Introduction Unit. Intro 3 Sessions. note:

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1 Introduction Unit Life Choices Blue (Year One) Part 1 - Unit Intro Churches Education Commission (2017) note: In each session check for recommended variations to use with juniors or seniors and select the most appropriate for your students. Look through the recommended song(s) and decide which ones you will use for this unit. Intro 3 Sessions 10

2 Introduction Unit Intro Unit Overview In this unit students are introduced to what they will be learning about in this year s CRE lessons. Key Competencies Words of Wisdom Proverbs 17:17 No of Sessions 3 Thinking, Relating to self and others Genesis 2:1 2 Timothy 3:16 (CEV) Session 1 TITLE All about me VALUES Community & participation WALT think about what the Bible says about children. Session 2 TITLE What does the Bible says about who God is? VALUES Inquiry and curiosity WALT think about what the Bible says about God as a creator. Session 3 TITLE The Bible is a library VALUES Inquiry, curiosity, respect WALT think about the Bible as library. Life Choices Blue (Year One) Part 1 - Unit Intro Churches Education Commission (2017) 11

3 Introduction UNit Intro Session 1 Session 1 All About Me! Key Competencies learning outcomes Values WALT Relating to self and others The students will have the opportunity to get to know about one another and learn that each of them is unique and special. Community & participation We Are Learning To: think about what the Bible says about children. note: J S LG LG Junior, Senior and Large Group options are provided. Look out for the appropriate symbol for your class. Life Choices Blue (Year One) Part 1 - Intro Session 1 Churches Education Commission (2017) Notes Remember that some of the children may not know who Jesus is. It is important to practise point #7 of the Code of Expectations for CRE Respect the experience and beliefs represented among the students in the class (and their parents/ caregivers) at all times. preparation Pray as you prepare and present your lesson. Read Luke 18:15-16 and Psalm 127:3 Familiarise yourself with the lesson. Prepare appropriate materials for your chosen activities. TAKE TO THE SESSION Bible (CEV). Visual aids or Power Point for story, singing and Words of Wisdom. Music aids e.g. CD and CD player, MP3 etc. Appropriate materials for the chosen activities. Introduction J S LG OPTION 1: WHOEVER YOU ARE, YOU ARE UNIQUE (Explain to the children that as you are all new to the class we are going to get to know each other.) Introduce yourself, tell them where you come from and what you hope to do during the year. Each and every one of you is unique, not one of you is exactly the same. Yes, some of you may have the same colour hair or eyes, but none of you look or act the same. Unless you are a identical twin. Even then your finger prints would be different! All of you have things that you are good at, maybe you are good at Maths or play sports well. Perhaps you can draw beautiful pictures or even play an instrument! We all have talents and are good at something! You are one of a kind! J S LG OPTION 2: GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER Have the children sit in a circle and throw or roll a ball to a few children. Because you are all special, each one of you, I 12

