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

Review What We Have Learned During the Quarter

We have finished all the lessons in Book 2 of the Exploring Bible History Curriculum I am writing. We have had so much fun learning about Moses's life. On the table sits a visual reminder of some of the stories we have learned during this past quarter.

The kiddos EXPLORER JOURNALS are ready for the parents to pick up during "conference" time. I have the parents come to the classroom and let their child "PRESENT" their EXPLORER JOURNAL to their mom and dad. I am so please with the parents support and how excited they are to receive these Journals. These EXPLORER JOURNALS will immediately be family treasures.

The children have amazed me. The are doing a great job at remembering the stories, and lessons learned. They have also done a great job at remember where in the Bible we find the stories.



So, for the next few weeks we are going to be doing a fun review. I made up some "boards" and labeled them "Genesis" and "Exodus-Numbers." I attached velcro stips to the boards and velcro dots to the backs of each picture.

The children will pick a picture out of a box, tell me which Bible story the picture represents, and we may sing a song that goes with that story...and then they will tell me which Book of the Bible the story is found in. Then they will add the picture to the correct board.





I feel this is a unique and fun way to review what they
have learned...I believe in reviewing
(WE WANT THEM TO REMEMBER WHAT THEY HAVE LEARNED!!!!) often. Make reviewing fun!!





Blessings,

Ronda

Pharaoh's Fatal Following

Why did Pharaoh NOT learn his lessons? We are going to talk about how we should NEVER harden our hearts towards God and his commandments. We need to always obey!!! We are going to talk about how catastrophe always seems to happen to those who do NOT listen and obey God.


As our activity we are going to be making Pharaoh's chariot. We are making them out of a Laundry Soap Scoop, Buttons, Horses purchased at Dollar Tree, stickers made from my clip art program, and an Egyptian Pharaoh Pen.....I purchased these at the Office Supply Store.








I am looking forward to another exciting Sunday....filled with lessons from God's Word. I know the children will love Reviewing the story of the Red Sea Crossing....and looking at it from the the Egyptians standpoint.


Hope you are enjoying this website. email me with your questions.

Blessings,

Ronda

We "Crossed" The Red Sea

On Wednesday Evening we review the lesson on the Hebrews Crossing the Red Sea. This will be a 4 Part lesson. 2 Sunday's and 2 Wednesday's. That is because I wanted the children to know how God led them through the Red Sea and how disobedience will cause catastrophe. So the first 2 parts are all about how God provided safety for the Hebrews. How God led and protected the Hebrews. How God brought them safely across the Red Sea on Dry Land.

Next Sunday and Wednesday we will focus on Pharaoh's WRONG CHOICE and determination to recapture the Hebrews and how it led to the downfall of Him and his army.

This is a picture of our Pillar of Cloud and Pillar of Fire. The children loved following me around the room as we sang "God Led the Hebrews." I wrote this song for this lesson and lessons to follow. We will have a lot of "wandering in the wilderness" stories that we can use these also. I also allowed each of the students to take a turn at holding up either the Pillar of Cloud or Pillar of Fire as we followed them around the room and sang. They loved being the LEADER!!!





This Wednesday Explorer Journal Activity was a Picture of Moses and the Hebrews crossing the Red Sea. The children colored their picture, added Moses's Rod, and the Pillar of Cloud. They all really seemed to enjoy the activity.







For our review time we "Crossed" the Red Sea...I had a bunch of blue balloons in the classroom. If a child answered the question correctly they had the opportunity to be "MOSES" and raise the rod (I have one in the classroom...it is an old broom handle) and begin crossing the Red Sea on Dry Ground. The children LOVED this....all children seem to LOVE balloons...and I thought this would make the easiest "RED SEA" possible.


Hope you are enjoying this website. Come back often. Email me with questions.

Blessings,

Ronda

Wednesday's Explorer Journal Activity....

As you know Wednesday Evening is time for reviewing what the children learned on Sunday Morning.

On Wednesday Evening, we do our Explorer Journal Activity. The Explorer Journal Activity this week is the 10 Plagues. The children will be coloring, gluing and sticking 3D items to the "Plagues Pyramid."

This activity will then be placed in their Explorer Journal....they take home their Explorer Journal the very last day of class. That way ALL their Wednesday Evening Activities are collected and compiled into one book. The parents LOVE this way of keeping up with their activities...and the kids love looking back at ALL they have learned. I find this to be a wonderful addition to my teaching plans.....no longer are activities lost, left in the church building, thrown in the floor board of the car, etc. Now they are collected into one binder for the children.

On Wednesday Evening the Children will be helping me put the plagues in chronological order. We will be using these NUMBER PLAGUES....I will have them all mixed up on the table and then by answering a question from the lesson they will get to move one Plague card around and help to get them in correct order. Since most of my students are able to recognize their numbers this should be a simple, yet challenging review game. I am looking forward to Wednesday Evening....the children were so excited about this lesson on Sunday and I know they will be excited about reviewing what they have learned. This is their opportunity to tell me the story and my opportunity to correct any misunderstandings. I LOVE REVIEW NIGHTS!!!!


Being a Bible Class Teacher is a Blessing. Put your whole heart into teaching young ones the Bible and you will reap an amazing reward.

Ronda

Working on the 10 Plagues

To day has been an extremely busy day. I have been working on the lesson about the 10 Plagues that I will be teaching on Sunday. I am so excited about this lesson (I seem to be that way with each lesson.) and I know the children will find it exciting too.

