Somebody has an AT-TI-TUDE!

I find myself not posting on this blog like I had intended....partially because I'm lazy and partially because the Bible School curriculum that I am using has a two year rotation where it repeats itself. I can't believe that I have been doing this for two years because here I am back to doing a series of lessons on Elijah!

I also find myself really challenged by this group of kiddos. Out of the potential of having 8, I usually have maybe 5 to 6....and not the same 5 to 6. If there are any teachers that face this same challenge, I'd love to hear from you. I have these grand ideas of us learning lots of things that take repeated singing or going over or even help at home. The challenge comes in having some 2 or 3 weeks in a row and then they will be absent 2 or 3 weeks and we start all over. I also have some that have social and/or learning challenges, which makes it hard on them to retain what we have done. And then I have some that come 10-15 minutes late and we have already covered some of this and it's time to move on so they miss that part. I find I can't start over 2 or 3 times in the 40 minutes I have or we never get into the actual lesson and the ones that have been there the whole time are bored with doing the same thing three times. Yeah, I pray about this...a lot!

My goals for them during the two years I have them...besides instilling the fact that God is in charge, he loves us no matter what, and we strive each day to please him; that we get rewarded for doing good and we have consequences for being bad are learning some particular basics. Those basics include: learning a prayer, knowing that Jesus is God's son, we talk to God by praying and God talks to us through the Bible, the Bible has two parts...the Old Testament and that was before Jesus was born and the New Testament that begins with Jesus' birth. There are 66 books in the Bible and what their names are, with 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. There are twelve disciples or followers of Jesus and their names...that's not too much is it? Some are doing pretty good; in fact, so good that when I pick up my Bible and say, "What is this?" I get the automatic response about it being a Bible and it is God's words. Then I get that there are two parts, Old and New...so when I think about it, I guess some of it is working.

We have done a trilogy of Elijah stories and will finish it off next week. So far we have done: Elijah is taken care of by God (the story with the ravens), Elijah helps a widow (the story of the jars that God refills with flour and oil), and this week we did the story of Elijah helps the widow's son (the young boy dies and God brings him back to life). Next week is the story of Elijah and the Prophets of Baal. Today we talked about in our lesson how God answers prayers. Sometimes God answers Yes, sometimes it is No, and sometimes he says to wait a while. Whatever his answer is, we have to believe that God knows what is best for us and accept it for what it is. I think for 4-5 year olds they picked up on that pretty good.

For a filler sometimes I use some cards I have what we call "Action and Consequences". Every time we use them, we talk about what consequences are and do we have them in OUR lives. Today, I really had to hold back the giggles. One little 4 year old visitor (who is adorable) was really into this exercise. On one side of the card is the picture of four children. One little girl is pushing down a little boy and two children see this happen. Is this nice? Is God happy when we hurt other people? What do you think happens next? What is the consequence of the little girl who pushed the little boy down? On the backside of the card is a picture of the two "lookers" consoling the little boy and giving unhappy looks to the little girl. The little "pushing" girl is sitting on a park bench by herself looking sad. Does anyone want to play with the little girl who pushed the little boy? Did she make her friends happy? In all of this line of questions and answers I get this little finger snap, head twist and a "looks like somebody has an AT-TI-TUDE!" When we talk about the consequences I hear this little voice say, "looks like somebody got an AT-TI-TUDE adjustment!" Out of the mouth of babes! Sometimes, I think we all need an AT-TI-TUDE adjustment!

Martha, Martha...

Luke 10:38-42....today's lesson! This has to be one of my favorite lessons from the Bible! I can so relate to Martha. If you aren't familiar with this story, I encourage you to read the passage given from your Bible.

I found a really cute book at a dollar store that has some really good illustrations but of course, it just wasn't exactly how I wanted to present the lesson. I scanned and enlarged the pictures, erasing the words with it all fitting on one sheet of paper in the landscape position. These go in a plastic protector sleeve. I then wrote the part of the story that corresponded with the picture and questions I wanted to ask about the picture on a second sheet of paper. The whole idea is to able to hold up the picture and let the kids look at it while you are talking about it. I find that when you are reading from a book, you read the story and then hold the book up and in the mean time you've lost some of them...they are 4 and 5! After you have all your pictures and the corresponding story done, the first page is your first picture. Page two is the corresponding lesson material with picture two on it's back side. Using a cheapy three prong folder place your story in the folder backwards. Page one is the last page...when you hold up the picture, the folder is folded in half and you are reading from your corresponding material. I'll post a picture...this sounds more complicated than it is! They seemed to really stay focused on the story while I was telling it and they had a picture to look at. I have found surprising them with how I present the lesson keeps them enthused. And no matter how well I think I know a story, if I depend on my memory I usually leave out something that I wish I had presented...so I have the written script handy!!

