discuss peaceful ways of problem solving. Participate in a jelly bean jar incentive for positive reinforcement. Optional: Take a quiz. MATERIALS and PREP Collect the Ways to Obey charts A decorated jar containing jelly beans Optional: Good choices/bad choices visual (from CD-ROM) K-2-4 Parent letters (from CD-ROM) QUICK OVERVIEW 1. Collect the completed Ways to Obey charts from the students. 2. Introduce this week s theme with a modern-day parable and briefly review the previous week s lesson. 3. Involve the children in a discussion of peaceful problem-solving skills. 4. Display the decorated jelly bean jar and explain its significance. 5. Optional: Quiz students using the Good choices/bad choices visual. 6. Sing any of the suggested songs. 7. Close in prayer. ATTENTION GETTER Daily overview of what you re doing for yourself or a substitute. Start Lesson INTRODUCTION Collect the completed Ways to Obey charts from the students. Encourage them to continue being obedient at home and at school. Who can tell me the difference between a sin and a mistake? Allow students to respond. Adam and Eve made a choice in the Garden of Eden... they chose to disobey God s commands. They chose to sin. They did not make a mistake when they ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They knew that they were not supposed to do this. God had given them certain rules, and they chose to break those rules. They sinned against God. The Lesson This week we will learn more about Adam and Eve and their family. We will hear about their children and the very bad choices they made. We will hear about how one of the children chose to solve a problem in a terrible and sinful way. One of the children chose to use violence to solve a problem. What is violence? Allow for a student definition. Violence means hurting someone and causing an injury to him or her. Violence can mean hitting, kicking, biting, pushing, shoving, slapping, or anything that causes harm to another person. I would like to tell you a pretend story about a kindergarten boy. This boy had a terrible problem. Listen to my story and then we will talk about it, and I will ask you some questions. Alex was a little boy who loved to play games but he always wanted to win. If Alex was playing on the playground, and he didn t like how other children played, he would kick them or hit them with the ball. Sometimes the children in his class tried to speak kindly to Alex when he was upset. They thought that might help him solve his problem; but oh no... Alex didn t listen. He would just punch and scream to have his way. Soon no one in his class would play with Alex. What was Alex s problem? Let s talk about it. Ask the following questions and allow time for several students to respond to each question: 1. Is fighting the best choice to make in solving a problem? 2. If using kind words doesn t help and someone still wants to fight, what else should you do? 3. How can you keep from fighting? 4. What would you say to an angry friend to stop an argument? At the conclusion of the discussion questions, show the children the decorated jar full of jelly beans and explain its purpose Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 19

20 Biblical choices for a new generation Each time someone in the class uses violence (pushing, hitting, kicking, throwing things, shouting angrily, etc.) to solve a problem, jelly beans will be taken from the jar. At the end of the week, the class will be given the opportunity to observe how many jelly beans remain in the jar and to eat the remaining jelly beans. When we show love to others instead of using violence, we are making a good choice. I would like for us to sing some songs that talk about showing God s love to those around us. Sing any of the suggested songs. Optional: Show the Good choice/bad choice visual and see if students can distinguish between good choices and bad choices. Then close the lesson time by having a special prayer, asking God for selfcontrol and help in choosing to use peaceful ways to solve problems. Send home the K-2-4 Parent letters. End Lesson Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

21 KINDERGARTEN second Quarter: choices in the family Lesson 4 SESSION 2 BIBLE INFORMATION SCRIPTURE TEXT Genesis 4:2-16 MEMORY VERSE Romans 13:10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. MEMORY Verse TECHNIQUE Recitation and handshake SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES Listen to a Bible story. Recite the memory verse. Pantomime the story of Cain and Abel. MATERIALS And PREP Props for the Bible story: garden tools, plastic fruit/vegetables, and stuffed animals Review the Bible story. QUICK OVERVIEW 1. Tell the Bible story. 2. Involve the students in reenacting the story through pantomime. 3. Teach the memory verse. Start Start Lesson INTRODUCTION We have been learning about the first family that God created. Who can tell me the name of the father? Adam And the mother? Eve Adam and Eve had to live outside of the Garden of Eden because they chose to disobey God s commands. They had to work very hard. The Lesson Now Adam and Eve had two sons. Abel, who was the younger brother, grew up to be a keeper of sheep; he was a shepherd and spent his days looking out for the animals that belonged to the family. But Cain, the older brother, grew up to work as a farmer. He spent his days planting seeds, pulling weeds, watering his crops, and harvesting all of the fruits and vegetables that he grew in his fields. One day Cain brought some of his fruit and vegetables as a present to the Lord. Cain did not choose the best fruits and vegetables from his harvest. Abel wanted to give God a gift, also. Abel brought some of his best baby sheep as his present to the Lord. Well, the Lord was very happy with Abel s present, but He was not pleased with Cain s gift. This really made Cain mad. Then the Lord spoke to Cain and told him, If you do the right thing, you will be accepted by me. But if you stay angry, and you do not do what is right, you will be sinning (paraphrase of Genesis 4:7). But Cain was jealous of Abel; Cain was furious that God liked his brother s gift better than his. He was so angry that he decided to do something very mean to his brother Abel. Cain tricked Abel into coming out to a field where nobody could see them. In the field, Cain attacked and killed Abel. When the Lord asked Cain about his brother, Cain lied to the Lord. God asked Cain, Where is your brother, Abel? Cain just shrugged his shoulders and told God, I am not my brother s keeper. He told God that he did not watch out for Abel and that he had no idea where his brother could be. Not only had he murdered his brother in an angry fit, but he also had lied to the Lord God. But the Lord knew the terrible thing that Cain had done. Because of Cain s violence, he was punished. The Lord sent Cain far away from his home to live a lonely life full of very hard work. Cain was no longer allowed to live with the rest of his family. Right now, I would like to ask some of you to retell this Bible story using pantomime. Pantomime is acting which uses only movement, no words. Here is an example of a pantomime. I ll let you guess what I m supposed to be doing Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 21

22 Biblical choices for a new generation Pantomime something familiar, such as a baseball player at bat or a pitcher throwing a ball. Then use the following procedure to reenact the Bible story: 1. Select students to portray the following characters for the pantomime: the Lord, Cain, and Abel. Have remaining students play sheep. 2. Coach the children on what they might do to portray their characters. For example, have the students who are acting as sheep huddle on all fours next to the Abel character; have the student who is portraying Cain pretend that he is gardening, etc. 3. Distribute the props, position the performers, and then read through the story again, pausing for dramatic emphasis, as needed. The memory verse technique I m sure we makes all saw in it our story how Cain easy made for students some very bad to choices. Who memorize can tell Scripture. the class about one of Cain s bad choices? Encourage several student responses. And most importantly, Cain chose to use violence to solve a problem. He killed his only brother. This story is a very good example of how a bad choice brings terrible results. If Cain had chosen to solve his problem in a different way, perhaps Abel s life might have been spared. Cain made a terrible choice that ended in his brother s death. Because of Cain s violence, God punished him. Memory Verse Technique Our memory verse is from Romans 13:10 and it says: Love does no harm to its neighbor. That means that if we show love, we will not want to hurt anyone around us. We will not want to harm our friends, our family members, or the people in our neighborhood. We should not harm anyone. Today we are going to practice saying our verse together. We are going to show love as we do it. Have the students form a circle. Designate one student to begin by reciting the verse and then turning to shake a neighbor s hand. Continue around the circle in this manner. Finish by having the entire class recite the verse. End Lesson Love does no harm to its neighbor. Romans 13: Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

23 KINDERGARTEN second Quarter: choices in the family Lesson 4 SESSION 3 SCRIPTURE TEXT Genesis 4:2-16 MEMORY VERSE Romans 13:10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES Recite the memory verse. Make a poster. MATERIALS and PREP A sample No Sin coloring page from Lesson 3 (Student page 21) Hugs Not Slugs! coloring pages, one per student (Student page 23) 12" x 18" sheets of colored construction paper for posters, one per student Glue and crayons QUICK OVERVIEW 1. Briefly review the Bible story from yesterday. 2. Explain the purpose and procedure for completing the Hugs Not Slugs! posters. 3. Complete the posters and distribute them throughout the campus, if time permits. STUDENT ACTION Miniatures of the Student and Activity Pad pages, along with the lesson helps, show just what you need for each lesson! Start Start Lesson INTRODUCTION Yesterday we learned that Cain made a very bad choice: He let his anger control him, and he chose to kill his brother, Abel. He was jealous because God liked his brother s offering better than his offering. The Lesson Hold up the sample of the No Sin coloring page that the children completed during Lesson 3. How many of you have your No Sin coloring page like this hanging up somewhere at home to remind you that all wrongdoing is sin? Remember, we learned that this symbol the circle with a slash through it means that a certain thing is not allowed, or should not be done. Today we re going to color another sign just like the one we did last week, only this one will say Hugs Not Slugs! Show one of the Hugs Not Slugs! coloring pages. Have you ever heard someone say, Oh! I m so mad at him, I just want to slug him? That means that he or she wants to hit or punch someone because he or she is very angry. Slugging means hitting. God wants us to solve problems in a peaceful way. He does not want us to hurt others when we are angry. Sometimes we get angry... I know I do sometimes. But God does not want us to hurt our friends and family members when we are angry. We are not to say unkind words or to hurt people by hitting, punching, biting, or kicking. Everyone needs to be reminded of this from time to time. Who can remember our memory verse that talks about how we should treat others? Ask the students to recite the verse several times aloud. Let s use the rest of our Bible time today to make posters to remind everyone in our school that he or she should hug, and not slug. It is much nicer for us to solve our problems in a peaceful way. Distribute the coloring pages, construction paper, glue, and crayons. Instruct the children to color and mount their pages onto 12" x 18" pieces of colored construction paper with glue. If time permits, and administration allows, hang the posters in various places throughout the campus. End Lesson 2001 Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 23

24 Biblical choices for a new generation SESSION 4 SCRIPTURE TEXT Genesis 4:2-16 MEMORY VERSE Romans 13:10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES Discuss the outcome of the jelly bean activity. Eat the jelly beans that are left in the jar. Recite the memory verse. Sign a Declaration of Peace. Sing songs. MATERIALS and PREP A large piece of roll paper that has the K-2-4 Declaration of Peace printed on it, with space for student signatures (from CD-ROM) Special music to play during the signing ceremony Optional: A special pen for signing the Declaration of Peace QUICK OVERVIEW 1. Discuss the results of the jelly bean activity and let the children eat the remaining jelly beans. BOLD CHOICES 2. Recite the memory verse together. 3. Sign the Declaration of Peace. 4. Sing any of the suggested songs. Start Lesson INTRODUCTION During the week, the students will have seen whether or not their class lost jelly beans from the jar. Use the beginning of the class time to display the jelly bean jar and praise the students for their efforts this week in choosing the peaceful way to solve conflicts. Celebrate by giving each student some jelly beans. The Lesson We must always remember the important lesson that the story of Cain and Abel has taught us. We need to continue to work together in peaceful ways. We need to solve problems in our classroom and at home without hitting, kicking, biting, or punching. We should always try to control our anger and keep from harming anyone. Our memory verse for this week reminds us not to hurt others. Recite the memory verse together. As a reminder of our important lesson this week, our class will sign a Declaration of Peace. This is a very important paper. It is a promise that we will try to treat others in loving ways. We will try to keep from fighting. We will try to treat our friends kindly. This special paper is an announcement to everyone who comes into our classroom that we are trying to keep peace. Each of you will have the opportunity to sign the Declaration of Peace. When you sign your name, you will be making a promise to try to use peaceful ways to solve problems. You know that it is very important to keep your promises. Display the Declaration of Peace poster or banner that you have made prior to class. Conduct a special signing ceremony for the children. Use background music and (optional) a special pen. Have the children come up to the signing table, two or three at a time, and ask them to recite their memory verse in unison before putting their signatures on the Declaration of Peace. Then display the Declaration of Peace in the classroom where the children can easily see it. Close the lesson by singing any of the suggested songs. End Lesson Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

25 25

26 Biblical choices for a new generation Notes Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

27 KINDERGARTEN second Quarter: choices in the family Lesson 4 Games Review Rebus Review Divide games the children in into two teams. On white roll each paper, quarter have help them to draw pictures and combine them test with students words to get the other team to say the verse. knowledge. Bible Fish Bowl Write each word of the verse on a piece of paper. Place all the papers into a container or a fish bowl. Have the children come up one at a time and draw a word out of the bowl. Whichever word they draw, that is where they must begin in reciting the verse to the end. Bible Baseball Draw a baseball diamond on the board. Line the children up in two teams. Say the verse up to a particular word. If the child can fill in the word you did not say, he or she can go to first base. If he/she cannot, then he/she is out. After three outs, the next team is up. Each time a child makes it to first base, all the other runners who are on base advance one base in order for the team to score runs. Erase-A-Word Write the verse on the chalkboard. Erase one word and ask the children to recite the verse and fill in the missing word when they come to it. Continue erasing words (one at a time) and repeat the verse each time a new word is erased until the children are able to say the entire verse from memory. Circle Verse Sit the children in a circle. Have one child begin to recite the verse by saying the first word. The child beside him/her must say the next word, and so on around the circle until the verse has been recited word-by-word. You may recite it over and over until each child has had a turn to play. Memory Catch Sit the children in a circle. Toss a ball to one child. When he/she catches it, he/she must say the first word of the verse. The child then tosses the ball to another child who says the second word, and so on until the entire verse has been recited. Bible Verse Cheer Turn a song into a cheer. Sign Your Verse Teach the children the memory verse in sign language. Name That Tune The teacher will hum or play the melody of a song taught during the quarter. The students, divided into two teams, will try to be the first to guess the title and words of the song Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 27

28 Weekly letters help parents be involved in what their child is studying. 28

29 Parent Letters are available in Spanish, too! 29

30 first grade the God of impossibilities First Quarter God s New World 1. Gn 1:1-2:3 Review 1: God Created the Perfect World 2. Gn 2:4b 3:24 Review 2: Adam and Eve 3. Gn 3:1 6:8 God s Perfect World Is Spoiled By Sin 4. Gn 6:1 9:17 God Tells Noah to Build the Ark 5. Gn 6:19 8:1 God Saves the Animals and Noah s Family 6. Gn 6:1 9:17 God Makes a New Covenant With Noah 7. Gn 11:1-9 The Tower of Babel 8. Gn 1:1 11:9 QTR REVIEW: Art Project 1 Second Quarter God s Covenant With Abraham s Family 1. Gn 12:1 17: God Makes an Agreement With Abraham 2. Gn 15, 17, 18, 21:1-7 Isaac: God Keeps His Promise 3. Gn 21:1 22:24 Abraham Puts God First 4. Gn 24:1 28:9 God Gives Isaac a Family 5. Gn 37 Joseph s Family Makes Bad Choices 6. Gn God is Faithful to Joseph 7. Gn Joseph Forgives His Brothers 8. Gn 12:1 50:26 QTR REVIEW: Who Am I? Game Third Quarter Jesus, the Son of God, Part 1 1. Lk 2:1-20 Jesus Is Born: A Humble Beginning 2. Lk 2:40-52 Jesus Grows Up 3. Mt 3:1-17 Jesus Is Baptized by John 4. Mt 4:1-11 Jesus Is Tempted 5. Lk 6:12-19; Mk 3:13- Jesus Chooses His Disciples 6. Mt 5:1-12 Jesus Teaches on the Mountain 7. Mt 7:24-27 Jesus Tells Us How to Live 8. Lk 2:1-52, 6:12- QTR REVIEW: Life of Jesus Tableaus Fourth Quarter Jesus, the Son of God, Part 2 1. Mk 2:1-12; Mt 9:2-8 Jesus Proves He is God: He Forgives Sin 2. Mk 4:35-41; Jesus Has Power Over Nature Mt 8: Mk 3:1-6; Mt 12:9-14 Jesus Has Power Over Our Bodies 4. Jn 11:1-44 Jesus Has Power Over Life and Death 2. Mk 9:14-20; Jesus Has Power to Heal Mt 12:22-27 Our Minds 6. Jn 9:11-38 People Worship Jesus 7. Lk 17:11-19 People Thank Jesus 8. Yearly Review REVIEW: The Year-End Bible Fair 30

31 first grade n the god of impossibilities n Introduction SESSION 1 ATTENTION GETTER and How-to First Grade The God of Impossibilities Check out the Welcome to Biblical Choices Introduction and How-to. It tells First Grade Bible Curriculum: you how to make the most of the The God of Impossibilities! quarter s lessons! We at Standard Publishing hope you will find this curriculum to be teacher-friendly and easy to use. It is our hope that over the next 32 weeks your First Grade students will come to know and love the great God who does the impossible. Overall Structure First Grade is broken down into four quarters, each with its own theme: First God s New World ; Second God s Covenant with Abraham s Family ; Third The Life of Jesus Part 1: Jesus Is the Son of God ; Fourth The Life of Jesus Part 2: Jesus Does the Impossible. Each quarter is divided into seven lessons and a quarter project. Lessons Each lesson is divided into four sessions: Session 1 Attention Getter ; Session 2 Bible Information ; Session 3 Student Action ; Session 4 Bold Choices. The sessions are designed to be presented sequentially; however, since most schools allot one day each week for chapel, the sessions are flexible enough to accommodate this day. Each teacher should present the sessions according to his/her school s set chapel day. Quarter Projects The last week of each quarter is devoted to a quarter project. These projects are designed to serve two purposes: for evaluation of students retention of each quarter s lessons (through different review games, memory verse challenges, etc.), and for presentation of material learned (through open houses, class performances, etc.). The four quarter projects featured in First Grade are: First Visits Through the Old Testament Student Art Projects ; Second The Lives of Abraham and Joseph ; Third The Life of Jesus Tableaux ; Fourth The Year-End Bible Fair. The quarter projects are flexible enough to work with any schedule and/or class size. Be sure to tailor these projects to best fit the needs of your students. Music First-graders need to express themselves through song, so each lesson usually incorporates singing, often more than once! On page 18 you will find a suggested music list consisting of praise choruses, carols, gospel songs, and hymns. The list is divided by quarter, indicating which songs will work best with each quarter. All song sheets, piano scores, and copyright information can be found on the CD-ROM and, except where noted, one copy may be printed off and made into a transparency. The tracks available on the CD-ROM can be played either on a compact disc player or by a computer. The CD-ROM contains many lesson helps and extras! Parent Letters Each lesson includes a letter to the parents that should be sent home with each student after Session 1. These letters are a handy means of communication between you and your students parents regarding themes and memory verses studied during Bible, as well as ideas for reinforcing and supplementing Bible learning at home. Also, these letters inform parents of your need for volunteers for special projects and/or events, classroom needs, costumes, props, 2002 Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 31

32 Biblical choices for a new generation and/or pictures students need sent with them from home, etc. All parent letters are available on the CD-ROM and can be edited. You have the choice each quarter between two appropriate letterheads (one in black and white and one in color) into which you can import the text of each letter. Also, each parent letter is available in Spanish for your students who speak Spanish at home. More information about producing the parent letters is available on the CD- ROM. Options, Options, Options For those teachers who need extra activities, or are looking for some variety, we ve included several optional activities, sometimes three or four per lesson! These are designed to take learning one step further, usually through a hands-on experience, a trip outside, or a presentation from a guest speaker. Remember, no one has time in life to do everything, especially busy teachers! So, try incorporating just one per lesson or two or three per quarter. See how your students like them and either schedule them again for next year, or try new ones. You might even develop some optional activities on your own great! Be sure to write them down (and share them with other teachers). Teacher Helps Before the first lesson of each quarter you will find a Bird s-eye View highlighting the goal of that quarter as well as providing an overview of each lesson and what students will learn. Also, you will find an Unusual Items Checklist highlighting some items you will need to furnish (and those you can encourage parents to furnish) for each lesson. Some lessons don t require any unusual items, and some require several, so be sure to refer to these pages often during your lesson planning. Before each lesson, you will find a Prep page that details materials and activity pages that need gathered before each session, as well as crafts you may need to provide samples for, and other reminders. Furthermore, depending on how you choose to structure your Teacher book, the lessons are designed so that you can remove from the binder only those pages you will need to refer to for each lesson. Be sure to assemble your Teacher book to best fit your needs. Other Goodies We all like those, don t we? In addition to all of the above, you ll find special Notes areas in the Teacher book where you can record student reactions to specific activities, highlight what worked and what didn t from each lesson, etc. We hope these pages will inspire you and prepare you for entering the exciting realm of teaching the truths about God, His world, and His Word to thinking, feeling, questioning, loving, creating, being First-graders! God s blessings to you as you lay the foundation for a lifetime of Bible learning for your students session by session, lesson by lesson, quarter by quarter, year by year. Tailor lessons to fit your students needs and your teaching style! Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

33 first grade n First Quarter: God s new world n First Grade First Quarter Quarter Goal: When God s perfect world was spoiled by sin, God did what seems impossible to us He started over and repopulated the earth with the descendants of Noah. God protected Noah and his family and they were saved. A great overview of each quarter s goals pops up before the first lesson of every quarter to help you focus! Lesson 1: Review of Kindergarten God Created the Perfect World This lesson will review the days of creation as presented in Kindergarten. The children will be reminded that God is able to do the impossible. He proved this by creating the perfect world out of nothing. We should praise Him for His power and creative excellence. Lesson 2: Review of Kindergarten Adam and Eve Break God s Covenant This lesson will review Adam and Eve s disobedience in the Garden of Eden. The concept of good choices bringing good results and bad choices bringing bad results will be reemphasized. Lesson 3: God s Perfect World Is Spoiled by Sin This lesson will focus on the disappointment that God felt when His perfect world was ruined by sin. So much evil existed on the earth that God wanted to start over! The children will see that the opposite of ruining the world with sinful choices is making the world a better place to live with choices made to please God. Lesson 4: God Tells Noah to Build the Ark This lesson will focus on Noah s good example to obey God in spite of all opposition. God chose Noah to build the ark because He knew Noah would obey Him. Lesson 5: God Saves the Animals and Noah s Family This lesson will focus on Noah s trust in God. Noah s faith helped him to understand the task that God had chosen for him to do, and led him to depend upon God for all of his needs. Lesson 6: God Makes a New Covenant With Noah This lesson will focus on God s first formal contract, called a covenant. The words parties, terms, and promises will be defined and discussed. The students will be reminded that the rainbow is a symbol of God s promise that He will never again destroy the entire earth with a flood and that God is faithful in keeping His promises. Lesson 7: The Tower of Babel God Scatters People Across the Earth This lesson will focus on the story of the Tower of Babel. It will explain how the various languages we speak came into being, and emphasize that God loves every language group equally. Lesson 8: Visits Through the Old Testament: Student Art Projects The children will review the main events of the quarter by choosing to make one of three art projects: the Garden of Eden, Noah s Ark, or the Tower of Babel Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 33

34 Biblical choices for a new generation First Grade First Quarter teacher supplied Lesson 1 q A pitcher q An empty ice cube tray This handy checklist at the beginning of each quarter helps you organize ahead. We ve made your list for you! Lesson 2 q A grocery bag containing utensils and ingredients for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich q A miniature toy car q Extra empty 1 lb. coffee cans q Wide, clear tape q Optional: Stickers q A bowl of pennies, several pennies per child Lesson 3 q A squirt gun (or spray bottle) full of water q A globe q A dark piece of fabric (large enough to cover the globe) q A toy (or real) microphone Lesson 4 q Envelopes, one per student q A Noah costume q Optional: Tools for building an ark q Bags of small stick pretzels, sticks per student plus more for eating q Optional: Pictures of the ark from different Bible references q Animal stickers (approx. seven per child) Lesson 5 q Whole graham crackers, two per child q Containers of ready-made frosting q Optional: A video about floods q Optional: A toy (or real) microphone Lesson 6 q Optional: Books about and/or pictures of rainbows q Optional: A video about rainbows q Stuffing materials (cotton balls, paper towels, old stockings, toilet paper, etc.) q Optional: Special pen or pencil Lesson 7 q Optional: A guest who is fluent in another language (or more than one) q Five or six packages of paper cups q Optional: A video that discusses different languages q Optional: A piece of cardboard, a box of sugar cubes, and miniature people figurines q Envelopes, one per child q A whistle q Old magazines Lesson 8 Quarter Project q Two pieces of heavy corrugated cardboard (or plywood), at least 3' x 3' q Papier-mâché materials (strips of newspaper and a mixture of flour and water) q Sand, gravel, small pebbles, and stones q A tube of blue gel toothpaste (or a container of blue tempera paint) q Several sticks and twigs q Silk flowers in different colors and sizes q Optional: Small figurines of people and animals q A cardboard box (approx. 12" x 12") q Optional: A refrigerator-size box q A shoe box q Optional: Another cardboard box q Optional: Craft sticks to cover large boxes q Small pieces of cardboard (one per group of students) q Items for building towers (i.e., blocks, spools of thread, buttons, marbles, film containers, small spice containers, etc.) PARENT SUPPLIED Lesson 2 q Empty 1 lb. coffee can, one per child Lesson 3 q Optional: Someone to videotape (or tape-record) the K-LFT interviews Lesson 5 q Optional: Someone to videotape the Obedience Is Best talk show Lesson 8 Quarter Project q Optional: Animal costumes, one per child q Optional: Good, used stuffed animals, one per child q Refreshments for the open house Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

35 1 First Quarter f i r s t g r a d e L e s s o n 7 The God of impossibilities God s new world Everything you need to know to be on the right lesson plan! The Tower of Babel God Scatters People Across the Earth As the children learn about the Tower of Babel, they will discover how various languages came into being. 35

