Wednesday, January 26, 2011

RECYCLED CD's Turned Books of The Bible Game/Activity "SCRAMBLED CD'S"

I LOVE finding a new use for TRASH!!!!   I am sure, if you are anything like me, that you have TONS of CD's laying around that have NO use.  Old computer games, CD's that have be mailed to you in junk mailers, CD's that did not burn right, etc.  It is AMAZING how fast my JUNK CD collection was growing.  :-)  





So, I began thinking, "What should I do with ALL these CD's?"  And, then in a "flash" it came to me.  Make them into a BOOKS OF THE BIBLE Review/Game/Activity.  






Law
This was a fairly quick and easy activity.  I used CD labels, Clip art from my computer, and clip art from Phillip Martin.  (His Clip Art is Free!!!!  Go check his artwork out at his website,)    After printing the labels I applied them to the CD'S.  And, now I have a very FUN and USEFUL game to play with my Bible Class Students.  






History
I like the idea of scattering the CD'S all around the room and then having them pick them up in order.  Or do them in divisions of groups.  LAW, HISTORY, POETRY, MAJOR PROPHETS AND MINOR PROPHETS.  Having the kiddos place them on the spindle in the correct order!!!!  BTW, if you save the spindles (which I do) you have an all-in-one GAME/STORAGE!!!  Isn't this FUN!!!!!!  






Poetry
Minor Prophets
Major Prophets





Now, I need to make the NEW TESTAMENT!!!!  I LOVE making things like this for BIBLE CLASS.  Useful, Economical, and FUN!!!







Blessings,

Ronda

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Fruit of the Spirit-----Patience

This quarter seems to be FLYING by.  We have been having sooo much fun learning about the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT.  We are on lesson 6 which is ALL about PATIENCE.  Our lesson was based on the FARMER from James 5:7-8.  I really like these verses for showing the need for Patience.....because, FARMERS HAVE TO BE PATIENT and the children easily GRASP the concept by looking at pictures of Farmers/Crops.









I introduced the story by showing the children a picture of a farmer planting in the field.  I asked the kiddos if the farmer would be able to immediately pick fruit from what they had planted.  They all said, "NO."  So, I showed them a picture of the plants just spouting through the ground.  Again, I asked if the farmer would be able to pick fruit?  Again, they all responded, "NO."  So, I showed them a picture of the crops in full growth with blooms on the plants and again asked the same question.  Again, the responses was a resounding, "NO."  So, I showed them a picture of the farmer during harvest time, picking the fruit from the plants and asked, Do you think the farmer can eat it now?  I was told, "YES."  However, one child said, "They need to take it to the sink and wash it first."  Children make me smile....such an eye for details.  So, I just added that to my lesson....by saying, "You are right...they still have to wait until the fruit has been washed.  Farmers are so patient."  I then asked them to tell me which attribute of the Fruit of The Spirit we were learning about and they all said, "Patience."    We talked about how God wants us to be patient with others, because HE is patient with us.  We talked about times it might be hard to be patient....but, GOD wants us to always be patient. 
 





Our TAKE HOME activity was an Activity to test their patience.  I had the children plant beans in a milk carton.  I also had them color a "cover" for the milk carton that showed a farmer, field and our scripture reference for today's lesson.  I think they turned out cute and hope they grow for the kiddos once they get them home. 









Our memory verse this week was  1 Thess.  5:14.   Because, I teach the young ones, I only used the end of this verse.  We had a little tune that we sang this Memory Verse too. 













The children really enjoyed our Game/Activity!  We played a BOARD style game.  I made this on my computer and then printed it in POSTER size.  I coded each square with a name of a child and a situation.  If the child was being inpatient then we had to move our marker back 1 square.  The really fun part was that I included each child's name in the class on the board.  Of course if they landed on a space that had one of my students names on it the situation ended with the child showing patience.  They LOVED it!!!!   Look closely at what I used for a game marker.  The next time you see them laying around by the bubble gum machines grab them up.  They can be used for soooo many fun thing.s










We added a few words to our "WORD WALL."  The children are so happy learning these  "BIG PEOPLE" words.  