4 would like you to tell us all your name, how old you are and if you had a superhero power what would it be? J S LG OPTION THREE - TELL THE STORY For older children you could ask: Name, age, favourite food, what they want to be when they grow up, who is their hero? Introduction to the Bible During this year, we are going to learn from this book (show the Bible). Can anyone tell me what this is? Yes! It s a Bible! Do any of you know about the Bible? The Bible is a book that Christians believe is true. The Bible also tells us about Jesus. It has lots of stories in it. It has stories about fishermen, boat trips, food, helping people, being kind to people and lots more. This year we will have fun together learning all about the stories. Sometimes I may even need helpers and I know you guys will be great at that! teaching STORY The following key points should be covered in telling the story. The story comes from the Bible. We learn that Christians believe Jesus: lived on earth a long time ago was popular and people knew who He was had time for everyone is kind and caring thought the children were important performed miracles and shared stories story - All About Me J OPTION ONE Read Jesus and the Children from The Beginner s Bible (Zondervan) J S LG OPTION TWO - WATCH THE STORY Watch the Holy Moly - Jesus and the Children watch?v=j8hzqpb8ns4&t=3s The Bible has many stories about Jesus and what He did on earth. He would visit many different towns and tell people about God, a lot of people would follow Him. Jesus was also a teacher and I imagine that He would have said things to the children that made them feel happy and good about themselves. Teachers will often say nice things like well done and good job and I m sure Jesus did too! He would tell many different stories. We are going to learn about a time when people took their children to hang out with Jesus. One day, a long time ago, on what was probably a lovely, sunny day, Jesus was sitting when He saw in the distance a crowd of people with their children. People liked Jesus because they had heard He was kind and awesome. The parents of the children knew that He cared for them all! Many people wanted to see Him and talk to Him. He made time for anyone who needed Him. Jesus friends tried to stop all the children by telling them to not bother Jesus as He was busy. Maybe Jesus friends were trying to protect Him and were trying to be like bodyguards. Have you ever seen a celebrity or famous person on TV? (Provide an example.) They usually have bodyguards, don t they? (Why do you think they have bodyguards?) Bodyguards are there to keep people from getting too close. Well Jesus stopped whatever He was busy with and told His friends to let the children come to Him and He welcomed them. The children s parents were very happy because they had wanted Jesus to meet and speak to their kids. He was never too busy for anyone. He was very popular among people and He didn t think He was too important be around the children or to listen to them. TEACHING EXPLORATION J M S OPTION 1: WORKSHEETS Explain clearly to the students what is required on the worksheets that you have for them. J S LG OPTION 2: A UNIQUE PICTURE Get a few volunteers and give each a separate piece of paper, one or more can draw parts of the face, another the torso, one can draw the legs and another the arms. Life Choices Blue (Year One) Part 1 - Intro Session 1 Churches Education Commission (2017) 13

5 Afterwards, stick all pieces onto a board and give the new person a name. This picture should represent the fact that everyone looks/ thinks differently and is one of a kind! S OPTION 3: A PLAY Note: this will probably work best with older children. If used with younger ages, just read it with different tones/expression and involve the children if they are comfortable. Alternatively, you could use puppets if you have any available. Now I will need 3 volunteers who can read well and who are comfortable speaking in front of everybody here. We are going to read a play about that day! On that day, I could imagine the following happening! Can you? Dad: No, Look! Jesus is telling the children they can go to him! Narrator Jack was very happy to have seen Jesus and to have spoken to Him, Jesus was his superhero! Words of Wisdom These can be taught at any stage during the session but now may be a good time. It is important to preface this part of the session by saying something like, This is what it says in the Bible... Proverbs 17:17 (NIV) A friends loves at all times. Life Choices Blue (Year One) Part 1 - Intro Session 1 Churches Education Commission (2017) Narrator This play is called Jesus is coming to town! There are 3 characters: Jack Jack s Mum Jack s Dad Narrator In a little town in Galilee, there is a small house and in this house there lives a boy called Jack, his mum and his dad. Jack: Hey Dad! Hey Mum! Guess what? Mum: You know I m terrible at guessing! Just tell us what all this excitement is about! Jack: I heard some people saying that Jesus is in our town tomorrow! How awesome is that? Mum: Wow! Really? We have to go and see Him! People say that He tells these wonderful stories! We will definitely go tomorrow. Jack: Okay, cool! Can I go play now mum? Narrator The next day, Jack and his parents get ready and go to see Jesus. They walk till they see a whole lot of other people. Dad: Wow, what a crowd of people! Mum: I hope we will be able to get Jack to see Jesus. Jack: Wow! Look at those men! They don t look too happy! They are telling people that Jesus doesn t want to see us. Songs Please choose a song that fits within our Songs for CRE and Champions Guidelines, or using the list of approved songs on Life Application Don t forget that each one of you is special! There is no one quite like you! Let s think...take a moment to think about how you can make someone feel special today? Prayer I am going to pray now. This is a time to be quiet, a time to listen. Some people like to close their eyes or look at the floor. If you agree with what I say you are welcome to say Amen at the end. You don t have to if you don t want to, that s absolutely fine. Dear God, thank you that I am special and one of a kind. Help me to make someone feel special today. Amen. 14

