Bulletin Board: Follow Me

Bulletin Board: Fruit of the Spirit

Bulletin Board: Fall in Love with Jesus

Bulletin Board: Parable of the Sower

Bulletin Board: Jesus Took the Fall

ACTS Bulletin Board

In my mother's Teaching the Bible to Children class at FHU, she has them develop bulletin boards.  This was one her student made.  I thought it was very creative and original.  

Centers from a Magazine in a Box

If you don't have room to put a big board for centers anywhere, use a box instead.  Cover the box with contact paper.  Get your articles and games together and laminated.  Stick them in the box and you are ready to go!

Using Magazines to Make Centers

My mom and I (along with others I know) have been making centers out of magazines for years now.  I especially like to use the Discovery magazine that Apologetics Press puts out.  I would get two of each magazine - it is easier that way.  You can cut out articles for the students to read and then make games to go with them.  The magazines come with some games that you can just laminate and you are ready to go!  Have your students use a dry erase marker and you can wipe it off easily with a wet cloth, nail polish remover or alcohol.  

Kids are not getting creation in school, so they need to get it somewhere!!!

Hezekiah's Sun Dial

My mother made these with her second graders when they studied Hezekiah.  It was so simple to do - using only 1 1/4 of a paper plate.  You see that one paper plate is laid flat and the times are drawn like our clocks.  Then, the student used a little bigger than 1/4 of another plate to make the dial.  They folded a flap down (see the first picture) and glued it down to help the dial stand.  How simple but perfect for these kids to see what the Bible was really talking about!  Good idea, Mom!!!

Zaacheus

This is a great multiple use idea for the lesson of Zaacheus, again from the lady at Campbell Street.  You could use a toilet paper roll and half of a green paper plate to make the tree.  Find a picture that would represent Zaacheus.  You can choose to do this craft as a class and send it home.  You could also make a number of these for a center game to review the story of Zaacheus.  Write the questions on the trees and answers on Zaacheus.  The kids would love playing this game!

Prayer Chart

We found this idea for teaching children how to pray in Ideashop magazine. We took it and made it our own but the students really like it! We used 3 laminated poster boards to make it. The first poster board was like this: It emphasized how we begin our prayers - praising God. We would take time for a few weeks and let the students brainstorm words that praise God. We would place them on sentence strips with tape (or you could use Velcro) on the back so they could stick to the poster boards.

The next few weeks we would emphasize thanking God for all the things He has given us. After this, we would spend a few weeks talking about things we need God to help us with.

I don't have a picture of the third poster board but it had our ending - "Be with . . . ." We would take prayer requests from the students and write them on bear faces. We talked about how we are to "Bear" one another's burdens. When a prayer request was answered, we would move it to the "Thank You" section of our prayers.

The last part of the poster board said "I love you! In Jesus' Name, Amen!"

We really enjoyed using this in our classroom and hope it can help you and your students as well.

Surfin' Safari Room Theme

This is part of the decorations we used in the third grade Bible classroom this summer. We made surfboards and sailboats for a bulletin board called

"Ride Your Way Through Bible Facts"

We made die cut girl and boy faces with each child's name on them. On the surfboards, we wrote memory goals - books of the Bible, Days of Creation, etc. As the children worked their way through these facts, they got to move their face from surfboard to surfboard.

As you can see in this picture, we listed each book of the Bible on the surfboards. This way the children see their progress from week to week without getting discouraged.

Mural Drawings

Any age of kids love to draw. This is an easy way to keep your kids busy as they come into your classroom as well as review past lessons. Put a big piece of bulletin board paper on your wall. As the students come in, give each one a different part of the lesson. They are in charge of drawing any aspect of that lesson they choose. They work on it until the bell rings. Then each student gets to talk about their part of the mural they drew to review our past lessons. This would be great to hang out in the hall afterwards for all to see!

Teaching Middle School Kids How to Study the Bible

5th and 6th graders are a special group to teach. They are in the process of learning how to study the Bible themselves and take on a faith of their own. Many people are always asking how to teach them and things they can do with this age group. One of our ministers' wife taught this age group and developed this system that other teachers have continued. It has been a big hit with the teachers, students and parents. Each child was given a 3-ring binder. Before class, each child was given a copy of the text for the next class. You can find different versions of the Bible that you can print off on the internet. The teacher would print off and copy the text for each child to have. This way everyone had the same version of the Bible to study from. Before the class meeting, the students were to study this text by following this formula in the picture. 1. Pray - before you read

2. Circle and define words you do not understand

3. Highlight the verses you like

4. Ask yourself these questions:

a. What is this about?

b. What don't I understand?

c. What's one thing I know now but didn't know before?

d. What does this have to do with me?