On Wednesday Evening the children made these FLOWERS.  The neatest thing is...they are made by tracing the child's hands and then rolling them up.  This takes a bit of prep time.  We traced the children's hands on Sunday during the first few mins. of class.  That way I could cut them out and make sure they were ready for the Wednesday Night teacher.  They loved rolling the "petals" on dowels.  We added a small hand-print that says that the flowers are made from the child's hand-print and it is to remind them that GOD is patient with them as they grow and they need to patient too.  I LOVE how they turned out...and they loved placing them in their EXPLORER JOURNAL.  (These were made from white construction paper and yellow and green chenille sticks.---inexpensive and fun!!!)









I am enjoying teaching this UNIT of the Fruit of the Spirit.  It has allowed the children to learn VARIOUS stories from the Bible.  Since I normally teach in a CHRONOLOGICAL fashion, this is a nice break from MY norm.  It is challenging me to think of Biblical Example that go along with each attribute of the Fruit of the Spirit.  So far, so good.  


Blessings,

Ronda

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Fruit of the Spirit-----Peace

We are already on lesson 5 of our Fruit of The Spirit lesson material.  The children are really enjoying these lessons.  Lesson five was about the attribute: PEACE.   I decided to use the account of Jesus calming the sea for our main BIBLE story. 












I told the children the story (put into my own words) from Matthew 8:23-27.  We learned how Jesus and his disciples were on a boat and a HUGE storm came up and was tossing the boat back in forth and filling it with water.  The disciples were very scared and woke Jesus.  Jesus demonstrates his AMAZING powers over natures and calms the winds and wave.  He causes a GREAT PEACE to come over the sea.  I used this story as an opportunity to share with the children the idea that we should always turn to JESUS for true PEACE.  He is in control of everything and we need to go to HIM when we are troubled about anything. 









Our TAKE HOME activity was a "Ship In The Bottle" activity.  The little ship was printed from my computer and then laminated...rolled and placed in the bottle.  We filled the bottles half way with blue (food coloring) water.  We then filled the bottle the rest of the way with baby oil.  Added glue to the neck of the bottle and tightly twisted on the lid.  We then (for extra security) wrapped the lid with tape.  The kiddos added on the scripture reference sticker and stuck on some PUFFY 3D fish stickers.  The cool thing about this was as they tipped the bottle back and forth waves would form in the bottle....giving the appearance of a storm.   Needless to say the children LOVED this!!!!  They were so excited about taking home their "STORM IN A BOTTLE."










Our memory verse this week was Psalm 119:165.  We had a little tune that we sang this Memory Verse too.  The children had it memorized before leaving class.  I love it when they know their memory verse so well that they leave the classroom singing it.  Those moments make me smile.











Our Game/Activity was so much fun!!!  We had a  "sea" and "boat" in  the classroom. The "sea" was made from an air bed covered with a blue sheet.  The boat was made from corrugated  plastic that I bought at our local Goodwill for a $1.00 a sheet.  I count this as a lucky find.  :-)  The  children were able to  board the boat and then had to answer questions for the lesson...when they answered the questions we would push up and down on the air bed to make "WAVES."  They would then say, "PEACE BE STILL" and we would stop making the waves.  We repeated this several times.  The kiddos LOVED this activity. 
Kiddos are Aboard the Boat....and the wave are billowing!









We added a few words to our "WORD WALL."  The children are so happy learning these  "BIG PEOPLE" words.  






On Wednesday Evening the children made a picture with a boat on it.  They added the sails (made from cotton material that I had on hand)  and then added the STORM CLOUDS and  then colored the PEACEFUL  side.  They added this to their EXPLORER JOURNAL. 











I am enjoying teaching this UNIT of the Fruit of the Spirit.  It has allowed the children to learn VARIOUS stories from the Bible.  Since I normally teach in a CHRONOLOGICAL fashion, this is a nice break from MY norm.  It is challenging me to think of Biblical Example that go along with each attribute of the Fruit of the Spirit.  So far, so good.  


Blessings,

Ronda