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7 Introduction UNit Intro Session 2 Session 2 What does the Bible says about who God is? Key Competencies learning outcomes Values WALT Thinking The students will be helped to understand what the Bible says about how the world came to be. Inquiry and curiosity We Are Learning To: think about what the Bible says about God as a creator. note: J S LG Junior, Senior and Large Group options are provided. LG Look out for the appropriate symbol for your class. Life Choices Blue (Year One) Part 1 - Intro Session 2 Churches Education Commission (2017) Note Remember that there are many differing but firmly held views about where the world came from. It is very important to practise point #7 of the Code of Expectations for CRE - Respect the experience and beliefs represented among the students in the class (and their parents/caregivers) at all times, but especially in this session. preparation Pray as you prepare and present your lesson. Read Genesis 1-3, Psalm 19:1-3; 33:6 and 139:13-16 Familiarise yourself with the lesson. Prepare appropriate materials for your chosen activities. TAKE TO THE SESSION Bible (CEV). Visual aids or Power Point for story, singing and Words of Wisdom. Music aids e.g. CD and CD player, MP3 etc. Appropriate materials for the chosen activities. Introduction J S LG OPTION 1: SEVENS Ask students to think of all the things that come in groups of seven or is associated with the number 7. Some examples include: sevens rugby team, a week is seven days, some vehicles have seven seats (some SUVs), channel seven on TV, 7 is a prime number, a seven-sided figure is a heptagon, motor cars such as the BMW 7 series, Lotus 7 sports car, 7UP is a soft drink, James Bond is 007, Sevens is a card game, Enid Blyton wrote a book called the Secret Seven, there are 7 notes in a musical scale, the oceans of the world are often referred to as the Seven Seas, in Pharoah s dream there were seven years of plenty and seven years of famine, seven colours in a rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet). Today s lesson is about what the Bible calls 7 days the seven days of creation. 16

8 S OPTION 2: LET S GET INVENTING! Students could either work individually or in groups. Provide paper for the students. Have the students brainstorm a new invention that would help them in their dayto-day world. Have the students share their inventions. Depending on your time, this could be split over the Introduction and Teaching Exploration of today s lesson. J S LG OPTION 3: VIDEO CLIP Show the students the following media clip How to be an Inventor (Kid President). ANIMAL INVENTION Flying Squirrel Camouflage Bat Helicopter Hummingbird Aeroplane Chameleon Parachute Seagull Radar teaching STORY story - Who is GoD watch?v=75okexrzwmk&t=7s J S LG OPTION 4: MATCHING GAME This game can be used to help students appreciate the inspiration that nature has provided for man-made inventions. You will need to provide students with two lists. One list has the names of animals. The other list includes the name of various man-made inventions. The students are invited to match each animal with the invention that is the closest or most clearly inspired by it. As an alternative to having two lists it would be possible to provide two sets of cards for the students to match. A sample set of animals and inventions are provided below. The intended matching of the items below is as follows: flying squirrel and parachute; bat and radar; hummingbird and helicopter; chameleon and camouflage; seagull and aeroplane. Other pairs can be made. Older students may be able to suggest pairings of their own. The following key points should be covered in telling the story. There are different creation stories in different cultures. Today s story is from the Bible, and Christians believe it to be true. The Bible gives an order of creation - day one through six. The Bible says God created the heavens and the earth and thought it was good. J OPTION ONE Read The Beginning from The Beginner s Bible (Zondervan). J OPTION TWO Read Creation Days from also available to download from CEC Toolbox (see Other Resources in Curriculum Download). J S LG OPTION THREE - WATCH THE STORY Download and watch the Holy Moly - Creation media clip from CEC Toolbox see Other Resources in Curriculum Download). OPTION FOUR - TELL THE STORY People have lots of ideas about how two important questions could be answered. 1. Where did the world come from? 2. Where do people come from? SHOW POWERPOINT SLIDE 1 Life Choices Blue (Year One) Part 1 - Intro Session 2 Churches Education Commission (2017) 17

