Type of Idea

Works Best for

Grades____

Idea or Method

Management

Any

To get the students’ attention, I ask them to let me see their eyes and quietly wait until they are all making eye contact with me.

Management

Any

To involve all students in a discussion ask them to respond with a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down.”  You can use this in many ways-when you read statements as a way for them to respond to agree/disagree, true/false, showing God’s love/going against God’s will, etc.

Instructional

Any

When discussing the Parable of the Lost Sheep/Good Shepherd – this is a fun and effective game:  Choose one student to be the “Good Shepherd.”  Have him/her come to the front of the room and put his/her back to the class. Without speaking, select another student to be the “lost sheep” and have that student stand outside the door or out of sight from the shepherd.  Then have the shepherd turn to face the class and figure out who is the missing sheep.  This emphasizes that a Good Shepherd knows all of his sheep by name and never leaves any sheep behind.

Instructional

Any

Popcorn prayer:  Lower classroom lights and tell kids to think about something they want to pray about and they pop up and say it.

Instructional

All

Journal writing….Students begin each of my classes by responding to a question in their journals.  I type a question on the computer and make however many copies of it I need and then cut one out individually.  The students paste the strip of paper into their journals and then write their response.  When they are finished they bring it to me to read and I stamp the page or put a sticker on it.  Types of questions or ideas to write about are:

Write three things you know about God.

List what you do to show you are a friend of Jesus

What are some of God’s commandments?

How do you think Jesus wants to celebrate his birthday?

Write a thank you note to God.

I have found this a great way to begin each class because it gives the students something to do while we are waiting for everyone to arrive.

Management

All

Play contemporary Christian music

I play music during journal time.  Contemporary Christian music sounds like soft rock and the students love it.

Both

All

Opening Prayer:

Once everyone has arrived, the students put their journals away and we sit in a circle on the floor while listening to a song from my CD.  I light a candle and we all sit quietly while the song is played.  I then start with an opening prayer.  I then go around the circle and have each student offer a prayer or special intention for someone or a group of people.  This is a great way to get them to start thinking of others who are in need.

Both

Kindergarten

Beginning 15 minutes – because children drift in, I have a picture to color that pertains to the day’s lesson.  While they are busy coloring, I introduce our topic.  It’s a relaxed way to start after all-day kindergarten.  It also cuts down on beginning uproar.  We start our class in a quiet, orderly fashion.

Instructional

All

We act out the Bible stories in our chapters.  We love to do “mini-plays” regarding topics in  our books.

Management

Younger

I give a sticker placed on the back of their folder for good behavior/listening in class.  For every five stickers they get to choose a small prize.  (somehow I always end up with interesting inexpensive prizes that they seem to like.)

Instructional

All

I am incorporating skits into some lessons.  The children really like them.  My reference is “Big Action Bible Skits” by Christine Yount.  I have the Old Testament book of skits and the New Testament book of skits.  We did Zacchaeus the tax collector skit and made happy face/sad face puppets that they used to boo and cheer our “hero” Zacchaeus.

Management

All

During Advent we made a class Advent wreath by tracing our hands out of green construction paper, decorating them with our names, and pasting them in a large circle on a large poster board.  We added some candles and said a prayer at the beginning of each class during Advent.

Instructional

All

During Lent we have been fortunate to go to the church or chapel and learn the Stations of the Cross.  There was a book in the director’s office we followed.  The class moved from station to station just like the priest does during the ceremony.  They were able to get a good look at the pictures of each station.

Both

5^th/any

During Lent I spend at least one class on learning about Holy Week.  I have used this website   http://www.cresourcei.org/cyholyweek.html  as a resource for discussion of  the final days before Jesus’ death.  And in the back of our texts is The Passion in the form of a skit.  We sit on the floor in a big circle and read it together.

Instructional

All

I like to teach them how to pray the rosary.  I hope to go to the church/chapel again and we will pray one of the mysteries together.

Management

Older

Since I have 19 children this year they are a lot noisier than my small group of 8 children last year.  In the beginning of the year I showed them a copy of the progress report that is sent home and pointed out the section on “respects others.” This really helped getting them to raise their hand, wait their turn and not speak when I am speaking.

Management

Any

As long as we can successfully complete a chapter or lesson, I usually have a game ready.  We play Religion Jeopardy or Religion Bingo a lot.  The Jeopardy questions (or answers) are about our lessons to date.  The host gets to wear one of my husband’s old neckties and ask the questions.   For Bingo, someone has to answer a question correctly before we pull a ball out of the bingo cage.

Instructional

Younger

For learning “Our Father” and “Hail Mary,” we had the children sit in a circle and tossed a ball.  Each child recited a part, passed it to another child, who continued the prayer.  It worked like a charm.

Instructional

Any

Consistently played games like Hangman to learn and review the vocabulary.  (Mary, pulpit, communion, altar).  We also played this game outside as we asked questions and the children answered.  If they got it right, they stayed in line to get another question.  If they didn’t, they were sent to the tree or another spot. We also had teams, which made it more exciting.

Instructional

Any

We used a lot of music, and had a CD with songs including what God had made (He made the heaven, earth and the sea and everything in it including me).

Instructional

Younger

Made pretzels to show the meaning of “prayer.”  Read a story about it, I think it was an Eric Carle book.

Management

All

We read many trade books to accompany the curriculum.  Many were even listed in the teacher’s guide.