Wednesday, October 6 Lesson

Our 4th graders really, really love to play games! They were so excited when they got in class and saw the Jeopardy board up! We played last Wednesday night, but we didn't have much time, so we played again tonight. Tonight we played where the teams not choosing the question got half the point value if they got the question correct, so that everyone had a reason to pay attention to all the questions. All three teams wrote answers on the dry erase boards so that everyone could answer the same question. Fun times!

We are looking forward to the Wetoga retreat this weekend. I heard some of the kids that are going are already excited about it. Sunday morning will be a review, so that any of our students not there will not be missing the lesson. Cody and I plan to take Ryder for the first trip, so we hope to see many of you there! Mrs. Kay will be at East Side Sunday morning for any of our kids that don't get to make it to the retreat.

I handed out our homework tonight at the very, very end of class. I made a crossword puzzle on this website: http://www.armoredpenguin.com/crossword/ . The website was easy to use, saves the puzzle, turned it into a printable PDF, and has a printable answer key (which I have if anyone would like a copy!). It also let me title the puzzle, and some of the other sites I looked at that did not have this feature. And of course, the best part is it was free :) You can pay to set up an account and get some added features, but you can make crosswords and word searches without setting up an account. The only problem that I had was that the lowercase "l" didn't print in the clues. Dashes, uppercase "I," and some of the blanks also didn't print. So this entire paragraph was pretty much to explain why the puzzle looks pretty awful. Please let me know if you find any mistakes in the puzzle, so that I can make changes before filing it.

The puzzle is very long, and the boxes are very small, so I am adding the link to the actual puzzle here: http://www.armoredpenguin.com/crossword/Data/2010.10/0613/06132745.480.html . We don't take up the homework, but we do review it, discuss it, and give the students chances to say their memory work on Wednesday nights. We had so much material in the lessons that we don't have time to get to, so the homework is designed to help the students study more with their families. Some of the students may work hard to do parts of the homework, while others may be able to do it all with ease. Please modify it to best fit your family needs, because it is not something that is given for our use.

After class I learned that Elizabeth made choir, and that Martin made Chorus! Congratulations to these two on these accomplishments! I love hearing good news from our kids!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend planned! See you all Sunday or before!

Sunday, October 3 Lesson

What a blessing to get to study the miracles and teachings of Jesus with our 4th graders! Today we studied the miracles of Jesus, the personal ministry of Jesus, and the public teachings of Jesus. Of course there could be many lessons on each of these topics, but later units will go more in depth than we are able to in this quarter of surveying the New Testament. Mrs. Kay used the cards to describe the contexts of the reason Jesus used miracles, Jesus teaching Nicodemus and the woman at the well, the key points of the Sermon on the Mount, and the definition of a parable. The class sang the apostle song twice to help in memorizing the list of the apostles, and today was a day for questions!

Last week, Mrs. Kay handed out name tags with the apostles' names written on them to the students. Thanks to Eli for bringing his back; the name tags were designed to help the students' remember the name of the apostle, and the more they think to put it on or look at it or answer questions about it, the more they are reminded that the name they are wearing was an apostle. Thanks to Briane for bringing in information about her apostle and learning more than we are able to provide in class!

We deviated from the lesson slightly because this was the second week we have been asked about the beginnings of God and of Jesus. These 4th graders are thinking and studying and working hard to understand the Bible! Last week, Emma said it was hard for her to think about God not having a beginning (she was assured that she wasn't alone in that!) This week Leah asked where Jesus was before he was born as a baby on this Earth. Mrs. Kay directed their questions to John 1, and we took time to read several verses in the chapter, but I'm sure sitting down and reading those beautiful verses about the Word coming to dwell among men would benefit us all.

Thanks to Leah and Martin for turning in their Survey of YOU to us today! We love reading about these kids in their own words and their own writing!

