We are already on lesson 5 of our Fruit of The Spirit lesson material. The children are really enjoying these lessons. Lesson five was about the attribute: PEACE. I decided to use the account of Jesus calming the sea for our main BIBLE story.
I told the children the story (put into my own words) from Matthew 8:23-27. We learned how Jesus and his disciples were on a boat and a HUGE storm came up and was tossing the boat back in forth and filling it with water. The disciples were very scared and woke Jesus. Jesus demonstrates his AMAZING powers over natures and calms the winds and wave. He causes a GREAT PEACE to come over the sea. I used this story as an opportunity to share with the children the idea that we should always turn to JESUS for true PEACE. He is in control of everything and we need to go to HIM when we are troubled about anything.
Our TAKE HOME activity was a “Ship In The Bottle” activity. The little ship was printed from my computer and then laminated…rolled and placed in the bottle. We filled the bottles half way with blue (food coloring) water. We then filled the bottle the rest of the way with baby oil. Added glue to the neck of the bottle and tightly twisted on the lid. We then (for extra security) wrapped the lid with tape. The kiddos added on the scripture reference sticker and stuck on some PUFFY 3D fish stickers. The cool thing about this was as they tipped the bottle back and forth waves would form in the bottle….giving the appearance of a storm. Needless to say the children LOVED this!!!! They were so excited about taking home their “STORM IN A BOTTLE.”
Our memory verse this week was Psalm 119:165. We had a little tune that we sang this Memory Verse too. The children had it memorized before leaving class. I love it when they know their memory verse so well that they leave the classroom singing it. Those moments make me smile.
Our Game/Activity was so much fun!!! We had a “sea” and “boat” in the classroom. The “sea” was made from an air bed covered with a blue sheet. The boat was made from corrugated plastic that I bought at our local Goodwill for a $1.00 a sheet. I count this as a lucky find. 🙂 The children were able to board the boat and then had to answer questions for the lesson…when they answered the questions we would push up and down on the air bed to make “WAVES.” They would then say, “PEACE BE STILL” and we would stop making the waves. We repeated this several times. The kiddos LOVED this activity.
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| Kiddos are Aboard the Boat….and the wave are billowing! |
We added a few words to our “WORD WALL.” The children are so happy learning these “BIG PEOPLE” words.
On Wednesday Evening the children made a picture with a boat on it. They added the sails (made from cotton material that I had on hand) and then added the STORM CLOUDS and then colored the PEACEFUL side. They added this to their EXPLORER JOURNAL.
I am enjoying teaching this UNIT of the Fruit of the Spirit. It has allowed the children to learn VARIOUS stories from the Bible. Since I normally teach in a CHRONOLOGICAL fashion, this is a nice break from MY norm. It is challenging me to think of Biblical Example that go along with each attribute of the Fruit of the Spirit. So far, so good.
Blessings,
Ronda
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