When You Can't Find Visuals---Make Them, Use What You Have, Be Resourceful

Recently our 2nd through 4th graders were learning about Paul's Missionary Journeys.  However, we could not find a really good POSTER/BULLETIN BOARD set for the classroom.  So, what we decided to do was PART and PIECE various visuals for their "Bulletin Board" wall.  (As you can see they do not have a Bulletin Board in their classroom, so we use the wall.)

      We had the MAPS in our MAPS POSTER FILE.  

We had the Laminated Yellow Posters.

The KIDDOS get to Write the Name of Each City on these. 

PAUL, is borrowed from the 2-4 year old classroom.

  We have a Bible Character Set (no longer in print.)  We believe in sharing from classroom to classroom when needed.  

I printed the Boat and Anchors.  

I use the Printmaster Program.  I love that it does poster size!!  

For clarity, we know Paul did not SAIL to every stop he made.  But, for this display we had each ANCHOR for each Journey.  They wrote Paul's stops on each anchor ---First Journey on one Anchor.  Second on another.  Third on another.  

We have decided to PRINT the SHIP out on a much larger scale for the next time they teach the Journeys of Paul.

They displayed my 1st Missionary Journey song Poster Size.  I am still working on songs for the 2nd and 3rd Journey.  

The KIDDOS Added a "Paul" sticker for Attendance and a "Ship" sticker for arriving with a completed lesson. They printed the map from a website.  

They also reused our ABC'S though ACTS posters. These have a basic synopsis of each chapter based upon the letters of the Alphabet.  

 

Example:

  

   Chapter One

       

             A

 Ascension of Christ

I want to suggest you laminate everything!!!  If you take the time to make something---LAMINATE if for later use!!!  

Blessings,

Ronda

Paul's First Missionary Journey Song...by Ronda Duvall

I recently had an opportunity to write a NEW TESTAMENT song!!  I am so excited!!! 

The 2nd-4th grade class is studying Paul's Missionary Journeys.  (My son is in this class!!)  

The teacher sent home a note with a list of all the cities Paul and his companions visited on their FIRST JOURNEY.    She requested that the KIDDOS MEMORIZE the cities, in order, that they stopped and preached at....this is not an easy task...those cities names are really NOT easy to say.  

So, as I was going over the cities with my son, this song just sort of spilled out. I was very excited!!!  My son was super excited...he was able to memorize the cities, in order really quickly!!      

Since I am not teaching through the NEW TESTAMENT, at this time....I feel blessed with the opportunity to write a song about NEW TESTAMENT EVENTS!!!  

If you would like to hear the song click on the following link...it will open up the Facebook page for Hands On Bible Teacher.  

Paul's First Missionary Journey Song...by Ronda Duvall

Blessings,

Ronda

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

Fruit of the Spirit Lesson 2

One of my Visuals.

 We are continuing to "EXPLORE" the various attributes of the FRUIT of The Spirit.  The children are really excited about this topic. 

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, I decided to do an "extension"  to last weeks lesson.  We are going to have different lesson for every attribute....but, because so many of my students are out of town, I did not want to proceed forth into the  LOVE lesson.  I did not want them to miss any of the lessons on the individual attributes.

My students will be making a "Fruit of The Spirit" fruit basket as their Take-Home project.  I think they turned out very cute...They will color and glue the basket together and then add "paper fruit" and the Fun Foam Fruit as well.  

For their "Explorer Journal" activity the kiddos will be making a Fruit of The Spirit Puzzle.  The will add the puzzle pieces to make a complete apple.  My focus with them is going to be that we have to have ALL the attributes to have a COMPLETE fruit...If we are missing any of the attributes we are NOT completely the way GOD wants us to be...so, we need to improve, change or add the attributes we are missing. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Completed Fruit of The Spirit Puzzle.

Our Review Game for this week is a Bean Bag Game...The kiddos will answer a question from the lesson and then get the opportunity to throw a bean-bag at the "Toss-A-Cross" game...They will then have to answer the question that they turn over with their bean-bag.  My students LOVE to throw bean-bags...so, I know they will LOVE playing this game.  (BTW, the game was made from a old Toss-A-Cross game, that I purchased at a yard sale for 50 cents.  Always keep your eye out for things you can re-purpose for Bible Class.)

Fruit of the Spirit

Today was the beginning of a NEW Quarter for my students.  With a new quarter....we are beginning new material.  

Our Theme for the Quarter....I LOVE the bright colors.

We are EXPLORING the FRUIT of THE SPIRIT from Galatians 5.   The kiddos were so excited to see all the NEW items in the classroom.  I even had one little girl asking her mom if she would get to have NEW MEMORY VERSES with the new material.  I love it when the little ones want to memorize GOD'S WORD.  

Since our we are learning through EXPLORING BIBLE HISTORY, we will continue to use the Who? What? When? Where? Where? Why? and How does it effect us? Method.  

  

Who? What? When? Where? Where? Why? & How? WALL

Our WHO? was--Apostle Paul and the Christians living in Galatia.

