This past Sunday we continued in our lessons on the Judges! The children were greeted by BIG blow up palm trees. They knew they were in for an exciting lesson.
We talked a bit about Shamgar…he killed 600 Philistines with an OX goad. He was a brave man! However, after he died the Hebrews returned to their evil ways…and God allowed them to be oppressed. One of my students asked me, “Why did the Hebrews do this? Why didn’t they learn their lesson?” I guess that is the questions we all have when we study the history of the Judges.
My visual aids for the story were these 3D visuals. I have had these Palm trees for YEARS, They came in a kids meal when my daughters, who are now 22 & 21 years old, were very young, I have used them time and time again for Bible stories. I purchased the little people from $Tree and Mardels. She is supposed to be Delilah…but, she served as Deborah for today. He is supposed to be an apostle, but today he is Barak. 🙂 I always try to multipurpose my visuals.
Our “Take Home” activity was a palm tree with Deborah sitting beneath it. This was made out of card stock….tape and glue. It was a relatively cheap “Take Home.” The kiddos LOVED having their own palm tree!
This is what they looked like prior to being colored and assembled.
Our Memory Verse is Psalm 92:12. We have a little tune that goes with the Memory Verse. The kiddos seem to have it memorized prior to leaving class. The will make it easy to say it on Wednesday night. I am sure the will ALL be putting up their MAP piece, for knowing their Memory Verse this Wednesday. 🙂
For our REVIEW GAME we “grew” a palm tree. The kiddos added a Palm Leaf to the tree, by answering questions from the lesson. The leaves have velcro on the back for easy attach-ability. 
This was very easy to make. I used Printmaster (a computer program) to print the palm tree out as a poster. I made extra leaves and added the velco after laminating. I think it is very cute.
Our map is filling up!
The kiddos are amazed at all the places and events that have happened. This map makes it easy for us to review places we have learned in the past. Kids LOVE maps!!!
As a special treat I gave each of my students a Palm Tree bottle….I told them that every time they use this bottle they need to remember the story of Deborah…and the other Judges.
Their Explorer Journal Activity for Wednesday will be a picture of Deborah with palm trees in the background. The palm trees are made from the foam fun material that can be purchased at any craft store. That will make the palm trees 3D. Of course, we all know that Deborah sat beneath the Palm trees in the mountains of Ephraim, between Ramah and Bethel.
Teaching on the Judges is an exciting endeavor. The boys in my class are LOVING these lessons. The girls were glad to know that there was a woman judge too. I believe in teaching the Bible as it was written. God wants all of HIS word taught….even though some of the lessons are a bit violent we will be learning about these Mighty Men (and woman) of God.
Blessings,
Ronda
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