We are going to point out the need to NEVER HARDEN OUR HEARTS TOWARDS GOD. The kiddos will be learning all 10 Plagues. They will be learning how stubbornness towards God is NEVER a good choice to make.

Their TAKE HOME ACTIVITY this week is an Egyptian Pyramid with Plagues included. The Painting of the Pyramids has been done for them.....Now they will have to attach the Plagues to the Pyramids....I am using velcro dots for this. That way they can take the Plagues off the outside of the Pyramid and store them on the inside. We will sing the song a few times...and add the correct Plague to the Pyramid as we sing about that Plague.

*This TAKE HOME ACTIVITY was made using a pattern of a Kleneex box. I had bought a few at Target during the spring. When I could not find any more to purchase, I diassembled one and used it as a pattern to make the Pyramids. I made the Pyramids out of Poster Board. I then painted the Pyramids with Terra Cotta colored paint. 3 coats....The PLAGUES are added with velcro dots. That way the PLAGUES can be stored inside the Pyramid. The 3D Plagues (locust, hail, cows, frogs, flies, etc.) were items purchased at the Dollar Tree, hobby stores, party store, and such. For some of the plagues I printed out pictures and laminated them for sturdiness. This is a fairly easy project to make. Tracing, cutting, assembling and painting the Pyramid was the most time consuming, But, once you get the first one done it seems to become easier. START EARLY. This is NOT a SATURDAY night before class type project.

I want my students to realize that God ALL POWERFUL....I want them to learn that no matter your station in life God's Word is ALL Authority. I am looking foward to this next Sunday.


Enjoying Being a Bible Class Teacher,

Ronda

It's OK to change your mind sometimes.

I was struggling this past few days with the activities for the lesson on Moses and Aaron appeal to Pharaoh. The activities I had come up with were just to similar to one another. So, I began thinking and praying. I NEVER want my kids to be BORED in class.

So, on Saturday it finally hit me. I decided the kiddos could make a "SERPENT." I began running ideas through my mind. I knew I had paper, foam, eyes, glue, etc. on hand. So, I began designing. I thought about using Circle shapes. (Decided they would look like worms.) Thought about Ovals. Thought they looked a bit like caterpillars. Tried the diamond shape and LOVED it.

This serpent was super easy to design. I made the diamond shape on my publishing program. I typed the verse on the diamonds. Printed and copied on card stock. Then colored, glued on a tongue that I had cut from red foam sheet. Added googly eyes...made the eyes stickers and pop up by attaching them to double sided (sticky) foam dots. Then attached all the diamonds with brads.

I think the kids will love this activity.

So, now I will use the activity I had planned to use this Sunday for their Explorer Journal Activity on Wednesday.

Happy Teaching.

Getting Ready for Sunday-- I know it is only Thursday.

Today I have spent several hours copying, cutting, gluing, making, coloring, laminating, etc. I am in full go for this next Sunday's Bible Class. We will be learning about Moses and Aaron speaking to Pharaoh.

I struggled a bit with this lesson....only in the fact that I can in NO way turn a rod into a snake. God's power is truly AMAZING!!! So, I came up with the idea of a type of "flip a flap" activity. The idea being on one side of the flap is a rod...the children lift the flap and there would be a snake. I will be letting the children "pick" their snake of choice out of several I bought at the local Dollar Tree. (One of my favorite places to shop for Bible Class.) They will glue the snake on under the flap...that way they can use the picture as a way of retelling the story to their Mom and Dad.

We will also be playing a review game called "Rods and Snakes." I made this to resemble the game "Chutes and Ladders." The children will answer questions and move "Aaron" the number of spaces the question card tell them to move him. If they land on a snake head....down they will slide....if they land on a rod bottom....then UP they will glide. I play all my review games in such a way as to have the entire class be the winner. Competition (only have 1 winner) is not a good idea with young ones. I have learned that if the entire class wins (together) we do not have any unhappy/crying young ones.

It may only be Thursday...but, I am 90% ready for Sunday. I have a few things left to finish up....I need to add the cards to my Who? What? When? Where? Where? Why? and How? Wall. I need to make sure the Take Home Activity Table is ready with crayons and glue.

However, now I can spend time in review the lesson....praying that I can teach the children, in such a way as they understand God's Awesome Power....Focus on what and how I am going to tell them the lesson....and sing the songs that go with this lesson several times, before Sunday morning.

Spending time preparing makes for a more comfortable teaching experience...both for the teacher and the students. RLD

Mighty Moses

We are beginning our new lessons this Sunday. We are going to be Exploring the Book of Exodus. I am sooo excited!!!

I have spent most of today working on the. students materials for this Sunday and next Wednesday. I have printed, copied, cut out, gathered needed items, etc.

I have also prepared their new Memory Verse sticker page. This quarter we are going to be sticking on explorer type items to a back pack. Please see the pictures.

The children will get a NEW EXPLORER JOURNAL (it is green) for the study through Exodus.

I have also been working on getting all my visuals, review games, etc. ready for Sunday Morning. It is amazing how fast a week seems
to fly by when you are attempting to ready the room and get the
new materials ready for the kids.

Hope you are enjoying the pictures. I'll be posting a few more later this week.

Teaching Children the Bible is an Honor.

Ronda