This quarter, we are studying the first three kings of Israel — Saul, David and Solomon.  I thought this would be a great opportunity to take the plunge and buy me some oil drip pans.  I created a giant puzzle of each king.  The puzzle pieces have statements about that king on the back.  The students choose a puzzle piece, read the statement, decide which king it’s talking about and put it where it belongs.  There are 3 parts to this activity.

Oil Drip Pans:  I bought 3 of these oil drip pans at a local automotive store for about $10 each.  I hung the pans on the wall with the 3M Command strips that don’t damage the wall.

Puzzle Pieces:   I scanned a picture of each of the kings into my computer and printed them 16″X20″ on card stock.  This size printed out evenly on 4 sheets of card stock which allowed me to cut 4″X5″ puzzle pieces.   I put magnets on the back of these cards (business card sized magnets cut into 4 pieces). Also, I glued a statement about the king the puzzle piece belongs to.  For example:  I was a Benjamite.  My son and David were best friends.

The Grid:  I trimmed the poster to 18″X22″.  I drew a grid on the poster board with 16 square, 4″X5″.   I covered 4 magnetic business cards with colored paper (just for decoraton) and used these magnetic cards to hold the grid in place on the pan.

These pans can be used for all kinds of activities. These will be on this wall for the entire quarter. I’m already thinking of ways to use them next quarter.

Lesson Three and Four are both about Love. That is appropriate because: He who does not love does not know God, for God is love — 1 John 4:8. Colossians 3 tells us that love should come above all the other wonderful traits Paul lists. Love is the foundation of it all.

The first thing to note in our lessons is an observation about Paul’s lists. He was a list writer and I would imagine a list keeper. I am too. My family gets a little annoyed at times when I start making a list — especially if it is a chore list. Usually, my lists are mere suggestions. I don’t really intend to get everything done that is on one of these lists. I’m usually content if 3/4ths of the items listed are completed. At least more was done today than was done the day before but there is always another day to complete the rest. Now my grocery shopping lists are a different matter. If it’s on the list — I need it. It better make it home or something will be missing from our meals that week.

Paul’s lists are more like the grocery shopping list than the chore list. His lists are things that must be found inside a Christian or, in the case of the works of the flesh found earlier in Galatians 5, things that must not be found in a Christian. There is nothing that can be left out of Paul’s lists.

Let’s take a brief look at 4 of Paul’s lists of character traits we are expected to have:

1 Corinthians 13

Even though the comparison was made with Paul’s lists and a grocery list, they are different as well. A grocery list can be finished, put away and forgotten about. Paul’s lists need to be kept close to our heart and nurtured so that the precious fruit that has grown doesn’t die away.

Many of the things in these lists overlap. For Paul to have written them in at least 4 different letters to 4 different groups of Christians they must be pretty important. They must have been things that were lacking in these earlier Christians. Looks like the early Christians weren’t all that different from us. Paul even had to tell the Galatians not to devour one another. Can you imagine Christians treating each other so badly? Yes, we can. We’ve all seen it. We are no different from the Galatians.

Galatians 5:13-16: “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!”

Love is the root of the fruit of the Spirit. Without love none of the other fruit will mean anything. A person may exhibit wonderful self-control but if he doesn’t also have love, the self-control is useless — even annoying as described in 1 Corinthians 13. Love can be faked. Someone can pretend to love you. A person can be nice to you, greet you “in the market place”, make a show of friendship but eventually the truth will come out that there is no love there. How? That person’s actions. True love is deeper than surface pleasantries.

Notice all the verbs in that list: looks, thinks, brings. Love is an action word. Many more verbs could be added and should be added to this list.

Are you finding it difficult to show true love to someone?

When you’re doing these things, there isn’t anytime to think negative about someone else. Just as Galatians 5:16 tells us: When we walk in the Spirit, we don’t have time for the works of the flesh. The Pharisees lacked true love. They were more concerned about being right, about following all the rules but they did not spend time developing the fruits of humility, kindness, and love. They spent more time judging others and putting themselves above others.