36 Biblical choices for a new generation L e s s o n P r e pa r at i o n Lesson Focus This lesson will focus on the story of the Tower of Babel. It will explain how the various languages we speak came into being, and emphasize that God loves every language group equally. Choice to be made I will choose to love people from other cultures. Weekly choices help students build values! God s new world 1 Attention Getter Before Session 1 n Display and discuss the hellovis.pdf (from CD-ROM). n Cue up the language.mp3 sound effect (from CD-ROM). n Optional: Ask a guest who is fluent in another language (or more than one) to come in. Have him or her demonstrate speaking different languages to the students. n Provide five or six packages of paper cups for several groups of students to each construct a Tower of Babel. n Optional: Provide a video that discusses different languages. n Provide the Parent letters for Lesson 7 (from CD-ROM). Bible Information Before Session 2 n Optional: Provide supplies for building a Tower of Babel: a piece of cardboard to use as a base, one box of sugar cubes, and miniature people figurines. n Provide a Bible. n Provide the Psalm 145:9 Scramble page, one per child (Activity Pad page 17). n Provide scissors. n Provide envelopes, one per child. n Optional: Display and discuss langvis.pdf (from CD-ROM). Student Action Before Session 3 n Designate an area in the classroom for Prep the Lists children to assemble their know puzzles. what you ll n need Copy and babelpuz.pdf when onto five different need colors it of all construction you ll paper week (from long! CD-ROM). Cut each colored puzzle into 4-6 pieces, depending on how many children you have in your class. Cut each puzzle uniquely, so that only the pieces of one color will fit together to form the puzzle. Be sure that a yellow puzzle piece cannot fit into a red puzzle, for example. The point is that the children with the red pieces have to find each other and cooperate to put their puzzle together. Also, be sure each puzzle piece includes a piece of the border to make it easier to assemble. n Provide a whistle. Bold Choices Before Session 4 n Provide a long piece of roll paper. At the top print Everybody Needs God. (The length of paper will vary depending upon class size; each child should be allotted ample space for gluing objects on the paper.) n Optional: Provide construction paper to make individual collages, one piece per student. n Provide old magazines for students to cut up. n Provide scissors. n Provide glue and/or paste. L e s s o n Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

37 first grade n First Quarter: God s new world n Lesson 7 SESSION 1 Scripture Text Genesis 11:1-9 Memory Verse Psalm 145:9 The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. Specific Objectives Listen to a foreign language. Build a tower out of paper cups. Sing songs. Materials And Prep o Hellovis.pdf (from CD-ROM) o Language.mp3 sound effect (from CD- ROM) o Optional: A guest who will demonstrate different languages o Five or six packages of paper cups o Optional: A video about different languages o Parent letters for Lesson 7 (from CD- ROM) Quick Overview 1. Introduce the lesson by exposing the students to the sound of a different language. 2. Distribute the paper cups and let the children construct their own towers. 3. End the lesson by singing any of the suggested songs. ATTENTION GETTER Daily overview of what you re doing for yourself or a substitute. Start Lesson Introduction Display the hellovis.pdf in view of the children, then play the language.mp3 sound effect. Optional: Introduce your guest. What if every person in this classroom spoke a different language? What if you were not able to communicate and talk to the person sitting next to you today? Student response. It would be very difficult for me to talk with Name a child. if he/she could not understand one word that I was speaking to him/her. I could not carry on a conversation with Name another child. if she had no idea what I was trying to say to her. I think that it would be very hard for me to try to teach a classroom full of boys and girls who all spoke a language different from my own. Let s listen to the languages again. See if you can recognize any of these foreign languages. Play the language.mp3 sound effect again. Optional: Have your guest demonstrate the languages again. Were you able to understand what you just heard? Student response. Every language spoken in the world sounds foreign and confusing to those who can t speak it. The Lesson Have you ever wondered how all of the different languages came to be? When Adam and Eve were first created, they spoke the same language. Their children and grandchildren spoke the same language, too. When did God s people begin to speak different languages? What happened to cause such a change? The answer to these important questions will be covered in our Bible lesson this week. But today I will give you a small clue... The Tower of Babel. Hmmm... what did a tower have to do with the changing languages? This week you will find out the answer to that question Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 37

38 Biblical choices for a new generation Today I want to see what kind of a tower you can make out of paper cups. Divide the class into small groups and designate places for each group to work. Distribute cups to each group and explain that the cups are to be used to construct a tower. Do not tell the students how to make their towers; let them experiment and come up with their own structures. Spend the remainder of the class time building and sharing what each group has constructed. To close the lesson, sing any of the suggested songs, reinforcing that God loves all people in the world, and that everybody ought to know the good news of God s love. Send home the Parent letters for Lesson 7. End Lesson I will choose to love people from other cultures Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

39 first grade n First Quarter: God s new world n Lesson 7 SESSION 2 BIBLE INFORMATION Scripture Text Genesis 11:1-9 Memory Verse Psalm 145:9 The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. Memory Verse Technique Psalm 145:9 Scramble Specific Objectives Tower of Babel. out of sugar cubes. Recite the memory verse. Listen to the biblical account of the Optional: Watch a tower being built Cut and build a memory verse tower. Materials And Prep o Optional: Supplies for building the sugar cube Tower of Babel o A Bible o Psalm 145:9 Scramble pages, one per student (Activity Pad page 17) o Scissors o Envelopes, one per child o Optional: Langvis.pdf (from CD-ROM) Quick Overview 1. Briefly review the previous lesson. 2. Give the biblical account of the Tower of Babel. 3. Optional: Build a tower out of sugar cubes as you tell the story. 4. Read the Bible memory verse aloud and have the children recite it together. 5. Distribute the memory verse worksheet, scissors, and envelopes. 6. Optional: Display and discuss the langvis.pdf. Start Lesson Introduction This week we heard some different languages being spoken. Who can tell me what those languages were? Student response. I told you a clue about our story today. Do you remember what I said we would be learning about today? The Tower of Babel. The Lesson Optional: Construct your sugar cube Tower of Babel, as you tell the Bible story. to the heavens. I ll read to you what the people said about this tower they were about to build. Read Genesis 11:3, 4. The people on the plain of Shinar thought that if they built a huge tower, they could make their city famous and everyone else would think they were wonderful. They were not going to build this tower as a special statue to God, though; they did not want to give God any glory for their achievements. The people only wanted to boast and brag about their great city. God looked at what they had built so far and said, Read the following paraphrase of Genesis 11:6, 7. If these people who all speak one language have banded together to do such a thing, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Because of this, I will have them all speak different languages and they will not understand one another. So that is what the Lord did. Suddenly the people had to stop building the tower because they After the flood, Noah s three sons, could no longer understand one Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their another. They started speaking different wives, moved away and began having languages. They left their city, children of their own. They each which was later called Babel, meaning went to live in a different place. They confusion. The people left in all had large families and from their groups with others who were given many children came the great nations the same new language to speak, and of the ancient world. moved away to different parts of the Now the whole world had only world. They scattered throughout the one spoken language, even though earth as God had said they would. there were lots and lots of people. God had changed their evil plans to A group moved eastward to a place build the Tower of Babel so that His called Shinar, which was a flat plain. plan would be accomplished. This They decided to build a very special was the beginning of people speaking city with a tower that would reach different languages Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

40 Biblical choices for a new generation Memory Verse Technique The memory verse technique makes it easy for students to memorize Scripture. Our memory verse for this week tells us how God feels about all the people in the world who speak different languages. To Him, they are all important because He is the one who created them. Recite the memory verse: The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made (Psalm 145:9). Say the verse with me. Explain the procedure for cutting Repeat the verse several times togeth- apart the words and rearranging er, then distribute the Psalm 145:9 them to form a picture. Distribute Scramble worksheet and scissors. envelopes for the students to take home the pieces of their Scramble worksheet. Optional: Display and discuss the langvis.pdf. 40 End Lesson w w w. b i b l i c a l c h o i c e s. c o m 2002 Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! Bibchoices_FN_BN.indd 40 5/2/08 10:48:51 AM

41 first grade n First Quarter: God s new world n Lesson 7 SESSION 3 Scripture Text Genesis 11:1-9 Memory Verse Psalm 145:9 The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. Specific Objectives Make a puzzle. using words. and communication. Discuss the need for people in all Communicate with others without Discuss the importance of language countries to know God. Materials And Prep o Designate a place for the children to assemble their puzzles. o Babelpuz.pdf pieces in five different colors (from CD-ROM) o A whistle Quick Overview 1. Review the Bible story from Session Conduct the puzzle activity. 3. End the lesson with a short discussion reinforcing the need for people in all countries to know God. STUDENT ACTION Start Lesson Introduction We can learn some important lessons from the story of the Tower of Babel. God wants us to be the best that we can be. He wants us to work together; He wants us to be creative and enjoy the talents He has given to each one of us. God loves us and wants to help us. The people who wanted to build the Tower of Babel had only one thought in mind to be famous and important in the world. Their choice to build a tower as high as the heavens was Miniatures not pleasing of to God. the Student and When God Activity caused the Pad people pages, to scatter by changing along their with language, the He hoped they lesson would helps, always show believe in Him and obey just Him. what He you wanted need to be the one God for each the people lesson! worshiped, no matter what language they spoke. Today you and I can look around our school, our city, and our churches and see many different nationalities of people; some of these people speak a different language than we do. Let s remember that God loves people who speak English and those who do not. And let s also remember that everyone needs God. Later this week we will learn more about this important subject, but for now we are going to do something that will help us understand how the people who built the Tower of Babel felt. I am going to give each of you a piece of a puzzle. Pass out the different colored babelpuz.pdf pieces to the students. You will see that you each have a different piece and a different color than your neighbor. You need to find the people who have the rest of your puzzle, and work together to put your puzzle together. When your puzzle is together, you will have a picture of the Tower of Babel. Tell them how many puzzles there are all together, but let them discover that they have to match up all the red pieces, etc. Are you ready? You may get up now, and put your puzzles together. Carry out the following procedure: 1. Let the children get up and move around for a while, talking among themselves. 2. After just a few moments, blow a whistle (or get their attention somehow), then tell them they cannot speak English anymore. They may grunt, make babbling noises, say nonsense words, or make any other sound, but they may not use English to communicate Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 41

42 Biblical choices for a new generation 3. You may need to babble your way into the group and encourage them to match up colors so their puzzles will work. The idea is to get them to realize that only the red pieces will fit together only the yellow ones will fit together, etc. 4. After all the students have found their correct puzzle groups, and they begin to assemble their puzzles, blow the whistle again and allow them to resume communicating in English for the duration of the activity. Wow! Wasn t it hard to get the puzzle put together when you couldn t talk to each other? Can you imagine how the people who were building the Tower of Babel felt? They probably felt much the same as you did when you couldn t talk to each other. God is very great and powerful. Not only did He make our world and everything in it, but He made all of our languages, too! People scattered all over the world, but as time went by many of those groups of people forgot about God. Today we have many groups of people who speak many different languages, and who don t know about God. We cannot forget about those people; they all need to hear the good news that God loves them very much. Everybody needs God! We will talk more about that this week. End Lesson The rainbow is a symbol of God s faithfulness. God always keeps His promises! Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

43 first grade n First Quarter: God s new world n Lesson 7 SESSION 4 Scripture Text Genesis 11:1-9 Memory Verse Psalm 145:9 The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. Specific Objectives Make a class collage out of magazine pictures. Discuss the need for all people to believe in God. Sing songs. Materials And Prep o A long piece of roll paper entitled Everybody Needs God o Optional: Construction paper, one piece per child o Old magazines o Scissors o Glue and/or paste Quick Overview 1. Remind the students that all people need God, regardless of the language they speak or the country from which they come. 2. Distribute the materials needed for the collage activity. 3. Sing any of the suggested songs. 4. Close the lesson by praying for all the people in the world to come to know God. BOLD CHOICES Start Lesson Introduction We ended our previous lesson by talking about how all people, no matter what language they speak, need to know about God and how much He loves them. Yes, God loves all people no matter what their language is, what the color of their skin is, or what they look like. The Lesson We are going to make a gigantic poster that says Everybody Needs God. This poster will remind us that people of every nation and every language need to know God and to love Him. You will each get to look through these magazines that I have collected, and cut out pictures of people. Show the children how to flip through a magazine, find a person, and cut out the person, trimming off excess paper, words, and advertisements. You may cut out children and adults; the more you find, the better our poster will turn out. When our poster is finished and the glue is dry, I will hang it outside our classroom so that everyone in our school can see that we all need God. Distribute materials to the students and allow them ample time to work. Optional: Distribute construction paper to each student and encourage students to work independently. Close the lesson by singing any of the suggested songs and praying for people in other countries who need to know about God. End Lesson The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made (Psalm 145:9) Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 43

44 Biblical choices for a new generation Notes Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

45 Weekly letters help parents be involved in what their child is studying. 45

46 Parent Letters are available in Spanish, too! 46

47 first grade n First Quarter: God s new world n Games Review Quarter 1 Review games in each quarter help to test students knowledge. Please Note: Scoring and prizes are optional. Wheel of Faith This is a rendition of the TV game show, Wheel of Fortune. It is played along the same lines as the children s game, Hang Man. The children may be divided into two or three teams. In preparation for the game, develop several clues pertaining to Bible characters, special places, special terms, etc., studied during the quarter. Sample Clue: When we see this, we think of Noah. Answer: R A I N B O W Put the one-word answer to each clue on the chalkboard, using a line to represent each letter in the word. One team at a time will be given the opportunity to guess a letter contained in the word. (Choose a different team member to answer each time.) If the team member guesses a letter correctly, his/her team may continue guessing. Continue play on each clue until a team completes the word or a designated time has elapsed. Bible Storyteller Have the children sit in a circle (or divide a large class into three groups). Place a tape recorder with a blank tape in the middle of the group(s). Choose one child to begin telling the creation story. Press record and give that child 30 seconds to speak. After that child s time is up, have him/her point to another student in the circle to continue telling the story. Repeat with the Adam and Eve story and then the Noah story (or give one story to each group). Save the tapes and play them during the Quarter Project open house. Memory Verse Towers Choose three or four memory verses from the quarter. Using the paper cups from Lesson 7 s Tower of Babel building activity, provide one cup for every one or two words in each verse. Write the words on the cups, alternating direction between the groups (i.e., for the first verse/group, all the cups in the tower face up, for the second verse/group, all the cups face down, in the third some go up and some go down, etc.). Divide the children into groups and mix up the cups for each verse/group. See which group can assemble their memory verse tower first, in correct order. Have the students read the verse aloud in unison. Redistribute the cups to the groups and play until each group has had a chance to build each tower. Animal Relay Have students stand in a line at the back of the classroom (or divide a large class into three lines). Place a pile of index cards with the words from a memory verse (or three piles with three different verses) at the front of the room. Each student will crawl across the floor while making an animal s noise (or, instead of letting students choose the animals, have one group be pigs, one dogs, etc.). Each student will take a card from the pile and run back to the end of the line. After all the cards are chosen, see how quickly students can line up holding the words to the memory verse(s) in the correct order Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 47

48 second grade the God of freedom First Quarter God Frees His People 1. Gn 6 9; Review: God s Covenant/ Noah, Abraham 2. Ex 1:6-22; 2:23-25 God s People Were Unhappy in Egypt 3. Ex 2 God Prepares a Leader for His People 4. Ex 3, 4 God Calls Moses to Free Israel 5. Ex 4:27-29; 5 10 Moses Shows Pharaoh God s Power 6. Ex 11, 12 The Passover 7. Ex 13:17-14:31 Passing Through the Water 8. Ex 1:6 14:31 QTR REVIEW: Pictorial Review Second Quarter Freedom With Rules 1. Ex 19, 20 The Ten Commandments 2. Ex 31:18-32 God s People Forget God 3. Lv 26 God s Plan for His People 4. Num 13 God s People Doubt His Promises 5. Dt 31:1-8; 34 God Chooses a New Leader 6. Jos 6 God s People Invade the Promised Land 7. Jos 23, 24 God s People Settle the Promised Land 8. Ex 19:1 31:32 QTR REVIEW: God s Great Love Show 2 Third Quarter Jesus Sets Us Free to Obey the Great Commandment, Life of Jesus, Part 3 1. Mt 5:1 28:18 Review: Jesus Life, Parts 1, 2 2. Mt 22:34-40 The Great Commandment 3. Mk 11:15-18; Free to Worship Heb 10:24, Tm 3:16 Free to Read God s Word 5. Mt 6:9-13 Free to Pray 6. Mt 25:35-46 Free to Care for Others 7. Jn 15:12-17 Free to Be Best Friends With Jesus 8. Mt 5:1 25:46 QTR REVIEW: Freedom Walk 48 Fourth Quarter Jesus Sets Us Free to Serve, Life of Jesus, Part 4 1. Lk 20:38-42 Ears Serve When They Listen 2. Jn 6: 1-15 Hands Serve When They Help 3. Lk 15:11-32 Love Serves When It Forgives 4. Mk 12:41-44 Money Serves When It Supports 5. Jn 3:1-7 Voices Serve When They Tell Others 6. Lk 10:1-3, 16, 21, Feet Serve When They Go to Tell Others 7. Jn 17:20-26 Christians Serve When They Unite 8. Yearly Review REVIEW: The Year-End Bible Fair

49 second grade THE GOD OF FREEDOM Introduction SESSION 1 ATTENTION GETTER and How-to Second Grade The God of Freedom Check out the Welcome to Biblical Choices Introduction and How-to. It tells Second Grade Bible Curriculum: you how to make the most of the The God of Freedom! quarter s lessons! We at Standard Publishing hope you will find this curriculum to be teacher-friendly and easy to use. It is our hope that over the next 32 weeks your Second Grade students will come to know and love the great God who sets us free. Overall Structure Second Grade is broken down into four quarters, each with its own theme: First God Frees His People ; Second Freedom with Rules ; Third Jesus Sets Us Free to Obey the Great Commandment ; Fourth Jesus Sets Us Free to Serve. Each quarter is broken into seven lessons and then a quarter project. LESSONS Each lesson is broken into four sessions: Session 1 Attention Getter ; Session 2 Bible Information ; Session 3 Student Action ; Session 4 Bold Choices. The sessions are designed to be presented sequentially; however, since most schools allot one day each week for chapel, the sessions are flexible enough to accommodate this day. Each teacher should present the sessions according to his/her school s set chapel day. Quarter Projects The last week of each quarter is devoted to a quarter project. These projects are designed to serve two purposes: for evaluation of students retention of each quarter s lessons (through different review games, memory verse challenges, etc.), and for presentation of material learned (through open houses, class performances, etc.). The four quarter projects featured in Second Grade are: First God Sets His People Free: A Pictorial Review ; Second God s Great Love TV Show ; Third Freedom Walk ; Fourth a Year-End Bible Fair. The quarter projects are flexible enough to work with any schedule and/or class size. Be sure to tailor these projects to best fit the needs of your students. MUSIC Second-graders need to express themselves through song, so each lesson usually incorporates singing, often more than once! On page 18 you will find a suggested music list consisting of praise choruses, carols, gospel songs, and hymns. The list is divided by quarter, indicating which songs will work best with each quarter. All song sheets, piano scores, and copyright information can be found on the CD-ROM, and, except where noted, one copy may be printed off and made into a transparency. The tracks available on the CD-ROM can be played either on a compact disc or by a computer. The CD-ROM contains many lesson helps and extras! PARENT LETTERS Each lesson includes a letter to the parents that should be sent home with each student after Session 1. These letters are a handy means of communication between you and your students parents regarding themes and memory verses studied during Bible, as well as ideas for reinforcing and supplementing Bible learning at home. Also, these letters inform parents of your need for volunteers for special projects and/or events, classroom needs, costumes, props, and/or pictures students need sent with them from home, etc. All parent letters are available on the CD-ROM and can 49

50 Biblical choices for a new generation easily be edited. You have the choice each quarter between two appropriate letterheads (one in black and white and one in color) into which you can import the text of each letter. Also, each parent letter is available in Spanish for your students who speak Spanish at home. More information about producing the parent letters is available on the CD-ROM. OPTIONS, OPTIONS, OPTIONS For those teachers who need extra activities, or are looking for some variety, we ve included several optional activities, sometimes three or four per lesson! These are designed to take learning one step further, usually through a hands-on experience, a trip outside, or a presentation from a guest speaker. Remember, no one has time Tailor lessons to fit your students needs and your teaching style! in life to do everything, especially busy teachers! So, try incorporating just one per lesson or two or three per quarter. See how your students like them and either schedule them again for next year, or try new ones. You might even develop some optional activities on your own great! Be sure to write them down (and share them with other teachers). TEACHER HELPS Before the first lesson of each quarter you will find a Bird s-eye View highlighting the goal of that quarter as well as providing an overview of each lesson and what students will learn. Also, you will find an Unusual Items Checklist highlighting some items you will need to furnish (and those you can encourage parents to furnish) for each lesson. Some lessons don t require any unusual items, and some require several, so be sure to refer to these pages often during your lesson planning. Before each lesson, you will find a Prep page that details materials and activity pages that need gathered before each session, as well as crafts you may need to provide samples for, and other reminders. Furthermore, depending on how you choose to structure your Teacher book, each lesson is designed such that you can remove from the binder only those pages you will need to refer to for each lesson. Be sure to assemble your Teacher book to best fit your needs. OTHER GOODIES We all like those, don t we? In addition to all of the above, you ll find special Notes areas in the Teacher book where you can record student reactions to specific activities, highlight what worked and what didn t from each lesson, etc. We hope these pages will inspire you and prepare you for entering the exciting realm of teaching the truths about God, His world, and His Word to thinking, feeling, questioning, loving, creating, being Second-graders! God s blessings to you as you lay the foundation for a lifetime of Bible learning for your students session by session, lesson by lesson, quarter by quarter, year by year Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

51 second grade fourth Quarter: jesus sets us free to serve Second Grade Fourth Quarter Quarter Goal: Love for God and for our neighbors must be translated into action in order to obey the great commandment. God gives us many ways and opportunities to serve others. A great overview of each quarter s goals pop up before the first lesson of every quarter to help you focus! LESSON 1: Ears Serve When They Listen This lesson will focus on the extreme importance of listening to instructions before acting. In order to please God with our thoughts, words, and deeds, we must first listen to His instructions as we read His inspired Word, the Bible, and then listen to the instructions of parents, teachers, and others God has set in authority over us. LESSON 2: Hands Serve When They Help This lesson will focus on our service to others. Our hands are the tools God gave us to carry out His will, but we must choose to help others. God can do amazing miracles in the lives of other people with our helping hands, just as the boy who had the five loaves and two fish was used as part of Jesus miracle. LESSON 3: Love Serves When It Forgives This lesson will focus on Jesus Parable of the Prodigal Son. In studying this famous parable, the reactions of the father and the elder brother will be contrasted to help the children see that love serves when it truly forgives and does not hold grudges. LESSON 4: Money Serves When It Supports This lesson will focus on the difference between a tithe and an offering, and the importance of giving both with a cheerful heart. The children will demonstrate their understanding of tithes and offerings by giving a portion of the money they will earn this week Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! LESSON 5: Voices Serve When They Tell Others About Jesus This lesson will focus on what it means to be the salt of the earth. To the children this may mean being different from others in the choices they make to obey God. This lesson will challenge the children to talk about their faith with others and encourage them that when they live godly lives, their example will attract others who want to know more about Jesus. LESSON 6: Feet Serve When They Go to Tell Others This lesson will focus on the account of the seventy-two men Jesus sent out to be His witnesses and announce that the kingdom of God had come. It will stress that second graders can be witnesses everywhere they go when they make the salt-filled choice to announce that Jesus came to teach us how to live. LESSON 7: Christians Serve When They Unite This lesson will focus on John 17, the Priestly Prayer. In this prayer, Jesus prays for all those who believe in Him to be bonded together and function as one, just as He and the Father are one. The children will see, through practice, that it is possible to be separate people, yet still be part of one unit; and when Christians work together, they can carry out the will of God on this earth. LESSON 8: The Year-End Bible Fair This quarter project provides a Bible Fair open to other grades, parents, and relatives, in which the second graders operate arts and crafts booths, narrate slides, role-play Bible characters, and entertain their guests through song. 51

52 Biblical choices for a new generation TEACHER SUPPLIED Second Grade Fourth Quarter This handy checklist at the beginning of each quarter helps you organize ahead. We ve made your list for you! Lesson 1 q Goodies, one treat per child q Cotton balls, two per child q 12" x 18" sheets of construction paper, two per child lesson 2 q Toothpaste and a toothbrush, a jar with a lid that unscrews, a shoe with laces, a banana (or orange) with the peel still on it, and an unopened Band-Aid q Five slices of bread and two cans of tuna q Optional: Snacks (i.e., sweet bread such as Hawaiian or raisin and gummy fish candies or goldfish crackers) lesson 3 q A clear large glass (or jar) q Two cups of water, red food coloring, and two cups of chlorine bleach q A container labeled Forgiveness q Chenille wires, one per child q Beads, buttons with large holes, or sprayed macaroni q Hot dogs, buns, chips, condiments, and soft drinks (enough for you, your class, and the parent volunteers) q Optional: Finger foods q Legal-size envelopes, one per child q A church representative to discuss tithes and offerings q A box labeled Offerings Lesson 5 q Unsalted soda crackers, three squares per child q Salted soda crackers, one square per child q Four plastic bags q Two containers of salt q Individual packages of salt (or salt in individual plastic sandwich bags) q Optional: Clear glitter q Optional: Props for the role play (See the list on page 314.) Lesson 6 q Legal-size envelopes, one per half of your class q 4" pieces of yarn, two per student Lesson 7 q Three school (or church) employees students may not know or know exactly what they do q Softball equipment q A Bible-times headdress q A pillow for kneeling Parent Supplied 52 Lesson 4 q Pennies, ten per child q An item to serve as a class bank (i.e., a decorated shoe box, etc.) q Cleaning products and materials (i.e., dust rags, brooms, window cleaner, etc.) q Small envelopes, one per child q Materials for the principal s cleanup assignment 2003 Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! lesson 2 q Optional: Tools for the service project lesson 3 q Optional: Parent helpers for Session 3 lesson 8 q Bible-times costumes, one per student