After I used the "story book", I donned my aunt's old apron. (She would be so proud to know that her old apron was part of a Sunday School lesson!) I had baked some Parker House rolls last night, got out my wooden bowl that came from my favorite junk store, wooden spoon, and worn out kitchen towel. (I had the rolls in the bowl covered with the towel.) I told them I was going to see if they were good listeners like Mary was and I retold the story like I was Martha. Now if you read the story, you know that Martha was more concerned with matters concerning being a good hostess than listening to what Jesus had to say. Mary on the other was enthralled with Jesus' teaching and sat at his feet as the taught. Martha became annoyed with Mary, that she was not helping her prepare for their guests. She became so annoyed she went to Jesus and said, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work myself? Tell her to help me!" Jesus in his loving way told Martha, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things but I am here to tell you things. I have so much to teach. Dinner can wait for everyone, it is better to learn more about God."

"Martha, Martha..." can't you just imagine Jesus shaking his head and having a little smile on his lips? I can almost hear him talking to me..."Kathy, Kathy, get your priorities in the right order!" Oh how wonderful it must have been to be Mary and sit at Jesus' feet hearing him teach! In our busy lives today we seem to forget what is really important, we forget to listen to Jesus. As I was being Martha..I finished up my tirade by taking the kitchen towel off of the rolls and saying..."I've had to fix all this bread for all of you, all by myself!" I knew they would be lost after I uncovered food so I finished up by asking, "Martha was worried about fixing food for everyone...what was Mary doing?" I told them that Mary and Martha didn't have peanut butter and jelly but I did and did they want some on their bread. Yuuuummmy! Snack in Mrs. Kathy's class!

This week practice being Mary and listen to Jesus...let's all get our priorities straight. I guess I should put my OCD on hold sometimes!

Follow, follower, following....we have it down pat!

The creators of the curriculum that I'm using must have run out of ideas one week so that threw in "Two Friends Follow Jesus". Now prior to this, back when we were doing Moses...they wanted to cover the 10 plagues and the wandering with the fire and cloud in one week. ONE WEEK! Now, I get the story of Philip encouraging Nathanael to get up from under the fig tree and go meet Jesus. Granted that is a wonderful, wonderful thing that Philip did and how amazing could it have been to have met Jesus and realized that he truly is "the son of God"! (John 1:43-49)

BUT when you are teaching 4 and 5 year olds...the story of Philip and Nathanael takes all of 5 minutes so we talked about what is means to follow, to be a follower, and what following Jesus means. We started with follow...I pulled out some clay that I have and told them they had to follow me and do the same things with their clay that I did. We rolled it flat, we made a donut, we made a shepherd's crook, and we made a ball. As we made all of these things, I would ask, "Who is following what I am doing and doing the same thing?" "I AM! I AM!" Then you sneak in that Bible truth...in the Bible, Jesus went around doing good things for people and he was kind and loving towards them. If we follow Jesus do we good things for people? "YESSS" Are we kind and loving towards them? "YESS, and we don't hit people." "Well, if we do what Jesus did then we must be followers of His!" A little head scratching goes on here and then the light bulb went off..."Mrs. Kathy, we ARE followers of Jesus when we do what he did!" (She shoots, she scores!)

Then comes the big score...I had taken a plastic mayo jar with my 2 cups of milk, a package of instant vanilla pudding, cups and spoons, AND a big jar of mustard. As I pull out the "object lesson" I have their attention...they love to eat! "What's that for????" "I'm going to make us some vanilla pudding! But let's see...the box says I'm supposed to pour the pudding mix in the jar of milk and shake it up for 2 minutes." Then you pick up the jar of mustard...."but I don't think I want to use milk, I want to use mustard. I know the box says use milk, but I just don't want to!" "Mrs. Kathy, that will be disgusting!" (Kindergarten student!!) "But I want to do it my way!" "Mrs. Kathy, I really think you should do what the box says." (same kindergarten kid!) Here it comes...do you feel it coming? Mrs. Kathy-"Well, God says in Bible that we shouldn't tell lies and it says we shouldn't hit people or steal from them. God even says we shouldn't be mean and we should pray for people that don't like us. Should we do what God tells us in the Bible and follow what HE says or should we do what we want to do?" LIGHT BULB MOMENT! We should be followers and do what God says! Let's get busy shaking that jar of milk and pudding mix!!

Sing it with me.....

"I have decided to follow Jesus; I have decided to follow Jesus; I have decided to follow Jesus;No turning back, no turning back.

Though I may wonder, I still will follow;Though I may wonder, I still will follow;Though I may wonder, I still will follow; No turning back, no turning back.

