BONUS TEACHING HOUR for 3s Pre-K UNIT 1. SESSION 1 Room Your teaching partner(s) Thank you for serving! DATE OF USE Hoping Matthew 14:22-33 LIFE POINT People need Jesus. CHRIST FOCUS Jesus has the answers we need. LIFE VERSE All things work together for good for those who love God. Romans 8:28 BIBLE FUN ACTIVITIES SNACK Remind the kids to wash their hands before eating the snack. Pray, thanking God for Jesus and for the snack. MOVE TO GROUP TIME Lead the kids to tiptoe to the group-time area. Tell them to pretend they are tiptoeing through water. TALK ABOUT THE BIBLE STORY Introduce the Bible story by telling the kids that God sent Jesus to help people. Challenge them to listen for how Jesus helped Peter. Jesus had been teaching the people all day. He sent the people away and told His disciples to go to the other side of the lake in a boat. Jesus went up the mountain to pray. Hours later, the boat had drifted from land. The disciples struggled because the wind was strong. Jesus came to them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw Him, they were afraid. It is a ghost, they cried. But Jesus spoke to them and said, Do not be afraid. I am coming to you. Peter heard Jesus and said, Jesus, if it really is You, let me walk to You on the water. Jesus replied, Come. Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water to Jesus. Then Peter saw the wind blowing the water, and he became afraid. Peter began to sink in the water and cried out to Jesus, Save me! Jesus reached out and took Peter s hand. Jesus said, Why did you doubt? Jesus and Peter got into the boat, and the wind stopped blowing. Jesus disciples were amazed. Truly He is the Son of God, they said. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 3 S PRE K BTH 3
SING TOGETHER Sing the following words to the tune London Bridge : Peter was a special friend, Special friend, special friend. Peter was a special friend; Jesus helped him. SAY THE LIFE VERSE Open the Bible to Romans 8. Show the kids that Romans is in the New Testament. Say the Life Verse and lead the kids to repeat the verse with you. PRAY Pray, thanking God for Jesus and that Jesus helps us. Thank Him for the Bible and for stories that tell us about Jesus and His love for us. BIBLE LEARNING ACTIVITIES Use conversation to help the kids understand that we need Jesus. A. Make a block mural. Lead the kids to make a block mural, using a large sheet of paper on the floor. Challenge them to use the blocks to make a boat and waves. Tell the Bible story as they work. B. Jump in puddles. Cut several large circles from brown paper. Tape them to the floor. Play music from a CD and encourage the kids to jump from one puddle to the next. Periodically stop the music and lead the kids to repeat the Life Verse. C. Make a Life Verse chain. Cut several pieces of construction paper into strips. Print the Life Verse on each strip. Provide tape for the children to make a chain of the Life Verse. Each child can make his own short chain to take home, or the class can make a long chain to leave. Talk about the Bible story. D. Move paper balls with straws. Wad several sheets of paper and place them on a table or the floor. Give each child a straw and encourage her to pretend to be the wind as she blows through the straw to move the paper balls. Remark that the wind was blowing in a storm when Jesus walked on the water to the boat. CLEAN UP Walk around the room and give the children specific jobs to clean up the room. Assist as needed. PLAY STOP, GO, AND LISTEN Line up the children on one side of the room. Stand on the other side. Hold up a green piece of paper, and tell the kids they can walk toward you. Hold up a red piece of paper, and tell the kids they must stop. Whenever they stop, lead them to say the Life Verse All things work together for good for those who love God. Romans 8:28. DISMISS Greet the parents as they arrive. Inform them that the children learned that Jesus helped Peter when he tried to walk on water. Make sure each child has his Kids Activity Page, artwork, and other belongings. Remind the parents to use the One Conversation this week. 4 BTH SESSION 1.