53 4 fourth Quarter SEcond grade L e s s o n 5 THE GOD OF freedom jesus sets us free to serve Everything you need to know to be on the right lesson plan! Voices Serve When They Tell Others About Jesus As the children focus on the meaning of being the salt of the earth, they will be encouraged to talk to others about their faith. 53

54 Biblical choices for a new generation L e s s o n P r e pa r at i o n LESSON FOCUS This lesson will focus on what it means to be the salt of the earth. To the children, this may mean being different from others in the choices they make to obey God. This lesson will challenge the children to talk about their faith with others and encourage them that when they live godly lives, their example will attract others who want to know more about Jesus. CHOICE TO BE MADE I won t be afraid to be different by the choices I make, and I will tell others how to make good choices, too. Weekly choices help students build values! jesus sets us free to serve attention getter Before Session 1 For Lesson 6, Session 4, prepare a missionary story to share with the children illustrating the concept of going out and telling the gospel to others. Provide unsalted soda crackers (three squares per child). Divide the total number of unsalted soda cracker squares into thirds and place them into three plastic bags. Provide salted soda crackers (one square per child). Note: To eliminate waste, it is best to buy the packages of single crackers rather than the large squares that need to be broken apart. Place all the salted soda cracker squares in one plastic bag. Provide Bibles, one per student. Provide the Parent letters for Lesson 5 (from CD-ROM). Bible Information Before Session 2 Provide a Bible. Provide the John 5:1-7 Crossword Puzzle worksheets, one per student (Student page 81). Provide pencils. Provide the Memory Verse Word Search pages, one per student (Student page 83). Student Action Before Session 3 Write the memory verse on the chalkboard. Set Prep up Lists a gluing station with two know containers what of you ll salt. need Cut out and the when sample pages for demonstrating need the it all booklet s assembly you ll to week the students. long! Provide the Saltshaker Booklet pages, one per child (Activity Pad page 91). Provide scissors. Provide a stapler. Provide glue. Bold Choices Before Session 4 Provide the Salt-filled Situations worksheets, one per student (Activity Pad page 93). Provide pencils. Provide individual packages of salt (or leftover salt from Session 3 put in plastic bags), several per student. Optional: Provide clear glitter in place of salt. Provide glue. Familiarize yourself with the role play situations provided and (optional) collect any props you might choose to use (i.e., a child s book bag filled with books, any kind of apparel that is appropriate for second graders, a toy that looks new and something to hide it in, and a children s version of the Bible) L e s s o n Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

55 second grade fourth Quarter: jesus sets us free to serve Lesson 5 SESSION 1 Scripture Text John 3:1-7 Memory Verse Matthew 5:13 You are the salt of the earth. Specific Objectives Taste the difference salt makes in a cracker. Discuss why Christians are to be the salt of the earth. Materials and Prep Three plastic bags filled with an equal amount of unsalted cracker squares One plastic bag filled with salted cracker squares Bibles, one per student Parent letters for Lesson 5 (from CD- ROM) Quick Overview ATTENTION GETTER 1. Discuss ways in which we can use our voices to serve God. 2. Conduct the cracker object lesson to introduce the lesson theme of being the salt of the earth. Daily overview of what you re doing for yourself or a substitute. 3. Teach the memory verse. 4. Close the lesson in prayer. Start Lesson Introduction As you know, we have been learning how Jesus has set us free to serve God and others. Last week you enjoyed earning some money, and then you gave a tithe back to the Lord. Some of you even gave Him an offering of more than just your tithe. Giving of our tithes and offerings is another way we can serve God and others! This week we will learn how our voices can serve God. Tell me some ways you can serve God with your voices. Singing, praying, telling the truth, telling others about Jesus, etc. Note: Remember the child who mentions telling others about Jesus. After you have finished brainstorming, ask this child to repeat his/her answer. Those are all very good ways to use our voices to serve God. Thank you all for your ideas. I d like to have Mention the child s name. tell us his/her way of using his/her voice to serve God, again. Let him/her repeat it again. That s exactly what we are going to be learning about this week. We are going to see how we can serve God with our voices by telling others about Jesus. Did you know that there are many different ways we can tell others about Jesus? Sharing a memory verse with someone is one way. Telling someone about your favorite Bible story is another way. Reminding your friends and family that Jesus loves 2003 Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! them and wants them to make good choices is even another way to tell others about Jesus. The Lesson Today we are going to be taste detectives. I am going to give you some crackers to taste, and I want to see if you can taste the difference between them. I m going to ask volunteers to pass out some crackers to you one at a time. Do not do anything with them until I tell you. When you get the crackers, put them on your desk in a line like this. Demonstrate with four crackers how they are to be lined up from top to bottom on the desk with the first cracker received at the top of the line. Note: It is recommended that you conduct this activity before recess since the children will want a drink afterwards. Follow this procedure: 1. Ask the children to clear their desktops, and then appoint four helpers to distribute the cracker squares to their classmates. Give each helper a bag of crackers and instruct him/her to give each classmate one cracker from his/her bag. 2. Line the helpers up and have them follow the leader as they distribute the crackers. Make sure the helper carrying the bag containing salted crackers is the last one to give each child a cracker. 3. Remind the children to line their crackers up as you demonstrated, and leave them that way until you give them further instructions. 55

56 Biblical choices for a new generation 4. Once all the crackers are distributed, tell the children that they need to be on the lookout for different-tasting crackers. Instruct them to take a bite of the first cracker. 5. Discuss its taste. 6. Instruct them to take a bite of the second cracker and discuss its taste. Repeat these instructions for the third cracker. 7. Instruct them to taste the last cracker (hopefully, it s the salted one), and then discuss their discovery. Did any of you notice anything different about the taste of any of the crackers? Which one had a different taste? Why? Student response. Have you ever tasted something that had too much salt in it? Have you ever tasted something that needed more salt? Salt gives things a different taste; it usually makes things taste better! You may be wondering what salt has to do with serving God with our voices. Jesus told His disciples, You are the salt of the earth. Does that sound like a strange thing to say? Let s open our Bibles to Matthew 5:13 and read more about this. Read it with me. You are the of the earth. Let them insert the word salt and then continue reading the remainder of the verse. This is our memory verse for the week and it means that we are supposed to be different from other people in the way we live. The people of Israel were set apart. What did God give to the people to set them apart from others? The Ten Commandments and other special laws. God wanted His people to be holy and to live righteous lives so that others would want to be just like them and worship the one true God. Being set apart and being the salt of the earth really mean the same thing. In the verse we just read, Jesus told the disciples that if the salt lost its flavor, it would be no longer good for anything. What He meant by this is true for all of us who love Jesus today. We are supposed to be different from other people who don t love Jesus. It s like the crackers we just tasted: the one cracker with the salt on it was easy to pick out because it was different from the others. It tasted so good, you wanted more just like it. People should be able to tell we love Jesus because we make different choices: choices that stand out because they please God and serve others. When we make these different or salt-filled kinds of choices, some people will notice and want to know more about why obeying Jesus is so important to us. This is when we get the opportunity to use our voices to serve God. When we tell people that the reason we make right choices is because we love God and want to obey Him, we are serving God with our voices and teaching others how to serve Him, too. This week we will read a story about a man who went to Jesus secretly to ask Him about making better choices. We ll learn how Jesus used His voice to show this man the truth... just like you and I can use our voices to show people the truth when we choose to be the salt of the earth. Start thinking about being the salt of the earth. Can your friends tell you love Jesus by the choices you make? Do you use your voice to serve God by telling others about Jesus and how He wants us to live? I hope by the end of this week we can all answer yes to both of those questions. Close in prayer, thanking God that we can become the salt of the earth ; and ask Him to help us to be different by the choices we make. Send home the Parent letters for Lesson 5. End Lesson Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

57 second grade fourth Quarter: jesus sets us free to serve Lesson 5 SESSION 2 BIBLE INFORMATION Scripture Text John 3:1-7 Memory Verse Matthew 5:13 You are the salt of the earth. Specific Objectives Complete a crossword puzzle. Sing songs. Listen for clues during the Bible story. Complete a memory verse worksheet. Memory Verse Technique Memory Verse Word Search Materials and Prep A Bible John 3:1-7 Crossword Puzzle worksheets, one per student (Student page 81) Pencils Memory Verse Word Search pages, one per student (Student page 83) Quick Overview 1. Tell the Bible story. Instruct the students to listen carefully so they ll know the answers to the crossword puzzle clues. 2. Distribute the puzzle worksheets. 3. Review the answers to the crossword puzzle as a class. 4. Distribute the Memory Verse Word Search pages and complete the activity. 5. Close by singing any of the suggested songs. Start Start Lesson Introduction This week we experienced the difference that salt makes and we talked about being the salt of the earth. Did any of you feel like you were the salt of the earth by the different choices you made this week? Did any of you get to use your voices to serve God? Student response. Today we re going to learn about a man who came to Jesus at night to ask Him about being born again. We will see how Jesus used His voice, too! As I tell you the Bible story, be sure to pay attention because at the end of it, I am going to give you a crossword puzzle to work. The answers to your puzzle are in the story, so listen carefully. The Lesson Our Bible story is found in John 3:1-7. Turn to the text. Before I read the story, let me tell you a little bit about what was going on in Jerusalem at the time this man came to Jesus one special night. How many of you remember what the Passover celebration was? Can someone tell me why the Jews celebrated this holiday? Student response. The Passover was one of the biggest and most important celebrations to the Jews, and many, many people traveled from far away just to spend this holiday in the city of Jerusalem. To the Jews in Jesus time, the city of Jerusalem was like New York City is to us. It was their favorite city... and it still is for the Jews today. As you know, Jesus spent a lot of time around the city of Jerusalem, speaking to the crowds and performing miracles. Now back to our story. It was during the Passover celebration that one very important man happened to be watching and listening to Jesus as He ministered to the people. This man noticed that Jesus taught very different ideas than the other religious leaders and that He treated the people differently, too. He decided he wanted to talk to Jesus and ask Him questions about how to live for God. This man s name was Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a very important Jewish leader. It says in the Bible that Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. Some believe that Nicodemus waited until night because he didn t want any of the other Pharisees to see him talking with Jesus Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 57

58 Biblical choices for a new generation It says in verse two... Read John 3:2. What Nicodemus was saying was, Jesus, you are a teacher who has come from God, because no one but God himself could do the things you do, or make the choices you make. Then Jesus said to Nicodemus... Read John 3:3. Jesus knew that Nicodemus really wanted to please God and that God had blessings for His people. Jesus told Nicodemus he had to be born again. Nicodemus did not understand this, so he asked Jesus to explain what He meant. Listen to what Nicodemus asked Jesus. Read John 3:4. I think that s a good question! I would have asked the very same thing if I were Nicodemus. Being born again as a little baby is impossible! But Jesus told Nicodemus what He meant by being born again in verses five, six, and seven. Read the John 3:5-7. Jesus was telling Nicodemus that he had to start making new choices. As a result of being reborn, we will make new choices that are different from choices we used to make. We will think about pleasing God more than we think about pleasing ourselves. We will want to obey Him instead of making sinful choices that someone else wants us to make. To be born again means that we will start making the choices that Jesus would make. We become the salt of the earth. Just as Jesus used His voice to tell Nicodemus he must be born again, we can use our voices to tell others the same thing. Our voices can serve God when we tell others why we are different... why we believe that following Jesus is the right choice. The Now, memory let s see how verse well you were listening technique to the makes Bible story. it I ll give you easy your for crossword students puzzles to now, and in memorize a few minutes, Scripture. we ll go over the answers together as a class. Distribute the John 3:1-7 Crossword Puzzles and pencils. Allow students time to complete the puzzles. Teacher s Key to the John 3:1-7 Crossword Puzzle Across Down 2. earth 1. Jesus 4. Nicodemus 3. reborn 6. night 4. new 8. choices 5. Pharisee 9. voice 7. serve Memory Verse Technique Follow this procedure: 1. Distribute the Memory Verse Word Search pages. 2. Allow students time to complete the worksheet. Then discuss the worksheet as a class. 3. Close by singing any of the suggested songs. You are the salt of the ear th End Lesson Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

59 second grade fourth Quarter: jesus sets us free to serve Lesson 5 SESSION 3 Scripture Text John 3:1-7 Memory Verse Matthew 5:13 You are the salt of the earth. Specific Objectives Make Saltshaker Booklets. Discuss the contents of the booklets. Materials and Prep Write the memory verse on the chalkboard. Set up a gluing station with two containers of salt. Sample pages ready to be assembled Saltshaker Booklet pages, one per student (Activity Pad page 91) Scissors A stapler Quick Overview 1. Explain the purpose behind the Saltshaker Booklet and demonstrate the assembly of the booklet using your sample pages. Write the memory verse across the blank pages in the center of the booklet. 2. Distribute the Saltshaker Booklet pages and scissors. Supervise as the children cut out their booklet pages and put them in order. Staple each child s booklet. 3. Discuss the booklet pages. 4. Let the children illustrate the inside of their booklets. 5. Send the children to the gluing station to apply glue and salt to the cover of their booklets. STUDENT ACTION Start Start Lesson Introduction Telling others about Jesus and helping them know how to make good choices is not always easy to do. These things take practice. The more we practice something, the easier it is for us to do it. Today we are going to make a little booklet that will help you practice telling others about Jesus. The Lesson Use your sample pages to assemble the booklet. Go as far as showing the students how to staple the pages and where to write the memory verse. Distribute the Saltshaker Booklet pages and scissors. I m giving each of you a page that has all of your booklet pages on it. Cut the pages out by cutting on the dotted lines. When you have finished cutting out each page, stack your pages on top of each other in the order they are numbered with page #1 on top. Once you have the pages cut out and stacked on top of each other correctly, I will staple them together for you. Follow this procedure: 1. Circulate among the children assisting them as they cut out the booklet pages and put them in order. Staple each child s booklet for him/ her as he/she completes it. 2. Instruct the children to copy the memory verse from the chalkboard into the inside back cover. Also have them sign their names on the back page. 3. Spend the next several minutes reading the booklets together as a class. Discuss how students can present their booklets to others. 4. Instruct students to illustrate each page on its back. Miniatures of the Student and Activity Pad pages, along with the lesson helps, show just what you need for each lesson! 2003 Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 59

60 Biblical choices for a new generation 5. Go to the gluing station and demonstrate how the children are to spread a small amount of glue around the words on the front covers of the booklets, then sprinkle some salt from the containers onto the glued covers. Allow the booklets to dry. 6. Encourage the children to share their booklets with their families. These booklets will help you practice telling people about Jesus. To start with, show your Saltshaker Booklet to your parents. When they look at the covers of your little booklets and see the salt and the words, I am the salt of the earth, they will want to know what s inside. That s when you can use your voices to serve God. Just open your booklets and tell them, page by page, all you know about being the salt of the earth. End Lesson Using our voices to praise God is a good choice Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

61 second grade fourth Quarter: jesus sets us free to serve Lesson 5 SESSION 4 Scripture Text John 3:1-7 Memory Verse Matthew 5:13 You are the salt of the earth. Specific Objectives Choose which cartoons on a worksheet depict a salt-filled choice. Solve problems by offering godly advice. Sing favorite lesson songs. Materials and Prep Salt-filled Situations worksheets, one per student (Activity Pad page 93) Pencils Packets of salt (or salt individually wrapped in plastic bags) Optional: Clear glitter Glue Optional: Props for the role plays Quick Overview 1. Distribute the Salt-filled Situations worksheets and needed materials. Give directions for completing the worksheets. 2. Collect the completed worksheets and set them aside to dry. 3. Introduce the activity by telling the children that you will be acting out situations that show children making bad choices. Use the situations listed or create your own. 4. Close the lesson by singing any of the students favorite songs and with prayer. BOLD CHOICES Start Start Lesson Introduction Today I am going to give you a test to see if you have learned what it means to use your voices to serve God. This test is going to be different from any Bible lesson test you ve ever taken. There will be two parts to the test. The first part will be on worksheets; the second part will be a speaking test. You will need your pencils for the worksheets, but you will only need them to write your names on the back of your papers. After that, you will set your pencils aside and finish your worksheets by using glue and salt. The Lesson Distribute the Salt-filled Situations worksheets, pencils, glue, and salt. Optional: Distribute clear glitter. though, you ll see a difference. Who can tell me what s different about these first two cartoons? Point to the cartoons. The words that the cartoon characters are saying are not the same. In one cartoon, a character is using his/ her voice to serve God. In the other cartoon, the character is making a bad choice. Look at the top two cartoons on your test and decide which one shows a character who is serving God with his/her voice. When you choose the correct cartoon, you may smear a little bit of glue somewhere inside that cartoon square, and then sprinkle some salt on top of the glue. Can anyone guess why I want you to pour salt on these cartoons? The character in that cartoon is being salt-filled by the way he or she talks. When you finish the top two cartoons, go to the middle ones, and then to the bottom ones. There are three pairs of cartoons on the page, so you will put salt on three cartoons. When you have finished, I will collect your tests and lay them aside to dry. After all have finished the Salt-filled Situations worksheets, explain the speaking portion of the test. Now, I m going to test you a little You will notice that there are cartoons bit more. During this part of the test, on your worksheets. You ll also I am going to pretend to be someone notice that the cartoons that are side about your age who is making bad by side look the same. choices. I am also going to pretend that I don t know about Jesus. As you Point to the three similar cartoons. watch me act out these parts, I want you to be thinking about the choices If you look carefully at them, I am making. Then I will give you Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

62 Biblical choices for a new generation an opportunity to tell me how to make better choices, or tell me a little about Jesus. When you think you have something to tell me, just raise your hand and I will call on you. Why are those good choices? Student response. Situation #2: What could I have said or done differently that would have been a better choice? Student response. 62 Optional: Have the children put their heads down on their desks while you are putting on any props or placing them in the room. Situation #1: Give the following background information to the children: I am walking to school one day and I see a group of bullies pushing a new kid around. The boy is crying and yelling for me to come and help him. I run up to the bullies and start calling them names and try to pull them away from the new kid. You are across the street watching all this happen. Spend a few moments developing the situation through dialogue and pantomime. Act out several poor choices before you call on a child who has his/her hand raised. Encourage the children to address you and comment on your behavior as if they were actually speaking to a peer., [Student s name] you have your hand raised. As you were watching me from across the street, what bad choices did you see me make? Student response. What are some good choices I could have made? Wait for a response from the same child or from another volunteer. Give the following background information to the children: I am walking around in a toy store. I see something I want, and I steal it. You are watching this happen. Once again, let your creativity lead you. Act out several poor choices before you call on a child who has his/her hand raised and ask the same questions you asked in Situation #1. Situation #3: Give the following background information to the children: One night my cousin, who is two years older than I, comes over to our house for dinner. Before we sit down to eat, we are playing in my room with another one of my friends. My cousin spots my Bible and starts making fun of me. He has never been to church, but he thinks people who love Jesus are strange because they like church so much. You are the friend who is playing with us in the room. Act out several poor choices before you call on a child., [Student s name] you have your hand raised. What bad choices did you see me make when my cousin started making fun of Christians? Student response Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! What could I have said about church and the Bible that might have changed my cousin s mind? Student response. Situation #4: Give the following background information to the children: I have been told by my parents to stay away from the boarded-up house on Elm Street. But one day after school, a bunch of my friends dare me to go in the house with them by sneaking in the back window. I decide to disobey my parents and go into the house anyway to show my friends I m not afraid. As I am climbing through the window, I tear a big hole in my shirt. My mom will see it for sure when she does the laundry. You were watching us from your house next door and you saw the whole thing. Again, develop the situation by acting out some bad choices the child makes once he/she gets home. Call on one or two more children to tell you what your bad choices were, why they were bad, and what better salt-filled choices Jesus would want you to make. With any remaining lesson time, sing one or two of the children s favorite songs. Close with a prayer time and a challenge to the children to think of themselves as the salt of the earth when they obey Jesus. End Lesson

63 second grade fourth Quarter: jesus sets us free to serve Lesson 5 Notes 2001 Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 63

64 Weekly letters help parents be involved in what their child is studying. 64

65 Parent Letters are available in Spanish, too! 65

66 third grade the God of choices First Quarter Important People Make Important Choices 1. Ex through Jos Review: Exodus to the Promised Land 2. Jgs 1:1 3:6 Judges: Sowing and Reaping 3. Jgs 4:1 5:31 Deborah Leads God s People 4. Jgs 6:1 8:35 Gideon and His Faithful Army 5. Jgs Samson Learns a Hard Lesson 6. Ru Ruth s Love for Her Family Is Rewarded 7. 1 Sm 1:1 4:1 Young Samuel Serves God 8. Jgs 1:1 16; Ru QTR REVIEW: Bible Heroes Hall of Fame Second Quarter Kingly Choices in the New Land 1. 1 Sm 4 10 A Stolen Ark and Stolen Hearts 2. 1 Sm King Saul Makes Unwise Choices 3. 1 Sm 16; Psalm 23 A Shepherd Becomes King 4. 1 Sm 17; Psalm 27 David s Faith Defeats Goliath 5. 1 Sm 18:1 20:42 David s Friendships Shape His Life 6. 2 Sm 11, 12 King David s Sin Hurts Many People 7. 1 Sm 24, 26; King David: The Warrior King! 2 Sm 14, 16, 18; Ps(s) 18, 21:1, 44:6 3 Third Quarter The Choice of Jesus 1. Various Texts Review: Jesus Life, Parts 3, 4 2. Mt 26: Jesus Shares the Last Supper 3. Mt 26:31 27:11 Jesus in the Garden and On Trial 4. Jn 18:29 19:30 The Blood of the Lamb Sets Us Free 5. Mt 27:61-66, 28:1-8 Jesus Lives Again: The Good News! 6. Rv 3:20 Responding to Jesus: Your Choice 7. Mt 28:16-20 Jesus Gives the Great Commission 8. Mt 26:26 28:20 QTR REVIEW: Journey to Jesus Fourth Quarter The Young Church Tells the Good News 1. Acts 1:1-14 Jesus Goes to Be With God 2. Acts 2:1-13 Pentecost: The Holy Spirit Comes 3. Acts 2:14-47; 3:1-26 Peter and the First Church 4. Acts 9:32-43; 10:1-48 God Supports the Apostles With Miracles 5. Acts 6, 7 Stephen Sees Jesus Before He Dies 6. Acts 7:60 8:4; 9:1, 2 Saul Tries to Destroy the New Church 7. Acts 9:1-12; 22:14-20 Saul Meets Jesus on the Road 8. Yearly Review REVIEW: The Year-End Bible Fair 66

67 THIRD grade THE GOD OF choices Introduction SESSION 1 ATTENTION GETTER and How-to Third Grade The God of Choices Check out the Welcome to Biblical Choices Introduction and How-to. It tells Third Grade Bible Curriculum: you how to make the most of the The God of Choices! quarter s lessons! We at Standard Publishing hope you will find this curriculum to be teacher-friendly and easy to use. It is our hope that over the next 32 weeks your Third Grade students will come to know and love the great God who helps us make good choices. Overall Structure Third Grade is broken down into four quarters, each with its own theme: First Important People Make Important Choices ; Second Kingly Choices in the New Land ; Third Choosing Jesus Sets Us Free ; Fourth The Young Church Tells the Good News. Each quarter is broken into seven lessons and then a quarter project. LESSONS Each lesson is broken into four sessions: Session 1 Attention Getter ; Session 2 Bible Information ; Session 3 Student Action ; Session 4 Bold Choices. The sessions are designed to be presented sequentially; however, since most schools allot one day each week for chapel, the sessions are flexible enough to accommodate this day. Each teacher should present the sessions according to his/her school s set chapel day. Quarter Projects The last week of each quarter is devoted to a quarter project. These projects are designed to serve two purposes: for evaluation of students retention of each quarter s lessons (through different review games, memory verse challenges, etc.), and for presentation of material learned (through open houses, class performances, etc.). The four quarter projects featured in Third Grade are: First Heroes Hall of Fame ; Second Psalms of Praise ; Third Road to the Cross Advent Chart ; Fourth a Year-End Bible Fair. The quarter projects are flexible enough to work with any schedule and/or class size. Be sure to tailor these projects to best fit the needs of your students. MUSIC Third-graders need to express themselves through song, so each lesson usually incorporates singing, often more than once! On page 20 you will find a suggested music list consisting of praise choruses, carols, gospel songs, and hymns. The list is divided by quarter, indicating which songs will work best with each quarter. All song sheets, piano scores, and copyright information can be found on the CD-ROM, and, except where noted, one copy may be printed off and made into a transparency. The tracks available on the CD-ROM can be played either on a compact disc player or by a computer. The CD-ROM contains many lesson helps and extras! PARENT LETTERS Each lesson includes a letter to the parents that should be sent home with each student after Session 1. These letters are a handy means of communication between you and your students parents regarding themes and memory verses studied during Bible, as well as ideas for reinforcing and supplementing Bible learning at home. Also, these letters inform parents of your need for volunteers for special projects and/or events, classroom needs, costumes, props, and/or pictures students need sent with them from home, etc. All parent letters are 2003 Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 67

