My Little Corner Of The World

Friday, September 23, 2011

Wednesday Night Science Lesson- ALL KNOWING!

This lesson was fun to put together, but I was not able to teach it. My husband had the pleasure of teaching this one! The focus of this lesson was to teach that God is an "all knowing" God.

This weeks science experiment part of the lesson took a little prep before hand. I used baking soda, vinegar, food coloring and clear containers. (I just use small glasses, they just need to be see through)

Before class I set it all up. I put a few drops of food coloring in the bottom of the glasses, and then quickly covered it up with a couple spoonfuls of baking soda.

I did this with all four colors, blue, red, green and yellow. Making sure all the glasses looked the same and you could not tell what color was underneath the baking soda. Then set them inside a bigger container. I just used a glass casserole dish. This is what to present to the students. Telling them that each glass will reveal a color, but could they tell me what color each glass would be. Have the students guess and try to get it right. For older students, allow them to guess, maybe even writing down their guesses and then let them pour in the vinegar into the glasses to reveal the colors. For younger students, you will need to do the pouring, but they can still guess.

At the end, talk about how many they got correct if any and that the ones they got right, were ultimately just a guess.

Read Proverbs 15:3- The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

Talk about how God knows everything. He even knew what colors were in the glasses. He knows our future and He holds tomorrow!

Have older students look up and read Isaiah 46:9-10. Have a discussion about how God is in control and is All KNOWING. How does that make them feel? The fact that God is in control is a feeling of security, but responsibility comes with knowing that God sees and knows all! We may sin, and even try to cover it up, like the colors, under the baking soda, but God knows, even if others don't.

Dan said the kids really liked it, and even screeched (I even heard them all the way in the sanctuary) when their guesses came out right or wrong. The anticipation of watching the colors be revealed was great!

Wednesday NIght Science Lesson- Being Followers of God

This lesson was great! No matter how old you get, magnets are just plain fun! I found myself "playing" with the magnets right along with the students!!! We started with reading our verses.

Eph. 5:1- Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

and

Galatians 5:16- This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

We talked about walking "IN" the Spirit and following the Spirit's leading in our lives. I went to our local learning store and found these great magnet wands for only $2 each!

I hid one under my chair before class. Then I put some cut up pipe cleaners on the table in front of me. All the kids were watching the pipe cleaners. I secretly reached and got the wand and under the table started to make the pipe cleaners move around and even stand up on end!

The kids were so intrigued! The were wondering "how are you doing that"!!!! I had some fun making the pipe cleaners move and then pulled out the magnet wand. We talked about WHY the pipe cleaners moved when the wand was near. They have metal INSIDE them. When we are saved the Holy Spirit lives INSIDE us too! And we are able to be "followers of God" by following the Spirits leading!

I gave each student a pipe cleaner in the shape of a person. With the wand I showed how we need to be following God, just as the pipe cleaner person follows the magnet. If we do, then we will be living in His will and can do Great things for God with our lives!

After the lesson... I handed them all a wand and some pipe cleaners and paper clips to play and experiment with! It was fun and hard to put it all away when class was over! Some even "magnetized" paper clips by rubbing one on the wand really fast and then picking up other paper clips.

I really enjoyed this lesson. Was relaxed...not a real big mess and easy to clean. Just swipe the wand over everything and it was clean! While they were having their fun, (and me too) I kept repeating the verses and having them answer questions about how magnets work and what they taught us in this lesson.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Wednesday Science Bible Lesson- Cleansing From Sin

This weeks lesson was so much fun!!!! I get all the science experiment ideas off the internet and then write a bible lesson to go with it! One of my students said tonight's lesson was the best one EVER.

We started off with the most important part... THE SCRIPTURE!

We talked about what confessing means. And that no matter what we do, God's forgiveness is big enough to cleanse our sins! I brought out a white board and colored some black spots on it. Talked about confessing our sins and how God can wipe us clean and white as snow, as I wiped off the spots.

This is when I pulled out a bar of Ivory(MUST be IVORY) soap. We talked about what the purpose of soap was and that it was meant to clean and wash away dirt and stains. Then we went to the kitchen and I put the bar of soap on a paper plate. I asked what they thought would happen if I put it in the microwave for 30 sec? They all said it would melt. Was so fun watching them "ooooo" and "ahhhhh" when they saw it do this...

It was neat to talk to the kids about how no matter how big our sin is... God's cleansing power is always big enough to forgive it. "He is FAITHFUL and JUST to FORGIVE us our sins" After it "grew" I had each of them pull off a piece and wash their hands to see if it still works. And of course, it did!

Then at the end of the lesson, I had prepared a bar of soap with instructions and the verse written on it for them to take home and be able to show their families what we did!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

"STOP IT", "LEAVE ME ALONE", "GIVE IT TO ME"!!!!

I am a mommy who requires manners and nice talk. Call it one of my pet peeves, but EVERY child who can learn to talk, can learn to talk NICE! Sometimes, what I hear coming from children's mouths make me cringe! Whatever happen to talking with manners and respect?

So needless to say, this is a biggie in our home! There must be "please" and "thank you's" and "excuse me's". BUT, with three children ages 3, 4 and 5 this is sometimes not as easy as that. Ruthie is getting more "vocal" and B and H are learning "older" ways to express themselves. I saw this idea on... yes, pintrest... and thought it would be PERFECT to reinforce our "nice talk".

First I sat down with the kids and read the verse from Proverbs 15:1. We talked about what soft words felt like and what "wrath" was. That when we talk mean, it causes anger and that anger grows! (I know, I am NOT an artist!) I put the verse up on the wall, so we can refer to it through out the day.