Our WHAT? was-- That Paul LOVES the Christians in Galatia.  Paul wanted them to know that GOD had done them a BIG FAVOR (GRACE) by sending JESUS to die for their sins.   God wanted the Christians to have a HAPPY life....and a Happy life come though have the qualities of the FRUIT of THE SPIRIT.

Our WHEN? was--Christian Dispensation.

Our WHERE? was--Ephesus/Corinth (possibly where Paul was when he wrote the letter.)  GALATIA.

Our WHERE? in the Bible is the story found? was-- New Testament/Galatians.

Our WHY? was-- God wants Christians to behave in a godly way.  HE wants us to love others.  He wants us to feel joy.  He wants us to be peaceful, patience, kind, good, gentle, and in control of our self.  God knows if we live this way we will be happier and make others happier too.

Our How does this effect us? was--We must make sure to be living the way GOD wants us to live.  We must make sure we are always BEARING THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT.  We must have all these qualities in our life every day.  

This is one of the NEW items on the wall in our classroom.  It is a large laminated poster that has interchangeable (via velcro) cards that have the FRUIT of THE SPIRIT on them.  We will have one up for the week that we are learning about that attribute.   There is a small picture that represents the attribute....that will help the little ones "SEE" the attribute in a visual way.  

The Kiddos "Take Home" Activity was a smaller version of the BIG poster....They colored each of the pictures on the Attribute cards...we added the velcro dots, so that the kiddos can take it home and review each attribute with their parents.  I LOVE it when kiddos are able to review their BIBLE lesson with their parents in a fun and exciting way.  THEY LOVED making these...and were sooo excited about taking them home and sharing with their family.  I added a pocket to the back so that there would be a place to store all their attribute cards.

This is our NEW Memory Verse Card.  The kiddos colored their card in class...and they ALL had it memorized before leaving the classroom...that just makes me smile.

We added pieces to our interactive map.  We added "CORINTH"  and "Galatia."  "Ephesus" was on their from last quarters, Armor of God study.  

The kiddos will be making these FRUIT BASKETS on Wednesday Evening.  They will be going into their "EXPLORER JOURNAL."  The baskets are really 3D and pop up off the back of the page.  I really need to take an extra pic. to show how cute they really are.  

I finally took a pic to show  the 3D.

One of the NEW VISUALS I have in the Classroom....We will be using this as a REVIEW lesson in the future.  The BIBLE is opened up to Galatians chapter 5.

This is a "Fruit of The Spirit" homemade book.  I made this from an OLD visual aid.  It used to be posters....But, I cut it up and put each attribute on its OWN page...and now when we SING our FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT song...we can use this book to look at each attribute in action.  This morning I spent a lot of time going over the list of attributes that make up the Fruit of The Spirit....and this book really helped keep the kiddos attention....I LOVE re-purposing old material.

As a REVIEW Game we played a Question Game that involved putting a puzzle together.  The puzzle is made from a laminated Fruit of the Spirit Picture that I had printed from my computer.  I then cut it out in a PUZZLE shape and added magnet strips to the back....I placed it on my magnetic board (I LOVE my magnetic board) all mixed up.  The children answered a question from the lesson...then had the opportunity to  place a piece of the puzzle in the correct placement.  They REALLY enjoyed doing this...so, I will definitely be thinking of other "Puzzle Review Games" we can play in the future.

Hope you are enjoying teaching Bible Classes....Remember you are teaching precious little souls--LIFE CHANGING MATERIAL!!!

Blessings,

Ronda

Armor of God Exploring Bible History New Testament Lessons 4

This past Sunday we did our lesson on the Shield of Faith.  We focused on the fact that if we BELIEVE ALL of GOD'S promises then we have Faith.  We talked about how Faith helps protect us from the Devil and his tricks.  We talked about how the Devil wants us to believe lies and to do the wrong things.  But, if we keep Believing (have Faith) in God then we know how we should act and what we should be believing.  

I showed the kiddos pictures of a Roman Shield.  We talked about how BIG the shields were.  I told them FAITH is a BIG thing for us too.  If we want to live like GOD wants us to live then we have to have FAITH.

We sang a little song called, "Faith equals Belief."  They really liked the song....and at the end of class they were all able to tell me what Faith equals.  

The kiddos made Shields of Faith as their "Take Home" project.  The LOVED the glitter.  All in all, they kept the mess to a minimum, however there were specks of glitter through out the church building.  They were easily cleaned up with the vacuum.   We made a handle out of cardstock on the backs so that they could hold them the way a shield is to be held.  They really enjoyed making these.  

Our Memory Verse was Ephesians 6:16.  However, because I have so many little ones, I shortened the "need to know before Wednesday" part down to the first line.  "Above all taking the shield of faith."  I was pleased that most of them had it memorized before leaving the classroom on Sunday.

Our activity for Wednesday evening was a picture of a little boy or girl that the kiddos added a 3D Shield of Faith too.  They all did a great job on these and they are placed in their own Explorer Journal. 

We played the cube review game....they seem to look forward to playing it each week...and are disappointed if we "run out" of time.  Remember games can be great for reviewing past materials.  So, I suggest you review often.

Blessings,

Ronda