BONUS TEACHING HOUR for 3s Pre-K UNIT 1. SESSION 2 Room Your teaching partner(s) Thank you for serving! DATE OF USE Forgiving Matthew 18:21-35 LIFE POINT People can learn from Jesus how to treat others. CHRIST FOCUS Jesus has forgiven us. LIFE VERSE All things work together for good for those who love God. Romans 8:28 BIBLE FUN ACTIVITIES SNACK Send the kids to wash their hands. Choose two children to help pass out napkins and cups for the snack. Thank God for the food. MOVE TO GROUP TIME Ask all of the girls to come to group time. Invite all of the boys to join you in group time. TALK ABOUT THE BIBLE STORY Keep your Bible open to Matthew 18 as you tell the Bible story. As Jesus was teaching His disciples, Peter asked Him, How many times should I forgive someone? Peter wanted to know how he should treat people who had done wrong things to him. To answer his question, Jesus told a story. A servant owed the king a large amount of money. When the servant could not pay, the king wanted to have the servant and his family put in jail. But the servant pleaded with the king to wait. The king felt sorry for the servant and told him he did not have to pay back the money. The servant left and saw a man who owed him money. The servant grabbed the man and demanded that he repay what he owed. The man pleaded for the servant to wait so he could pay the money. The servant would not wait and had the man put in jail. When the king heard what had happened, he was angry. I treated you kindly, but you did not treat the other man kindly. Go to jail like your fellow servant! the king said. Jesus said we should treat people kindly. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 3 S PRE K BTH 5
SING TOGETHER Sing the following words to the tune Are You Sleeping? Jesus teaches, Jesus teaches, How to live, How to live. Jesus taught Peter, Jesus taught Peter, How to live, How to live. Jesus teaches, Jesus teaches, How to love, How to love. Jesus taught Peter, Jesus taught Peter, How to love, How to love. SAY THE LIFE VERSE Ask for a volunteer to help you find Romans 8 in the Bible. Lead the kids to hold their Bibles open to Romans 8 or pretend to hold an open Bible as they say the Life Verse. Remember to include the Scripture reference each time the verse is said. PRAY Ask for volunteers to pray. End the prayer by thanking God for Jesus. BIBLE LEARNING ACTIVITIES Review the Bible story as the kids complete the activities. A. Make paper plate art. Give each child a paper plate, paper scraps, markers, and crayons. Provide glue sticks and invite the kids to make a paper plate collage. Review the Life Verse and tell the Bible story as they work. B. Say and move. Guide the children to sit in a circle on the floor. Call on one child to suggest a movement. Encourage all the children to do the movement while saying the Life Verse together. Continue until everyone has a chance to suggest a movement. Open your Bible to Matthew 18 and tell the Bible story. Talk about what it means to forgive. C. Find the Bibles. Hide several Bibles around the room. Challenge the kids to find them and bring them to you. Hide them again, or allow one of the children to carefully hide the Bibles for the others to find. Comment that the Bible tells us about Jesus and how He wants us to live. D. Build with interlocking blocks. Provide interlocking blocks and encourage the children to build something from the Bible story or something they can use to be kind. (a box shape for donated food, a trash can shape to pick up trash, and so forth) Talk about the Bible story as the children work. CLEAN UP Announce to the children it is time to clean up. Encourage the kids to see if they can put away (by the time you slowly count to twenty) the toys and supplies used during the session. PLAY A COUNTING GAME Draw two lines dividing a sheet of paper into four sections. Print a 1 in the first box, a 2 in the second box, a 3 in the third box, and a 4 in the fourth box. Give a child a beanbag to toss onto the paper. Direct the child with the beanbag to think of an action and lead the rest of the kids to do that action. They will do this action the same number of times as the number where the beanbag lands. Repeat with other volunteers. DISMISS Greet the parents as they arrive. Inform the parents that today s session was about how Peter learned a lesson. Make sure each child has his artwork and other belongings. Comment on the One Conversation as you hand each parent the Kids Activity Page. 6 BTH SESSION 2.