68 Biblical choices for a new generation available on the CD-ROM and can easily be edited. You have the choice each quarter between two appropriate letterheads (one in black and white and one in color) into which you can import the text of each letter. Also, each parent letter is available in Spanish for your students who speak Spanish at home. More information about producing the parent letters is available on the CD-ROM. OPTIONS, OPTIONS, OPTIONS For those teachers who need extra activities or are looking for some variety, we ve included several optional activities, sometimes three or four per lesson! These are designed to take learning one step further, usually through a hands-on experience, a trip outside, or a presentation from a guest speaker. Remember, no one has time in life to do everything, especially busy teachers! So, try incorporating just one per lesson or two or three per quarter. See how your students like them and either schedule them again for next year or try new ones. You might even develop some optional activities on your own great! Be sure to write them down (and share them with other teachers). TEACHER HELPS Before the first lesson of each quarter you will find a Bird s-eye View highlighting the goal of that quarter as well as providing an overview of each lesson and what students will learn. Also, you will find an Unusual Items Checklist highlighting some items you will need to furnish (and those you can encourage parents to furnish) for each lesson. Some lessons don t require any unusual items, and some require several, so be sure to refer to these pages often during your lesson planning. Before each lesson, you will find a Prep page that details materials and activity pages that need gathered before each session, as well as crafts you may need to provide samples for, and other reminders. Furthermore, depending on how you choose to structure your Teacher book, each lesson is designed so that you can remove from the binder only those pages you will need to refer to for each lesson. Be sure to assemble your Teacher book to best fit your needs. OTHER GOODIES We all like those, don t we? In addition to all of the above, you ll find special Notes areas in the Teacher book where you can record student reactions to specific activities, highlight what worked and what didn t from each lesson, etc. We hope these pages will inspire you and prepare you for entering the exciting realm of teaching the truths about God, His world, and His Word to thinking, feeling, questioning, loving, creating, being Third-graders! God s blessings to you as you lay the foundation for a lifetime of Bible learning for your students session by session, lesson by lesson, quarter by quarter, year by year. Tailor lessons to fit your students needs and your teaching style! Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

69 THIRD grade first Quarter: important people Make important choices Third Grade First Quarter Quarter Goal: This quarterís lessons will present the concepts of faith and obedience as displayed in the lives and choices of the men and women who reigned as Israelís judges or, as in the case of Ruth, lived during that portion of Bible history. A great overview of each quarter s goals pops up before the first lesson of every quarter to help you focus! Lesson 1: review of Second Grade: Exodus to the Promised Land This lesson will focus on reviewing the details of the exodus out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses, through the settling of the promised land under Joshua s command. God s faithful guidance and provision for His people during this span of history will be highlighted, as well as the principle that absolute obedience to God s commands is required in order to experience the fulfillment of His promises. Lesson 2: Judges: Sowing and Reaping This lesson will focus on the cycle of the Israelites relationship with God, i.e., disobedience that resulted in God allowing their enemies to make life hard for them, resulting in their cries for help, resulting in God s provision of a judge to help them, and then back to disobedience again and a repeat of the cycle once the judge died. The choice to disobey God had serious consequences for Israel as it has for us in our lives today. The terms sowing and reaping will be introduced as they pertain to choices and results. Lesson 3: Deborah Leads God s People This lesson will focus on God s selection of leaders for His people. The children will discover that when God chooses leaders for His people, He wants leaders who choose to obey Him. God uses both men and women to complete His purposes, and He expects both sexes to work together respectfully Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! Lesson 4: Gideon and His Faithful Army This lesson will focus on the Biblical account of the life of Gideon. The children will be led to discover that even if we think we aren t very important, God can still use us to lead others if we are willing to obey Him and demonstrate our faith. Lesson 5: samson Learns a Hard Lesson This lesson will focus on the truth that even though God forgives our sin, our lives can still fall short of their potential when we make wrong choices. Such was the case in the life of Samson. He was ordained by God at birth to deliver the Israelites from the Philistines, yet despite his God-given talents and strength, he succumbed to the temptations of the flesh and brought about his own ruin. Lesson 6: ruth s Love for Her Family Is Rewarded This lesson will focus on teaching the children that caring for our families is one of the most important choices we can make, and that God will always reward this choice with blessings. Lesson 7: Young Samuel Serves God This lesson will introduce the students to Samuel, the boy who grew up to be a great prophet and the last judge of Israel. They will be challenged to serve the Lord in their youth as Samuel did. Lesson 8: The Heroes Hall of Fame As the students review the lessons presented in the first quarter, special emphasis will be placed upon using biblical heroes as roll models for their lives today. 69

70 Biblical choices for a new generation Third Grade First Quarter This handy checklist at the beginning of each quarter helps you organize ahead. We ve made your list for you! teacher supplied Lesson 1 q Yarn q Refreshments for the Milk and Honey party (cups, milk, bread, butter, honey) q Plastic knives and napkins Lesson 2 q Invite women guest speakers for Lesson 3. q Items for the seed-planting activity: plastic cups, one per student; lima beans, one per student; premoistened potting soil, ½ cup per student; several tablespoons for scooping the soil q An umbrella Lesson 3 q Female guest speakers to talk about their jobs q Straws, one per student q 12" x 18" sheets of construction paper, one per student Lesson 4 q Optional: Pictures of your favorite contemporary Christian hero/ heroine and his/her work q Optional: Five pieces of poster board q Optional: An easel q A man s shirt box wrapped in gift paper with a mirror inside the top lid Lesson 5 q Optional: Arrange to weed a flower bed located on the school grounds. q A tray of snacks, one of each per child q Nonedible items for the tray: a brown banana or apple slice, a few used matches, a piece of a crayon, a used paper towel, a glob of glue on a scrap of paper, and a broken pencil Lesson 6 q Props for Ruth monologue: a basket, dried flowers or wheat, an apron, a shawl q Optional: Decorative materials (felt pieces, brass buttons, macaroni, and braided trim) Lesson 8 q Optional: Modeling clay q Several sheets of construction paper in different colors q Optional: Roll paper q Optional: Refreshments for the exhibit Parent Supplied Lesson 1 q Optional: Volunteers to help with the Milk and Honey party Lesson 2 q Optional: A volunteer to assist with the seed-planting activity in Session Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

71 1 first Quarter t h i r d g r a d e L e s s o n 1 THE GOD OF choices important people make important choices Everything you need to know to be on the right lesson plan! Review of Second Grade: Exodus to the Promised Land As the children review the leadership of Moses and Joshua, they will be reminded of God s faithful guidance and provision during this span of history. 71

72 Biblical choices for a new generation 72 L e s s o n P r e pa r at i o n Lesson Focus This lesson will focus on reviewing the details of the exodus out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses, through the settling of the promised land under Joshua s command. God s faithful guidance and provision for His people during this span of history will be highlighted, as well as the principle that absolute obedience to God s commands is required in order to experience the fulfillment of His promises. Choice to be made I will follow God s direction for my life. Weekly choices help students build values! important people make important choices 1 L e s s o n 1 attention getter Before Session 1 Optional: Ask parent volunteers to help with the Milk and Honey party during Session 4. Write the names of the twelve tribes on the board. (See the list on page 12.) Provide a Bible. Provide twelve flags from flags.pdf (from CD-ROM). Make a large poster showing a map of the land of Canaan. Use plandmap. pdf (from CD-ROM) and one of the blank transparencies for the plain paper copier from your kit to make a map. You can enlarge it by using an overhead projector. Mount this poster on a bulletin board or any other available space in your classroom. The poster should be large enough for the twelve tribal flags to fit in their respective territories. Note: This map will also be used in Lesson 2. Provide twelve pastel-colored markers. Provide the Parent letters for Lesson 1 (from CD-ROM). Bible Information Before Session 2 Select twelve locations on your campus to stop at on a mock journey to the promised land. You will visit three stops during Session 2, six during Session 3, and three during Session 4. Suggested locations are as follows: any four corners of the playground or parking lot, outside another classroom, the school office and/or the church sanctuary, the auditorium or fellowship hall, the lunch area, and then back to your own classroom as the last stop Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! Provide exodus.pdf (from CD-ROM). Place it over your door so the children pass under it on their way out. Using red construction paper, cut Prep Lists shapes to resemble blotches of know what you ll blood. Tape them around the door need and when frame of your classroom door. you ll need it all Provide the tribal flags (from Session week long! 1). Provide moses.pdf and aaron.pdf (from CD-ROM). Tie a piece of yarn to the top two edges of each sign so that they can be worn around children s necks. Provide Bibles, one per student. Provide the Exodus 6:7 Map pages, one per student (Student page 3). Provide pencils, one per student. Student Action Before Session 3 Provide the tribal flags (from Session 2). Provide moses.pdf and aaron.pdf (from Session 2). Provide joshua.pdf (from CD-ROM). Tape it to the back of moses.pdf. Bold Choices Before Session 4 Provide the refreshments for a Milk and Honey party (i.e., cups, milk, bread, butter, honey). Note: The party may be modified in any way that works best for you, including substituting small candy treats for the above mentioned refreshments. Provide plastic knives and napkins. Provide welcome.pdf (from CD-ROM). Optional: Arrange for one of the parent volunteers to hang the sign above the classroom after the tribes have left. Provide tribal flags (from Session 3). Provide joshua.pdf (from Session 3). Provide pushpins or tape for attaching the tribal flags to the map of Canaan.

73 third grade first Quarter: important people make important choices Lesson 1 SESSION 1 Scripture Text Selected passages from Exodus through Joshua Memory Verse Exodus 6:7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. Specific Objectives Divide into groups representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Color a large map of the promised land. Participate in a tribal roll call. Sing songs. Materials and Prep The names of the twelve tribes of Israel written on the chalkboard A Bible Twelve flags from flags.pdf (from CD-ROM) Plandmap.pdf, hung somewhere in the classroom (from CD-ROM) Twelve pastel-colored markers Parent letters for Lesson 1 (from CD-ROM) Quick Overview 1. Review the lessons from Second Grade. ATTENTION GETTER 2. Distribute the tribal flags. 3. Color the map of the promised land. Daily overview of what you re doing for yourself or a substitute. 4. Participate in a tribal role call. 5. Sing any of the suggested songs. Start Lesson Introduction Here we are, starting our thirdgrade year of Bible lessons, and we are in for an exciting time! This year we will meet some very great Old Testament Bible heroes such as Deborah, Samson, Samuel, and King David. We ll learn about the choices they made, and how those choices made their lives happy or miserable. Then, as we study the New Testament, we will learn about the incredible choice Jesus made when He chose to go to the cross to die for our sins. There are many things for us to find out this year, and I am really eager to get started; but, before we move ahead in Bible history, we have to look back and see where we ve been. You learned many things in second grade about the people of Israel, how they escaped from Egypt and began their journey to the land of Canaan. You studied the lives of Moses and Joshua, the men God chose to lead the people of Israel into the promised land. God had spoken about the promised land to their forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob many years earlier. Open your Bible and show the class where the book of Exodus begins and where the book of Joshua ends. These pages in the Bible contain the miraculous story of God s people from the time they suffered as slaves in Egypt to the time the twelve tribes of Israel entered the promised land and settled there. This week we are going to review the main parts of this story in a very special way. We re going to divide our class into groups which will represent the twelve tribes of Israel. Then we will go on our very own journey in search of the promised land. The Lesson How did the people of Israel come to be divided into twelve tribes? We have to go way back in Bible history to answer that question. I m sure most of you remember learning about Abraham. He was a great man of faith who was told by God that he would someday become the father of a nation as numerous as the stars in the sky. Abraham s son Isaac grew up, married, and had a family. One of Isaac s sons, Jacob (whose name was changed to Israel meaning prince with God ), had twelve sons of his own. These twelve sons of Jacob became the heads of large families or tribes. These tribes, except for the priestly tribe of Levi, eventually settled in different territories once they entered the promised land. Divide the children into twelve groups/tribes. Refer to the list on the chalkboard as you assign each tribe its tribal name. I am going to give each tribe a flag to put their tribe s name on. Then each tribe will take turns coloring a portion of the map of the land of Canaan where the twelve tribes of Israel settled. Later this week we will attach our tribal flags on the map where they belong Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 73

74 Biblical choices for a new generation Follow this procedure: 1. Distribute the flags from flags.pdf and pastel markers. It sounds to me like we re ready for a journey. Now that we know who is going on this journey to the promised land, and we know where we are going, all that is left is for us to go! Point to plandmap.pdf. 3. After the map has been colored in, conduct the tribal roll call. Our journey begins later on in the week, so be ready for a great adventure! I will collect your flags now, and we will use them again. To get ourselves in a traveling mood, let s sing some songs that will help us remember how wonderful God is, and how much He loves His people. 2. Assign each tribe a territory to color a specific pastel shade until the entire map is colored in. Also have the students name and color their flags. Now that all of our tribes are complete, we will have a tribal roll call. As I call your name, wave your flag and cheer. 1. The tribe of Asher 2. The tribe of Naphtali 3. The tribe of Manasseh 4. The tribe of Zebulun 5. The tribe of Issachar 6. The tribe of Gad 7. The tribe of Ephraim 8. The tribe of Dan 9. The tribe of Benjamin 10. The tribe of Judah 11. The tribe of Reuben 12. The tribe of Simeon Sing any of the suggested songs. Send home the Parent letters for Lesson 1. End Lesson Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

75 third grade first Quarter: important people make important choices Lesson 1 SESSION 2 BIBLE INFORMATION Scripture Text Selected passages from Exodus through Joshua Memory Verse Exodus 6:7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. Specific Objectives mock journey to the promised land. Travel around the school in tribes on a Take turns pretending to be Moses and Aaron who lead the class while on the journey. Read the memory verse from the Bible. Write the memory verse on a worksheet. Memory Verse Technique Exodus 6:7 Map Materials and Prep Three locations for the journey around the campus Exodus.pdf, mounted above your classroom doorway (from CD-ROM) Red construction paper blotches of blood taped around the door frame Tribal flags (from Session 1) Moses.pdf and aaron.pdf made into signs (from CD-ROM) Yarn Bibles, one per student Exodus 6:7 Map pages, one per student (Student page 3) Pencils, one per student Quick Overview 1. Divide the class into twelve tribes, line them up, and give them their tribal flags (from Session 1). 2. Give the leading pair of children moses.pdf and aaron.pdf to wear, and exit the classroom singing any of the suggested songs. 3. With Moses and Aaron leading, go to the first destination and begin your review of Exodus. 4. Change leaders and continue through two more stops before returning to the classroom. 5. Introduce this week s memory verse and have the students locate it in their Bibles. 6. Distribute the Exodus 6:7 Map pages and have the children write their memory verse at the bottom. Start Lesson Introduction No doubt you ve noticed something different today about our classroom doorway. What does the sign above the door say? Exodus [Insert exodus.pdf (from CD-ROM)] The word exodus should remind you of another word that you frequently see above doors in many public places. What word am I talking about? Exit Exit is our English word for a way to go out. Exodus is the Greek word for the same idea. Today is the day we will begin our journey to the promised land. How did that journey begin? It began when God gave the Israelites a way out of Egypt, an exodus, with Moses as their leader, and Aaron, Moses brother, as his helper. A group of people can t go anywhere without being organized, so let s line up as the twelve tribes of Israel before we begin our journey. Have the class line up by tribes and distribute their flags (from Session 1). We need our leaders to go in front of us. Place moses.pdf and aaron.pdf around the necks of the first pair of children. [Insert moses.pdf (from CD Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 75

76 Biblical choices for a new generation [Insert aaron.pdf (from CD- Before our journey is through, each tribe will have an opportunity to lead as Moses and Aaron are about to do right now. As we leave our classroom, remember to stick together in your tribes and follow your leaders, otherwise you won t know where to go. As you pass through the doorway, I want each of you to notice the red construction paper blotches you see on the door frame. Take a good look at them, and pretend that they are the blood of a lamb. Are you ready? Here we go! Let s sing a song as we leave on our journey. Exit your classroom, singing any of the suggested songs. The Lesson Once out of the classroom, whisper the first destination to your leaders and let them lead the others there while you trail behind or stay on the sidelines. Encourage any skeptical travelers to follow their leaders. Once you arrive at the first stop, begin your review. Stop #1: Let s stop and remember how terrible the lives of God s people were in Egypt. What did Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, do to the Israelites? Allow the children to respond. (He made them slaves and treated them very cruelly, because he was afraid that they were growing in number too rapidly and might eventually try to overthrow his government.) The people of Israel were very, very miserable as slaves in Egypt and they cried out to God to rescue them. Take the Moses and Aaron signs off of the first two children and send their tribe to the back of the line. Place signs on the next two children in line. Now we have two new leaders; you will have to follow them exactly, or you won t know where to go. Some of you wanted to follow me back there, but you can t! You have to follow your leaders, or you will get lost on this journey. Whisper the next stop to the new leaders and send them off. Stop #2: You re doing a great job of following your leaders, Moses and Aaron. Speaking of leaders, how did Moses and his brother Aaron come to be the leaders of the exodus? Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

77 third grade first Quarter: important people make important choices Lesson 1 Review the story of God s preparation of Moses as the leader of the Israelites, from his rescue in the basket and his life in Pharaoh s court, to his escape to Midian where he was eventually called by God from a burning bush to return to Egypt, with Aaron as his mouthpiece, to convince Pharaoh to let the people go. After this review, rotate to the next two leaders and a different tribe; send the previous ones to the back, and whisper your next destination to the new leaders. Stop #3: Your leaders have led you to still another stop on our journey. Looking back, we can sure be thankful The to be memory out of that verse horrible situation in technique Egypt. Who makes thinks it was this easy for easy the for people students of Israel to escape from Egypt? memorize Did Pharaoh Scripture. say, Oh, sure, Moses, you and your people go on home to the promised land and have a great time? No! What happened to the Egyptians before Pharaoh decided to let the Israelites go? The answer to that question has something to do with the red blotches you saw on the door frame as we left our room today. Review the plagues, the Passover, and the exodus out of Egypt. Rotate the leaders to the next ones in line, let them wear the signs, but this time direct them to return to the classroom. Later on this week we will continue our journey to the promised land, but for now we will return to our room. Remember what order you are in so we can begin our journey again with the next two leaders in line. Memory Verse Technique God promised His people that He would lead them out of the land of the Egyptians and return them to the land He had promised their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Our memory verse for this week helps us remember that God loves His people very much, and He wants to protect them. God spoke these words to Moses to reassure him that He would use His power to deliver the Israelites from their slavery. Open your Bibles to Exodus 6:7 and read it along with me. Read Exodus 6:7. Notice that the map on the worksheets I ve given you is the same as the map of Canaan, the promised land we colored earlier in the week. Each one of your tribes has a place to go and a home to look forward to. Write your memory verse on the lines below the map and then we ll repeat the verse together. Later on this week we will continue our journey to the promised land. Distribute the Exodus 6:7 Map pages. After the students have written their Bible verse, repeat the verse together. Miniatures of the Student and Activity Pad pages, along End with Lesson the lesson helps, show just what you need for each lesson! Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

78 Biblical choices for a new generation SESSION 3 Scripture Text Selected passages from Exodus through Joshua Memory Verse Exodus 6:7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. Specific Objectives Travel around the school in tribes on a mock journey to the promised land. Take turns pretending to be Moses and Aaron, who lead the class while on the journey. Recite the memory verse. Materials and Prep Six locations for the journey around campus Tribal flags (from Session 2) Moses.pdf and aaron.pdf (from Session 2) Joshua.pdf, taped to the back of moses. pdf (from CD-ROM) Quick Overview 1. Line the children up in the same tribes as in Session 2, give them their flags, and assign two more children to be the leaders, Moses and Aaron. 2. Visit today s six locations along your review journey to the promised land. 3. Return to the classroom and collect the flags and the Joshua sign. 4. Recite the memory verse and close in prayer. STUDENT ACTION Start Lesson Introduction Today we will continue our journey to the promised land. Do you remember how the two leaders had to follow my instructions very carefully, or they would never have known where to lead you? This was also true for Moses. Moses had to listen to God s directions very carefully or he and Aaron would have led the people in the wrong direction. Nobody knows where we are going today except the leaders, so follow them very carefully once I ve given them directions. Distribute the tribal flags to the class and have them line up at the door in the same tribal order they were in at the end of Session 2, but with the next tribe as leaders. Put the Moses and Aaron signs on the leaders and tell them their destination. The Lesson Stop #4: Now that there is really some distance between you and Egypt, there is nothing stopping you from proceeding right to the promised land, or is there? Does anybody hear what I think I hear? It sounds like the ground rumbling under the hoof beats of a thousand horses! Who could be following us? Review the parting of the Red Sea, the drowning of the Egyptians, and the safe passage to the other side. Rotate your leaders again, and have them run, if possible, to the next stop. Stop #5: Wow! What a narrow escape! I m impressed how the tribes are following their leaders so well. It is very important that you listen to all their commands. If they say, turn left, you must turn left. If they say, turn right, you must turn right. They are commanding you to do things for your own good. If you don t follow them, you will get lost. God gave His people some very important commands, too. Who remembers the story of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments from God on top of Mt. Sinai? Review the Ten Commandments and emphasize that God gave His people these rules to protect them from hurting themselves and others, and as an example of holy living for others to imitate. Rotate your leaders again, and move on to the next stop. Stop #6: While Moses was away for some time talking with God on Mt. Sinai, what did the people of Israel do below? Did they remember that God was going to protect them and lead them to the promised land? Have the children review the making of the golden calf and the subsequent punishment of the people for their idolatry. Rotate your leaders and move on to the next stop Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

79 third grade first Quarter: important people make important choices Lesson 1 Stop #7: Let s try to imagine how the people of Israel felt on this journey. What was the scenery like on the way to the promised land? Were there peaceful lakes for fishing, beautiful meadows, or tall trees for shade? No! Their wanderings took them through a vast desert wilderness with nothing much to look at but mountains of rock, prickly bushes, and sand! How did God take care of the Israelites out there in the Sinai wilderness when they became hungry or thirsty? Have the children review the manna and quail from Heaven and the water gushing out of the rock. Remind the children of God s constant provision for the needs of His people, even though they often complained about their circumstances. Rotate your leaders and move on to the next stop. Stop #8: By now, the promised land must not be very far off. In fact, I don t believe it s more than a day s journey away. What did Moses do when the people of Israel arrived at the borders of the promised land? Review the story of the twelve spies sent to scout out Canaan. Joshua and Caleb returned, assuring the people they could enter the land. But the other ten spies told the people the land was full of giants. The Israelites believed this bad report and became fearful instead of trusting God. Remind the students that it takes great faith to enjoy God s blessings, and that because of the Israelites unbelief, they were forced to wander in the wilderness for forty years. Rotate your leaders and move on to the next stop. For fun, have the new leaders act as though they are totally exhausted from their years of travel as they lead the others to the next stop. Once the leaders have arrived at their next destination, approach Aaron, take off his/her sign, and send him/ her to the back of the line without Moses. Point to the child who is wearing the Moses sign. Stop #9: You can t tell by looking at him, but your leader, Moses, is very old and tired. His brother, Aaron, has already died, and God has told Moses that he will not be allowed to enter the promised land before he dies. It s time for Moses to pick a new leader to take the people into the promised land and fight the battles against the giants that live there. What was the name of the man that God told Moses to choose as the new leader of Israel? Review how Moses laid his hands on Joshua and blessed him. Discuss what attributes of Joshua made him qualified to follow Moses as Israel s leader. After your review, have Moses approach the next child in line to lead the group, and place his/her sign around this child s neck so that the back of it, which reads Joshua, is showing. Direct Joshua to lead the others back to the classroom. Remind the students that their journey is not over. Well, we have traveled a long way today! And now that the promised land is so near, and we have a new leader, we are set to enter this land once and for all later on in the week. Collect the tribal flags and joshua.pdf. Let s close our Bible time today by repeating our memory verse. Remember that God is with us today just as He was with the people of Israel several thousand years ago. Recite the memory verse, and close in prayer. End Lesson 2003 Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 79

80 Biblical choices for a new generation SESSION 4 Scripture Text Selected passages from Exodus through Joshua Memory Verse Exodus 6:7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. Specific Objectives mock journey to the promised land. 80 Travel around the school in tribes on a Take turns pretending to be Joshua who leads the class while on the journey. Celebrate with a Milk and Honey party upon returning to the classroom. Recite the memory verse. Sing favorite songs. Materials and Prep Refreshments for a Milk and Honey party Plastic knives and napkins Welcome.pdf (from CD-ROM) Tribal flags (from Session 3) Joshua.pdf (from Session 3) Three locations for the journey around campus Pushpins or tape Quick Overview 1. Line the children up in the same tribes and order as in Session 3, give them their flags, and direct the Joshua from Session 3 to lead the tribes to your first destination. BOLD CHOICES 2. Visit today s last three destinations along your review journey to the promised land, rotating leaders as you ve done previously. 3. Return to the classroom and have the tribes place their flags in the appropriate territories on the map of Canaan. 4. Celebrate with a Milk and Honey party. 5. Close the lesson by reciting the memory verse and by singing any of the students favorite songs. Start Lesson Introduction Today we will finish our journey to the promised land the land God described as flowing with milk and honey. This week we learned that the people of Israel had a new leader after Moses died. His name was Joshua, and he was a man that God could trust to lead His people with courage and faith. Remember, Joshua was one of the twelve spies who believed that God would be with the people once they entered the promised land giants or no giants! Joshua s task was to prove this fact to the new generation of Israelites who were about to settle the land of Canaan. But first they would have to fight some of the enemies already living there. Have children break into their tribes and form a line in the order they were in at the end of Session 3. Give the tribes their flags (from Session 3), and place the joshua.pdf on the Joshua from Session 3. Are the tribes ready to go into battle? Forward, march! Whisper to today s leader where the first stop is Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! The Lesson Stop #10: Let s stop here and imagine that a huge river is in front of us, and it is blocking our entrance to the promised land. The priests who belong to the tribe of Levi are carrying the ark of the covenant, the special container in which the Ten Commandments were carried. The waters of this river, which is called the Jordan River, are very deep and are rushing so powerfully that we can t take the risk of crossing it and having something happen to the ark of the covenant! What are we going to do? What did God do to make a way for Joshua and the people of Israel to cross the Jordan River? Review how the spies scouted out the city of Jericho and were hidden by Rahab, who was later spared, along with her family, as a reward for her faith. Review the parting of the Jordan, and liken it to the miracle that took place at the Red Sea under Moses command. Explain that after crossing the Jordan, the people built an altar and called it Gilgal, and there they worshiped God for His provision. Rotate leaders and have your new Joshua lead the group to the next stop. Stop #11: Once the people set out from the Jordan River, the first city they approached was the mighty walled city of Jericho. Place your hand above your eyes as if shading them from the sun and look up as if you are marveling at the incredible height of the walls of Jericho.