Do you know someone that has overcome the temptation to do the works of the flesh? Relate story of Chris and how he has overcome temptations — he was a drinker, casual Christian, good ‘ole boy, put friends before family, not a leader of his family. He is now a faithful Christian, leader of his family. striving to learn more about God through studying,

What are some things women can do to exhibit true love for others? It’s more than cleaning the building and folding bulletins. Somewhere along the line many of us got the idea that women were not expected to be very spiritual. It is true that the husband is to be spiritual leader of the family, that the husband has the responsibility to train his children, that the husband is the head of the household but that does not excuse the wife from growing spiritually. What can women do?

Exactly what is love? Our word for love means lots of different things depending on the context. The Greeks had 4 different words that have been translated love.

• Eros (sexual love)
• Phileo (close friendship)
• Storge (love of family)
• Agape (Wants the best for others)

Agape love is the love used in the fruit of the Spirit. Someone that shows agape love makes every effort to see to it the other person’s needs are taken care. The other person’s interest become important to someone showing agape love. Even if that other person does not return the love or prove himself lovable. This means we are to love our enemies. Jesus said in Luke 6:27-33:

“But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what cred it is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.”

What does this tell us about about how we treat each other and those outside the body of Christ? It’s nice to have a group of friends (or even our family) that we feel comfortable with. People we can go to when we need help or want to share a joy or tribulation. We need to be careful that by forming a tight knit group of friends or family that we aren’t excluding someone that needs us. We need to step out of our comfort zone and ensure that everyone in our congregation feels loved and feels like they belong. Too many times people fall through the cracks and their brothers and sisters in Christ wonder what happened to them. Invite someone different to your home for a meal. Make sure that you personally get up and go talk to someone you don’t normally visit with. Call someone during the week that you haven’t ever called before.

How does love affect the marriage relationship? Our society bases its whole idea of marriage on eros (sexual love). When the spark is gone, it’s time to move on. That’s not what the Bible teaches. Ephesians 5:25-33 teaches that men are to agape their wives — do what is best for them. Sometimes those tender feelings dissipate. It could be for a number of reasons but whatever the reason, agape love is commanded — not suggested. Titus 2:4 teaches the wife to phileo (close friendship) her husband — have tender affection for him, respect him, honor him. God did not ask us to do something that goes against our nature. Women are “feelers”. He requires the wife to have affection for her husband. Men are “doers”. He requires men to do what is best for their wives.

The more agape we show towards others, the easier it will be to show it again. It will also be thrown “right back at ya”. The benefits of the one showing agape will be numerous and the benefits of the one that is being shown agape are numerous. It reminds me of the song I used to sing when I was young:

Love is something if you give it away, give it away, give it away
Love is something if you give it away, you end up having more.
Love is like a shining penny.
Hold it tight and you won’t have any.
Give it away and you’ll have plenty
You’ll end up having more.

This quarter we will be studying Joshua and Judges. Now if you’re going to have to teach a an elementary class, what better one could there be than Joshua and Judges. Tomorrow’s lesson is about crossing the Jordan river.

Lesson Plan:

Pass out activity sheet to color. I need to do this first thing (begin as children come to class) because we’re going to be gluing on it and it HAS to dry before we can finish it. The activities came from Standard’s Color and Tell Coloring Book. It is a small booklet that I have added some embellishment to. I hope to have pictures and a pdf to share after class. (Added 3/17/11: pictures and pdf for activity, scroll on down).

Review Bible Story — especially about the parting of the Red Sea.

Sing: Dare To Stand Like Joshua

Read lesson from the Bible (Joshua 3 and 4). Discuss the lesson.

Discuss what a memorial is. Compare what the altar of stones meant to Israelites and what the Lord’s Supper means to us.