5. Pick a verse to memorize.

All of these questions were done before class so when the students came to class they were able to discuss questions, words and ideas that came up in their individual study time. Of course, with anything, you can take this and make it your own. I hope this helps your middlers learn more about God and His word

Trash-Filled Thursdays - Milk Carton Lids II

This is a great way to review memory verses with older students. Use your saved milk jug lids for this activity. On a poster board, write out the memory work you are wanting your students to learn, leaving blanks for missing words. Write the missing words, one on each milk jug lid. Laminate the poster board so you can use it for a long time. In your classroom, have the students place the milk jug lids with words in the correct blanks. Let them have you check it when they are done. You can make this as easy or as hard as you wish.

Bible Word Game

Sandy made this game to go in her first grade classroom. She found the idea from Ideashop magazine and the ideas are many!!

Find a pattern (like the clown above) to use that you like.

Enlarge it to a poster size or large construction paper size.

Color it, if you desire.

Using a circle template (a milk lid works well) draw circles on the large pattern.

On different colored construction paper, draw circles as well.

At your computer, type words you want your students to review and remember.

You will want one word for each circle you made on your pattern.

From this point there are different ways you can do the game:

For younger children: Copy two copies of the words you typed. Glue one set to the pattern and one set to the construction paper circles. Laminate both for durability. Your students can play this game at a center where they match words. When you check it, you can review the words and what they mean with the students at that time.

For older children: You will want to keep the list of words you already made. Take the words from that list and scramble the words. You will have two lists - one of unscrambled words and one with scrambled words. Cut the scrambled word list and place a scrambled word in each circle. Cut the unscrambled words and place an unscrambled word in each construction paper circle. Laminate both for durability. Your students can play this game at a center where they will match the unscrambled words to the scrambled words. When you check it, you can review the words and what they mean with the students at that time.

Samson Review Game

To review the story of Samson, I found these beehives and copied them to yellow paper to save time coloring. I found little yellow bees from Carson Dellosa. I wrote questions from the story of Samson on the beehives (I was able to get 2 questions on a beehive.) and the answers on the bees. You could even write riddles on the beehives with the answers on the bees. As a whole group, you could pass out the bees to the children and, when you read the question, they look at their bees to find the answer. The child who has the right answer comes and tapes the bee to the question. You can also put this at a center for an individual or small group of children to answer the questions together.

Trash-Filled Thursdays - Milk Carton Lids

Recycle your milk cartons and turn the lids into game pieces!! Yes, they are great game pieces. This game was made by taking a file folder. My friend found a sheet that already had flower patterns all over it, but you could also make it very easily as well. This game was a way to review the books of the Bible, specifically the New Testament. On the game board, some of the books of the Bible are listed on flowers (see picture). Some of the flowers on the game board have the names of the books of the Bible. Some are left blank. The lids of the milk cartons have the names of the books of the Bible that are left off the game board. The students will take the milk lids and place them on the right flower so the books of the Bible are in the right order.

Gideon

Sometimes you can take a story and make a game with a modern twist to it. I needed a game to review the life of Gideon. I took the story of Gideon and his 300 men in Judges 7 as a kind of inspiration for this game. The men in this story used empty pitchers with torches inside to help defeat the Midianites. I found these lantern patterns in a teacher magazine and copied and colored them. I glued them to a poster board and wrote questions on the lantern. Then, I made flames with the answers on them. I had everything laminated for durability. When the students come to this center, they place the flame in the lantern to answer each question.

Trash-Filled Thursdays - Old Neckties

There are a few Bible stories that require a snake of some sorts in it. This is a very easy and cool way to make the snake part of your story come alive for your students. You will need the following:

an old neck tie

google eyes

red material for a tongue

hot glue gun or tacky glue

optional materials: quilt batting or polyfil

thread

film canister with rice or dried beans in it.

Instructions: Glue the eyes and tongue at the end of the tie (as seen in the picture)

This can be the end to your snake (esp. if you are letting the children make their own snakes). However, you can add a different dimension to your snake by stuffing it with the polyfil or quilt batting. If you want to create a rattlesnake, you can add a film canister with rice or dried beans to the very end of the tie. Sew the back of the tie up so the stuffing does not fall out.

What the snake looks like if not stuffed.

This is great for so many lessons involving a snake. You can have the students act different parts of the story using this prop. What a great new dimension to classic stories!