81 third grade first Quarter: important people make important choices Lesson 1 Look at the size of those walls! How are the Israelites ever going to conquer this city? How did God help Joshua and the Israelites win the battle of Jericho? Review the crumbling of the city walls after the people marched around Jericho seven days and sounded their trumpets. Mention that God helped them fight battle after battle as they entered the promised land, as long as they obeyed His commands perfectly. Tell about the defeat at Ai as a result of one man s disobedience and greed. Place joshua.pdf on another child and instruct him/her to lead the others back to the classroom. As you approach the room, build up a feeling of excitement and anticipation as you march in to settle the promised land, since you have conquered all of your enemies. Stop #12: Look where we are! We have finally reached our destination, the promised land! And here is a sign that says it is the land of milk and honey! Before we go in, who can tell me what we do when we finally arrive at our destination after traveling for a long time? Unpack our things and get settled. That s right, we unpack our belongings and get settled. When we go inside, I want you to imagine that your tribe is ready to explore the new land and find a place to settle down. Let s go inside. Enter the room, and with the children remaining in their tribes: When I call your tribe s name, come up to the map and pin/tape your flag where it belongs on the map of Canaan. When all the tribes have settled in, we will celebrate with a Milk and Honey party. Call them up one tribe at a time to place their flags on the map made from plandmap.pdf. As the children are enjoying their snacks, continue with the lesson dialogue. Let s describe what some of the good choices were that the people of Israel made while they were on their journey to the promised land. They followed Moses command when he told them to cross the Red Sea; they built an altar at Gilgal to thank God for His provision; they did what Joshua commanded them to do during the battle of Jericho. Now, let s describe some of the wrong choices that the people of Israel made. They doubted God s promise to take care of them and had Aaron make a golden calf to worship; they believed the spies instead of believing that God would help them fight the giants in the promised land; one of them disobeyed God s commands and caused Joshua s army to lose a battle. I think we all learned some very valuable lessons about making choices this week. Our journey to the promised land taught us that God desires to protect us and lead each of us to a place of blessing, a place where we can enjoy His many promises. To get us to that place, He teaches us through His Word, the Bible, how He wants us to live our lives, and He places leaders in our lives whom we need to obey, such as our parents. Let s end our journey and our party today by reciting our memory verse and singing our favorite songs. End Lesson 2003 Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 81

82 Biblical choices for a new generation Notes Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

83 Weekly letters help parents be involved in what their child is studying. 83

84 fourth grade the God of history First Quarter God s Leaders Act in History 1. Jgs 2 Sm Review: Judges Through David 2. 1 Kgs 1 10 God Gives Solomon Wisdom 3. 1 Kgs 11:1-43 Solomon s Disobedience Divides Israel 4. 1 Kgs 16:29 18:46 Elijah Stands for God 5. 2 Kgs 1:1 13:25 Elisha Speaks for God 6. Jon Jonah s Choice Leads to Big Trouble 7. Hos; Amos Hosea and Amos Warn Israel 8. Quarterly Review QTR PROJECT: Character Quest Second Quarter God s Purposes in History 1. Jl, Ob Joel and Obadiah 2. Is 6; 2 Kgs 17; Mi 6 Isaiah and Micah Advise Kings 3. 2 Kgs 18:20; Isaiah Advises King Hezekiah 2 Chr to Stand Up to the Assyrians Is Na; Zep Nahum and Zephaniah: Judgment and Blessings From God 5. 2 Chr 34, 35; King Josiah Fulfills God s Purposes 2 Kgs 22:1 23: Kgs 23:34 25:5, Hb 3 Habakkuk Speaks With God 7. Jr Jeremiah Laments Fallen Jerusalem 8. Review QTR REVIEW: Character Review, Stump the Class, games Third Quarter Paul s Mission to Spread the Good News 1. Mt 21:1-11; Review: The Choice of Jesus and the 26:17 28:20; Acts Young Church 2. Acts 13:1 14:28 Paul s First Missionary Journey 3. Acts 15:36 18:22 Paul s Second Missionary Journey 4. Mt 25:1-30; Paul Tells the Thessalonians 1 and 2 Ths to Be Ready 4 5. Acts 18:23 21:27 Paul s Third Missionary Journey 6. 1 Cr 3:1 4:21, 5:6-8 Paul Encourages the Corinthians 7. Lk 12:13-34; Paul Teaches the Corinthians 2 Cr 4, 5:1 6:2, 8, 9 How to Use Their Resources 8. Review QTR PROJECT: Missionopoly Game Fourth Quarter Paul s Mission to Spread the Good News 1. Eph 1 4; Mt 22:2-14 God s Free Invitation to the Whole World 2. Eph 4 6 Putting on the Full Armor of God 3. Phil 1, 2; Lk 14:7-11 How to Be Great in God s Kingdom 4. Lk 18:10-14; Phil 4 What It Means to Be Righteous 5. Col 1, 2; Mt 13:44-46 The Pearl of Great Price 6. Lk 5:36; Col 3, 4 No New Cloth on Old Garments 7. Mt 18:21-35; Phlm Philemon: A Message of Forgiveness 8. Yearly Review REVIEW: The Year-End Bible Fair 84

85 FOURTH grade THE GOD OF history Introduction SESSION 1 ATTENTION GETTER and How-to Fourth Grade The God of History Check out the Welcome to Biblical Choices Introduction and How-to. It tells Fourth Grade Bible Curriculum: you how to make the most of the The God of History! quarter s lessons! We at Standard Publishing hope you will find this curriculum to be teacher-friendly and easy to use. It is our hope that over the next 32 weeks your Fourth Grade students will come to know and love the great God who helps us make good choices. Overall Structure Fourth Grade is broken down into four quarters, each with its own theme: First God s Leaders Act in History ; Second God s Purposes in History ; Third Paul s Mission to Spread the Good News (Part 1) ; Fourth Paul s Mission to Spread the Good News (Part 2). Each quarter is broken into seven lessons and then a quarter project. LESSONS Each lesson is broken into four sessions: Session 1 Attention Getter ; Session 2 Bible Information ; Session 3 Student Action ; Session 4 Bold Choices. The sessions are designed to be presented sequentially; however, since most schools allot one day each week for chapel, the sessions are flexible enough to accommodate this day. Each teacher should present the sessions according to his/her school s set chapel day. Quarter Projects The last week of each quarter is devoted to a quarter project. These projects are designed to serve two purposes: for evaluation of students retention of each quarter s lessons (through different review games, memory verse challenges, etc.), and for presentation of material learned (through open houses, class performances, etc.). The four quarter projects featured in Third Grade are: First Character Quests ; Second Memorial Service ; Third Missionopoly Game ; Fourth a Year-End Bible Fair. The quarter projects are flexible enough to work with any schedule and/or class size. Be sure to tailor these projects to best fit the needs of your students. MUSIC Fourth-graders need to express themselves through song, so each lesson usually incorporates singing, often more than once! On page 30 you will find a suggested music list consisting of praise choruses, gospel songs, and hymns. All song sheets, piano scores, and copyright information can be found on the CD-ROM, and, except where noted, one copy may be printed off and made into a transparency. The tracks available on the CD-ROM can be played either on a compact disc player or by a computer. The CD-ROM contains many lesson helps and extras! PARENT LETTERS Each lesson includes a letter to the parents that should be sent home with each student after Session 1. These letters are a handy means of communication between you and your students parents regarding themes and memory verses studied during Bible, as well as ideas for reinforcing and supplementing Bible learning at home. Also, these letters inform parents of your need for volunteers for special projects and/or events, classroom needs, costumes, props, and craft items students need sent with them from home. All parent letters are available on the CD-ROM 2003 Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 85

86 Biblical choices for a new generation and can easily be edited. You have the choice each quarter between two appropriate letterheads (one in black and white and one in color) into which you can import the text of each letter. Also, each parent letter is available in Spanish for your students who speak Spanish at home. More information about producing the parent letters is available on the CD-ROM. OPTIONS, OPTIONS, OPTIONS For those teachers who need extra activities or are looking for some variety, we ve included several optional activities, sometimes three or four per lesson! These are designed to take learning one step further, usually through a hands-on experience, a trip outside, or a presentation from a guest speaker. Remember, no one has time in life to do everything, especially busy teachers! So, try incorporating just one per lesson or two or three per quarter. See how your students like them and either schedule them again for next year or try new ones. You may even develop some optional activities on your own great! Be sure to write them down (and share them with other teachers). TEACHER HELPS Before the first lesson of each quarter you will find a Bird s-eye View highlighting the goal of that quarter as well as providing an overview of each lesson and what students will learn. Also, you will find an Unusual Items Checklist highlighting some items you will need to furnish (and those you can encourage parents to furnish) for each lesson. Some lessons don t require any unusual items, and some require several, so be sure to refer to these pages often during your lesson planning. Before each lesson, you will find a Prep page that details materials and activity pages that need to be gathered before each session, as well as crafts you may need to provide samples for, and other reminders. Furthermore, depending on how you choose to structure your Teacher book, each lesson is designed so that you can remove from the binder only those pages you will need to refer to for each lesson. Be sure to assemble your Teacher book to best fit your needs. OTHER GOODIES We all like those, don t we? In addition to all of the above, you ll find special Notes areas in the Teacher book where you can record student reactions to specific activities, highlight what worked and what didn t from each lesson, etc. We hope these pages will inspire you and prepare you for entering the exciting realm of teaching the truths about God, His world, and His Word to thinking, feeling, questioning, loving, creating, fourth-graders! God s blessings to you as you lay the foundation for a lifetime of Bible learning for your students session by session, lesson by lesson, quarter by quarter, year by year. Tailor lessons to fit your students needs and your teaching style! Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

87 fourth grade FOURTH Quarter: paul s mission to spread the good news Fourth Grade Fourth Quarter Quarter Goal: The fourth quarter deals with Paul s three missionary journeys and encourages the children to be faithful in spreading the good news no matter how difficult things become. A great overview of each quarter s goals pops up before the first lesson of every quarter to help you focus! LESSON 1: God s Free Invitation to the Whole World This lesson will focus on God s invitation for forgiveness of sins and eternal life to anyone who wants it; He plays no favorites. God wants us to become His adopted sons and daughters. This is the message of the first part of the book of Ephesians, and is illustrated further in Christ s Parable of the Wedding Banquet. LESSON 2: Putting on the Full Armor of God This lesson will focus on the importance of putting on the full armor of God in order to fight the enemy, Satan, who seeks to destroy the believer and the church. The children will learn the meaning of each part of God s armor and how to put them on daily as they become an active part of the body of Christ. LESSON 3: How to Be Great in God s Kingdom This lesson will focus on considering others better than oneself. This is the theme of Christ s parable, The Lowest Seat at the Feast, as well as the theme of Philippians, chapters 1 and 2. When we follow God s will by humbling ourselves before others in order to serve their well-being, God in His own way will exalt us. LESSON 4: What it Means to Be Righteous This lesson will focus on righteousness as explained by Jesus in the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, and the teachings of Paul in Philippians, chapter 4. God s love cannot be earned. Righteous behavior is a response to the mercy God has given freely to those who believe in and submit to Jesus. LESSON 5: The Pearl of Great Price: Colossians 1 and 2 This lesson will focus on helping the children see that there is nothing more valuable than knowing Jesus Christ. This was Paul s message to the Colossians, as well as the theme of Christ s parables, the Pearl of Great Price and the Hidden Treasure. LESSON 6: No New Cloth on Old Garments: Colossians 3 and 4 This lesson will focus on the new life in Christ, one that has no use for the old garments of godless behavior. Colossians 3 and 4, as well as Christ s Parable of the New Cloth on the Old Garment, illustrate the complete newness of the way we live our lives once me make the choice to follow Jesus. LESSON 7: Philemon: A Message of Forgiveness This lesson will focus on Christ s Parable of the Unmerciful Slave, which presents the same theme as the book of Philemon, forgiving each other as God has forgiven us. LESSON 8: Quarter Project: The Year-End Bible Fair Review the entire year of fourth-grade Bible lessons with a memory verse relay game, a songfest, arts and crafts, and role play in a carnival setting Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 87

88 Biblical choices for a new generation Fourth Grade Fourth Quarter This handy checklist at the beginning of each quarter helps you organize ahead. We ve made your list for you! teacher supplied Lesson 1 q Body part costumes (see lesson) Lesson 2 q Samples of protective gear and pieces of armor q Picture of firefighter and person in bathing suit q Plastic, one gallon milk container q Foil, cardboard box, duct tape, self-grip fabric fastener, wide elastic q Optional: Firefighter to visit classroom Lesson 3 q Service project (refer to page 310 for suggestions) q Bag of individually wrapped candy q Paper fasteners (one per child) q Foil, strips of paper or labels q Plate of goodies Lesson 4 q Goodies q Tag board signs: Mercy and Righteous q Brown bag, yarn Lesson 5 q Treasure for treasure hunt q Sandwich bags q Optional: white adhesive shelf paper q Scraps of paper, four boxes, container Lesson 6 q Old piece of clothing, patch or expensive cloth q Needle and thread q Five signs q Brown paper lunch bags q Pole or broom handle, sheet or blanket Lesson 7 q 490 beans in a large bowl q A large glass jar q List of children s names q Props for skit: crown, shovel, wallet, silk plant, paper and pencil q Strips of white paper, empty paper towel tubes q TV made from a cardboard box Lesson 8 q Items for Bible Fair (see lesson) Parent Supplied Lesson 1 q Volunteers for banquet q Grapes, punch, apples, carrot sticks, gelatin, finger sandwiches, pie, fruit cocktail, napkins, cups, plastic forks Lesson 2 q Volunteers for lesson activity Lesson 3 q Can of soda Lesson 8 q Items for Bible Fair (see lesson) Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

89 4 FOURTH Quarter fourth grade L e s s o n 5 THE GOD OF history paul s mission to spread the good News Everything you need to know to be on the right lesson plan! The Pearl of Great Price: Colossians 1 and 2 As the children investigate Paul s message to the Colossians, they will see that there is nothing more valuable than knowing Jesus Christ. 89

90 Biblical choices for a new generation L e s s o n P r e pa r at i o n LESSON FOCUS This lesson will focus on helping the children see that there is nothing more valuable than knowing Jesus Christ. This was Paul s message to the Colossians, as well as the theme of Christ s parables, The Pearl of Great Price and The Hidden Treasure. CHOICE TO BE MADE I will obey Jesus so that I can find the treasures that are hidden in Him. Weekly choices help students build values! attention getter For the Treasure Hunt: 1. Write out 12 or more clues. 2. Hide these 12 clues. 3. Provide small treasures at four stops along the treasure hunt. 4. Come up with a significant treasure for which the children will choose or not choose to trade in their small treasures at the end of the treasure hunt. (See the lesson for detailed instructions) Provide plastic sandwich bags or small containers for the treasure hunt (one per child). Provide the Parent letter. bible information Provide the Jesus Is Tops page (Student Book, page 121) Provide each student s quarter folder. student action Option: Bring in a book about names that give the meanings of the names: for example, Jason means Prep Lists the healer. know Provide what the you ll Name Above All Names need worksheet and when (Activity Pad, page 94) you ll Provide need Names it all of Jesus Coloring Poster week (Activity long! Pad, page 93) Provide markers or colored pencils. bold choices Provide scraps of paper. Provide four boxes labeled: Heavenly Treasure #1 Heavenly Treasure #2 Heavenly Treasure #3 Heavenly Treasure #4 Make four large strips of paper to go into the four boxes. Write the following on the strips: Box #1: Eternal Life Box #2: Answered Prayer Box #3: Forgiveness of Sin Box #4: Power of the Holy Spirit Provide a container labeled Earthly Treasures. paul s mission to spread the good news 4 90 L e s s o n Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

91 FOURTH grade FOURTH Quarter: paul s mission to spread the good news Lesson 5 SESSION 1 Scripture Text Colossians 1; 2; Matthew 13:44-46 Memory Verse Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Specific Objectives Go on a treasure hunt Give up their small treasure for a greater one Materials and Prep 12 clues and small treasures hidden for the Treasure Hunt activity Plastic sandwich bags or small containers for each child Parent letters to go home Quick Overview 1. Remind the children of last week s lesson theme: Righteous living in response to God s mercy. 2. Equate a righteous life with a search to discover the right things to do. 3. Explain the procedures for the treasure hunt and go! 4. Discuss the value of giving up the small treasures in order to gain the big one. ATTENTION GETTER Daily overview of what you re doing for yourself or a substitute. Start Lesson Introduction Last week we learned what it means to be righteous as we respond to God s mercy. This week we are going to find out more about what we have to do to learn how to be righteous. Righteous living is very much like a treasure hunt because you have to look for the right things to say, think, and do. Sometimes you have to search for the right choice. The Lesson We are going on a treasure hunt. I ll give you these little bags because you will receive treasures along the way, and you will need something to put them in. Follow this procedure: 1. Line the children up in pairs and give each child a plastic sandwich bag or container to put his treasures into as the hunt continues. 2. Instruct the lead pair to lead the rest of the class, who are following two by two, to the first clue. 3. When the lead pair finds the first clue, have them hand you the bag of small candies or whatever goodie you have hidden at that spot. Sample clue: Go to the big metal thing that you can slide down. Look under the rock on the right side of it. (Put the next clue under the rock beside the slide.) 4. Distribute the goodie to each child and have him keep it in the plastic bag. Be sure the goodies are not eaten at this time. Sample goodie: Individually wrapped hard candy, cookies, miniature candy bars, one cracker, etc. 5. Rotate the lead pair to the back of the line, and have the next pair move on to the next clue. Continue this procedure until all of them have had a chance to be the leader and decipher the next clue. 6. Place goodies at three or four clue spots along the hunt. 7. Your final clue should be to send the children back to the classroom. Once they are seated back in the classroom: You all have little treasures that you collected along the way. Now I am going to ask you a very important question: How many of you want to trade in the treasures you have for an even greater treasure? Options for the great treasure can include: five additional minutes of recess at each recess today, no homework in math today, a large candy bar for each child (if you can afford the cost), anything you can think of that is obviously a greater treasure than the one they currently hold in their hands. Tell them what the greater treasure is and talk it up so that it sounds 2003 Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 91

92 Biblical choices for a new generation fantastic. Stress that in order to receive it, they must give up what they have. Make the exchange between the children s lesser treasure with the greater treasure, then continue with the lesson dialogue. Some of you now have a treasure that is greater than the one you had earlier. But, what did you have to do to get it? (Give up the ones they had.) You had to make a choice to keep the greatest treasure, and give up the little ones! That is exactly what our lesson is about this week! We are going to learn that we will have many treasures on this earth, but the one that is most valuable is the treasure of knowing Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. Nothing is more valuable than that! He is our greatest treasure. That doesn t mean that we will not have many treasures and blessings from God while we live on this earth. What it does mean is that God wants us to always see Him as our greatest treasure, and not hold on to our other treasures too tightly. That teaching is summed up in our memory verse: But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Go over the memory verse a couple of times, but don t spend too much time on it during this session. You ll do more with the memory verse in Session 4. Sing one of this quarter s songs, or any other appropriate song before you close with prayer. Send Parent letter home. End Lesson Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

93 FOURTH grade FOURTH Quarter: paul s mission to spread the good news Lesson 5 SESSION 2 BIBLE INFORMATION Scripture Text Colossians 1; 2; Matthew 13:44-46 Memory Verse Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Specific Objectives Discuss righteousness and mercy Answer questions about the parables after hearing them read aloud Supply the missing words in some Scriptures from Colossians Memory Verse Technique Add-A-Word in Session 4. Materials The and memory Prep verse technique makes it Each student s easy for quarter students folder to memorize Scripture. Quick Overview Jesus Is Tops (Student Book, page 121) 1. Remind the children of the definitions of mercy and righteousness. 2. Tell the parables of The Hidden Treasure and The Pearl of Great Price. 3. Have them complete the Jesus Is Tops Scripture worksheet. Start Lesson Introduction How many of you are working hard to follow your Righteousness Calendars? Encourage a few children to share what kinds of things they are doing to show God how much they are thankful for His mercy and loving kindness. What does the word righteousness mean? (To make right choices by speaking, thinking, and doing what is right and pleasing to God) What does the word mercy mean? (To be given what you cannot possibly earn) God has given us forgiveness of sin and eternal life with Him because of what Jesus Christ did for us, and our righteous living is our way of saying thank you, Lord, for saving me! The Lesson Today, I am going to read two very short parables Jesus told that both talk about giving up a little thing to get something much more wonderful. Read Matthew 13:44-46, then ask these questions: 1. What did the man who found the treasure in the field do? (He sold all he had to get it.) 2. What did the merchant do when he found the pearl of great price? (He also sold all he had.) 3. Both of these men in Jesus story made a choice; what was it? (To give up the little treasures to get the great treasure) 4. What do you think Jesus meant when He said the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field or a merchant looking for fine pearls? (We must search for ways to please God.) 5. What is the great treasure? (The kingdom of Heaven) What does The kingdom of Heaven mean? Have the children brainstorm the possible meaning: going to Heaven, being forgiven, pleasing God while on earth, living our lives peacefully with other people, having our prayers answered. Jesus was saying that if we are to be members of the kingdom of Heaven where God is, we must seek to please God more than we seek to collect little treasures for ourselves here on earth. Many people spend their time and energy collecting fancy stuff like cars, houses, clothes, and money. These are their treasures. They don t stop to think that when they die, all their treasures will rot, but they will live forever! The question is, where will they live forever? Jesus told these two parables to help us see that we need to put Him first. The choice is up to us. Will we believe that pleasing God brings us the greatest treasure in life, or will we spend all our time and energy collecting little treasures and holding on to them instead? The apostle Paul tells the Christians in the city of Colosse the same message that Jesus told in the parables of The Hidden Treasure and The Pearl of 2003 Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 93

94 Biblical choices for a new generation Great Price. The city of Colosse is near the coast in the country that is now called Turkey. Show them the present location on a map. Paul wanted these new Christians to understand that they needed to search to find out how to live godly lives. Paul wanted them to do what you have done by following your righteousness calendars. He wanted them to see that knowing Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior was the greatest treasure any human being could ever find! We are going to use a worksheet now to help you understand how Paul described Jesus as the greatest treasure to these new Colossian Christians. You will really have to search hard to figure out the clues written on it, but when you do, you will have found the greatest treasure of them all! Open your Bibles to the book of Colossians. Follow this procedure: 1. Distribute Student Book, page 121, Jesus is Tops. Explain that they must look up the references on each level of the banana split. 2. Once they have found the references, they must write the missing words correctly on the lines provided. They are to discover that Jesus is the great treasure on the top! 3. You may have the students work in groups if you wish. 4. After they have completed their Scripture search, ask various groups to read the completed Scripture verses. Use the teacher s key to lead them in the discussion. 5. Close the lesson with prayer. Teacher s Key to Jesus Is Tops 1. Colossians 1:19, 20 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through Him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in Heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross. (Jesus death on the cross makes it possible for us to be reconciled to God. This means that we can make up with God, make peace with Him for our sins, and live with Him in Heaven someday because of what Jesus did for us.) 2. Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. (Jesus is God in a human body. God humbled himself and came to earth to show us how He wants us to live. God made the law that sin would not be forgiven unless there was blood sacrifice. Then Jesus became that final sacrifice for us. When we read about Jesus dying for our sins, we know it was God himself hanging on that cross!) 3. Colossians 1:18 He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead. (Because Jesus was resurrected from the dead, He gives us hope of eternal life.) 4. Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created. (Jesus was God in human form, so Jesus created the earth and all we are!) 5. Colossians 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church. (Jesus is the leader of the church. If we will listen to our leader, He will help us carry out the Great Commission through the power of the Holy Spirit.) 6. Jesus! (Jesus is the greatest treasure of all.) End Lesson Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

95 FOURTH grade FOURTH Quarter: paul s mission to spread the good news Lesson 5 SESSION 3 Scripture Text Colossians 1; 2; Matthew 13:44-46 Memory Verse Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Specific Objectives Locate names of Jesus in the Bible Make a bumper sticker or a poster Materials and Prep Option: baby names Name Above All Names worksheet (Activity Pad, page 94) The Names of Jesus Coloring Poster (Activity Pad, page 93) Craft materials for posters or bumper stickers Quick Overview 1. Briefly review yesterday s lesson. 2. Distribute the Name Above All Names worksheet. Have the children look up the names of Jesus and brainstorm what these names mean in the context of the Scripture. 3. Show them a sample of whichever craft you ve chosen to make: the poster or the bumper sticker. Follow the procedure for the craft as outlined in the lesson. (Optional: Give the children the choice to make bumper stickers or posters.) STUDENT ACTION Start Lesson Introduction Jesus is the Pearl of Great Price. He is the Hidden Treasure. Through-out the Bible you will find His name spoken in ways that really worship His greatness. If you brought a book of names and their meanings, use it to highlight the names of some of your students. Today we are going to search the Bible to find some of the names of Jesus. You ll see He is called many wonderful things. Sometimes, Jesus is given a name that tells about His ministry to the world; sometimes the name given to Him describes His great power and glory. Let s see how many of the names of Jesus we can find. Follow this procedure: 1. Distribute the Name Above All Names worksheet. 2. Have the children work in pairs or trios, and give each group one or two of the names of Jesus to locate. 3. Instruct the students to locate and read each Scripture, and paraphrase the meaning of the name on the line provided. The children may have to use their creativity and imagination as they figure out what this name of Jesus might mean. 4. Ask each group to share the meaning for the name(s) they have been assigned. 5. Instruct the rest of the class to fill in the meanings of the names based on their classmates findings. 6. Use the following Teacher s Key to the Names of Jesus as a guide to your discussion. Teacher s Key to the Names of Jesus Prince of Peace: (Isaiah 9:6) For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Mighty God: (Isaiah 9:6) See answer for Prince of Peace. Holy One: (Mark 1:24) I know who you are the Holy One of God! Lamb of God: (John 1:29) The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! Lord God Almighty: (Revelation 15:3) 2003 Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 95