Hopefully glue will be somewhat dry so we can add the rest of the pieces to the take home activity.

Conclude class with songs of their choice, review books of the Old Testament, prayer.

Here are some pictures of the activity we did. They are sort of blurry. My camera has been acting up lately but I think you can get the idea. This activity came from a book published by Standard called Bible Stories to Color and Tell. I don’t remember if this one came out of the 3-6 year old book or the 6-8 year old book. They are both good books to have in your resource room.

The activity they had was basically a color sheet with 3 pictures depicting the story of the crossing of the Jordan River. You then fold them to make a little booklet. That’s nice but I like a little more than coloring for an activity. I manipulated the original activity sheet on Paint Shop Pro and made it a little more interactive. Before class I had the priests/ark picture colored, and cut out for each child. I also had the stones cut out. You’ll need 12 stones for each child so do the math. When it came time to use them, I just laid them out on the table and let them choose their own stones. The kids colored their pages as they came into class. They then put glue on the squiggly lines in the water to give it some texture. We let this dry while we went on with class. After the lesson, they glued the priests/ark picture in it’s proper place and made their memorial out of 12 stones.

Here is the pdf for the activity: Crossing Jordan

The first page is the original as it came out of the book mentioned above. The second page is the color sheet without the memorial or the priests/ark. The third page is the altar (I prefer using individual stones but an already stacked memorial will work as well) and the priests/ark.

I have been teaching the baby class for the past 3 months. I have 2 regular students and some semi-regular visitors. Our congregation is blessed with families that have raised their children here, their children have moved off and have families of their own but return regularly to visit home. It’s always a joy when they bring their babies to my class.

One of my regular students was 6 months old when we started so she is now just about 9 months old. She has always been fascinated with the class. When she first came to class, she would smile and be wide-eyed about everything that I presented to her. She’s fascinated with any “books” I read. I rarely ever read a book but do more flip-charts. She LOVES them. She likes the little toys I hand her as I tell the story or sing a song. She is a joy.

For the past couple of weeks, she has been joining in with some of the simple hand movements I use. The one she really likes is when she gets to choose a Bible out of the basket. Then we sing: This is the way we pat the Bible, pat the Bible, pat the Bible. This is the way we pat the Bible with our little hands. She so sweetly and gently pats her Bible with a big smile on her face. Is she learning anything important? Oh yes. She’s learning that the Bible is something special. That we are gentle with it and that it came from God. She can’t verbalize any of this yet but she’ll soon be able to.

One thing that has really helped her in Bible class is that either her mother or her grandmother comes into class with her each time. I know some people don’t like teaching a Bible class with parents in the room but I love it. In this case, the mother and grandmother have both told me that they repeat the songs and hand movements we do in class at home. If they weren’t in the class, they wouldn’t know what we were singing or doing. They don’t just come to class, they participate in the class. They sing, they keep her attention focused when it strays, they tend to her physical needs (wiping her nose, finding her paci, etc) so I can concentrate on the lesson itself. This precious little girl’s participation in class has been helped so much by having her mother and grandmother be with her.

So, do babies benefit from Bible class? Yes, they do. They learn about God and how much He has given them how He loves them. They learn the basics of the simpler Bible stories. They learn that there are those not in their family that think God is important. In this little girl’s case, she has learned that Bible class is important to her mother and grandmother too. She has benefited from the extra time spent at home teaching her about God using the same songs we use in class. The next time you think maybe you should start letting your little one go to class by his/herself, or the next time you shy away from a parent coming into your room as you teach class, think about little Stormy and the benefits she has received from having her mother/grandmother in class with her.

• Read the entire passage on Monday
• Copy a portion of the passage on Tuesday.
• Illustrate that part on Wednesday.
• Either write the portion for the week by memory or copy it again on Thursday
• Recite what we’ve learned so far on Friday.