9 Many of the answers can be put into one of the following groups: 1 1. Somebody or something made or created it. 2. The world made itself: it happened, it occurred over a long period of time. SHOW POWERPOINT SLIDE 2 Display the picture of a burger and ask Who made this? (Someone at a McDonald s, Wendy s, Burger King or a similar store. Note that the literalist child may want to say that a photographer made it, referring to the photo of the hamburger.) SHOW POWERPOINT SLIDE 3 Show the picture of a building (or a vehicle, or cake being baked, or ) under construction and ask how it will become a building. Someone designed it (an architect), someone else built or created it (a builder) and someone else added the finishing touches. SHOW POWERPOINT SLIDE 4 SHOW POWERPOINT SLIDE 6 Day Seven: A day of rest Some of what the Bible says that God made are things we can call: The macro world, things which are so very far away that we need to use a telescope to see them (e.g. stars, planets). The micro world, things so small that we need to use a microscope to see what is there (e.g. an insect, even a good magnifying glass or a low powered microscope, can show us all sorts of details that our own eyes cannot see). Everything in between. The Bible does not tell us how God made things but it does tell us that it was God who made them. This is where the Juniors teaching time would end for this session. Senior students, years 6-8 are more likely to be able to appreciate the idea of DNA presented in the Senior Student Option. Life Choices Blue (Year One) Part 1 - Intro Session 2 Churches Education Commission (2017) The Bible gives an explanation of how the earth was made and where people came from. Listen to the first words in the Bible In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth God created humans to be like himself. (Genesis 1:1, 27 CEV). The first chapter of the Bible goes on to tell the order 2 that these things were made: Day one: Day and night Day two: Sky Day three: Land and ocean SHOW POWERPOINT SLIDE 5 Day four: Sun, moon and stars Day five: Fish and birds Day six: Animals, and finally humans 1 These two ideas, whilst somewhat simplistic, can be labelled creation and evolution representing each end of a continuum, with a number of positions between these two extremes, e.g. the Big Bang Theory can be seen as an unplanned event that just happened or it could be argued that the intelligent designer caused the Big Bang that put the sun, moon, stars and planets in place. At the heart of the argument is whether the God of the Bible was involved or not. 2 Irrespective of the debate about whether these were literal days or seven periods of time the biblical order of creation remains. The order might raise some questions such as how can you have day and night (day 1) without the sun and moon (day 4). Rather than try to explain it simply note this is what the Bible says. S SENIOR STUDENT OPTION Some parts of the macro world SHOW POWERPOINT SLIDE 7 Look at this picture. What is it showing? (These are some of the planets in our solar system.) Select from the following questions. Your time allowance will determine how many you ask. What are the names of the planets starting at the sun? (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto 3. It would probably help to have these names listed on a whiteboard or have eight students hold a card each with a planet name on it. They can then stand in the correct order and show their card. This would help in identifying planets when answering the following questions.) Which is the largest planet? (Jupiter 4. Because it is the biggest planet it is called the King Planet.) Which is the smallest planet? (Mercury) About what size is earth? (Much smaller than half the size of Jupiter.) Which planet is closest to the sun? (Mercury) 3 This picture has Pluto in it, but in 2006 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially declared that Pluto is not a planet anymore. Interested students could look up the NASA website to find out why. 4 For a different comparison visit windows2universe.org/our_solar_system/relative_size.html 18

