Fruit of the Spirit Lesson 3 LOVE

Lesson three of our Fruit of the Spirit unit was a lesson on LOVE.  I used the verse John 3:16 as our main text.  We learned how God LOVES us soooo much that HE sent HIS Son JESUS to die for our sins.  

For our  "story time" I used a small story book that showed the basic life of Christ.  It started with his humble birth.  The book then showed a few highlights from HIS life...and then HIS death, burial and resurrection.  The book ended with a GIANT HEART that has the words, "BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU" on it.  It was a nice way to give a short chronological account of the life of Christ.

As our TAKE HOME project we made a type of mobile.  The kiddos LOVED the 3D earth that they got to glue to their mobile. They also got to stick on 3D foamy heart stickers.  The pictures really help you see what we made during class. 

The little globes came from a pencil sharpener that I had purchased a while back at Target.   I think they turned our darling!

Our memory verse was JOHN 3:16....We sang the verse to a little tune to help the kiddos get it memorized.  They ALL had it memorized before leaving the classroom!!!

The kiddos loved coloring the heart with the earth in the middle of it.  I explained that GOD'S love for the world...Is really GOD'S love for mankind

For our Activity/Review Game we play "Put the LIFE of CHRIST in order."  I had added a small picture ,that matched the pictures in the book we read during "story time," to Popsicle sticks.  Then used an old piece of Styrofoam placed each piece in order of events in the LIFE of CHRIST.  Then took them all our and mixed them up.  The kiddos had to answer a question from the lesson to pick a piece and place it in the styrofoam in the correct order.  They did a really good job getting them in the right order.  It was a challenge for the younger students and a BREEZE for my older student.  So, I had the older student "HELP" the younger ones...It was great fun!!!  It was also a very effective yet inexpensive way to review the lesson.

I wanted to encourage the kiddos to memorize the memory verses.  I decided that a basket would be perfect. If they can say the memory verse on Sunday, they get to add a new FRUIT to their basket.  They are so excited about "FILLING" their basket with the fruit stickers.  

Simple things make kids happy. 

On Wednesday Evening the kiddos had a puzzle with pizazz to make.  This project goes into their "Explorer Journal."  To make this the kiddos had to put the puzzle  (we had already cut each puzzle out) together first...then colored it however they wanted.  Then for a SPECIAL SURPRISE... or the PIZAZZ, as I like to call it....they got to glue on a wooden globe to the center of the heart!!!!  This gives this puzzle a SPECIAL touch. 

The children LOVED this...they all thought the GLOBE was really COOL.  I love it when something so simple makes them excited about their projects...and helps make the lesson more memorable for them.

I bought something NEW for my classroom...We do a lot of on the carpet activities...I had wanted to buy a large rug that had colored squares for each student....however, I could NOT afford to do this at the moment.  So, I decided to keep my eyes opened for ANYTHING that would accomplish the same desired effect at a much lower cost....Well, while shopping at ROSS recentely I noticed these great FOAM puzzle pieces....A light bulb went off and well...NOW, each of my students has their OWN SPOT to sit during our CARPET TIME activities.  :-) 

Blessings,

Ronda