BONUS TEACHING HOUR for 3s Pre-K UNIT 1. SESSION 3 Room Your teaching partner(s) Thank you for serving! DATE OF USE Loving John 21:1-19 LIFE POINT Jesus showed His love to people. CHRIST FOCUS Jesus love never ends. LIFE VERSE All things work together for good for those who love God. Romans 8:28 BIBLE FUN ACTIVITIES SNACK Before eating the snack, thank God for the food. Comment that Jesus cooked for His friends. MOVE TO GROUP TIME Lead the kids to pretend to catch fish as they move to group time. TALK ABOUT THE BIBLE STORY Hold your Bible open to John 21 and tell the story. Peter, John, and some other friends were by the Sea of Galilee. They decided to go fishing. The men got into the boat and went out into the water. The men fished all night but caught no fi s h. As they were nearing the shore, a man called out to them, Did you catch any fish? This man was Jesus, but they did not recognize Him. No, they answered. Cast your net on the right side of the boat, He told them, and you ll find some. They put their net in the water and caught 153 fish! The net was so heavy they could not pull it into the boat. John looked up and said to his friends, It s Jesus! When Peter heard what John said, he jumped into the water and swam to the shore. The rest of the men brought the boat with the net full of fi s h. Bring some of the fish, Jesus said. Peter brought some fish from the net to add to the fish and bread that were cooking over a fire. Jesus invited the men to eat breakfast with Him. After eating, Jesus talked to Peter. Do you love Me? Jesus asked Peter. Peter said that he did. Jesus said, Help people learn about Me. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 3 S PRE K BTH 7
SING TOGETHER To the tune The Farmer in the Dell, sing: (1) Jesus helped His friends. (Repeat.) Yes, the Bible tells us so, that Jesus helped His friends. (2) Jesus told His friends, (Repeat.) where to catch lots of fish. Yes, Jesus told His friends. (3) His friends caught lots of fish. (Repeat.) Lots of fish were in the nets. His friends caught lots of fi s h. (4) Come and eat with Me. (Repeat.) Eat some fish, and eat some bread. Yes, come and eat with Me. SAY THE LIFE VERSE Lead the kids to pretend to throw a big net out of a boat as they say the Life Verse. Lead them to pretend to walk to the other side of the boat and throw out the big net again as they repeat the verse. PRAY Pray, thanking God for Jesus. Thank Him that we can be friends with Jesus. BIBLE LEARNING ACTIVITIES As the kids complete today s Bible-learning activities, talk about the many ways Jesus showed love to people. A. Split logs. Place two same-size blocks sideby-side (with their long sides touching). Show the kids how to use a triangular block and another block to tap the top of the two blocks to make them split apart (split the log). Give each child a turn splitting the logs. Tell the Bible story about Jesus cooking breakfast on a campfire for His friends. B. Toss a ball to a friend. Toss a ball to a child. The child must name something she likes to do with a friend before tossing the ball to someone else in the circle. Mention that Jesus loved His friends. Review the Bible story. C. Go fishing. Cut fish shapes from paper and lay them on a blue paper background. The kids take turns tossing a ball of paper onto a fish to catch it. A child may scoop his catch out of the water and give it to a friend. Review the amazing catch that Jesus helped His friends accomplish. (153 fish) D. Make play dough fish. Encourage the kids to form fish from play dough. Count the number of fish they form. You might also print the number 153 in large letters on a card. Help a child roll out thin ropes of play dough and lay them on the numbers to form 153. Remind them that Jesus friends caught 153 fish. CLEAN UP Suggest that the children work with a friend to put away the materials. Walk around the room. Help where needed. Thank the kids for working together to clean the room. PLAY A GUESSING GAME Choose one child to be It. When she turns her back, the others silently select a child to be a special friend. When It turns around, she tries to guess who the friend is. The children tell It if she is getting warmer or colder as she moves nearer or farther away from the friend. When It guesses the identity of the friend, that person becomes the new It. DISMISS Give each parent a copy of today s Kids Activity Page. Display One Conversation on the outside corner of your classroom doorway to remind parents to use this valuable Bible story tool this week. 8-BTH SESSION 3.