10 What does that suggest that temperatures will be like on Mercury? (Very, very hot.) Which planet is furthest from the sun? (Neptune) What does that suggest the temperatures will be like on Neptune? (Very cold.) What do you notice is special about Saturn? (It has a number of rings around it.) What is the largest shape in this picture? (The Sun.) How many stars do we have in our solar system? (One). What is the name of our star? (The Sun). What is the difference between a star and a planet? (If no one knows tell your students that next time they look up into the sky at night and see all the tiny white lights shining back at them, the ones that twinkle, sparkle and flicker are stars. They make their own light. The ones that don t twinkle are planets, because they do not make light; they reflect light like a mirror.) SHOW POWERPOINT SLIDE 8 & 9 What do these pictures show? (The Sun and the Moon. The Sun is a star since it sends out light while the Moon is not a star since it only reflects the light from the Sun.) SHOW POWERPOINT SLIDE 10 Is our Sun a very big star yes or no? (The answer is no; Sirius - the brightest star in our night sky, Betelgeuse and Antares are all much bigger. Note that while Sirius is the brightest, it is not the largest. This is because although Betelgeuse and Antares are much larger and brighter, they are much further away and so appear smaller and less bright.) Here is another picture of one of the galaxies in our universe. It s called the Whirlpool Galaxy and astronomers call it the darling of astronomy because we can see its shape and how it spirals. SHOW POWERPOINT SLIDE 11 We are able to look at it from the top and see it all, rather than through the side of it. It is 30 million light years away. 5 How many kilometres is that? 5 Remember that a light year is the distance that light can travel in one year. Light travels at around 300,000,000 metres or 300,000 km in a second so a light year is approximately 9,500,000,000,000 km a figure very difficult for the human brain to understand. At the centre of this galaxy there is a black hole which the Hubble Telescope took a photo of. SHOW POWERPOINT SLIDE 12 What does that remind you of, if anything? (A cat s eye, Jesus on the cross ). In the same sort of way that an experienced person can be shown a piece of art and then tell you who the artist is, Christians believe that they can look at the stars, at the heavens and believe that it is God who has put it all together. NOTE Students who would like to explore more and who have access to the internet can be directed to the NASA website ( where there are more pictures of other galaxies. There are all sorts of interesting photos and information on this site. For example, they can look for the Heart galaxy. Some parts of the micro world Some things require very high powered microscopes in order to see them. For example, each of us has a genetic recipe, which is programmed into our DNA. 6 This picture gives an idea of what our DNA looks like. SHOW POWERPOINT SLIDE 13 The genetic recipe, or the human genome, is the set of instructions that help to decide how humans develop and function. It can be described like a set of 5,000 books each with 300 pages and a total of more than one billion words. All this information is fitted into a cell nucleus that is no bigger than the size of a point of a pin. In other words it is so small that it cannot be easily seen. It has been said that a copy of all this information is inside every cell (except red blood cells) in our bodies as a strand of DNA over three kilometres in length. Christians believe that the Bible tells us that God created us like this. Putting it all together Whether you believe in God or not, whether you think God made everything or not, it s amazing to think that there is still a lot to learn about the universe and how it is put together. There is such detail in every part of us that we don t yet have the technology to understand it all. Some people do not believe that God created these things and some do. 6 DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid, the genetic code capable of infinite variations. Life Choices Blue (Year One) Part 1 - Intro Session 2 Churches Education Commission (2017) 19

11 Life Choices Blue (Year One) Part 1 - Intro Session 2 Churches Education Commission (2017) TEACHING EXPLORATION J M S OPTION 1: WORKSHEETS Explain clearly to the students what is required on the worksheets that you have for them. J S LG OPTION 2: THINK, PAIR, SHARE Ask each student to think about up to ten amazing natural things (i.e. not created by humans) we have in this world (e.g. waves on the seashore, sunrise, sunset, rainbows, spider s webs, feathers, skin, blood the list goes on). Ask students to share in pairs or threes. Select some students to share one item each. S OPTION 3: QUESTION TOSS Have the students stand in a circle. Ask a question related to the lesson then throw a ball to a student. The student to whom the ball was thrown has the opportunity to answer the question. If the student answers the question correctly then they ask another question, related to the lesson, before throwing the ball to another student for answering. Any student who does not answer correctly is asked to sit down and does not actively participate in the question toss. If throwing a ball indoors is likely to be a problem, then the student can roll it across the floor to another student instead. A variation for junior students when the student answers correctly or incorrectly, they throw the ball back to the teacher who asks the next question. S OPTION 4: LET S GET INVENTING! Students complete their inventions they started at the beginning of the lesson. Students could either work individually or in groups. Provide paper for the students. Have the students brainstorm a new invention that would help them in their day-to-day world. Have the students share their inventions. Depending on your time, this could be split over the Introduction and Teaching Exploration of today s lesson. Words of Wisdom These can be taught at any stage during the session but now may be a good time. It is important to preface this part of the session by saying something like, This is what it says in the Bible... Genesis 2:1 (CEV) So the heavens and the earth and everything else were created. Songs Please choose a song that fits within our Songs for CRE and Champions Guidelines, or using the list of approved songs on Life Application Who likes being creative? Today we looked in the bible and read/heard a story about christians believe the world was created. Isn t our world amazing! Let s think...how can we look after the world we live in? Prayer I am going to pray now. This is a time to be quiet, a time to listen. Some people like to close their eyes or look at the floor. If you agree with what I say you are welcome to say Amen at the end. You don t have to if you don t want to, that s absolutely fine. Dear God, thank you for our world and all of the wonderful, beautiful and fascinating things that are in it. Thank you. Amen. 20