This week the students were given cards 25-30:

25.  Miracles used to........................................Confirm the Messenger (Acts 2:22)
26. Miracles Jesus performed...........................About 35
27. Jesus taught Nicodemus..............................To Be Born Again (John 3:3)
28. Samaritan woman at well was taught...........To worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24)
29. Sermon on Mountain teaches......................True happiness (Mat. 5:1-12); How to have a Godly Life (Mat. 5:13-16); His purpose to fulfuill the law (Mat. 17-20); Jewish traditions (Mat. 5:21-48); Hypocrisy (Mat. 6:1-18); Security versus Anxiety (Mat. 6:19-34); Other subjects (Mat. 7)
30. A parable is ...............................................An earthy story with a heavenly meaning (Mat. 13, 25; Luke 15)

We hope to see you Wednesday night!

Wednesday, September 29 Lesson

We changed the classroom a little, and it was so much fun to hear the questions and comments about the new seating arrangement when we walked in class. Some of the kids were glad to have desks, and others liked just the chairs in a circle. Some of the kids liked the change, but others didn't. Leah's comment was, "But we need consistency!" I told her we were still in the same room, but we may be even more inconsistent than that at some point :)

We were able to review the homework from our last Wednesday night class as a review, and I could say that I was disappointed that none of the students knew their memory verse or had done their homework, but with the meeting and the memorial services attended by many, and the skipped Wednesday night, I was pleased that with some prompting, most of the kids could fill in the blank for Luke 2:52.

After discussing the limited commission, we moved onto a Jeopardy review game in teams of 2.
Leah and Martin were The Dragons, Emma and Eli were the Braves, and Elizabeth and Brianne were Abigail's Chosen People. We didn't have much time to play, and we'll definitely be playing again in the future to review the cards. The harder questions were worth more points, and it was interesting to see the strategy of the teams in choosing their questions. Each team took turns answering questions, and the Braves had the most points at the end of the game. I was so proud of the teams for working together without complaint at all and being kind to their classmates. I hope the kids can use this week to study the cards and focus on learning the ones they don't know before we add more on Sunday!

I will copy this week's homework below. See you Sunday morning!

Lesson 3: Cards 17-24

Homework

*Memory Work:

1.       Continue to learn the books of the New Testament

2.       Learn the 12 apostles. (You can use this song to help.)

Apostles song (to the tune of "Jesus Loves Me")

First verse:

Jesus called them one by one, Peter, Andrew, James and John,
Next came Philip, Thomas, too, Matthew and Bartholomew.

James the one they called the less, Simon, also Thaddeus,
The twelfth apostle Judas made, Jesus was by him betrayed.

Yes, Jesus called them, Yes, Jesus called them,
Yes, Jesus called them, The Bible tells me so.

Second verse:

Matthias then took Judas' place
To preach to men of every race.

Paul three preaching trips did make
And went to Rome for Jesus' sake.

*Vocabulary to know from Lesson 3

1.       Baptize/Baptism

2.       Forerunner

3.       Temptation

4.       Wilderness

5.       Apostle

6.       Commission

*Complete the “Temptations of Christ” page (Please see one of us for a copy of this).

*Complete the “Researching the Apostle Simon Peter” page (Please see one of us for a copy of this).

Sunday, September 26 lesson

After missing class for the meeting on Wednesday night, it seemed like such a long time since we had seen our class! What a blessing for us to get to study the life of Jesus with them. Kay had introduced John the Baptist last week, so this week she focused on the baptism of Jesus and Jesus being tempted by Satan in the wilderness. I loved that Kyle's lesson reinforced what Kay taught in class by talking about temptation!

Lesson 3 Cards 16-24

16. Quote Luke 2:52........................"And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man"
17. Parents of John the Baptist..........Zacharias and Elizabeth (Luke 1:5-13)
18. Forerunner of Jesus.....................John the Baptist (John 1:22,23)
19. Message John preached..............*Repentance for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Mat. 3:2)
      ...................................................*Baptism for the remission of sins (Mark 1:4)
20. Jesus baptized to.........................Fulfill all righteousness (Mat. 3:13-17)
21. Devil tempted Jesus.....................3 times
22. Like John, Jeus preached.............Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Mat. 4:17)
23. Name the 12 apostles..................Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James-son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot (Mat. 10:1-4)
24. Limited commission.....................Apostles to preach to the Jews (Mat. 10:5-7)

We hope to see you Wednesday night!