Then I showed them the two containers. I said that mama would listen and when she heard nice, soft and polite words, they would be able to put a soft ball into the heart container! When mama heard a mean, or angry word, then we would take a soft ball out of the heart container. When the heart container is full with "soft words" then we will go to Rite Aid and get a ice cream cone. (they LOVE this and mom LOVES the price!)

At first they were ON TOP of it! Doing great. I was glad, but wanted this to REALLY make a difference, so I did not let them "just say nice things" to get the container full. I waited for "real" conversations they would have and catch them when they did not think I was listening. On the first day, they had quite a few soft balls. The next morning, they were not talking so nice, and after a pretty big argument, lost all the balls. This seemed to make them step back and try harder. I stuck with it. And now, have gotten two great weeks of polite talking, and encouraging words from the kids! We are almost to the top and the kids are excited to "earn" ice cream!!!!

I did not know if this would work or not. I am happy to say it has worked AWESOME and the kids are really responding to it!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Wednesday Science Bible Lessons! Uplifting Eachother

I have been writing bible lessons and teaching Wednesday night class for 3 years (with a short 4 month break) at our church for children ages 2-12. Now that is a HUGE age range! And it takes LOTS of time to get each lesson ready for all the different age levels! Without a doubt, the last couple months have been the most enjoyable! Some nights, my husband teaches the class my lessons, since I am needed in other areas. I miss teaching these fun lessons and find myself a bit jealous when he gets to teach! I have ALWAYS loved doing hands on, object lessons for kids. They learn so easy when they can SEE and DO along with the lesson!

I started doing simple science experiments and using them to teach bible concepts! I have gotten all the science activities from various sites off the internet and then have written the bible lessons to go along with them! They have been going great, and I have had some ask for me to write them down so they can try it at their church! I thought this would be a good place to do that! Share the lessons and how they worked...whether great or not so great! Science is fun for all ages! So it fits just right for the broad age of kids in my class!

Last nights lesson was lots of fun! First I asked the kids what these four words meant

-EDIFY-

-EXHORT-

-UPLIFT-

-ENCOURAGE-

It is always fun to hear the crazy ideas the kids have about what the words mean. Lots of fun and entertainment for the teacher. :) Then we read Hebrews 3:13 and focused on the first part of the verse...

But exhort one another daily, while it is called today;...

We talked about how God has commanded us to encourage and uplift each other! That it is our job to "help" each other keep our chin up! Then we did our experiment!

First I had pre-measured 1/4 cup of vinegar into separate empty water bottles.

Then in class I scooped 1 TBS of baking soda into a deflated balloon!

Then put the balloon over the mouth of the bottle with the vinegar in it. Looks pretty sad all hanging there off the side. I asked the kids if it looked like the balloon felt encouraged and uplifted. Of course they all said NO!

So I picked the balloon up and let the baking soda fall into the bottle. This caused the reaction and the bubbles and the gas to "uplift" the balloon! We all sat there and watched the balloon blow up! The looks on their faces are always so fun to watch!!!

Of course I had enough for each of the students to make their own. (this makes them remember the lesson, and it is always fun to go home and share the experiment) Since we have such a broad age group, the "olders" get to do "most" of the stuff on their own. The "youngers" need more assistance and that is when I step in and help. This part of the class is fun, because the kids are all participating and laughing and having fun watching their very own experiment!

After we had our "science" fun, each student chose a member of the church and colored a encouragement card for them! I bought some blank cards from the $ store for this.

I have to say this one went nice and smooth. I was glad that I pre-poured the vinegar, it made it go more smooth and saved time.

I am working on getting more of my lessons up on here. Feel free to try them out where ever you are, and let me know how they work for you!!!!

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

SCHOOL!

I have been doing "school" with my little blessings since Hannah turn 2! They learn SO much so fast! It has been great fun! Thought I would share a little bit of what we have done. Here is one fun activity we did this summer. The kids chose a color of play dough and I put a toilet paper roll on a plate and they built up the play dough around it. This made it easier for their little hands to build.

Then I put a couple spoon full of baking soda inside. We colored some vinegar (should be red but all we had was yellow and green) Let the kids pour it and...

There you have it! Eruption!

You can see the TP roll on the inside!

For some great ABC practice, I saw this idea on Pintrest (LOVE LOVE LOVE that site!)

Thought Ruthie would really like it. We call it "Alphabet Bean Soup" With the letters buried in the beans, she searches for them and says the name and sound and finds where it goes on the puzzle! We do LOTS of different things with our "bean box". The kids love to search for "treasures" (little beads and odds and in's that I hide in there) We use the beans for sorting and patterns and for just plain fun with playing!

Another "soup" we have is "ABC soup" I save bottle caps off of juice, milk and water bottles and fill the box with water, write a letter on the caps and then ask the kids to "build" words. They love it! (another idea found on Pintrest)

Ruthie's favorite game is "ABC Hide and Go Seek" I put her ABC flash cards all over the floor in the bed room and then go sit in the living room. Asking her to "go find me a "b", and so on until she finds the whole alphabet!

They all LOVE LOVE LOVE the puzzles!

We count the ducks, sort them by the shapes and colors!

B and H have started writing addition problems. Learning where the plus and equal signs mean. If you can see, they have two big green dice they throw and then write the numbers in the right places and then add them up!

We use lots of books for activities!

And B and H are reading in the Hooked On Phonics books. They love the computer game too! Even Ruthie is pretty good at the computer game!

WE do LOTS of fun things around here, and I love every min of it!!! So fun to help them learn and get ready for school! These sweet moments I have with them are so precious!

Ruthie is learning Upper Case and Lower case. Found this fun game on Pintrest. She has to match the letters and put the egg together!

Hannah and Ben love this idea of spelling out words with the bolts! Pintrest, thank you AGAIN! Seems to have really helped Hannah with figuring out every sound in a word and building the word.