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13 Introduction UNit Intro Session 3 Session 3 The Bible is a Library Key Competencies learning outcomes Values WALT Thinking The students will be encouraged to recognise variety in written language. Inquiry, curiosity, respect We Are Learning To: think about the Bible as a library. note: J S LG Junior, Senior and Large Group options are provided. LG Look out for the appropriate symbol for your class. Life Choices Blue (Year One) Part 1 - Intro Session 3 Churches Education Commission (2017) preparation Pray as you prepare and present your lesson. Familiarise yourself with the lesson. Prepare appropriate materials for your chosen activities. TAKE TO THE SESSION Bible (CEV). Visual aids or Power Point for story, singing and Words of Wisdom. Music aids e.g. CD and CD player, MP3 etc. Appropriate materials for the chosen activities. Introduction J S LG OPTION 1: TEN CLUES Students are invited to guess what you are thinking of before they use all of the available clues. Provide them with ten clues, one at a time. Each time a clue is given, allow two or three guesses before moving to the next clue. Create your own clues to match the ability of your students. Note that the clues become more helpful and less vague as they go along. Clues could include: You can find these in lots of places. You can find them in many different countries. They have been around for a long time. They are more popular today than they once were. They come in all sizes, from small to enormous. They are useful for children, teenagers and adults. They are a good place to study. You can often find CDs and DVDs there. You probably have one in your own school. It is a place to find books. The answer is - a library! S LG OPTION 2: TEN GUESSES This option is a variation of the previous one. No clues are provided. Tell students you are thinking of something. They may ask any question, but you can only answer yes or no. The answer is - a library! 22

14 J S LG OPTION 3: STACK THE BOOKS You will need 66 books for this activity! Choose individual or pairs of students to stack all 66 books, while they are being timed. Repeat for as many rounds as you choose. Whoever has the fastest time wins! J S LG OPTION 4: LIBRARY CARD Bring your Library Card to show your students. Talk about which library you like to visit, what part of the library you get books from and maybe a bit about how you borrow your books. teaching STORY The following key points should be covered in telling the story. The Bible is made up of many different sorts of books. Included in the Bible are books of history, stories, poems, letters and rules (laws). The books are grouped into two sections an older section and a newer section. The sections are called the Old Testament and the New Testament. Christians believe that the Bible is God s word to people and that it shows people how to live. Story - the bible is a library Select from the following lead-in questions: What is a library? Where is the school library? Which direction is it in? How many of you have been to the school library? What can you find in the library? Why do we have a library? (To provide books and other resources for borrowing that would otherwise be hard to find or too expensive for a person to buy.) What sort of books can be found in a library? (Story books or narratives, comics, picture books, magazines, lift the flaps books, history books, books of letters, poetry books - choose age appropriate examples.) J JUNIOR STUDENT OPTION Let s look at different sorts of books. I m going to dive into my special box and bring out a different book each time. What sort of book is this I wonder? Have a selection of books in a colourful and interesting container to create an atmosphere of wonder and surprise. Bring them out one by one and discuss each type as you go. Suggested types of books: picture book, story book with words and pictures, poetry book, magazine, comic, a lift the flaps book and a book of facts (animals, machines, transport for example). Play a fun game with the children guessing the type of book as it is pulled out of the box (you will need 3 sorts of each type of book). Help the children to put each book into its correct category. Teaching point: Just like there are lots of different books in the library, there are also lots of different books in the Bible. The Bible is like a little library of books all in one! This is where the Juniors teaching time would end for this session. S SENIOR STUDENT OPTION Listen while I read some short sections from different books. I am not going to tell you where l am reading from but you might guess. If you guess, please keep it to yourself. I will ask later. When I have read each one to you I would like you to tell me if you think it is history, poetry, a letter or a story. 1. From Paul, chosen by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, to God s people who live in Ephesus and are faithful followers of Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 1:1 CEV) Maybe re-read emphasising the from and the to. Does this sound like history, poetry, a rule, a letter or a story? (Answer: the start of a letter.) 2. As a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, robbers attacked him and grabbed everything he had. They beat him up and ran off, leaving him half dead. (Luke 10:30 CEV) Does this sound like history, poetry, a rule, a letter or a story? (Answer: It could be history, but it is the start of a story Jesus told.) Life Choices Blue (Year One) Part 1 - Intro Session 3 Churches Education Commission (2017) 23