Sunday, September 19 Lesson

Since we are going to miss Wednesday night due to our gospel meeting, this week was scheduled as a review week. Mrs. Kay was able to begin next week's lesson about John the Baptist to get us ahead of schedule and save us time! Some students were given a few cards over the points studied today, but I will list all the cards for the lesson next week.We tried to review the books of the New Testament at the end of class, but we ran out of time. Our students should be preparing for activities on knowing the books of the New Testament if they haven't learned them.

Thanks to Brianne for turning in your "Survey of YOU." We loved learning more about you by reading your answers to the questions on that page! Thank you for taking the time to do this and get it back to us!!!

We hope to see you all each night through Wednesday at our gospel meeting!

Wednesday, September 15

Sunday morning, Mrs. Kay asked the students to find out why Joseph and Mary took Jesus to Egypt as a small child. We discussed Jesus going to Egypt and Jesus teaching as a boy in the Temple. I loved seeing the students really understand how scared Joseph and Mary must have felt to have lost their son. They all identified with either the feeling of losing something or being lost! They also all agreed that sometimes it is hard to obey our parents! We reviewed cards 1-15, and then we were out of time.

Thanks to Emma for bringing in your homework! I'm so proud of you for taking the time to search the scriptures and to memorize II Timothy 3:16, 17! I loved reading your "Survey of YOU" and learning more about the things you like and the things you dislike.

Here is the homework assignment given for this week:

Survey of the New Testament-4^th grade

Lesson 2: Cards 7-16

Homework

*Memory Work:

1.       Continue to learn the books of the New Testament

2.       Learn the following memory verse.

“And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”

Luke 2:52

Use the following words to match with the ways Jesus grew: mentally, socially, physically, and spiritually

And Jesus increased (grew) in	******
Wisdom
Stature
And in favor with	******
God
man

*Vocabulary to know from Lesson 1:

1.       Manger

2.       Betrothed

3.       Census

4.       Virgin

*Complete Birth of Jesus  page (Extra copies will be available in class if needed)

******Next Wednesday night all classes will be in the auditorium for our gospel meeting.

Class lesson Sunday, September 12

Mrs. Kay taught the birth of Jesus on Sunday. The students were able to read from the Bible the most beautiful and unexpected of ways for our Savior to be born. Cards 7-15 were handed out.

7. Angel who came to Mary............Gabriel (Luke 1:26-35)
8. Angel told Joseph........................Fear not to take Mary for your wife (Mat. 1:20)
9. Jesus born at...............................Bethlehem (Luke 2:4-7)
10. Angel told shepherds of ............Jesus' birth (Luke 2:10,11)
11. Wise men came to ....................Worship Jesus (Mat. 2:2)
12. Mary presented baby Jesus unto the Lord by sacrificing......2 turtle doves or 2 pigeons (Luke 2:22-24)
13. Joseph took Jeuss to Egypt to....Keep Jesus from being killed (Mat 2:13)
14. Jesus lived in .............................Nazareth
15. Age Jesus sat in the Temple with teachers...12 years old (Luke 2:41-49)

Thanks to all our students who did an excellent job reading from the Bible!

Homework for Wed., Sept. 8

                                                                    Survey of the New Testament


Lesson 1: Cards 1-6

Homework

*Memory Work:

1. Learn the books of the New Testament

2. Learn the following memory verses.

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of god may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16, 17 (NKJV)

What does this verse mean in your own words?

“If you love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15 (NKJV)

Discuss the importance of this verse as a family. How can we show we love Jesus? How do we know His commandments? If people say they love Jesus, but do not keep His commandments, what does that mean?


*Vocabulary to know from Lesson 1:

1. Inspiration/Inspired

2. Covenant

3. Genealogy

4. Generation

5. Ancestors/ancestry

*Complete “Survey of YOU”

*Genealogy of Jesus chart. (This document won't post, but I can email it or it can be picked up at East Side on Sunday.)

*Homework assignments and other information will be posted on our class blog.

http://walkingthenarrowpath4.blogspot.com/

Survey of YOU homework

Survey of YOU!


Your full name: __________________________________________________________

*I like it when people call me _______________________________________, but I don’t like it when people call me ______________________________________________.

*My favorite food is ___________________________________________________, but ____________________ makes me gag.

*My favorite subject in school is ____________________________________, but I wish dread time to study ___________________________________.

*When I have free time, I want to ______________________________________, but I definitely, absolutely, in no way want to ___________________________________________________.