BONUS TEACHING HOUR for 3s Pre-K UNIT 1. SESSION 4 Room Your teaching partner(s) Thank you for serving! DATE OF USE Telling Acts 12:5-19 LIFE POINT People who love Jesus pray for one another. CHRIST FOCUS There is no one like Jesus. LIFE VERSE Do what is good. Romans 2:10 BIBLE FUN ACTIVITIES SNACK Direct the kids to use the restroom and wash their hands. Invite a few volunteers to help you serve the snack. Thank them for helping. Encourage the children who are served to thank the servers. Thank God for the food. MOVE TO GROUP TIME Thank the kids for cleaning up the snack area. Invite them to follow you to group time. TALK ABOUT THE BIBLE STORY Leave your Bible open in your lap to Acts 12:5-19 as you tell the Bible story. The king was angry that people were telling about Jesus, so he put Peter in prison. Peter s friends met together and prayed for Peter. In prison Peter was chained between two guards. Suddenly a bright light shone into the cell. An angel woke Peter and told him to put on his sandals. As Peter got up, the chains fell o. Peter and the angel left the prison. They passed all the guards. The prison gate opened by itself! Peter and the angel went into the city. As they passed one street, the angel left him. Peter knew that God had sent an angel to help him! Peter went to the house where his friends were praying. He knocked on the door and Rhoda, a servant girl, answered. She recognized Peter s voice. She ran to tell the others and forgot to open the door. It s Peter! she cried. The others didn t believe her. They opened the door and saw Peter. God sent an angel to help me. Your prayers are answered, he explained. Then Peter left and went to another place. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 3 S PRE K BTH 9
SING TOGETHER Explain that we can also ask God to help people. Sing these words (tune London Bridge ): Peter s friends asked God to help, God to help, God to help. Peter s friends asked God to help. God helped Peter. SAY THE LIFE VERSE Lead the kids to sit as they say the Life Verse, walk as they say the verse, and pretend to knock on a door as they say the verse. PRAY Ask the kids to tell you how the people helped Peter. (prayed for him). Emphasize that we can pray for other people. Pray, thanking God for Bible stories that show us the importance of prayer. BIBLE LEARNING ACTIVITIES Seek opportunities to talk about prayer. Demonstrate prayer by saying simple thank-you prayers such as Thank You, God, for crayons and paper. Remind the kids that they can choose several activities. A. Make a prayer card. Provide construction paper folded in half and washable markers to decorate cards. O er to print on each card I prayed for you. Note that we can ask God to help other people when we pray. Pray, thanking God for the chance to talk to Him anytime and anywhere. B. Build a Bible times house. Show the kids the Bible times house picture on page xxx of the Read to Me Bible for Kids. Suggest that the kids build the house where Peter s friends were praying for him. C. Read books about God and prayer. Gather several books about God and prayer. Include the Read to Me Bible for Kids. As you read the books together, talk about prayer. Mention that people in the Bible asked God to help others and we can ask God to help others, too. D. Pray for family members. Invite the children to role-play family members. As they take care of a baby, plan and prepare a meal, or dust the house, guide them to say thank-you prayers for family members. CLEAN UP Completing their projects is important to young children. Mention that in a few minutes, they will hear you knocking as a signal to clean up. Go to each area and knock on a table or wall. PLAY TRUE/NOT TRUE Ask the kids to pretend to knock on the door if the statement is true. Use the following statements: Peter told people about Jesus. Peter s friends were praying. An angel helped Peter. Peter knocked on the door. His friends were surprised to see him. Alternate these with statements that are not true, such as Peter was at the zoo. Peter rode the bus to Mary s house. Peter stayed in jail. DISMISS Follow your church s policy for dismissing preschoolers. Greet each parent and mention that the One Conversation will help her continue family Bible study this week. Show the parents the Kids Activity Page. 10 BTH BTH SESSION 4.