96 Biblical choices for a new generation... and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Lion of the Tribe of Judah: (Revelation 5:5) Then one of the elders said to me, Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals. Word of Life: (1 John 1:1) That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The Way: (John 14:6) Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Savior: (2 Peter 2:20) If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. King of Kings: (Revelation 19:16) On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. Light of the World: (John 8:12) When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Head of the Church: (Ephesians 1:22) And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church... Miniatures of the Student and Activity Pad pages, along with the The Lesson lesson helps, show just what you need Follow this procedure: for each lesson! For the Poster: Instruct students to color in the letters so that each name has a different color. (Coloring can be completed at home.) I Am: (John 8:58) I tell you the truth, Jesus answered, before Abraham was born, I am! Son of God: (John 1:34) I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God. Messiah: (John 1:41) The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, We have found the Messiah (that is, the Christ). The Truth: (John 14:6) Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Lord Jesus: (Acts 15:11) No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are. Now that we know what some of the names of Jesus are and what they mean, we are going to make a wonderful reminder that Jesus is the Name Above All Names and the greatest blessing the world has ever had. Have the students turn over the worksheet to see the poster on the back. For the Bumper Sticker: 1. Distribute precut adhesive shelf paper strips and permanent markers. 2. Instruct the children to copy some of Jesus names from the poster onto the bumper sticker. 3. Encourage them to write small and get as many names onto their bumper sticker as possible. 4. Tell them to alternate colors as they copy down the names so that the bumper sticker is colorful. End Lesson Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

97 FOURTH grade FOURTH Quarter: paul s mission to spread the good news Lesson 5 SESSION 4 Scripture Text Colossians 1; 2; Matthew 13:44-46 Memory Verse Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Specific Objectives someday Play Let s Make a Deal List things they really want to have Discuss the importance of seeking heavenly treasures and not just earthly ones Materials and Prep Scrap paper Four Heavenly Treasure boxes containing strips A container labeled Earthly Treasures Quick Overview 1. Conduct a brief discussion with the children about what they want to be when they grow up. 2. Play Let s Make a Deal according to the directions outlined in the lesson. 3. Review the memory verse and its meaning. BOLD CHOICES Start Lesson Introduction What do you want to do when you grow up? Have the children tell you what they want to do and where they want to go during their lifetimes. It sounds to me as if you will be busy for the next seventy years! As you grow up and work hard for what you want out of life, you will discover that life is very much like a treasure hunt. You have to read all the clues in life very carefully, follow instructions, and pay attention, or you will never get what you want such as a job, a family, or anything else. The Lesson Distribute the scraps of paper. I want you to write down some things that you really hope to have someday. Write down anything that you may want. Then we will play a game. Give suggestions of earthly treasures: houses, cars, clothes, a fancy bike, all the baseball cards in the world, etc. Collect the scraps of paper and place them in the Earthly Treasures container. Before we begin playing our game, let s see if you can say this week s memory verse. Repeat the verse several times: But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:33). We are going to play a little game now called, Let s Make a Deal. Follow this procedure: 1. Set out your four Heavenly Treasures boxes. 2. Call six children to the front of the room. Ask them to recite the memory verse by playing Add-a- Word: The first child says, Seek The second child says, Seek ye The third child says, Seek ye first Continue until the entire verse has been said. 3. If one child misses a word, have a new child come up and take his place until the team up front can say the entire verse. Do not allow coaching from the audience. 4. This team of six will become the players for the first round of Let s Make A Deal. 5. Have each of the six draw a slip of paper out of the Earthly Treasures container. 6. Ask them if they would like to make a deal and trade everything they have for what is inside Box #1. 7. Let them talk it over, then those who want to may keep what they have and go sit down; but those who decide to trade, will stay up front with you Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 97

98 Biblical choices for a new generation 8. Have one of the children who wants to trade reach into the box and pull out Eternal Life. 9. Applaud, and inform each one in this round who chose to trade that they now have eternal life which is much more valuable than anything that was written on the papers the others decided to keep. Note: Use this as a teaching or application moment, reminding the students that seeking heavenly treasures is a choice, and that righteous living should be our response to God s overwhelming mercy towards us! 10. Repeat the above procedure for rounds 2, 3, and 4. Bring up a new set of children each time to play Add-a-Word. You may have those who were disqualified in a previous round because they missed a word come up in a later round after they have heard the verse repeated many more times; do this so that each child has a chance to play. 11. Teach the importance of making the heavenly choice after each round s decisions have been made: Box #2: Answered Prayer Box #3: Forgiveness of Sin and Box #4: Power of the Holy Spirit. 12. Challenge the children to think of any earthly treasures they may have to forsake right now in order to find the greatest treasure, a life devoted to following Jesus. Taking the Lesson Home This is the second week you can use your Righteousness Calendars. We know that receiving Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and making Him the Lord of our lives is the greatest treasure we can ever find. Following His commands is a choice. I pray you will make that choice as you continue to follow your calendar! End Lesson Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

99 FOURTH grade FOURTH Quarter: paul s mission to spread the good news Lesson 5 Notes 2001 Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 99

100 Biblical choices for a new generation Games Review Rebus Review Divide games the children in into two teams. On white roll each paper, quarter have help them to draw pictures and combine them test with students words to get the other team to say the verse. knowledge. Bible Fish Bowl Write each word of the verse on a piece of paper. Place all the papers into a container or a fish bowl. Have the children come up one at a time and draw a word out of the bowl. Whichever word they draw, that is where they must begin in reciting the verse to the end. Bible Baseball Draw a baseball diamond on the board. Line the children up in two teams. Say the verse up to a particular word. If the child can fill in the word you did not say, he or she can go to first base. If he/she cannot, then he/she is out. After three outs, the next team is up. Each time a child makes it to first base, all the other runners who are on base advance one base in order for the team to score runs. Erase-A-Word Write the verse on the chalkboard. Erase one word and ask the children to recite the verse and fill in the missing word when they come to it. Continue erasing words (one at a time) and repeat the verse each time a new word is erased until the children are able to say the entire verse from memory. Circle Verse Sit the children in a circle. Have one child begin to recite the verse by saying the first word. The child beside him/her must say the next word, and so on around the circle until the verse has been recited word-by-word. You may recite it over and over until each child has had a turn to play. Memory Catch Sit the children in a circle. Toss a ball to one child. When he/she catches it, he/she must say the first word of the verse. The child then tosses the ball to another child who says the second word, and so on until the entire verse has been recited. Bible Verse Cheer Turn a song into a cheer. Sign Your Verse Teach the children the memory verse in sign language. Name That Tune The teacher will hum or play the melody of a song taught during the quarter. The students, divided into two teams, will try to be the first to guess the title and words of the song. * At press time, the Fourth Grade Games Review was not complete. This sample is from the Kindergarten Teacher Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

101 Weekly letters help parents be involved in what their child is studying. 101

102 fifth grade the God of faith First Quarter God s Faithful People in New Surroundings 1. Ex 2 Chr Review: Tragedy Comes to the Divided Kingdom 2. Ez Ezekiel: Faithful Preaching in Babylon 3. Dn 1, 3 Daniel and His Friends 4. Dn 6 Daniel: God s Man in High Places 5. Ezr 1 6; Hg 2 Haggai: Rebuilding the Temple 6. Zec Zechariah: A Messenger of Hope 7. Est Esther: Defending the Defenseless 8. Review QTR REVIEW: Faithful Few Talk Show Second Quarter Instructions for God s Faithful People 1. Jb Job: Faithful People Trust God in Hard Times 2. Neh Nehemiah: Building Walls, Building Faith 3. Selections from Prv Choosing Faithful Friends 4. Ezr 7 10 Ezra: Faithfully Preaching God s Word 5. Selections from Prv Faithful People Seek Wisdom 6. Selections from Eccl Ecclesiastes: Living a Life That Makes a Difference 7. Selections from Mal Malachi: God s Final Word 8. Review QTR REVIEW Heavenly Highway 5 Third Quarter Knowing the Basis of Your Faith 1. Messianic references Jesus, the Messiah, part 1 2. Messianic references Jesus, the Messiah, part 2 3. Selections from Acts Review of Paul s Missionary Journeys 4. Selections from Rom Gift of God s Grace! Romans, part 1 5. Rom Living Sacrifices! Romans, part 2 6. Gal 3:26-23, 5:22; Faith? or Works? Galatians, part 1 7. Gal 5:22, Christ in Us! Galatians, part 2 8. Review QTR REVIEW: Driver s Test 102 Fourth Quarter How to Live and Tell About Your Faith 1. Selections from Heb Jesus, the High Priest: Hebrews, part 1 2. Heb 11 Faith Pleases God: Hebrews, part 2 3. Heb 12, 13 Running the Race: Hebrews, part Pt; Lk 14:27-33 Counting the Cost: 1 Peter 5. 2 Pt Know What You Believe: 2 Peter 6. Jude Jude Warns to Beware of False Teachers 7. Mt 5:13-16; Lk 15:1-10 You Are the Light of the World 8. Yearly Review REVIEW: The Year-End Bible Fair

103 fifth GRADE the god of faith Introduction and How-to Fifth Grade The God of Faith Check out the Welcome to Biblical Choices Introduction and How-to. It tells Fifth Grade Bible Curriculum: you how to make the most of the The God of Faith! quarter s lessons! We at Standard Publishing hope you will find this curriculum to be teacher-friendly and easy to use. It is our hope that your Fifth Grade students will come to know and love the great God of faith who is ever faithful. OVERALL STRUCTURE Fifth Grade is broken down into four quarters, each with its own theme: First God s Faithful People in New Surroundings ; Second Instructions for God s Faithful People ; Third Knowing the Basis of Your Faith ; Fourth How to Live and Tell About Your Faith. Each quarter is divided into seven lessons and a quarter review. YEAR GOAL Faithful choices made by the prophets and apostles is the focus of the fifth grade year. Contemporary Christian examples of faithful people, along with many traditional hymns will prove that God still supports the faith of His people. LESSONS Each lesson is divided into four sessions: Section 1 Attention Getter ; Session 2 Bible Information ; Session 3 Student Action ; Session 4 Bold Choices. The sessions are designed to be presented sequentially; however, since most schools allot one day each week for chapel, the sessions are flexible enough to accommodate this day. Each teacher should present the sessions according to his or her school s set chapel day. QUARTER REVIEW The last week of each quarter is devoted to a quarter review. These reviews are designed to serve two purposes: for evaluation of students retention of each quarter s lessons (through different review games, memory verse challenges, etc.) and for presentation of material learned (through open houses, class performances, etc.). The four quarter projects featured in Fifth Grade are: First Faithful Few Talk Show ; Second Heavenly Highway ; Third Driver s Test ; Fourth The Year-End Bible Fair. The quarter projects are flexible enough to work with any schedule and/or class size. Be sure to tailor these projects to best fit the needs of your students. REVIEW GAMES You will find quarterly review games located on the CD-ROM. These games may be used for review information for all four quarters. MUSIC Fifth-graders need to express themselves through song, so each lesson usually incorporates singing. In the teacher book you will find suggested music lists consisting of praise choruses, carols, gospel songs, and hymns. The lists will often indicate which songs will work best with each quarter and lesson. All song sheets, piano scores, and copyright information can be found on the CD-ROM and, except where noted one copy may be printed off and made into a transparency. The tracks available on the CD- ROM can be played either on a compact disc player or by a computer. In Fifth Grade a special emphasis is made on studying and learning about some of the great hymns of the church Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 103

104 Biblical choices for a new generation PARENT LETTERS Each lesson includes a letter to the parents that should be sent home with each student after Session 1 of that week s study. These letters are a means of communication between you and your students parents regarding themes and memory verses studied during Bible, as well as ideas for reinforcing and supplementing Bible learning at home. Also, these letters inform parents of your need for volunteers for special projects and/or events, classroom needs, costumes, props, and/or pictures students need sent with them from home, etc. All parent letters are available on the CD-ROM and can be edited. Each parent letter is also available in Spanish for your students who speak Spanish at home. Additional information about producing parent letters is available on the CD-ROM. OPTIONS, OPTIONS, OPTIONS For those teachers who need extra activities, or are looking for some variety, we ve included several optional activities, sometimes two or three per lesson! They are designed to take learning one step further, usually through a hands-on experience, a trip outside, or a presentation to a group of people, or a service project. Remember no one has time in life to do everything, especially busy teachers! So, try incorporating just one per lesson or two or three per quarter. See how your students like them and either schedule them again for next year, or try new ones. You might even develop some optional activities on your own great! Be sure to write them down (and share them with other teachers). TEACHER HELPS Before the first lesson of each quarter you will find a Bird s Eye View high-lighting the goal of that quarter as well as providing an overview of each lesson and what students will learn. Also, you will find an Unusual Items Checklist high-lighting some items you will need to furnish (and those you can encourage parents to furnish) for each lesson. Some lessons don t require any unusual items, and some require several, so be sure to refer to these pages often during your lesson planning. Before each lesson, you will find a Prep page that detail materials and activity pages/student book pages that need gathered before each session, as well as crafts you may need to provide samples for, and other reminders. Furthermore, depending on how you choose to structure your Teacher book, the lessons are designed so that you can remove from the binder only those pages you will need to refer to for each lesson. Be sure to assemble your Teacher book to best fit your needs. OTHER GOODIES In addition to all of the above, you ll find special Notes areas in the Teacher book where you can record student reactions to specific activities, highlight what worked and what didn t from each lesson, etc. We hope these pages will inspire you and prepare you for entering the exciting realm of teaching the truths about God, His world, and His Word to thinking, feeling, questioning, loving, creating, being Fifth-graders! YEAR PROJECT My Broken Pieces Journal may be used as a yearlong project for fifth graders. It includes the memory work for the fifth grade year and is designed to be assembled as a small book where students will be able to journal their own thoughts and choices that they make throughout their fifth grade study. God s blessings to you as you lay the foundation for a lifetime of Bible learning for your students session by session, lesson by lesson, quarter by quarter, year by year. Tailor lessons to fit your students needs and your teaching style! Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

105 fifth GRADE fourth Quarter: how to live out and tell about your faith Fifth Grade Fourth Quarter LESSON 1 Jesus, The High Priest Hebrews, Part 1 This lesson will focus on Jesus being our high priest. The children will be challenged to evaluate all their choices on the basis of whether or not they are things that Jesus would also think, say or do. LESSON 5 Know What You Believe, 2 Peter This lesson will focus on the importance of knowing what we believe about Jesus Christ and on what our faith is built. If we know what we believe, we will be able to pick out the false teachings when we are faced with them. Quarter Goal: The focus of this quarter is on the need for Christians to remain faithfully productive even in a world plagued by many weeds which can choke out faith. The children will be taught how to share their faith with others. A great overview of each quarter s goals pops up before the first lesson of every quarter to help you focus! LESSON 2 Faith Pleases God Hebrews, Part 2 This lesson will focus on the Christian life to the Olympics. Just as a flaming torch opens the Olympic events, the torch of faith opens the Spiritual events. The faithful men and women in the Hebrews Hall of Flame will be studied in the light of the choices they made as their faith prepared them for incredible events in the Spiritual Olympics. LESSON 3 Running the Race Hebrews, Part 3 This lesson will focus on comparing the Christian life to a race that has many obstacles in its path and has many obstacles (sins) that so easily entangle (trip us up), and we must run the race, keeping our eyes fixed on our goal: pleasing God! LESSON 4 Counting the Cost 1 Peter This lesson will focus on counting the cost of following Jesus. When we make a choice to be holy in an unholy world, we will suffer. We must not compromise. LESSON 6 Jude Warns Believers to Beware of False Teachers This lesson will focus on how to recognize false teaching. The children will become familiar with the beliefs of four of the most prominent cult: extra-biblical literature, denial of Christ s deity, and following a dynamic leader s teachings. LESSON 7 You Are the Light of the World This lesson will focus on holding firmly to one s convictions about the faith, turning away from false teaching, and boldly sharing with others the truth of God as shown through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. LESSON 8 Quarter Project The Year-End Bible Fair This lesson will focus on reinforcing the quarter goal and year goal by providing a fun-filled activity-oriented review of the objectives for this quarter and the year Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 105

106 Biblical choices for a new generation 106 Fifth Grade Fourth Quarter This handy checklist at the beginning of each Basic supplies quarter required helps you for this year s organize study: ahead. We ve made your Bible (one per student) list for you! Pencils Markers, crayons Scissors Ruler Stapler Tape Glue My Broken Pieces Journal (one per student) CD player or computer TEACHER SUPPLIED LESSON 1 9" x 12" sheets of construction paper, one per child. Letter-size envelopes, one per child. Optional: Picture of a sky diver. 18" squares of cotton fabric, one per child. Permanent markers. 18" pieces of kite string (or lightweight string), four per child. Old socks, one per child. Dirt or sand (3 heaping tablespoonfuls per child). Sample High Flyer. Newspaper of scrap paper. LESSON 2 Chenille wire, four pieces per child. Small bottle of glue. Sample gold medal. 36" long strips of red, white, and blue striped ribbon, one per child. Several staplers. Timer. LESSON 3 Vegetable, fruit or flower seeds. A mature vegetable, fruit, or flower corresponding to the seeds. Tape, five pieces per child. Suitcase filled with books. Four-foot rope. Tire, or another heavy object, attached to rope. Blindfold that has the word doubt written across it. Obstacle course items such as a step ladder, a tube to crawl through, and something to climb over. Stopwatch. Whistle. Blindfolds for half of the class. Optional: Score pad. LESSON 4 Pictures of things fifth graders covet (i.e. bikes, stereos, compact discs, DVD s, phones, gadgets, clothes, etc.). Envelopes, one per child. Hole punch. Optional: Gather names and addresses of missionaries that are supported by the churches the children attend, or contact The Voice of Martyrs for names of Christians in prison. Optional: God Loves You cards (CD-ROM, First quarter) Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! Optional: Count the Cost Banks (See Teacher book pages 354, 355 for supply suggestions). LESSON 5 Blindfold or a paper grocery sack. Four kinds of round fruit. Glass bowl. Name brand cookies and imitation cookies, one per child. Optional: Name brand tennis shoes or coat, picture/catalog, etc., and an imitation of the same type of clothing. Newspaper. Glitter. LESSON 6 Large bowl of grapes. Optional: Simple Bible costumes. Shovel. One roll of white self-adhesive shelf paper or one roll of white roll paper. Permission to hang up some posters and bumper stickers around the school. Loud horn or bell Scoreboard on the chalkboard. Prize for the winner. LESSON 7 Bright, powerful flashlight. LESSON 8 Bible-times costume, one per child. PARENT SUPPLIED LESSON 1 18" squares of cotton fabric, one per child. Old socks, one per child. LESSON 2 and 3 Parent or teacher assistant volunteers for activities.

107 4 FOURTH Quarter f i f t h g r a d e L e s s o n 4 THE GOD OF FAITH how to live out and tell about your faith Everything you need to know to be on the right lesson plan! Counting the Cost (1 Peter) Students will focus on counting the cost of following Jesus. When they make a choice to be holy in an unholy world, they will suffer. They must not compromise. 107

108 Biblical choices for a new generation L e s s o n P r e pa r at i o n 108 LESSON FOCUS This lesson will focus on counting the cost of following Jesus. When we make a choice to be holy in an unholy world, we will suffer. We must not compromise. CHOICE TO BE MADE I will pay the price of being a disciple of Jesus. Weekly choices help students build values! how to live out and tell about your faith 4 L e s s o n 4 Attention Getter Before Session 1 Read Helping Teachers With the Word (CD-ROM). Bring in some pictures of things fifth graders covet (i.e., bikes, stereos, compact discs, DVD s, phones, gadgets, clothes, etc.). Provide The Voice of the Martyrs article (Student page 79-82). Make copies of parent letter (CD-ROM). Bible Information Before Session 2 Write Costs of Discipleship on the board in large letters and write these words underneath that heading: Time Comfort Faith Courage Kindness Pride Popularity Persecution Hard Work Self-control Obedience Honesty Provide the 1 Peter Questions, cut apart (CD-ROM). Provide the 1 Peter Answers, cut apart (CD-ROM). Provide the Memory Verse Word Search pages (CD-ROM). Student Involvement Before Session 3 Provide the Me Bucks worksheets (Activity Pad pages 127, 129). Provide scissors. Provide markers. Provide envelopes, one per child or team Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! Bold Action Before Session 4 Provide My Broken Pieces Journals. Provide a hole punch. Prep Provide Lists the students envelopes of know Me Bucks what (from you ll Session 3). need Provide and Count when the Cost Situation you ll Strips, need cut apart it all (CD-ROM). Optional: week long! Gather names and addresses of missionaries that are supported by the churches the children attend, or contact The Voice of the Martyrs for names of Christians in prison. Optional: Provide God Loves You cards (CD-ROM, First Quarter). Optional: Provide markers. Optional: Provide the Count the Cost Questions or Question and Answer information from previous sessions. OPTIONAL WEEK ACTIVITY Count the Cost Banks This is a multi-day project. To turn it into a one-day project use a small cardboard or wooden craft box with a lid instead of the papier-mâché. (See instructions in Teacher book, pages 354, 355.) Journal page for the week.

109 fifth GRADE fourth Quarter: how to live out and tell about your faith Lesson 4 SESSION 1 ATTENTION GETTER Scripture Texts 1 Peter; Luke 14:27-33; 1 Corinthians 9: Discuss The Voice of Choice and What Does This Mean to Me questions. 7. My Broken Pieces Journal entries. 8. Sing a lesson song. Start Lesson Explain to the children that the item will go to the child willing to pay the greatest amount of money for it. You may need to put a ceiling on the bidding. The first child who bids a reasonable amount should be able to purchase the item. Memory Verses 1 Peter 3:14, 15 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened. But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. Specific Objectives Define the word disciple. Read The Voice of the Martyrs. Does This Mean to Me questions. Sing a lesson song. Count the cost of desirable items. Discuss The Voice of Choice and What Materials & Prep Helping Teachers With the Word (CD-ROM) Pictures of things fifth graders covet (i.e., bikes, stereos, compact discs, DVD s, phones, gadgets, clothes, etc.) The Voice of the Martyrs article (Student page 79-82) Parent letters (CD-ROM) Quick Overview 1. Introduce the auction activity. 2. Conduct an auction of valuable goods and list the prices on the board. Discuss how many hours worth of Daily overview of what you re doing for yourself or a substitute. work each item would cost. 3. Define the word disciple and discuss its connection to the word discipline. 4. Discuss counting the cost of being a disciple of Jesus. 5. Read The Voice of Martyrs article. Introduction Hold up some pictures of things your fifth graders would covet. Look at this great stuff. How many of you would like some of these things? What do you think they might cost? Let s see how close you can get. Follow this procedure: 1. Write the name of each item on the chalkboard. Place the item picture by its name on the chalkboard. Bike Stereo CD player DVD player Phone Clothes Gadgets 2. Conduct an auction for each item on the list Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 3. Write the final amount each item sold for, as well as the owner s name beside the item list on the chalkboard. 4. Set an average wage that fifth graders could possibly earn for their labors (i.e., $5.00 an hour). Translate the amount of money each item costs into the amount of hours the child who bought the item would have to work in order to pay for it. 5. Write the amount of work hours necessary to buy each item, then ask each purchaser if he or she is sure the item is still worth the cost. The Lesson Everything worth having will cost you something. We have all decided whether or not the items on the board are worth having now that we realize how much they cost us in time and energy to earn them. Being a Christian will cost us something also. We usually think of Jesus as the only one who had to pay a price for His faith, but the truth is that we all pay a price for our faith. Being a disciple of Jesus is not an inexpensive choice to make. The word disciple means someone who follows the example and teachings of another person. As we learn about this word, you will discover that in the New Testament the word disciple usually referred to someone who followed Jesus teachings. 109

110 Biblical choices for a new generation Do you notice a connection between the word disciple and the word discipline? 110 Write both words on the board. Disciple Discipline What does it mean to be a person with discipline? To be a person who does what he or she knows he or she should do no matter how he or she feels about doing it. Good disciples of Jesus are disciplined people. They do what pleases God no matter how they feel about it. Remember the great cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 11? All those men and women made the choice to have faith in God and obey His commandments, no matter what their emotions told them to do. Charlotte Elliott, who wrote the song, Just As I Am, realized that she could be a disciple in her heart even though her body was weak. Christians must count the cost of discipleship before they make the choice to call themselves Christians. Being a Christian may cost you more than any of these items on the board. Millions of men and women have suffered great hardship because they were disciples of Jesus. Today we are going to read a story about an incredibly brave husband and wife team, Richard and Sabrina Wurmbrand, who suffered for their faith in ways we can only imagine. Follow this procedure: 1. Distribute The Voice of the Martyrs pages to each student. Allow students time to read the article. 2. Discuss The Voice of Choice and What Does This Mean to Me questions. The Voice of Choice questions 1. Describe what The Voice of the Martyrs does? Teacher s Key to... A Christian organization that helps persecuted Christians around the world Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 2. What led to the establishment of The Voice of the Martyrs? Whose idea was it? When Richard was in prison for preaching to people in Communist Russia, he had a dream for a ministry that would tell the world how Christians in communist countries were being treated. He also wanted to provide encouragement and help to his persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ. Richard Wurmbrand. 3. Compare and contrast your experiences as a Christian with those of Christians in other countries, especially in places where believers are persecuted. They are forced to walk long distances to draw water. They are thrown out of their homes. They are put in prison. They are threatened with physical harm and sometimes killed. Christian girls are forced to marry non-christian men. Christians are treated like second-class citizens. 4. How does The Voice of the Martyrs outline their purpose for existing? To help Christians fulfill the Great Commission in areas where they are persecuted. To give relief to the families of Christian martyrs. To prepare persecuted Christians to win their persecutors to Christ. To do things to help persecuted believers rebuild their lives and Christian witness. To let the world know about the horrible things that have been done to Christians, and to remember their courage and faith.