*When I have a problem, I want to talk to ___________________________________________, and if it’s time to have fun, I want to talk to _______________________________________________________.

*I am the one in my family that _________________________________________________________.

*My favorite part of the Bible is ______________________________________, but the part of the Bible I have trouble understanding is _ ______________________________________________________.

*I like to watch __________________________________ on TV, listen to _________________________ in the car, and read _____________________________________, but I do not like watching ________________________, listening to ______________________________, or reading ____________________________.

*When I grow up, I might want to be a ___________________________________, but I definitely don’t want to be ____________________________________________________________________.

*I am really good at ________________________________________________, but I’m not the greatest at ______________________________________________________________________.

Now, tell us anything else about you that is important, or weird, or funny, or smart. Tell us about your family or your pets.

27 books or Emma's revealed talent?

After we had taken the test, we were going over our cards, and I wanted to let the students talk and get up (but in an organized and structured way....chaotic movement and noise in a classroom make me nervous!). So I told the kids that I would let them each stand up in front of the class and say in a strange voice "There are 27 books in the New Testament." My idea for this was that it would be repeated 7 times by them, plus the time I said it, plus the time everyone said it together. I was unaware of Emma's talent at a particulary funny, and quite undescribably strange voice, in which she told us about the 27 books of the New Testament. It was very, very, very funny, but it was so funny that I'm not sure if the kids will remember there are 27 books in the New Testament or just that Emma can have an southern-alien-chipmunk accent when she speaks :)

Wednesday night Lesson

Thanks to Chris, Eli, Jacob, Martin, Leah, Brianne, and Emma for participating so well in class tonight! We started class by going over the rules that Renita and Jonie set in place, and we talked a lot about the word relevance throughout the class. The students were wonderful to not complain about another "test" that was the main part of our lesson tonight. Kay and I thought it would be helpful for us to see what the students already knew, and then at the end of our quarter, to let the students take the exact same test and see how the two compared.

I'm very proud of Eli, Leah, and Emma for remembering the genealogy lesson from last quarter and knowing that Ruth and David were part of the genealogy of Jesus! When we got to the lesson about the genealogy, Eli was ready to explain what it meant, and said, "Mrs. Renita kept talking about this, guys!" It is so exciting to see these kids learning so much!

We went over the cards given on Sunday, and then briefly discussed our homework, which I will post. I hope that the homework will help the students and their families discuss and review the lesson from class. I would really like the "Survey of YOU" sheet to be turned in to us to help us learn a little more about the kids, but the other homework is for the family to use. While we will ask to see the homework from the students, it is not something that will be graded or recorded in any way, and is for the family to use as works best for them. I will be happy to email the homework or the pretest to anyone who would like it, or I will have extra copies on Sunday for anyone who missed class and wants to take it home. Please let me know if you have any ideas, suggestions, or concerns about class. Our only goal is to help these students learn as much as possible, and we want to do that in the best way. Thanks for your help and support!

Who's the Boss?

In class Sunday morning, Mrs. Kay was teaching the class about the authority of the Bible. She explained that families have authority, and we usually call that authority the boss of the family. The kids understood this concept! Mrs. Kay asked the kids who the authority was in their family, and one of our students said his mom, and several students said their dad. When it was Elizabeth's turn to say who the boss of her family was, she had no hesitation or doubt when she answered. "Abigail. Definitely Abigail." Abigail is about 18 months old, and I can understand how it would seem that she is the boss. Of course, Elizabeth also recognizes humor and knew that her answer would be greatly received by all. It is so much fun to teach this group of fourth graders!

We are thankful to have spent time studying with Elizabeth, Brianne, Emma, Martin, and Jacob Sunday morning! Thank you for listening so well and making our Bible study so enjoyable!