The world behind me, the cross before me;The world behind me, the cross before me;The world behind me, the cross before me;No turning back, no turning back.

Though none go with me, still I will follow; Though none go with me, still I will follow; Though none go with me, still I will follow; No turning back, no turning back.

Will you decide now to follow Jesus? Will you decide now to follow Jesus?Will you decide now to follow Jesus? No turning back, no turning back."

Sermon on the Mount

Today's society emphasizes doing things that please ourselves. But the Bible instructs us to change our focus. Instead of trying to please ourselves or even others, we should strive to please our creator. Scriptures say that Jesus sat on a hill side to teach. Jesus would have sat, both so that there was room for His followers to listen and because Jewish rabbis usually sat to teach. Jesus helped His followers see that true believers have a personal relationship with God and they care about helping others to know God. The Bible focus for this lesson is from Matthew 5:1, 2, 43- 44; 6:3-4, 26, 28, 33; 7:12...basically the sermon on the mount.

Okay, most four year olds have the concept that we should be doing things to please ourselves...so we took a fair amount of time discussing what "pleasing" God means and why it is important before we even started. Our lessons focused on 5 main points of Jesus' teaching and I got "creative" and made a interactive Bible application thingy. I don't know what else to call it. Sometimes these bright ideas come to me and I don't really know how to implement them until I wander around Hobby Lobby for a while getting inspiration. This time I actually took my husband and explained what I wanted to accomplish but just wasn't sure how to get there. Between the two of us wandering around for a while, he found the ideal thing for me to use! (Who knew he was creative?) A pegboard coat rack... you know the kind that is a flat board with 6 pegs in it? I found the fun foam and now we're in business. I painted the "Sermon on the Mount Interactive Pegboard" a "custard yellow" with the ends of the pegs to correspond with the color of the fun foam placard.

The first peg will be for "Jesus said...", number two is the one that represents "Love your neighbors and pray for those that don't like you" it has a heart with praying hands, three is "Help others, and don't let anybody else know what you are doing or how much you are helping"...this is represented by hands that are "helping hands", number four is "When you pray, go into your room. Be where you can talk to God by yourself." We have a little kneeling boy praying for that one. And number five is a picture of a girl some birds and flowers. This represents "God gives the birds and flowers everything they need. God cares for you too and will take care of you." Finally, the sixth peg gets a picture of a granny hugging a little girl and it goes with "Treat other people the way you want them to treat you."

This was a BIG hit. They were almost fighting over hanging the pictures on the pegs, but before they could hang the picture on the peg they had to tell me what it stood for. They did good. Before we played the "put the foam thingy on the peg board thingy" we used our trusty sand box to tell the story. Out came those bendable figures I have and the plastic Jesus. We all helped build the mountain for Jesus before we put in the people and placed Jesus on the top. Then I told them what Jesus said we must do to please God and then we used our pegboard thingy. It was a GOOD day in Whoville!

Please take this week to think about pleasing God...you've got five good choices!

December...How do you teach about Jesus?

aaaahhh, December! I've purposely waited until December was over with to update this meager blog. I didn't realize it but I've been posting here for 2 years...time does fly. The curriculum that I began using rotates on a two year basis...I guess they assume your kids will promote every two years and personally, I think that's a great idea.

For years I resisted teaching the nativity in December mainly because I didn't want to be a part of that group that embraces that Jesus was born on December 25. Then I read a commentary by another teacher with my "hard headedness" and she stated something that made sense to me...why not use all of the December hype to your advantage. Children are getting bombarded by slogans like "Happy Birthday, Jesus" so why not explain to them that the scriptures do not tell us when Jesus was born and that we should love, respect, and honor Jesus EACH day like it WAS his birthday. So many times you get a month of intense "Jesus is the reason of the season" and come January...nothing. So, I have succumb to that line of thinking and I start in December and we do the lessons: An angel brings good news to Mary and Joseph, Jesus is born, Shepherds visit Jesus, and wise men bring Jesus gifts. Each week we talk about the Bible being how God talks to us and each week I tell them that the Bible doesn't tell us when Jesus' "real" birthday is but most people celebrate it in December.

Now that that rant is over...I find that the postings I did from previous years are pretty much what I did this year. I do have to change up the Bible applications because group 1 that is now group 2 has already seen them. Next year I will be able to go back and do the Bible applications that group 2 had done their first year...make sense? Whatever your style of teaching is and however you view Christmas...please remember to love, respect, and honor Jesus each day like it's His birthday!

What do you think?

I've been doing some research on teaching and different teaching styles...I'm not sure why, I'm "an old dog" and you know that old saying about teaching "an old dog new tricks"! There are at least a zillion opinions on how to teach children the word of God. Now the following that you will read is strictly personal opinion...mine.

