Armor of God Exploring Bible History New Testament Lessons 2

I have been busy this week.  Still playing a bit of catch up since my daughter Sarah's wedding and vacation.  So, I  spent some time getting the kiddo's "Explorer Journals" made.  This quarter our Explorer Journals are light blue.  They match the time line boards that  are in our bible classes  hallway.

As I promised, I took a picture of our Map for this quarter.  The kiddos were excited that we are in a "New" location.  We have Rome and Ephesus clearly labeled on the map.

Since our lesson is all about the Breastplate of Righteousness, I decided we would make Breastplates.  Just seems logical...hehe.  The kiddos will decorate the front of their Breastplate anyway they want.  We will have pieces of paper, buttons, etc. available.  After they complete their Breastplate we (my helper and I) will help the kiddos get them on.  I know they will LOVE wearing them out of the classroom...and am looking forward to them telling the others all about the lesson.  Our lesson will be focusing on how we must live righteously.  We will use the Good Samaritan as one of our examples of choosing the righteous thing to do.

This is the kiddos memory verse card.  We will sing the memory verse to a little tune several times before the kiddos leave the classroom.  I am sure they will ALL have this memorized very quickly.  

One of the visuals we are using this quarter is a "flip chart" of the Armor of God.  This Flip Chart was made from the part of the package that my BIG Armor of God Soldier came from.  Instead of throwing away that little top portion of the package...I cut it up, printed out the name of each piece of the Armor...laid it up on the poster board, then laminated.  So, from TRASH to TREASURE.  Always check the packaging for useful pictures before discarding.  

OK, Sometimes thing just don't work.  I started out with this idea for the kiddos "Explorer Journal" activity.  I loved the look....but, it took WAY to many coins, and I did NOT have the time to cut each of these plastic coins for a total of 6-8 kiddos.  HUM, so what to do?  

Well, I went to Dollar Tree and purchased 4 silver shiny bags.  I took them back to the building and cut them up into pieces that would fit on my CRICUT.  I programmed in circles and let the machine do the work.  So, this will be the Explorer Journal Activity for this Wednesday Evening.  I wish I would have been able to do the other idea...I just like the 3D effect.....but, time is important....and the kiddos will love all this shiny paper.  So, sometimes I have to admit my limits and find an alternative.  I think this works.  

So, I guess my advice is, when something is taking WAY to long to come together....look for alternatives that will get the effect. 

Our Review Activity this week is the same as last week.  We are going to Get our Armor On.  The kiddos loved playing it last week, so I decided it would be good to repeat the game this week.  

Blessings,

Ronda

Armor of God Exploring Bible History New Testament Lessons

Today was the beginning of our new "Theme."  We are Exploring the Armor of God.  

Paul wrote the Letter to the brethren in Ephesus.  They lived under the Roman Government and were completely aware of the Armor a Soldier wore.  

The kiddos were excited to get started with this new topic.  However, I was asked SEVERAL times...."are we going to finish the Judges and learn about the Kings?"  They are so smart!!!  After lots of reassurance we went on with our new topic.

I had the kiddos put on the Explorer Hats today and we sang the song. "We Are Bible Explorers."  The kiddos love marching around the room as we sing this song.   

We then went right on with my lesson plans.  We added a BEE to their attendance charts as we sang our attendance song.  We then talked about Prayer and how we are to be REVERENT during prayer.  We then said our prayer.  Then we did some Basic Bible Review and Songs.  This is when we say our Books of the Bible.  Review how many book are in the Bible, how many main parts, how many book in the Old/New, etc.  

This is when I told them that our lesson was from the New Testament.  I told the kids it came from the Ephesian Epistle (telling them that they would impress their parents if they remembered that an Epistle is a fancy word for a letter.)    I then showed them  where Ephesus and Rome are on our NEW classroom map.  (I forgot to take a picture of the map...I will make sure to get one next week.)   I explained that Paul loved the Christians that lived in Ephesus and wanted them to be strong.   I then went on with the lesson about Armor.  

Our main focus was on the BELT OF TRUTH today.  We talked about our need for listening to TRUTH.  We talked about how the devil is filled with lies and is our enemy...and God's Word will help us defeat our enemy.

Our activity was a cardstock BELT OF TRUTH.  They were so cute wearing these as they left the classroom.

Our Memory Verse was Ephesians 6:14.  We had a little tune to sing the memory verse too.  I LOVE to have a song to go with their memory verses.  I think it helps them to memorize the verse.

Our Review Activity was a fun experience.  I coded a cube (old empty cardboard box) with all the pieces of the Armor of God.  The kiddos had to answer a question from the story for an opportunity to roll the cube.  Whatever piece of Armor the cube landed on the children added that to their "soldier."  The boys had a boy soldier and the girls had a girl soldier.  They seemed to enjoy this game.  If they do not get the answer correct I use that as the opportunity to correct any misunderstanding. BTW, this was a cheap game to make.

This is the cube...I covered the box with blue poster paper and then attached the Armor pieces.

We had our Who? What? When? Where? Where? Why? and How? cards.  And we had a card to add to our God's Awesome Plan for Man wall.  I really think this is an important part of ALL Bible stories.

This is our NEW Theme Bulletin Board.

On Wednesday Evening the kiddos will be "designing" their Belt of Truth.  They will glue on sequins after coloring their belt.  They will then add the little Bible to their belt...since the BELT OF TRUTH is the WORD OF GOD. 

I am looking forward to teaching this material.  I know the children really were excited this morning.  I hope they are always excited about learning lessons from God's Word.