BONUS TEACHING HOUR for 3s Pre-K UNIT 1. SESSION 5 Room Your teaching partner(s) Thank you for serving! DATE OF USE Helping Acts 9:36-43 LIFE POINT People who love Jesus help others. CHRIST FOCUS Jesus helps us so we can serve Him. LIFE VERSE Do what is good. Romans 2:10 BIBLE FUN ACTIVITIES SNACK When the children have been to the restroom and washed their hands, serve the snack. Thank God for the food, allowing volunteers time to pray. Talk with the kids about what they like to do at church. Encourage each child to talk. MOVE TO GROUP TIME Lead the kids around the room as you walk and pretend to be like Peter, walking to Joppa. TALK ABOUT THE BIBLE STORY Open your Bible to Acts 9 and tell the Bible story. A woman named Dorcas lived in the city of Joppa. She was a kind woman who helped many people. One day Dorcas became sick and died. Her friends washed her body and laid it on a bed in a room. The men there heard that Peter was in a nearby city. They sent two men to find Peter and bring him back to help them. Peter went with the men to Joppa. When they got there, Peter went to the room where they had put Dorcas. The women showed Peter all the clothes that Dorcas had made for them. They were very sad that Dorcas had died. Peter sent everyone out of the room. He knelt down beside the bed and prayed to God. Then Peter turned to Dorcas, took her hand, and said, Dorcas, get up. Dorcas opened her eyes, sat up, and looked at Peter. Peter helped Dorcas stand up. He called all the men and women to see that Dorcas was alive. Many people who heard about this began to believe in Jesus. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 3 S PRE K BTH 11
SING TOGETHER To the tune The Farmer in the Dell, sing: A helper I will be. A helper I will be. I can help *stir the food. A helper I will be. *Substitute: wash the car, feed my dog, sweep the floor, fold the clothes, water plants. When you repeat the stanza and substitute a di erent action, lead the children to play out the action as they sing. SAY THE LIFE VERSE Show the kids how to pretend to sew on a coat with a needle and thread. Lead them to sew as they say the Life Verse three times. PRAY Pray, thanking God for teachers and people in the children s families who help them learn from the Bible. BIBLE LEARNING ACTIVITIES Emphasize that people who love Jesus help others. A. Make designs. O er plain paper and markers. Draw several large shapes in the middle of each child s paper. Invite the kids to use the markers to make designs on each shape. Comment that Dorcas may have used di erent fabrics to sew clothes for people who needed them. Open your Bible to Acts 9 and tell the Bible story. B. Clean the room. Provide paper towels and a toy broom (if available). Lead the kids to sweep, tidy the toy dishes or food containers in the dramatic play area, stack blocks neatly on shelves, or sort markers and art supplies. Commend the children for helping clean. Recall the Life Verse. Mention that helping clean the room is doing what is good. C. Trace shoes. Provide paper and pencils. Guide a child to place one foot on a piece of paper; another child can trace around his shoe. Lead the children to swap roles. Comment that the children are helping one another and that helping is a way to show love. O er to print today s Life Verse on the child s shoe outline. Talk about ways the children can help others at home, church, or other places. D. Play an action game. With the children standing in a circle (each an arm s length apart), choose one player to be It. As the others sing the song from Sing Together, It pretends to be a needle and thread, weaving in and out of the children in the circle. At the end of the song, It can tag a player to be the new It. CLEAN UP Give children a five-minute warning before assigning specific cleanup tasks. To the tune Mulberry Bush, sing: This is the way we help at church, help at church, help at church. This is the way we help at church, by picking up the blocks. Afterward, gather the children to a cleared area away from the door. PLAY A GUESSING GAME Describe a helping job that the kids can do. Suggest that this is a job we can do at home. Mention that we use both hands to smooth the sheets or straighten the blanket. Also note that we straighten the pillow, too. Ask what job is it. (making a bed) Continue with descriptions of other helping jobs for the kids to guess. DISMISS Encourage the parents to help their children learn about Dorcas and about helping others by reading today s Bible story. Refer the parents to One Conversation for at-home family Bible study this week. 12 BTH BTH SESSION 5.