All of these different teaching styles give you good insight into the way children think and respond but the bottom line is...God charges us to "feed his sheep" (John 21:15-17), to plant the seed, to be prepared to "give an answer" (I Peter 3:15). My experience has only been with children from the second grade down to cradle roll and believe me, all these children are different. I've been blessed with being able to work with these young people for....at least 20 years and each time we have a promotion, I have to adjust my teaching style to what will work with the current children that have been placed in my care. That is a daunting thought sometimes...planting those seeds. This is definitely one of the topics that the Lord and I talk about on a regular basis...please give me the knowledge of what to teach them, please give me the skill and insight of how to reach them

I do know that my age group of kids fit into the visual, auditory, and tactile learners. Did I impress you? Sometimes, I impress me. When preparing my lessons I try to make sure they have something to look at while I'm telling the lesson. This age group can not sit and listen to you just talk without falling asleep or bouncing off the wall. I really like to ask questions as I go and adjust the pitch of my voice to match what we are talking about. We ALWAYS have some type of craft or coloring sheet or both so that they can have that hands on approach. One thing I do know...if it is fun AND informative, they will walk away with a little seed.

I come from that age group where the teacher gave you a workbook, you read the lesson, you filled in the blanks, you memorize the memory verse, and then sometimes they would "test" you. BORING! I have to say...I did NOT enjoy going to Sunday School growing up. That is one thing that gives me the most concern...I want to make learning about the Lord, learning about Jesus...learning...something they look forward to doing. I always felt like I had enough testing in public school, why did it continue at church? And then I got this thought in my head...I thought God was the one who got to grade me on what I knew or don't know...why are these people doing this?

So what do you think? How can we make learning informative and interesting? How do we plant those seeds in a way where they will take root and not fall on rocky ground? I welcome your input.

Gummi bears=children of Israel

Sorry...the lazy bug bit me AGAIN and I failed to get this blog updated and I didn't tell you about the children of Israel crossing the Red Sea. Then Moses sent the spies into the land of Canaan, then Joshua leads the Israelites over the Jordan River. WHEW! Lots of important stuff in one fell swoop! This week our lesson was about Joshua and the Battle of Jericho! I had not taught this in a while and it was really fun to do. Our bible story comes from Joshua 6.

One of the points that I tried to emphasis today was how Joshua obeyed what God told him to do and how obeying God had it's reward. If we obey God...we are rewarded. We reviewed our prior lessons very briefly to set the stage for Joshua being in the land of Canaan. We talked about how the two spies that Joshua had sent into Jericho had reported about all the people and soldiers that were there. Joshua and the people could have been afraid and not done what God asked of them but they weren't, they did as God told them. When we read these stories, doesn't it hit home when we apply what God tells these people to do and what God tells us to do? Trust me...do what I say...and you will be rewarded. God told Joshua to march around the city of Jericho once a day for six consecutive days. There were armed men, then came seven priest, the ark of the covenant, and they rest of the armed men. No one talked, no one blew a horn, no one did anything but march. On the seventh day, they same procession marched around the city...only this time they marched seven times and the priests blew on the horns they had and then the people shouted and...the walls came tumbling down.

Here's the fun part for 4 and 5 year olds...you use a sugar ice cream cone...you know the kind with the pointy end? Let them bite off the point and use it as a horn. We marched around our sand table and counted seven times and then we blew on our ice cream cone horn and yelled! No, the table didn't fall but we clapped our hands like it did! Then we go back to our table and sit and they watch me as I build Jericho and retell the story and ask questions as I build. Use a plastic butter tub lid, some chocolate frosting as mortar, a big marshmallow as Jericho and little marshmallows as building blocks for the wall. You only have to "glue" Jericho to the lid and the bottom row of the bricks to the lid and then stack other marshmallows on top of the first row. Use gummi bears to march around the wall and when the horn is blown and the people shout, shake the lid and the stacked layer of marshmallow bricks will fall! Yeahhhh! After I finished, they all wanted to make one and of course, I just happen to have enough stuff that each one could build Jericho.

As I was building, I was asking about how many times did they march around the walls on the seventh day. What if they only marched 4 times and blew the horns instead of seven? "God would have been mad because they didn't obey and he wouldn't have made the bricks fall." If God tells us that we are not supposed to hurt people and we do, are we obeying God? Noooo. Is God happy with US? Noooo. Smart little kids. When your lesson is over, take the tub of your butter container and turn it upside down over the lid and push in on. Then you tell them that they have to leave it in the classroom until after "big" church and then they can come back and get it. I'm not getting blamed for chocolate mortar being smeared on church pews! I hope this week you can remember the faith the children of Israel had with such a daunting task they were given...maybe our tasks won't seem so important and we'll trust God and a great outcome, too!