Blessings,

Ronda

 

New Attendance Chart Board.... Time for Summer and Bee-ing in Bible Class

Today the Kiddos were greeted with a new Attendance Chart Board.  We had
"promotions" a few Sundays back, so I had a few students move out and two "new" students added to our class.    

The children LOVED the flower pot attendance "charts."  So, I decided I would follow them up with a Summertime themed attendance chart.  

This came together while I was at my local Dollar Tree.  I saw the cute little Bee picture frames and decided there and then that I wanted to do a BEE themed attendance board.  I love the fact that each of my students has their own picture in one of the Bees.  The children will add a BEE sticker to their hive each time they come to Bible Class.  The bottom of the hives says, ____________ loves BEE-ING in Bible Class.  The kiddos will take their hives and picture frame  home at the end of the quarter. 

I think it is an eye catching and attention grabbing board.   I love the BRIGHT yellow, red and black combination. 

The kiddo's reaction was priceless.  They LOVED the BEES and their pictures!!!!  

I hope it helps encourage them to BEE in Bible Class.

Blessings, 

Ronda

New Attendance Board...Sping Time Flowers were a success.

The children LOVED the Flower Pots Attendance Charts.  They added a new flower to their flower pot every time they came to Bible Class.  This was a great motivator and the little pots provided a great spring theme to the classroom.  I think this has been my favorite attendance chart so far. 

They were excited to take them home at the end of the quarter.

Blessings,

Ronda 

Devoted Ruth

We recently learned the story of Ruth in Bible Class.  This story is such an encouraging story.  It teaches great lessons of love, devotion, dedication, selflessness, and strength in times of hardship.  I also love to teach the concept of being a hard worker when teaching the story of Ruth.  

The story of Ruth should be taught when teaching through the Judges.  I will give one word of warning....my kiddos struggled with her name.  They continually called her "Rahab."   I would have to constantly remind them her name was RUTH.  We had to go over all the names of the people in this lesson several times.   Since they seemed to struggle...we focused mainly on Naomi, Ruth, Orpah, Boaz, and Obed.  I figured if they could get these names down and what part they had to do with the story and who was in the family line of Jesus then I would be happy.  

We had success after reviewing several times and in several methods.  Don't give up...and if you realize your students are confused....don't be afraid to slow down and reteach a lesson.  I would rather "fall behind a week" than  for the kiddos NOT to understand something.

The song you see in the picture above was a great help with teaching this story.  The kids got the song down rather quickly....We enjoyed singing it together.

For the "Take Home" project the  children made a Ruth paper doll and glued on wheat to her basket.  Her arm is attached with a brad so that it can move. 

Our memory verse was Ruth 1:16.  This was a very fun memory verse.  We sang it several times and the kids had it memorized before leaving class on Sunday.  I did have some word to explain.  Like the word "wither" and "lodge."   

We did a map review today.  The kids amazed me...they remembered where MOAB was.  They recalled the story of King Eglon and Ehud.  I was very impressed.  I love being impressed by 4 and 5 year olds.  It just makes me smile.

Our Review Activity was a "Gleaning Wheat" game.  Each student answered a question from the lesson.  If they got the answer correct they would take my basket and glean in the "Field of Boaz."  Our classroom floor served as Boaz's field.  :-)    The kiddos LOVED playing this game.  I love getting them out of their chairs and learning as we 'play."

The Wednesday "Explorer Journal" Activity was a picture of Ruth to color and then they glued on Wheat...Looks like she is in a wheat field.


This was a fun lesson to teach.  Even with the name struggles.  The kiddos loved the "REAL" wheat and learned so much about being devoted, helpful and hard workers.




Blessings.

Samson the Strong Judge

The children LOVED the lesson about Samson.  It is amazing how excited they get when learning about Samson and his AMAZING STRENGTH.  

For their "Take Home" activity the kiddos made a Samson Puppet.  It was made by coloring a face and MUSCLED arms and gluing them to a tongue depressor.  They then glued on 7 braids of LONG hair. (My daughter had crocheted the "hair" for me prior to class.)  We just cut the crocheted chain to length and knotted it at the bottom.  Check out the pic.  :-)  

I loved the finished product....The children would hold their "puppet" and talk in their strongest Samson voice.  It was sooo cute.  I loved hearing my youngest student say, "I am Samson, I am the strongest man and I had long hair and I was a Nazarite."  Imagine it said by a little girl in a deep style voice. 

I felt Psalm 18:32 was an appropriate memory verse for this lesson.  We talked about how we can be STRONG if we OBEY God. 

We also had a little song that we sang to help the kiddos memorize the verse.  Most of them had it memorized before leaving Bible Class on Sunday AM.

The kiddos "Explorer Journal" activity for Wednesday was a lacing/sewing style project.  We had the children "lace" Samson's hair.  The kids did an AMAZING job on this project.  We had threaded the yarn through the first hole and taped the end of the yarn to make for easy threading.  I think they turned out cute.

Our Review Activity Game was a TEST OF STRENGTH.    The kiddos were sooooo funny...they all wanted to lift the heaviest weights first....however, they quickly learned the biggest weights were NOT the heaviest.   I decided to make the questions a little more "fun" to choose....I made them to look like barbells.  They were made from small styrofoam balls and drinking straws.  I then glued the questions on....the kiddos reaction to the question "card" was fun....They would pic a question and then "struggle" (as if they were lifting a real heavy weight) to lift the question up off the table.  After answering the question correctly they had the opportunity to see how strong they were by lifting real weights.  They LOVED this!!!!!! 

Teaching the story of Samson was so enjoyable.  I love it when the kids enjoy their lessons!!!!!

Blessings