There are boxes to either put a check mark or a sticker when a task is completed.  Each page is intended to last one week.  The title page will go  in the front pocket of a 3 ring binder until that entire passage is memorized.  Then it will go in the binder in front of the pages used to memorize that passage.  The final page is a special challenge.  The boys will be encouraged to write the entire passage by memory.

So far I have completed the 1st three “I am…” passages that we’ll be doing.  Click on the links below to print out a pdf so your child can work on it as well.

I Am The Light — 2 weeks

I Am The Resurrection — 4 weeks

I Am The Way, The Truth, The Life — 6 weeks

Since these will take about 12 weeks to complete, I have a little while to work on the others.  I plan on doing:

• I Am The Good Shepherd
• I Am The Door
• I Am The Vine
• I Am The Bread

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m now teaching the baby class.  I teach the same subject for 1 month.  Since last was the first Sunday in August, it was time to change lessons.  I had all the materials I needed because they have been stored in boxes from times that this lesson was previously taught.  What I hadn’t done was re-familiarized myself with the material.  I hadn’t become comfortable enough with it to go in and teach with the enthusiasm and confidence I needed.

Tonight, I get another chance.  Am I prepared — yes!  At least much better prepared than I was Sunday.   So, bring on the sweet little kids and lets have a good class.

I started teaching a baby class before I ever had children. My oldest is now 25. At the time, we had 3 little boys all nearly the same age in our congregation. Their parents thought I was crazy when I said I wanted to start a class for their age. We had a great time but those poor little boys got a very novice teacher. I got to see one of them for the first time in probably 20 years this summer. It was good to hug his neck.

Not long after starting that first class, I had a baby of my own. While visiting family at Bellaire, I took him to their baby class. Kelia Ballou was the teacher. I was amazed at how she taught that class. She had 10-15 babies in that class. Each baby sat on the floor in a semi-circle with a mom or dad right behind him/her. Those babies were captivated by her teaching the entire time. I went home that day with a new enthusiasm for teaching.

Kelia was using To Toddlers With Love by Palma Smiley. I soon began using it as well. This curriculum, while not perfect, is wonderful for this age group. If you’re not familiar with it, check out their website: Early Childhood Curriculum.  This curriculum teaches one lesson for a month and has plenty of activities/songs to keep teacher and students learning the entire class time.  The lessons are independent of each other so you can use them in any order.

This last month we studied David.  I chose this lesson first mainly because I had such a nice full box of activities all ready to go.  Palma Smiley recommends that you (and anyone else you can get to help you) make the activities and store them in boxes so they are ready to use whenever they are needed.  I have my personal set of boxes that I have used over the years and at each of the congregations we’ve attended I’ve helped them get a set of boxes to keep at the building.

For years, I would scour the clearance aisles, buy the baby kids’ meals at McD’s and confiscate toys out of my kids stash to supply my boxes with.  It’s amazing the things you can find to fill these boxes.  I have really tried to stay away from toys that represented a movie character to the kids or a toy that looks too cartoony.  Even though Nemo is a real looking fish, in most kids’ minds, he is a movie character.  Some of the fast food restaurants put their best toys (at least for my boxes) in their baby kids’ meals.  You have to ask specifically for these but they are worth it.  I have had my whole family buy happy meals with the baby toys so I could get enough for my class.

There is an interesting thing I noticed years ago and it happened again just Sunday AM.  These lessons are expected to last 1 month — that’s both Sunday and Wednesday classes.  Here in Huntington, that means 7 or 8 classes a month (we have a 1st Wednesday night singing each month).   With the older kids (around 2 years old) you can always tell when it’s time to move on to the next lesson.  They will get bored.  Sunday, Luke got bored.  He started out the month a little unsure of what all these activities were I was showing him.  Then, after a couple of weeks, he was really getting into them and feeling quite confident.  Then, Sunday, he was showing a lack of interest.  Time to move on to the next box.  Seeing as that was July 31st, it was perfect timing.  Sunday, August 7th, we’ll start our Baby Jesus box.