When I think back to my childhood, there are many fond memories that stick out in my mind. One in particular was from a Sunday morning. I sat in a small wooden chair, surrounded by a couple dozen other first grader students, and gazed at the big, shiny red box at the front of the room. What was inside? My teacher started pulling letters out of the box—16 to be exact—and started to spell a word. What word could be that long? INCOMPREHENSIBLE! What did that mean?
Another day, my teacher decided to make cookies for our class. Yum! Out of the box came sugar and butter and flour and chocolate chips and a bowl and a spoon and a spatula. She set them all out on a table and then just stood there, staring at them. She thought they could turn into cookies on their own. How silly.
Fast forward a decade later, and I was making new memories—this time as a helper in the first grade class. I remember the day the teacher started pulling out bricks with pictures of the plagues from the same, shiny red box. As she explained each of the ten bricks, she slammed them down on the table. The children gasped as one hit another so hard, it broke in half. There was also the day when there was a beautiful throne at the front of the class. The students were bewildered when they saw the special jewelry box—representing God’s greatness and worth—sitting among a pile of smelly, disgusting garbage, instead of being displayed by the royal throne.
Now, another decade or so later, I get to stop in the first grade classroom and see a child’s jaw drop as his teacher pours an entire box of cereal out in front of him. I also have the privilege of designing some of the visuals for The ABCs of God revised curriculum that will help children create the same memories I have.
You see, these memories are so much more than just some fun moments. When I failed to understand all of the nuances of the sovereignty of God, I remembered those 16 letters. God is incomprehensible, He is more than we can fully understand. When I was being lectured in biology about how the world was made through evolution, I remembered that table full of cookie ingredients and how they were helpless without a creator.
Every time I see a brick wall, I am reminded of those plagues and how God is an almighty God. He showed His power so His name could be known throughout the whole earth as the one true God. When I take out the trash, I am reminded that God took the hard path. He took my punishment for my sin to ultimately show His Father’s glory instead of being pampered like a king on earth.
And my morning bowl of cereal? Even though it will only satisfy me until noon, it is a reminder that God is bountiful. He more than enough to satisfy all of my desires. These memories remind me, and children in The ABCs of God classes, who God is, what He is like and how they should act toward Him. These memories help children see God’s greatness and worth every day in the world around them.
Each lesson in The ABCs of God curriculum begins with a concrete illustration like these to help children bridge what they can see and understand with abstract concepts they cannot see or find hard to understand. This deductive teaching style leads children to make observations and draw conclusions as the lesson progresses.
In the revised version of The ABCs of God, we have included 334 pages of new visuals for teachers to use in conjunction with common household items. The visuals assist in telling Bible stories, emphasis key points of the lesson and create illustrations that children will recall in everyday life. Here is a sample of the Visuals Packet:
[slideshow_deploy id='7262']
Lesson Samples and view the Scope and Sequence.
Do You Remember What You Learned in First Grade?
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When I think back to my childhood, there are many fond memories that stick out in my mind. One in particular was from a Sunday morning. I sat in a small wooden chair, surrounded by a couple dozen other first grader students, and gazed at the big, shiny red box at the front of the room. What was inside? My teacher started pulling letters out of the box—16 to be exact—and started to spell a word. What word could be that long? INCOMPREHENSIBLE! What did that mean?
Another day, my teacher decided to make cookies for our class. Yum! Out of the box came sugar and butter and flour and chocolate chips and a bowl and a spoon and a spatula. She set them all out on a table and then just stood there, staring at them. She thought they could turn into cookies on their own. How silly.
Fast forward a decade later, and I was making new memories—this time as a helper in the first grade class. I remember the day the teacher started pulling out bricks with pictures of the plagues from the same, shiny red box. As she explained each of the ten bricks, she slammed them down on the table. The children gasped as one hit another so hard, it broke in half. There was also the day when there was a beautiful throne at the front of the class. The students were bewildered when they saw the special jewelry box—representing God’s greatness and worth—sitting among a pile of smelly, disgusting garbage, instead of being displayed by the royal throne.
Now, another decade or so later, I get to stop in the first grade classroom and see a child’s jaw drop as his teacher pours an entire box of cereal out in front of him. I also have the privilege of designing some of the visuals for The ABCs of God revised curriculum that will help children create the same memories I have.
You see, these memories are so much more than just some fun moments. When I failed to understand all of the nuances of the sovereignty of God, I remembered those 16 letters. God is incomprehensible, He is more than we can fully understand. When I was being lectured in biology about how the world was made through evolution, I remembered that table full of cookie ingredients and how they were helpless without a creator.
Every time I see a brick wall, I am reminded of those plagues and how God is an almighty God. He showed His power so His name could be known throughout the whole earth as the one true God. When I take out the trash, I am reminded that God took the hard path. He took my punishment for my sin to ultimately show His Father’s glory instead of being pampered like a king on earth.
And my morning bowl of cereal? Even though it will only satisfy me until noon, it is a reminder that God is bountiful. He more than enough to satisfy all of my desires. These memories remind me, and children in The ABCs of God classes, who God is, what He is like and how they should act toward Him. These memories help children see God’s greatness and worth every day in the world around them.
Each lesson in The ABCs of God curriculum begins with a concrete illustration like these to help children bridge what they can see and understand with abstract concepts they cannot see or find hard to understand. This deductive teaching style leads children to make observations and draw conclusions as the lesson progresses.
In the revised version of The ABCs of God, we have included 334 pages of new visuals for teachers to use in conjunction with common household items. The visuals assist in telling Bible stories, emphasis key points of the lesson and create illustrations that children will recall in everyday life. Here is a sample of the Visuals Packet:
[slideshow_deploy id='7262']
Lesson Samples and view the Scope and Sequence.
