Today I begin a new study with a new group of kids — elementary age.  For the past 2 year I have been teaching the group just older than these.  I had a great time teaching them.  We studied the last half of the Old Testament and the entire New Testament together.  They are now ready to move on to class with the older kids and new teachers.

My new class has 6 students.  The class is intended for kids from the 1st-3rd grade.  Since we have a younger student that does not have any kids her age, she gets to join us as well.  She is 4.  I’ve been teaching older kids for the past few years so I’ve never had the chance to teach her.  This should be fun.  I also have the children of 2 new converts in my class.  I consider it a great privilege to teach them.  It may be the first time they’ve heard the entire Bible story.  If they’ll stick with me and attend classes on both Sunday AM and Wednesday PM, they’ll learn that the Bible is not a collection of disconnected stories but each event leads to the next event. 

Another new thing for me this quarter is that I am only teaching on Sunday mornings.  In the past, I have asked to teach both Sunday and Wednesday classes.  I like to do this so that I can teach the entire Bible story and not leap frog from one event to the next.  The downside of teaching 100% of the time is that I don’t get a break, I don’t get to sit in an adult class and I don’t get the benefit of working with another teacher.  This quarter I am teaching with Sherry Lindsey.  I look forward to learning from her and also getting to sit in an adult class Wednesday evening.

This quarter we will be studying the book of Genesis.  Today’s lesson is Creation.  We actually started our quarter last Sunday and discussed who God is.  Since Wednesday evening was our monthly singing I really don’t expect the kids to have absorbed or remembered everything we talked about so I’ll be combining both lessons this morning.  I usually have my class do considerable amount of memory work.  Since these kids are new to me and I’m new to them, I may have bit off more than they can choose.  I am going to ask them to memorize 4 things:

Days of Creation

Genesis 9:12-16

12 Sons of Jacob

Genesis 12:1-3

 We are beginning the quarter with the first 2 — Days of Creation and Genesis 9:12-16.

Lesson Plan:

Prayer — I want to teach these kids the importance of prayer and what a privilege it is to pray to the creator of the world, to the God that spoke to Noah and Abraham.

Bible Reading: Genesis 1-2 — Everyone in our congregation is given the schedule of classes and a Bible reading to be read at home that will prepare them for classes.  I hope all my kids were read to this week.  If not, and even if they were, I will read it again in class this morning.  I want the kids to know where the event we’re studying came from.

Group Activity: There are several activities in our file system that have been used in times past while teaching Creation.  I’ll use one of these today.  It is a matching activity.  The kids will match pictures of things God made to the day that He made it.

Project Folder: We’ll be putting together a project folder as the quarter progresses.  The first 2 activities to be included in it were started last Sunday and will probably take a few weeks to complete.  A Q/A book (from Dinah Zike’s Big Book of Books) will used to reinforce the days of creation.  The student will draw a picture of something God created under the flap of the day He created it.  Just another way to help them memorize the  days of creation.

Memory Work: I try to get the kids to See it/Say it/Read it/Write it when it comes to memory work.  We will continue doing all of those for Genesis 9.  They began copying the first part and I hope will finish that portion today.  It’s a new activity for these kids and may be a little too much for them but we’ll see how it goes.  We will also read the entire passage (see it/say it/hear it).

Singing: I like to teach a hymn each quarter.  One that we will sing regularly is Trust and Obey.  This will relate directly to Noah and Abraham when we get to them.  We’ll start it today.  I also would like to sing This Is My Father’s World.  I have a flip chart for this one.  I’ll have to find it before next week.  There are several children’s songs we can sing: In The Beginning, God’s Wonderful Plan, Adam and Eve, God Gave Me..  These can all be found in the Children’s Songs section of the website.