BONUS TEACHING HOUR for 3s Pre-K UNIT 1. SESSION 6 Room Your teaching partner(s) Thank you for serving! DATE OF USE Living 1 and 2 Peter LIFE POINT What we do shows we love Jesus. CHRIST FOCUS We can show our love for Jesus by what we do. LIFE VERSE Do what is good. Romans 2:10 BIBLE FUN ACTIVITIES SNACK Remind the kids to wash their hands before eating the snack. Pray, thanking God for the snack and for Jesus. MOVE TO GROUP TIME Call the children by name, a few at a time, to move to the group-time area. Continue until all have moved. TALK ABOUT THE BIBLE STORY Open your Bible to 1 and 2 Peter. Tell the Bible story. Peter was a friend and disciple of Jesus. He learned many things about God and how God wants people to live. He knew that Jesus was the Son of God. After Jesus went back to heaven, Peter taught many people about Jesus. He wrote some letters to the people he had taught. He wanted to remind them of the important things he had taught them. Peter wrote: I am a disciple of Jesus. I am writing to you who love Jesus. I know you have heard many stories about Jesus. I want to teach you the things Jesus taught me so you will always remember them. Husbands and wives should love each other. We should obey the laws of the government. Let others see you doing good things. You should love one another and obey the truth that Jesus taught. Keep learning about Jesus. He is our example of how we should live. People read the letters from Peter. The letters are part of our Bible today. BIBLE STUDIES FOR LIFE 3 S PRE K BTH 13
SING TOGETHER Sing the following words to the tune For He s a Jolly Good Fellow : Peter wrote a letter; Now it s in our Bible. Peter wrote a letter, To teach us how to live. God gave Peter the words to write. God gave Peter the words to write. God gave Peter the words to write, To teach us how to live. SAY THE LIFE VERSE Open the Bible to Romans 2. Show the children that Romans is in the New Testament. Say the verse and lead the kids to repeat the verse with you. PRAY Pray, thanking God for Jesus. Ask God to help us show our love for others by what we do. BIBLE LEARNING ACTIVITIES Review the Bible story and Life Verse as the children complete the Bible-learning activities. A. Write letters. Provide recycled paper, envelopes, pencils, and markers. Encourage the kids to write letters using the materials provided. Comment that Peter wrote letters and now his letters are in our Bible. B. Make a word collage. Provide old magazines or newspapers, child-size scissors, glue sticks, and paper. Encourage the boys and girls to cut words out of the magazines or newspaper to glue onto their papers. Mention that Peter wrote some important words that are now in our Bible. C. Build a town. Provide wooden or cardboard blocks. Encourage the kids to build a town with the blocks. Comment that Peter wrote his letters to people in the di erent towns he had visited when he taught them about Jesus. D. Work puzzles. Place several puzzles about Jesus on a table or the floor. As the children work the puzzles, talk about the Bible story. Remind the children that Jesus taught people how to live. CLEAN UP Walk around the room and give the children specific jobs to do. Thank the children as they work. Assist as needed. PLAY I SPY Start the game by choosing something in the room and saying that you spy something that is a certain color. Call on a child to answer. Continue inviting the kids to answer until the item is guessed. Extend the game by giving one volunteer at a time a turn to spy something. DISMISS Greet the parents as they arrive. Inform them that the children learned that Peter wrote letters that are in our Bible. Make sure each child has his Kids Activity Page, artwork, and other belongings. Show One Conversation to new parents and explain how it is used. 14 BTH BTH SESSION 6.