111 fifth GRADE fourth Quarter: how to live out and tell about your faith Lesson 4 5. Why is an organization like The Voice of the Martyrs important to Christians? Because as Christians we are told to Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering (Hebrews 13:3). Notes They provide supplies like blankets, food, and other things needed for daily life; prayers; and encouragement and letters to persecuted Christians. What Does This Mean to Me? Whenever a Christian is harassed for holding an opinion that differs from those of non-believers, he or she is being persecuted. In some circles Christian-bashing is now the thing to do. How can you stand up for the rights of Christians to practice their faith? Is it ever possible for Christians to be sincerely wrong about what they believe and practice? How would you know? Sing a lesson song. Send parent letters home. End Lesson 2002 Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 111

112 Biblical choices for a new generation SESSION 2 BIBLE INFORMATION Scripture Texts 1 Peter; Luke 14:27-33; 1 Corinthians 9:24-26 Memory Verses 1 Peter 3:14, 15 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened. But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. Specific Objectives Match corresponding questions and answers in 1 Peter. Discuss the cost of Christian discipleship. Search for key words in the Memory Verse Word Search. Sing a lesson song. 3. Conduct the1 Peter Questions and Answers activity. 4. Brainstorm what behaviors in the Christian life cost us something, and identify what it is they cost us. 5. Sing a lesson song. Start Lesson Introduction What is a pep talk and how many of you have ever needed one? Have several students give a brief accounting of a time when they needed encouragement. If none of them respond, tell them of a time when you needed someone to give you words of encouragement to see you through a tough situation. The Lesson This week we are going to study the wonderful book of 1 Peter. Do you remember who Peter was? from a man who had walked and talked with Jesus, a man who had witnessed the resurrection of Jesus, and who could encourage them in their faith by telling them that it was all true. Peter was like a cheerleader. He told them that everything they believed about Jesus was true, and persecution and suffering were just part of being a Christian. Let s find out what Peter had to say in this letter of hope to the suffering Christians. Follow this procedure: 1. Have the children open their Bibles to 1 Peter. Memory Verse Technique 112 Memory Verse Word Search Materials & Prep Write Costs of Discipleship and word list on the chalkboard in large letters. 1 Peter Questions, cut apart (CD-ROM) 1 Peter Answers, cut apart (CD-ROM) Memory Verse Word Search pages, one per student (CD-ROM) Quick Overview 1. Open the lesson with a pep talk analogy and discussion. Allow the class to share their experiences. 2. Introduce 1 Peter and give a brief background on Peter and the writing of this book. Allow time for student response. He was one of Jesus disciples. Peter was fearful and denied that he knew Jesus just before the crucifixion. But after Pentecost, Peter became a bold preacher and a messenger of hope to those who were persecuted. Peter wrote the book of 1 Peter as a lesson to Christians who lived in the part of the world that is now called Turkey. The Christians there were being persecuted because they would not worship idols and do the sinful things that their neighbors did. These Christians really stuck out because they refused to disobey God. They needed some encouragement 2002 Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 2. Give each child either a 1 Peter Question strip or a 1 Peter Answer strip.

113 fifth GRADE fourth Quarter: how to live out and tell about your faith Lesson 4 Note: If you do not have thirty children in your room, delete some of the Question/Answer strips. 3. Ask the children with Questions to read from their Bibles the references that are cited on their strips. Tell them to carefully think about the content of the passage so they will be able to locate the correct answers. 4. As soon as the students with questions understand the types of answers they are looking for, have them get up and interview the children who are carrying Answers strips. 5. When the children find their correct matches, have them sit together and double check their match by reading the Scripture verse together. Note: The reason the Answers don t have a Scripture reference on their strips is because the children would simply match references and be done. This way they have to talk to each other and actually study the Scriptures to find out what God s Word says. 6. Prior to class time, write these words in large letters under the heading Costs of Discipleship. Time Comfort Faith Courage Kindness Pride Popularity Persecution Hard Work Self-control Obedience Honesty 7. Ask each child with a Question to read the question, and the child with the Answer to read the answer. Teacher s Questions/Answers Discussion (1 Peter) 1. Q: What is the goal of your faith? (1 Peter 1:8, 9) Key to... A: The salvation of your soul. 2. Q: What should you prepare your mind for? (1 Peter 1:13) A: Action, be self-controlled. 4. Q: How should Christians treat each other? (1 Peter 1:22; 4:8-10) A: Love each other. Be hospitable. Share with others. 5. Q: Believers are being built up to be like what? (1 Peter 2:4, 5) A: Spiritual houses built on Jesus. 6. Q: As chosen people and a royal priesthood, what are you supposed to declare to the world? (1 Peter 2:9) A: The praises of God who called you out of darkness 7. Q: What kind of life are you supposed to live in a world of non-christians? (1 Peter 2:11, 12) A: A life that glorifies God. 8. Q: How should you, as a Christian, respond to the governments that are set in authority over you? (1 Peter 2:13-17) A: Submit to and obey the laws of the land. 9. Q: How should you, as a Christian, respond when people treat you badly? (1 Peter 2:18-21). A: You should do good to those who treat you badly. 10. Q: What kind of language should Christians use? (1 Peter 3:10, 11; 4:11) A: We should not say false things. Speak the words of God. 11. Q: What does God do for the righteous Christians who make choices that please and honor Him? (1 Peter 3:12) A: God s eyes are on them He hears their prayers. 3. Q: God is holy. What should we try to 12. Q: Will Christians suffer for doing be? (1 Peter 1:15, 16) good? If so, what should we do when A: Holy. we suffer? (1 Peter 3:13-17) Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

114 Biblical choices for a new generation A: Yes. Do not be afraid. Tell people you have hope that God will protect you and reward your good choices. 13. Q: Who else also suffered for doing good? How can you be encouraged by Jesus example of being brave while suffering? (1 Peter 4:12-19) A: Jesus. You must be committed to God. Continue to do good. 14. Q: How does God feel about people who are proud or conceited? (1 Peter 5:5, 6) A: God loves humble people and works against the proud and stubborn. 15. Q: As a Christian, who is your enemy and to what does Peter compare him? (1 Peter 5:8, 9) A: Satan (devil) is like a roaring lion that seeks to destroy Christians. Teacher s Key to... The Word Search Optional: The memory verses are 1 Peter 3:14, 15. Read them together several times and distribute the Memory Verse Word Search for key vocabulary words in the memory verses. Optional: If there is not enough lesson time remaining, you may want to send the word search home as homework, or let the children work on it during free time. Close your session in prayer. Ask God to give you the strength to stand up to the persecution that inevitably comes when God s people live out God s commandments. Sing a lesson song. End Lesson The memory verses technique makes it easy for students to memorize scripture. R I G H T H H H A N S W E R D P I D J D D E F R P I P Q E S D E G R O N G A O P F H S A U H C O I Q A E R O L M S E C F O L P P V F P E Q A E N F B F P O H Q P E D A J L I F A C E E C M E G E G S B D I Q G L R H F O I C I C O C M Q M B N J B H P O O J K N G H E A R T S F J L A G H D P R E P A R E D Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

115 fifth GRADE fourth Quarter: how to live out and tell about your faith Lesson 4 SESSION 3 Scripture Texts 1 Peter; Luke 14:27-33; 1 Corinthians 9:24-26 Memory VerseS 1 Peter 3:14, 15 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened. But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. Specific Objectives Cost activity in Session 4. Read Luke 14: Sing a lesson song. Optional: Make Count the Cost Prepare Me Bucks for the Counting the Discuss working for an eternal reward. bank to use to collect money for missionaries. Materials & Prep Me Bucks worksheets (Activity Pad pages 127, 129) Scissors Envelopes, one per child Optional: One envelope per child or team Optional: Small water balloons, one per child, adhesive tape, wallpaper paste, newspaper torn into strips, small plastic containers, one per child, Mod Podge or other shellac, acrylic paints or permanent colored markers, art brushes STUDENT ACTION to Luke 14:27, and read Building the Tower and Making War. 3. Discuss the cost of discipleship and the eternal rewards it brings. 4. Read 1 Corinthians 9:24-26, and discuss faithful discipleship as an event in the Spiritual Olympics. 5. Sing a lesson song. 6. Conduct the assembly of the Me Bucks activity. Discuss the value of the Me Bucks. 7. Close the lesson in prayer. 8. Optional: Conduct the Count the Cost bank activity. Start Lesson Introduction The Bible tells us that salvation is a free gift from God. We are not able to buy our way into God s heart. Neither can we somehow earn our salvation. The death of Jesus Christ paid for our sins so we can be right with God. We cannot do anything to save ourselves, but there are many things we do because we are saved by God s grace through Jesus. Those things we do are acts of gratitude and worship to God because He has done so much for us. But don t fool yourself. Those acts of obedience that fill the pages of our Bibles are going to cost you something. Read Luke 14: Would it make sense to build a tower if you only had enough material to finish half of it? Of course not. Would it make sense to go to war if you knew you would be beaten? Of course not. Jesus is telling us that if we want to be Christians, we had better realize that we must see it through with our whole hearts and give it everything we ve got. Last week we compared the Christian life to Spiritual Olympics. In what way do athletes have to count the cost before they compete? Allow time for student response. Time Pain Sacrifice of doing other things Courage to compete Help the children realize that nothing in life comes without a price tag. The athletes who compete in the Olympics receive gold medals that could possibly get lost or stolen. Another person could win that event at the next Olympic game. But the Christian who goes for the goal in Hebrews 12:1 receives a crown that will never be taken from him because it is an eternal, heavenly crown. Listen to what the apostle Paul says about the reward for a Christian who competes to win an eternal reward. Quick Overview 1. Review and discuss the cost of Christianity. 2. Have the children open their Bibles 2002 Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 115

116 Biblical choices for a new generation Read 1 Corinthians 9: God is our coach, and we are part of a huge team running the race of the Christian life. Each student s denominations of Me Bucks will be different because different ones will consider different traits more or less difficult for him or her to pay up. The Lesson As Christians, we try to do everything with a purpose, yet we know that pleasing God will cost us something. To help you remember to say to yourself, Being a Christian will cost me something, we are going to make Me Bucks today. Later this week we will use these Me Bucks to help us get an understanding of what it means to count the cost of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Follow this procedure: 1. Distribute Me Bucks worksheets. 2. Distribute scissors, and envelopes. 3. Explain to the children that each Me Buck have a requirement printed on it. Each child should evaluate the difficulty of fulfilling the requirement as a disciple of Jesus. Students are to assign a numerical value to each Me Buck based on how difficult it will be for them to pay the cost of discipleship. 4. Write the common denominations of currency on the board: $100, $50, $20, $10, $5, $1. 6. Once each student has decided which of the Me Bucks is the most expensive and which is the least, it might be fun to conduct a brief discussion. See what kind of a scope of difference or similarity you have in your class regarding the difficulty of paying up the cost of being a disciple. 7. At the conclusion of the lesson, have the children put all 12 of their Me Bucks in their envelopes and seal them. Have each student write his or her name on the front of his or her envelope. 8. Collect the envelopes for Session 4 of this week. Optional Activity Count the Cost Banks Follow this procedure: Miniatures of the Student and Activity Pad pages, along with the lesson helps, show just what you need for each lesson! 5. Tell the children to decide for themselves which Me Bucks should be the 100 dollar bill, which should be the 50, the 20, the 10, the 5, and the 1. Since there are 12 Me Bucks with 12 different traits listed, they may select two of them to be worth 100, two worth 50, and so on. This is a multi-day activity. To turn it into a one-day project use a small cardboard or wooden craft box with a lid instead of papier-mâché. Eliminate varnishing step Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

117 fifth GRADE fourth Quarter: how to live out and tell about your faith Lesson 4 Option: Many mission organizations have ready-made banks for children to use. Notes 1. Instruct children how to make banks. 2. Blow up a balloon until it is big enough to sit on top of the plastic container. 3. Tie the balloon shut, and place it on top of the plastic container. 4. Tape balloon to the container. 5. Cover the balloon and the container with strips of newspaper dampened in the wallpaper paste. 6. Let the banks dry. 7. When banks are dry, cut a slit in the tops of the balloon just large enough to drop a coin through. 8. Decorate the banks with acrylic paint or permanent colored markers. Allow banks to dry. 9. When paints are dry, apply a layer of lacquer, varnish, or Mod Podge. 10. Let students take banks home when they are dry. 11. Encourage students to save money in the banks to send to missionaries or persecuted Christians. End Lesson 2002 Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 117

118 Biblical choices for a new generation SESSION 4 Scripture Texts 1 Peter; Luke 14:27-33; 1 Corinthians 9:24-26 Memory Verses 1 Peter 3:14, 15 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened. But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. Specific Objectives Journal entries in My Broken Pieces Journals. Role-play situations in which the cost of discipleship is counted. Discuss what it costs to follow Jesus. Sing a lesson song. Optional: Encourage missionaries and other Christians by writing cards of encouragement. Materials & Prep My Broken Pieces Journals Paper, one sheet per child A hole punch Students Me Bucks envelopes (from Session 3 of this week) Count the Cost Situation Strips, cut apart (CD-ROM) God Loves You cards (CD-ROM, Quarter 1, Lesson Helps 512GdLvA.pdf and 512GdLvB.pdf) Optional: Names and addresses of missionaries, or persecuted, imprisoned Christians Optional: Count the Cost Questions or Question and Answer information from the lesson BOLD CHOICES Quick Overview 1. Review The Voice of the Martyrs story (from Session 1 of this week). 2. Journal entries in My Broken Pieces Journal. 3. Divide your class into Count the Cost groups. 4. Conduct the role play situations. 5. Write God Loves You cards. 5. Sing a lesson song. 6. Optional: Conduct the Missionary Pen Pals activity. Start Lesson Introduction Richard and Sabrina Wurmbrand paid the high cost of discipleship in a way that you and I will hopefully never have to pay. What choice did they make? To remain true to their faith in Christ no matter how difficult things got, or even if it cost them their very lives. They chose to pay the cost of being a disciple. We can make that same type of choice if we will realize that we are only going to be on this earth for a little while, but we will spend eternity in Heaven with God where there is no suffering. If we suffer here on earth, we will gain an eternal reward. God will help us through the hard times. That is what kept Mr. Wurmbrand and his wife sane while they suffered such incredible persecution. Follow the same procedure used in previous lessons to write in My Broken Pieces Journal. The Lesson Today you will have an opportunity to find out what it feels like to pay the price for your faith. Everything you do to please God as a Christian will bless you and give you a satisfied feeling, but it will usually cost you something as well. Let me show you what I mean. Follow this procedure: 1. Divide your class evenly into six groups for the Count the Cost Situations. 2. Give each group a Count the Cost Situation Strip Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

119 fifth GRADE fourth Quarter: how to live out and tell about your faith Lesson 4 3. Point out that the skit has a pay-up point in it. The groups need to decide how much the Christian choice is going to cost. The main character has to reach into his envelope and pull out an amount of Me Bucks that this decision would cost. He pays you, the teacher, who portrays an invisible conscience or Holy Spirit role. Note: Be sure to tell the class that they will get their Me Bucks back. This activity is designed to help the children see that they must pay something out when they make a choice to obey the will of God. Not all the children in the group will have an opportunity to pay their Me Bucks, so they will have to learn vicariously as one member of their group pays up. 4. Allow the students a few minutes to put together their skit. 5. Perform the skits. 6. At the point of the pay up, have the performing group clearly show the audience that Me Bucks have to be paid. 7. After each skit, discuss the kinds of Me Bucks that have been paid, and suggest some additional ones if they have not paid up enough of them. (Refer to the Teacher s Key.) 8. Repeat this procedure for each skit performance. Count the Cost Situation Skits Note: The following Costs of Discipleship are suggested costs. The children may come up with others, or leave some out. During your discussion of each skit, ask the performers to explain why they selected certain Me Bucks and not others. Ask the rest of the class for comments. #1: Scott is Sick Cost in Me Bucks: Time, pride, popularity, self-control, kindness, faith, obedience #2: Katrina, the Neighbor Cost in Me Bucks: Time, courage, pride, popularity, persecution, self-control, obedience, kindness, faith #3: Heidi and the Homework Cost in Me Bucks: Pride, hard work, self-control, obedience, honesty, faith Teacher s Key to... #4: Carlos and the Cigarettes Cost in Me Bucks: Faith, courage, pride, popularity, persecution, self-control, obedience #5: Keshawn and the Kickball Cost in Me Bucks: Faith, courage, pride, popularity, persecution, obedience, honesty #6: Elian and the Elderly Cost in Me Bucks: Time, comfort, faith, popularity, hard work, self-control, obedience, kindness Optional Missionary Pen Pals Follow this procedure: 1. Instruct the children to cut the God Loves You cards on the cut lines and to fold cards on fold line Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 119

120 Biblical choices for a new generation 2. On the inside of the cards have students write a note to a missionary or prisoner. Notes Provide children with some examples of things they might write to the missionaries or prisoners. Children might include the following things in their notes: Prayer for the person they are writing to A Scripture reference that offers encouragement A message of thanks for spreading God s Word to places and people the children cannot reach Words of kindness 3. When students have finished their notes have them address the envelopes (if you have the addresses available). 4. Mail the cards to the missionaries or prisoners. Conclude the lesson with prayer and sing a lesson song. End Lesson Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

121 Weekly letters help parents be involved in what their child is studying. 121

122 sixth grade the God of eternity First Quarter God Teaches the Church 1. Gn through 1 Sm Old Testament Review, part Sm through Mal Old Testament Review, part 2 3. New Testament New Testament Overview, part 1 4. New Testament New Testament Overview, part 2 5. Mt 13:47-50; 1 Tm 1 Timothy: Leading by Example 6. Lk 12:42-48, 2 Tm 2 Timothy: Faithful Pastors 7. Ti; Lk 17:7-10 Titus: Details of Godly Living 8. Mt, Lk, 1 Tm QTR REVIEW: Parable Possibili- 2 Tm, Ti ties, Scripture Quilt Second Quarter A Living and Active Faith 1. Jas 1:2-8, 12-18, 22-25; James: A Complete Faith 2:14-26; 3:13-18; 5: Jas 1:9-11, 26, 27; James: The Problem With Prejudice 2:1-13; 4:7-12; 5: Jas 3:1-12; 5:12 James: Retraining the Tongue 4. 1 Jn 1:5 2:17, 1 John: The Real Righteousness 28, 29; 3:1-12; 5: Jn 2:7-11; 1 John: Real Love, An Active 3:11-24; 4:7-21 Demonstration 6. 2 Jn 2 John: Saturated in Truth 7. 3 Jn 3 John: Holding the Ropes 8. Review QTR REVIEW: Team Review, Servant Gallery, and/or Bible Review Games Third Quarter Valuable Issues for Believers 1. Selected Scriptures How to Know That the Bible Is Real 2. Ps 119 Getting the Most Out of God s Word 3. Selections: Rom; 1 Cor What About Denominations? 4. Ex 20:12; Heb 13:8 Jesus Never Changes 5. Lk 16:19-31; Hell Bent or Glory Bound? Rv 20:10 22:5, others 6. Selections from 1 Pt The Quest for Godliness 7. Ps 139; Ex 3:1 4:17 What About Me? The Self-Esteem Question 8. Review QTR REVIEW: T.N.T. Camp Fourth Quarter Revelation 1. Rv 13:1-3; 17:12, 15 Revelation: What s It All About? 2. Rv 1 Revelation 1: Where Are You, God? And How Are You? 3. Rv 2, 3 Warning to the Church Danger From Within and Without 4. Rv 4, 5 Looking at the Mess From Heaven s Perspective 5. Rv 6 11, Christians May Be Knocked Down, other selected Scriptures but Never Knocked Out 6. Rv Satan Is Zapped and Defeated 7. Rv 21, 22 Eternity Flying With Confirmed Reservations 8. Yearly Review REVIEW: The Year-End Bible Fair

123 sixth grade the god of eternity Introduction and How-to 6th Grade The God of Eternity Check out the Welcome to Biblical Choices Introduction and How-to. It tells Sixth Grade Curriculum: you how to make the most of the The God of Eternity! quarter s lessons! We at Standard Publishing hope you will find this curriculum to be teacher-friendly and easy to use. It is our hope that your sixth grade students will come to know and love the God of eternity over the next 32 weeks. OVERALL STRUCTURE Sixth grade is divided into four quarters, each with it s own theme: First God Teaches the Church ; Second A Living and Active Faith ; Third Valuable Issues for Believers ; Fourth Revelation. Each quarter is divided into seven lessons and a quarter project. LESSONS Each lesson is divided into four sessions: Session 1 Attention Getter ; Session 2 Bible Information ; Session 3 Student Action ; Session 4 Bold Choices. The sessions are designed to fill four 30 minute segments per week, with the fifth day free for chapel. STUDENT BOOK and ACTIVITY PAD Whenever a student page/worksheet is called for simply remove copies from the student workbooks and distribute. These pages are copyright protected, consumable pages. Other worksheet pages and helps are located on the CD-ROM. QUARTER PROJECTS The last week of each quarter is devoted to a quarter project. They summarize the main content of the seven previous lessons. These projects are designed to serve two purposes: for evaluation of students retention or each quarter s lessons (through different review games, memory verse challenges, etc.), and for presentation of material learned (through open houses, class performances, etc.). Occasionally, the quarter project calls for a display or use of crafts completed throughout the quarter. It is, therefore, recommended that when a lesson suggests that you make a sample of a craft, you keep this sample on hand. The quarter projects are flexible enough to work with any schedule and/or class size. Be sure to tailor these projects to best fit the needs of your students. The final quarter project, the Bible Fair, is a fun activity to incorporate with your year-end open house. REVIEW GAMES You will find quarterly review games located on the CD-ROM. These games may be used for review information for all four quarters. The CD-ROM contains many lesson helps and extras! MUSIC Singing is incorporated into most of the lessons. The suggested music consists of choruses, carols, gospel songs, and hymns. All song sheets, piano scores, and copyright information can be found on the CD-ROM and, except where noted, one copy of each song may be printed off and made into a transparency. The tracks available on the CD- ROM can be played either on a compact disc player or by a computer Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 123

124 Biblical choices for a new generation PARENT LETTERS Each lesson includes a letter to the parents that should be sent home with each student after Session 1. These letters are handy means of communication between you and your students parents regarding themes and memory verses studied during Bible, as well as ideas for reinforcing and supplementing Bible learning at home. Also, these letters inform parents of your need for volunteers for special projects and/or events, classroom needs, costumes, props students need sent with them from home, etc. All parent letters are available on the CD-ROM and can be edited easily. You have four seasonal borders in color to choose from as well as two-color borders and black line borders in Quarters 1, 2 and 3. Quarter 4 suggests that you use the same Revelation border on most of the parent letters. Text can be imported into all of these supplied borders. Also, each parent letter is available in Spanish for your students who speak Spanish at home. More information about producing the parent letters is available on the CD-ROM. OPTIONS, OPTIONS, OPTIONS For those teachers who need extra activities, or are looking for variety, we ve included several optional activities, Tailor lessons sometimes three or four per lesson! These to fit your students are designed to take learning one step needs and your further, usually through a hands-on experience, a trip outside, or a presentation teaching style! from a guest speaker. Remember that no one has time in life to do everything, especially busy teachers! So, try incorporating just one per lesson or two or three per quarter. See how your students like the optional activities and either schedule them again for next year, or try new ones. You might even develop some optional activities on your own great! Be sure to write them down (and share them with other teachers). TEACHER HELPS Before the first lesson of each quarter you will find a Bird s-eye View highlighting the goal of that quarter as well as providing an overview of each lesson and what students will learn. Also, you will find an Unusual Items Checklist highlighting some items you will need to furnish (and those you can encourage parents to furnish) for each lesson. Some lessons don t require any unusual items, and some require several, so be sure to refer to these pages often during your lesson planning. Before each lesson, you will find a Prep page that detail materials and activity pages that need gathered before each session, as well as crafts you may need to provide samples for, and other reminders. Furthermore, depending on how you choose to structure your Teacher book, each lesson is designed so you can remove from the binder only those pages you will need to refer to for each lesson. Be sure to assemble your Teacher book to best fit your needs. OTHER GOODIES We all like those, don t we? In addition to all of the above you ll find special Notes areas in the Teacher book where you can record students reactions to specific activities, highlight what worked and what didn t from each lesson, etc. We hope these pages will inspire you and prepare you for entering the exciting realm of teaching the truths about making right choices and living a life that is pleasing to the God of eternity. God s blessings to you as you lay the foundation for a lifetime of Bible learning for your students session by session, lesson by lesson, quarter by quarter, year by year Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