Class lesson Sunday, September 5

Sunday morning we learned about our theme of walking the narrow path. We also learned that our study for this quarter is a survey of the New Testament. We will not be able to learn everything, but we hope to accomplish a understanding of the overall story presented by the life of Jesus, the establishment of the church, and the letters that teach us how to live as Christians, and the prophecy that encourages us victory through Christ once this life is over. We learned some basic facts about the New Testament, and then we talked about the importance of a geneology. The following flashcards were the basis for this morning's lesson:

1. New Testament is ..... an agreeement (contract) given to man by God.
2. Purpose of the New Testament.....to save all men.
3. Books in the New Testament......27
4. New Testament written by.....8 men
5. Inspired by God.....New Testament (2 Tim. 3:16, 17; Heb. 1:2; 2 Pet. 1:20, 21; John 14:26, and 16:13)
6. New Testament begins by......Tracing Jesus' family tree (geneology) back to Abraham (Mat. 1:1-17)

We hope to see you all Wednesday night at 7:00!

Walking the Narrow Path

Kay and I talked many, many times before we decided on a theme for the class. We wanted a theme that had a strong visual, a memorable verbal, and encompassed the meaning of the whole New Testament. The theme also needed to be appropriate to the maturity of our talented and sweet fourth graders. When we read the Bible, and especially the New Testament, we realize that this life is a journey to lead us to Heaven. Our goal as teachers is to help our students learn to study and to love the Bible, so that they can have the strength and endurance to choose that narrow path as they grow and mature.

There is never a moment when we are not faced with a choice of which path to take, and the Bible warns us that many there are who choose the broad path and the wide gate, even though that path leads to destruction. We realize that in many ways that path may seem easier, more popular, or more fun with the enticements of this world. However, the Bible encourages us and promises us that the narrow path may be traveled by few, but it leads to rewards that are well worth choosing a path that is less traveled, less popular, and less focused on this world. The teachings of Jesus, his sacrifice, and the eternal plan of redemption all are blessings found only along the way of the narrow path, and not only will they lead to Heaven, but they will bring comfort to us while we are here.

We appreciate the love of the parents who teach their children at home, and who allow us, for a short time to learn from and teach these fourth graders as we journey together. May we all share the truth and the love of Jesus to make the few on that narrow path be as many souls as possible.

Welcome!

Dear Parents,


We are so excited to have your children in our Bible class this quarter beginning Sunday, September 5! We look forward to teaching our students, as well as learning from them this quarter. We know that faith comes by hearing the word of God (Rom.10:17), and we hope to help supplement your home Bible study with our Bible class. We hope to have the opportunity to study with your child every Sunday morning and Wednesday evening this quarter.

The elementary years are the best years to emphasize content in the Bible classes. The second quarter of teachers and parents building the foundation for faith and righteous living in the Engraving Heavenly Truths series is a Survey of the New Testament. This study is a survey ONLY with facts and a prescribed set of answers. We must help our children see why we need to study about Jesus, his life on earth, death, burial, and resurrection, the establishment of the church, growth of the church, the apostles and the promise that God's children will emerge victorious over death.

Please feel free to contact us to help us meet your child’s learning abilities. We do not want a gap to form or your child to become overwhelmed. We will be maintaining a blog for the class to post our lessons and interesting items from class. Our blog address is http://walkingthenarrowpath4.blogspot.com. We will not list last names in the blog, but if you would prefer that your children’s picture, first name, or any work not appear on the blog, then please let us know! Thank you for this opportunity to share God’s word with your family!



In Christian love,



Kay and Kristy

Bible class email: enteringthenarrowgate@gmail.com

Ways to use a blog for your classroom.

Here are a few ways you can use a blog for your classroom:

1. Carry out your theme. With wording and pictures and a background, your blog can help carry out the theme of your class.
2. Post lessons or assignments. If students miss class, then the lesson will be posted for students and parents to check.
3. Praise and encouragement for your kids. This is a way to publicly praise your students for learning a memory verse, being kind to a visitor, winning a baseball game, etc. Just be careful to at some point praise all your students for something they have done well. This is to help create a community among your kids, so if it's something done well in class or out of class, the students will appreciate the positive recognition.
4. Assignments and discussions. You can post a verse or a question, and encourage the students to make comments under the post. I will do an example comment on this post.
5. Post pictures of what your kids are doing in class or funny/interesting/insightful thoughts they add to the lesson.

I would add that I would ask the parents of the students before I posted pictures of the kids, and their names. I would not use last names at all, but some parents may not want pictures of names of the kids on the internet, which is understandable! If that arises, you do have the option of making the blog only viewable by people you invite.

3 year old VBS class