15 Life Choices Blue (Year One) Part 1 - Intro Session 3 Churches Education Commission (2017) 3. After King Hezekiah had faithfully obeyed the Lord s instructions by doing these things, King Sennacherib of Assyria invaded Judah. He attacked the fortified cities and thought he would capture every one of them. (2 Chronicles 32:1 CEV) Does this sound like history, poetry, a rule, a letter or a story? (Answer: Again this could be a story, but here it is used as an example of history.) 4. Do not steal. Do not tell lies about others (Exodus 20:15-16 CEV) Does this sound like history, poetry, a rule, a letter or a story? (Answer: Rules, sometimes called law.) 5. Shout praises to the Lord! With all my heart I will thank the Lord when his people meet. The Lord has done many wonderful things! Everyone who is pleased with God s marvellous deeds will keep them in mind. Everything the Lord does is glorious and majestic, and his power to bring justice will never end. (Psalm 111:1-3 CEV) Does this sound like history, poetry, a rule, a letter or a story? (Answer: Poetry, a poem of praise.) If we put that all together what do we have? (Answer: We have a letter, a story, some rules, some history and some poetry.) Did anyone guess where I was reading from? Everything that I read came from the Bible. The Bible is like a little library of books all in one! TEACHING EXPLORATION J M S OPTION 1: WORKSHEETS Explain clearly to the students what is required on the worksheets that you have for them. J S OPTION 2: MEDIA Watch the following video with the children: watch?v=z9vhk9tk9me (OT books of the Bible song 1:54 mins) watch?v=2v6c6nafmjg (NT books of the Bible song 2:11 mins J S OPTION 2: DIGGING IN Look at this picture. Every book on the shelf is a book of the Bible. The books are arranged in two parts Old Testament and New Testament. (Explain to older students that testament means a covenant or an agreement.) If the diagram is easily viewable you might like to ask students to count the books in each section (39 in the Old and 27 in the New). How many books are there altogether? What are the names of the groups of books? (Law, history, poetry, prophecy, gospels and letters.) Explain briefly that the gospels tell about Jesus time here on earth. S OPTION 3: DIGGING IN/SPELL IT! If appropriate for your students (and if time allows), you could show these misspelt words on a whiteboard one at a time: Go through each word one by one. See if the students can unjumble the letters. If a clue is needed then read the accompanying context, omitting the coded word. Once the word is decoded ask for a Bible book that would fit that category, e.g. sleur = rules = any of the first five books in the Law section. s l e u r Christians believe that the Bible has rules for living. t h o r y i s The book of Acts is a history book about the start of the church. t e p y r o Psalms is a book of poetry. s e j s u The Gospels tell about Jesus. s l e t r e t In the New Testament are many letters written to Christians. g i n k s The history books, called 1 Kings and 2 Kings tell stories about Israelite kings. 24

16 Words of Wisdom These can be taught at any stage during the session but now may be a good time. It is important to preface this part of the session by saying something like, This is what it says in the Bible.. You may also need to explain briefly what the word scripture means. Juniors: 2 Timothy 3:16 (CEV) Everything in the Scriptures is God s word Seniors: 2 Timothy 3:16 (CEV) Everything in the Scriptures is God s word. All of it is useful for teaching and helping people and for correcting them and showing them how to live. Songs Please choose a song that fits within our Songs for CRE and Champions Guidelines, or using the list of approved songs on Life Application The Bible is made up of many books. Some are written about the time before Jesus and some are written about the time Jesus was around and after. Christians believe the Bible is full of wisdom to help us make great life choices. Let s think...what are some other words of wisdom you remember from other CRE lessons? Prayer I am going to pray now. This is a time to be quiet, a time to listen. Some people like to close their eyes or look at the floor. If you agree with what I say you are welcome to say Amen at the end. You don t have to if you don t want to, that s absolutely fine. Dear God, thank you for all of the books that are in the library for us to read and learn from. Thank you for the Bible. Amen. Life Choices Blue (Year One) Part 1 - Intro Session 3 Churches Education Commission (2017) 25