125 sixth GRADE second Quarter: a living and active faith Sixth Grade Second Quarter Quarter Goal: As the students study the books of James and 1, 2, and 3 John, they will be challenged to model their living and (active) faith to everyone in their circles of influence. Lesson 1 James: A Complete Faith Focus: This lesson will focus on the reality that our faith is made complete when it is entwined with the active demonstration of our love for God. Lesson 2 James: The Problem With Prejudice Focus: This lesson will focus on the pitfalls of prejudice. As the students study the book of James, they will discover the meaning of prejudice and the warning against bias and discrimination. They will have the opportunity to evaluate their feelings and attitudes towards those that are different from themselves and will be encouraged to see the beauty in disparity. The students will be challenged to value God s worth in all people. Lesson 3 James: Retraining A great overview the Tongue of each quarter s Focus: This lesson will focus on the goals pops up before need for all Christians to retrain their the first lesson tongues. of As the students examine the every quarter book to of James, they will be encouraged to assess their own use of words help you focus! and the powerful effect their speech has on all of their relationships. The children will be challenged to use their words to glorify God. a light-filled life. The children will examine the analogy of God and light, along with practical ways to exhibit righteousness to others. Lesson 5 1 John: Real Love, An Active Demonstration Focus: This lesson will focus on the incredible qualities of God s love, the ramifications of claiming that love as the focal point of our lives, and the need to actively seek opportunities to demonstrate that love. Lesson 6 2 John: Saturated in Truth Focus: This lesson will focus on the importance of saturating our lives in truth. The children will see that a firm grasp of the truth is the best method to detect deceivers of God s message. Lesson 7 3 John: Holding the Ropes Focus: This lesson will focus on the vital support ministry that sustains those who have dedicated their lives to foreign missionary service. The children will see that they too are able to hold the ropes for missionaries around the world. Lesson 4 1 John: The Real Righteousness Focus: This lesson will focus on the characteristics of real righteousness that can only be attained by living Lesson 8 Quarter Project Focus: This lesson will focus on a review of the major themes and characters from the second quarter s Bible lessons Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 125

126 Biblical choices for a new generation Grade 6 Second Quarter This handy checklist at the beginning of each quarter helps you organize ahead. We ve made your list for you! Lesson 1 notebook paper, pencils white or light-colored construction paper (one sheet per student) rulers Lesson 2 envelopes (one per student) 4 different colors of stick-on labels or stick-on stars Roget s Thesaurus or dictionary costumes and props (see lesson for suggestions) 8-foot length(s) of roll paper, old magazines, glue, colored markers notebook paper, small rubber bands stapler optional tape player, instrumental praise tape Lesson 3 optional chart or diagram of tongue muscle scissors, stopwatch or watch with second hand, two large books glue, pencils white construction paper (one per student) Lesson 4 music stands, kazoos, tape recorder notebook paper and pencils dictionaries and thesauruses match, candle, flashlight, picture of lighthouse Lesson 5 notebook paper and pencils large onion Lesson 6 pictures of assorted warning signs magazine ads depicting use of alcohol and cigarettes jar of honey and moist sponge poster paints, roll paper (one piece per group 4-6 feet long) kitchen-size sponges cut into geometric shapes (1 1/2" to 2" in size) scissors and large markers notebook paper and pencils Lesson 7 10 to 15-foot length of rope yarn (24" per student) large ball of yarn or string National Geographic or similar magazines hole punch scissors and glue reference books (atlas, encyclopedias) names of missionaries sponsored by your school or church Lesson 8 refer to lesson options PARENT SUPPLIED nothing for Lessons 1-7 Lesson 8 refer to lesson options Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

127 2 second Quarter s i x t h g r a d e L e s s o n 3 THE GOD OF eternity a living and active faith Everything you need to know to be on the right lesson plan! James: Retraining the Tongue Assess the use of words and the powerful effect speech has on all relationships. Use speech to glorify God. 127

128 Biblical choices for a new generation L e s s o n P r e pa r at i o n LESSON FOCUS This lesson will focus on the need for all Christians to retrain their tongues. As the students examine the book of James, they will be encouraged to assess their own use of words and the powerful effect their speech has on all of their relationships. The children will be challenged to use their words to glorify God. CHOICE TO BE MADE I will choose to retrain my tongue so that my speech is pleasing to God and others. Weekly choices help students build values! a living and active faith attention getter Before Session 1 Provide Parent letters. Optional Provide a chart or diagram of the tongue muscles. bible information Before Session 2 Provide Bibles. Provide Memory Verse Unscramble Cards (Activity Pad). Provide scissors. Provide a stopwatch or a watch with a second hand. Provide two books for object lesson. student action Before Session 3 Provide Bibles. Provide mouth patterns and tongue patterns (Activity Pad). Provide glue, scissors, and pencils. Provide white construction paper (one large sheet per student). bold choices Before Session 4 Provide Bibles. Provide Prep Lists the Test Your Tongue know Taming what sheets you ll (Student page 45). need Provide and Memory when Verse Unscramble you ll Cards need used during it all Session 2. week long! scripture text James 3:1-12; 5:12 memory verses James 3:9, 10 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. scripture scholar verse James 5:12 Above all, my brothers, do not swear not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your Yes be yes, and your No, no, or you will be condemned L e s s o n Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

129 sixth grade second Quarter: a living and active faith Lesson 3 SESSION 1 Scripture Text James 3:1-12; 5:12 Memory Verses James 3:9, 10 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Scripture Scholar Verse James 5:12 Above all, my brothers, do not swear not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your Yes be yes, and your No, no, or you will be condemned. Specific Objectives Listen to the explanation of the tongue muscle. Participate in some unique tongue exercises. Practice using encouraging words. Sing the lesson songs. Pray. Materials and Prep Bibles Parent letters to go home Optional: A tongue muscle chart or poster Quick Overview 1. Present the tongue muscle minilecture. 2. Allow the class to demonstrate their tongue tricks. 3. Discuss the lesson purpose. 4. Lead the children in sharing an encouraging word with one another. 5. Sing lesson songs. ATTENTION GETTER Daily overview of what you re doing for yourself or a substitute. Start Lesson Introduction If you have a poster or tongue muscle chart, display it at this time. If you re like most people, you probably don t pause throughout the day and marvel at one of the most incredible organs in your body the tongue! The tongue is the primary organ of taste in your body. Your tongue also helps with chewing and swallowing, along with allowing you to form the different sounds that create your speech. When you think of flexing your muscles, you don t often think of your tongue as falling into that category. However, the tongue is actually comprised of many bundles of muscles that run in several different directions. This group of muscles allows the front part of the tongue to be moved in many ways. Perhaps you are able to move your tongue in a unique way. Can you touch the tip of your tongue to your nose? Maybe you can curl your tongue up in the center or roll it to one side. Your ability to perform such tricks is actually a matter of genetics. Only seven out of ten people have the genetic code that allows them to move their tongue muscles in such a way. Allow the students to demonstrate some of their unique tongue tricks. Spend three to five minutes for this. An optional way to present this part of the lesson is to allow all of the students to try these tricks together as a group as you call out and/or demonstrate each particular tongue trick. You are well aware of the fact that your tongue moves food around in your mouth as you eat. The muscles in your tongue allow food to be pressed against your teeth and then broken into smaller pieces. Did you also know that your tongue helps you swallow your food? The tongue is definitely a very useful organ! Your tongue is also an important speech organ. Of course lungs, diaphragm, and vocal cords are necessary to produce sound, but without a tongue you could only make noise. Vowels are produced by arching the tongue in a certain place under the roof a e i o u of your mouth. Moving the tongue up and down, forward and back, allows all the different vowels to be pronounced. Have the class pronounce both the long and short vowels. Have them concentrate on the placement of their tongues. You ve no doubt heard the expression tongue-tied. This describes the inability to make the tongue muscle form the proper sound. People who have problems with speech formation often see a speech therapist that helps them retrain their tongues to move properly. Sometimes surgery is necessary to correct the problem Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 129

130 Biblical choices for a new generation Instruct the students to hold their tongues with their fingers and try to speak. The Lesson Why all this talk about the tongue? Our Bible lesson this week focuses on this very unique organ and its role in our walk with the Lord. Today we have talked about many of the different functions and characteristics of the tongue. We also identified the tongue as a critical organ in communication an organ that requires training. Like other muscles, the tongue is able to be trained to produce certain sounds that when combined produce speech. Yet the tongue does not operate alone, randomly forming words. No, the tongue muscle functions by the command of the brain. The spoken word is a very powerful tool. It can teach, encourage, defend, inspire, and persuade. There is also a destructive potential in speech. It can attack, incite, intimidate, and destroy. Unlike curling your tongue, your choice and manner of speech is not dependent on genetics. It is a matter of choice! When someone accepts the Lord as Savior, he/she becomes a completely new creature. The person is born again. Now each aspect of his/her life needs to reflect the choice to imitate Jesus. This choice demands a new way of thinking, doing, and speaking. Often it means breaking bad habits and retraining. This week we are going to talk about retraining our tongues to allow our manner of speech to reflect the choice to imitate Jesus. Once again we will turn to the teaching of James as we learn to both retrain and tame our tongues. Beginning right now, concentrate on how you are using your tongue your speech. Today you can begin to retrain your tongue by choosing to practice speech that glorifies God. Turn to your neighbor and give him/her a word of encouragement. Have each student share an encouraging word with another classmate. Then close the lesson by singing the lesson songs. Tomorrow we will look at the great potential of our tongues to allow us to better serve and praise our wonderful God. Our Scripture Scholar Verse for this week is James 5:12, Above all, my brothers, do not swear not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your Yes be yes, and your No, no, or you will be condemned. End Lesson Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

131 sixth grade second Quarter: a living and active faith Lesson 3 SESSION 2 BIBLE INFORMATION Scripture Text James 3:1-12; 5:12 Memory Verses James 3:9, 10 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Scripture Scholar Verse James 5:12 Above all, my brothers, do not swear not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your Yes be yes, and your No, no, or you will be condemned. Specific Objectives children s ancestors. Read James 3:1-12. View an object lesson. Play a Timed Memory Verse Discuss the words native tongue. Share about the languages of the Unscramble. Memory Verse Technique Timed Memory Verse Unscramble Materials and Prep Bibles Scissors Watch or stopwatch Memory Verse Unscramble Cards (Activity Pad) Two books for object lesson Quick Overview 1. Review discussion of the tongue. 2. Discuss the factors that effect speech patterns. 3. Allow the class to share about their cultural heritage. 4. Introduce the Scripture passage. 5. Have student volunteers read to the class. 6. Present book object lesson. 7. Introduce memory verse activity and explain the memory verse. 8. Conduct time trials. 9. Close in prayer. Start Lesson Introduction Yesterday we learned how really incredible our tongues are. So much of our day-to-day lives depend on the proper function of the tongue. The tongue, as we discussed yesterday, plays an important role in our speech communication. Yet, the environment in which you were raised also effects your speech pattern, accent, and use of certain terms and phrases. Most of you were born into a family where English was the primary language; some of you learned English as a second language. People often use the expression native tongue to refer to the language of a person s birthplace or cultural heritage. For over two hundred years the United States has been known as a melting pot of different cultures. This term has been used to describe the diversity of the many different cultures, races, and religions that were brought to America by immigrants from all over the world. Do you know the native tongue that your ancestors spoke? 2001 Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! Perhaps your grandparents or other relatives still speak their native language. Allow the class to share about the languages of their heritage. Ask especially about families who still use their native tongue at home. Be sure to mention how geographic regions also effect pronunciation and phrasing (example: a New York accent, a Southern drawl). The Lesson There are many factors that have an impact on how we use our tongues to communicate. Our cultural heritage, genetic code, and geographic location are factors that are normally out of an individual s control. It was not your decision to choose your parents, their family ancestry, or the part of the world in which you were born. At the time you chose to accept Jesus as Lord you were adopted into a new family. With this family membership came a new native tongue, and the need to retrain yourself to speak appropriately as someone belonging to God. Over the last few weeks we have been studying the book of James. Using James s letter we learned about the importance of a complete faith and how to deal with the problem of prejudice. This letter also contains some very straight-to-the-point teaching about the use of one s tongue. Have the children open their Bibles to the book of James, chapter 3. Select students to serve as readers for the lesson. 131

132 Biblical choices for a new generation James begins this portion of his letter with a warning to people who were really eager to become teachers. This caution was important because teachers influence people greatly with their words and they need to be aware of this great responsibility. While no person is perfect, some people have a harder time being self-controlled and careful with what they say. For this reason, a teacher would be judged strictly. Have the selected student read verses 1 and 2. James used several different examples that demonstrated the power of the tongue. Allow the next student to read verses 3 and 4. The examples of both the horse and the large ship illustrate the potential for a small part to rule a large animal or a large object such as the ship. Imagine an animal the size of a horse, which would far outweigh a man, being controlled simply by a bridle in its mouth. Think of a ship of several tons being driven through horrible winds and fierce waves by the use of a small rudder steered by a skilled captain. Ask the next volunteer to read verses 5-8. Moving on in the letter, James adds the tongue to these illustrations. Yes, the tongue is a small body part that has the potential to do big things. Just like the small spark that James describes, the tongue has the ability to do great damage. This analogy of the tongue being like a fire is very sobering. A man can choose to guide the course of his life into ruin and punishment by how he chooses to control his tongue. James makes the comment that no one man can tame his tongue. True, a man alone cannot tame his own tongue, but God s grace can help him tame and retrain his tongue. It seems that James had directed this portion of his letter to people who used their tongues in an evil manner, people who used words like poison. Have the next student read verses James knew the importance of commitment and consistency. If you call yourself a child of God, how can you allow your mouth to both praise God and curse your fellowman? There is a scientific law that states that no two solid objects can occupy the same space. The Bible open on your desk is occupying a certain space. If you tried to place another book in the same exact space you could not unless you moved the Bible. You could only place the new book on top of the Bible. Therefore, it would not be in the precise space as the Bible. Demonstrate this concept to the class. If you think of the two books as representing your life as a Christian and your life as a non-christian, you can begin to understand James s point. The illustrations of both the fountain and the fig tree talk about the inconsistency of being one thing and acting another. If people say their lives are given fully to the Lord, yet they so easily use their tongues to destroy, slander, and attack, then how can the praises they speak be true and sincere? These people cannot be fully committed to imitating Jesus and simultaneously curse others. These two choices of living cannot occupy the same life without some sort of compromise. There s no room in our walk with God for compromise. We cannot bargain and choose our way through His expectations for our lives. Surrendering our will to God s way of living is not a choice that is made only once. Instead, it is a daily commitment to put our lives in line with His Word as we strive to become more like Jesus Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

133 sixth grade second Quarter: a living and active faith Lesson 3 Today our Scripture study in James has clearly cautioned us about the tongue s potential to do damage to our relationship with God and others. In this passage, James s priority was to correct and chastise people who have a problem with their mouths. We have the opportunity through God s love and the guidance of His Word to tame and retrain our tongues to speak the native language of one that belongs to God s family. Tomorrow we will discover many wonderful Scriptures to help with our tongue training. Memory Verse Technique James s words of caution are also our memory verses for this week. Look once again at James 3:9, 10. These are definitely verses that will help you think twice before using your words to hurt or insult others, whether it is to their face or behind their back. To complete this activity, follow this procedure: 1. Have the class read the memory verses together aloud. 2. Distribute the memory verse unscramble cards. 3. Tell the class to cut out the memory verse word cards. 4. Instruct the class to scramble their pile of word cards. 5. Have the class practice putting the verses together, using their Bibles as a guide. 6. After the practice run, have the class close their Bibles and put the verses together from memory. 7. Now impose a time limit on the verse assembly. Keep decreasing the time limit for added excitement. Remind the students to reshuffle their cards after each time trial. 8. To conclude the lesson, sing the lesson songs and lead a closing prayer time. 9. Note: Instruct the students to keep their memory verse cards in their desks. The cards will be used in Session 4. The memory verses technique makes it easy for students to memorize scripture. End Lesson 2001 Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 133

134 Biblical choices for a new generation SESSION 3 Scripture Text James 3:1-12; 5:12 Memory Verses James 3:9, 10 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Scripture Scholar Verse James 5:12 Above all, my brothers, do not swear not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your Yes be yes, and your No, no, or you will be condemned. Specific Objectives Read mouthwash verses. Write personal paraphrases. Listen to the antiseptic analogy. Assemble mouthwash verse craft sheets (Activity Pad). STUDENT ACTION Start Lesson Introduction Believe it or not, the sterilization of surgical instruments and operating room equipment is a relatively recent contribution to medical science. Yes, just over a hundred years ago doctors went from one surgery to the next without washing their hands or their instruments. Consequently, many patients lived through the surgery but later died from infections. Joseph Lister was a medical scientist who developed the concept of antiseptic. He believed that post-operative deaths could be prevented if the surgical environment and instruments were cleaned and sterilized to keep bacteria from growing. You may recognize his name from a mouthwash that bears his name Listerine. Halitosis, or bad breath, is caused from the growth of bacteria when food residue is left in the mouth, which left unattended for long periods could cause gum disease and tooth decay. Mouthwash was not invented purely to give people minty breath, but to kill mouth bacteria. Then you will mount your Scripture verse on a mouth and tongue sheet to serve as a great visual reminder to use God s Word as the guideline for your choice of words and manner of speech. To complete this activity, follow this procedure: 1. Distribute the mouth and tongue patterns to the class. Materials and Prep 134 Bibles Mouth/tongue patterns (Activity Pad) Scissors Glue Pencils White construction paper Quick Overview 1. Present the antiseptic analogy. 2. Introduce the concept of the mouthwash verses. 3. Introduce the mouthwash activity. 4. Explain the activity and distribute the needed supplies. 5. Conduct activity. 6. Allow students to present their verses. 7. Close in prayer. The Lesson We can think of Scripture as a different form of antiseptic. God s Word can be a cleansing agent that can help us remove sin bacteria from our lives. There are several great verses that can serve as mouthwash verses because they teach and remind us about the proper use of our tongues. Today you will be reading a mouthwash verse and then writing it into your own words to help you with your tongue training Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 2. Instruct the class to cut out the patterns. Miniatures of the Student and Activity Pad pages, along with the lesson helps, show just what you need for each lesson!

135 sixth grade second Quarter: a living and active faith Lesson 3 3. Give each student one sheet of white construction paper. 4. Using glue, have the class mount the mouth pattern in the center of the paper. 5. Assign each student a mouthwash verse. Some verses will be used more than once in larger classes. Psalm 71:8 Proverbs 10:31 Proverbs 12:19 Proverbs 15:1 Proverbs 16:23 Proverbs 16:24 Proverbs 17:20 Proverbs 17:28 Proverbs 18:7 Proverbs 21:23 James 3:9, 10 James 5:12 6. Tell the class to write their mouthwash verse neatly on their tongue pattern. 7. Within the mouth pattern, the students should write their personal paraphrase. 8. The students will need to leave some room in the lower right-hand corner of the mouth so that the tongue may be attached. 9. When the paraphrase is completed, have the students glue the flap portion of their tongue pattern to the right corner of the mouth. 10. If time allows, have the students share their paraphrases with the entire class. 11. Optional: Mount the activity sheets for display in your classroom before sending them home with the students. 12. Close the lesson with prayer. End Lesson 2001 Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 135

136 Biblical choices for a new generation SESSION 4 Scripture Text James 3:1-12; 5:12 Memory Verses James 3:9, 10 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Scripture Scholar Verse James 5:12 Above all, my brothers, do not swear not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your Yes be yes, and your No, no, or you will be condemned. Specific Objectives Discuss the accountability of using the proper words. Listen to the loaded gun illustration. Read Proverbs 26:18. Complete the Test Your Tongue Taming worksheets. Materials and Prep 136 Bibles Test Your Tongue Taming worksheets (Student page 45) Optional: Memory Verse Unscramble Cards Quick Overview 1. Discuss the importance of accountability. 2. Read and examine Proverbs 26: Distribute the Test Your Tongue Taming sheets. 4. Explain the activity. 5. Discuss each of the six categories. 6. Have the class evaluate their growth in these areas. BOLD CHOICES 7. Optional: Test memory verses using Memory Verse Unscramble Cards. Start Lesson Introduction We began this week learning about the tongue muscle and some of its many functions. We also discovered the potential of the tongue to really inflict damage to others. Yet, as we all know, the tongue does not operate without a message from the brain. Using your tongue appropriately or inappropriately is all a matter of choice. Almost all of you have been on the receiving end of harsh words or a mean joke. Your own experiences have no doubt taught you the pain that cruel words can cause. Unfortunately, some people still choose to use their words to hurt others, knowing full well how it feels to be hurt in that way. Often people, whether they be children or adults, don t take responsibility for the damage their choice of words levels against another. It is important to realize that just because you didn t mean to hurt someone with your words, this does not excuse you if the person is indeed hurt. I m sure you ve heard people apologize to someone by saying, I didn t mean to hurt your feelings. Whatever their intention might have been, the result was still damage. If you were to take a loaded gun and discharge it into the air and not at any specific target, the law says you are still responsible if one of the bullets strays and injures a person. You could be charged with the reckless use of a deadly weapon, whether you meant to hurt someone or not Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! Your mouth is like a loaded weapon when you speak without thinking. If you discharge it inappropriately, you must be accountable for your actions. It is important to remember that saying you re sorry does not turn back time. The consequence of your choice of words still remains. The book of Proverbs illustrates this point very clearly in chapter 26:18, 19, Like a madman shooting firebrands or deadly arrows is a man who deceives his neighbor and says, I was only joking! This is a great mental picture to carry around with you. Imagine your coarse words and cutting comments like the flaming arrows described in Proverbs. If one of these arrows does wound someone, the explanation of your intention would not remove the arrow from the person or heal the wound. Yes, your apology would help the pain of the wound subside, but the mark of the wound would not suddenly disappear. The Lesson If we are eager to heed James s teaching on the importance of taming our tongues, then it s time for some personal evaluation. How are you doing with your tongue training? Are you speaking with the native tongue of someone who really belongs to God s family?

137 sixth grade second Quarter: a living and active faith Lesson 3 Distribute the Test Your Tongue Taming sheets to the class. This sheet is to help you take a serious look at your progress in tongue training. As we discuss each of these categories, think about where you are right now in that particular area and then grade yourself using the scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest rating. After working on your tongue training for one month, you should use this evaluation sheet to measure your growth in these areas. Look at the first category, Abstain From the Profane. The word abstain means to voluntarily stop doing a particular action. This means you choose to stop, not that you are forced to do so. The Bible is clear about the use of profane language. In fact, it is a sin. Using bad words to express anger or just to shock someone is a bad habit that needs to be broken if you care about bringing glory to God through your example to others. The bottom line is swearing is never OK. If this is a red flag area for you, begin to think about why you find yourself choosing to speak this way. Turn to God s Word and older Christians for help and guidance. How are you doing in this area? Think about where you are right now and grade yourself on your sheet. Allow the class a few moments to evaluate themselves on their sheets. Consider, Then Deliver. You know the damage that words can do, but let s shift our attention to the positive capabilities of our speech. Yesterday you looked at many wonderful Scriptures about the use of your words. One in particular spoke of the soothing effect of words, Proverbs 15:1, A gentle answer turns away wrath... Think about how others will receive your choice of words. Timely words can also encourage and comfort. You have all seen both love and affection portrayed through language. It is in your control to be the master of your words. Use them to teach, to love, to comfort, to tell others about your great God. Do you always consider before you deliver? Examine this area and evaluate yourself on your sheet. Allow time for the students self-evaluation. The next category states Tame the Trigger. You ve heard the old expression think before you speak. Well, this category speaks to this age-old problem. How many times have you blurted out something without thinking and immediately regretted what you said. As we learned from Proverbs 26:18, you cannot take the words back you can only apologize for their damage. If you tend to be hotheaded, it s good to remember the count to ten rule. When you feel like your temper is rising like mercury being driven up in a thermometer, take time to cool down before you speak. James 1:19, 20 is a great reminder verse for cooling down. My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. So count to ten and think about these verses before you pull the trigger back and blast someone with your words. What is the condition of your trigger? Is it cocked, ready to be fired at any moment? Or is it locked, so that you have to carefully think about pulling it back and releasing your words? Rate yourself in this area. Once again, allow the class to complete the self-evaluation sheets. There is no gray area between the truth and a lie. Something is either the truth or it is not! If you think you can alter part of the truth to suit your circumstances, in essence you are still caught in a lie. We could spend hours looking up all the Scriptures that identify lying as a sin and a departure from God s way of living right. Adam and Eve were caught in a lie and look what resulted from it. One of Satan s favorite tricks is to convince people it is OK to compromise on the truth when it suits their purposes. Yet still, people tend to believe that little lies really are not all that bad, especially when their lie didn t really hurt anyone. This is deception in its purest form. Your walk with God is injured when you choose the lie instead of the truth. When you continually make this kind of a choice you are actually moving yourself further and further away from a solid relationship with God Standard Publishing NON-reproducible! 137

138 Biblical choices for a new generation Choose to speak the truth clearly. Articulate the truth in a way that others will be drawn to you as a shining example of Jesus. Don t fabricate information just to win approval from your peers or to prevent you from receiving consequences that rightfully belong to you. Articulate, Don t Fabricate. How would you rank yourself today in this area? Have the class complete their evaluations. Curtail Cutting Comments! Face it, no one really appreciates being cut down. Don t tease people about their hair, clothes, or body parts. It is not up to you to judge others abilities in the classroom either. Grades are really private. You should not make fun of others who have a harder time with certain subjects. This is so painful. Cut it out! It is not pleasing to God or helpful to others. Have the class complete their evaluations. You ve learned the importance of being a good example of Jesus earlier this year. This is not always an easy task around your peer group. Yet you have the potential to use your choice of words to steer conversations away from ungodly talk and redirect the conversation towards encouragement. You can be the seasoning within your peer group. Go to Paul s words in Colossians 4:6, Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Before there was refrigeration, salt was used as a preservative. If you season your speech with godly talk, then you can season the speech of others around you also. So the next time you are in a large group of your friends, or even with one or two people, let your motto be Add Seasoning and Stir. Have the class evaluate this last category. If you have been truly honest with yourself in filling out this form, then it can really help you to grow. Post this sheet at home where you will see it often. Add these areas to your prayer list. In this world there are many things that we cannot control, but we can control the words that come out of our mouths. Our language is an expression of the condition of our hearts. It is a measurement of our devotion to God. The book of Matthew records Jesus teaching about this subject. Matthew 12:34-37 states it very clearly, For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned. Make the choice to use your words to accurately demonstrate your desire to be more like Jesus every day. Use the Memory Verse Unscramble Cards to test for verse memorization, if so desired. Sing the lesson songs and close the lesson in prayer. End Lesson Standard Publishing NON-reproducible!

139 Weekly letters help parents be involved in what their child is studying. 139