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Showing posts with label Vacation Bible School. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vacation Bible School. Show all posts

Monday, June 1, 2020

"Staying on the Right Track in a Troubled World"



Hello and Welcome!! 

Room Décor! 

Bible Class Room Décor can be so fun!

Our theme was Staying on the Right Track in a Troubled World.

Looking back, all the work that was put into this class room 
was never done in vain especially when bringing God's word to children. 



We had a 5 day Vacation Bible School! 
I love these Bible Story Posters I found at Concordia Publishing
The pictures are very detailed and the color is so vivid!
(Always check to make sure of what is written 
on the back of class materials to make sure it agrees with scripture.)


Names of my students in purple! 
Advantage of hosting a 5 day VBS? 
You get to learn their names!


Welcome Sign!

We always need to beware of the "derailers" in life!
Scripture on the puffs of smoke help us to remain on course!
  • Satan
  • Temptation
  • Pride
  • Peer Pressure
  • Materialism
  • Bad influences
  • Distractions
  • Apathy
  • Selfishness

Day One
 - Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego - 
- Stand up, stand out, and be different! -
- Babylon -

Seeing that both day 1 and 2 lessons came from the book of Daniel, 
we used this poster for both days.

Hanging the names from the ceiling caught my students attention 
and also helped to remind them of who we were studying about.

Lessons 1, 2, and 3 took us to Babylon 
during the Israelites 70 years of captivity. 
I do love a map that is eye catching! 
I believe the places you are "visiting" 
should be well marked. 

Each lesson had a "Key" to staying on the right track! 

Day Two 
- Daniel in the Lion's Den - 
- Making Good Choices - 
- Babylon -

Daniel's name was hung over the train. 

"Key" to day 2 of staying on the right track!

Day Three
 - Queen Esther - 
- Thinking of Others -
- Babylon -

Esther's name is hanging in the upper left of the picture.

Day 3 lesson came from the book of Esther!

Some of our visual aids for Queen Esther. 
I had a tri-fold piece of cardboard that I covered 
to tack the pictures up with. 

My students got to wear a couple costumes!
Queen Vashti and Esther!

Mordecai with sack cloth and ashes.

"Key" to day 3 of staying on the right track!

Day Four 
- Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man - 
- Choosing the Right Friends -
- Capernaum -

 This poster shows where lessons 4 and 5 are found.

The title of lesson 4 hanging above the white board. 

Day 4 and 5 lessons took us to the Land of Palestine!
Day 4 - Capernaum
Day 5 - Bethany

This visual aid drew quite a bit of attention,
 even from the other classes! 
They all had to pass through to see the man
 being lowered from the roof!

Can anyone find what is wrong 
with this rooftop picture? 





"Key" to day 4!

Day Five 
- Jesus Visits Mary and Martha
- Putting Jesus First -
- Bethany -

(Mary and Martha's names were hanging along the back wall 
along with the name Jesus, but I failed to get a picture of them,)

"Key" to day 5!

How all 5 "Key" posters looked on the wall. 

My helper was great! We set up a kitchen of sorts 
for  the lesson about Mary and Martha. 

We learned our theme Bible verse by putting parts of the verse of different cards and after each time we said it we pulled out 1 or 2 cards and said it again until we could say it without any cards! 
We had loads of learning fun!!



We had a "Kings Throne"!
Each day I added the name of the King who was on the throne 
and ended up with Jesus who is our true King. 



All of our students wanted to sit on the throne to have their picture made. 
The robe, scepter, and crown were bought at a party/costume store. 


All of these visual aids were such effective teaching tools! 
Wed. evening we had an open house! 
The students took their parents around to look at the rooms. 
They had no doubt about what their children were being taught. 

B-I-B-L-E!!

It was so rewarding being their "Engineer" that week!


All of my Bible class students 
have a special place in my heart. 
It brings me much joy to look back 
on how God's word was planted in their hearts. 


Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment!




Sunday, May 24, 2020

Superheroes - "Mighty Men of God!"

Hello and Welcome!

Noah, Sampson, and David 

What can all these men have in common? 

One year they were portrayed as 
Superheroes - "Mighty Men of God" 
in our Vacation Bible School! 
It was a 3 day VBS from 9 to Noon, 
beginning on Monday and ending with 
our open house on Wednesday evening.

Noah 
Was definitely a superhero, a great man of faith;
Hebrews 11.


Sampson 
He was a superhero in the sense that God used his strength along with his "short fuse" to fight the Philistines, the enemy of the Israelites;
Judges 16:23-31


David 
Because of his great faith that God would fight his battle against Goliath, 
he showed that faith by his courage, David was also a superhero! 




Room Décor'
Keeping a list of basic things I like to develop each year for VBS is a great help!
My list covers such things as:

Large theme letters!

The computer does such a beautiful job of giving us large letters on 11x17 inch paper, that only once in a while do I find myself drawing them out because I want letters larger than what the computer offers. When students are in the room and others visit they will have no problem knowing what is the theme of our studies.


Eye Catching Grade/Age Sign!


Make your students feel special with an eye catching sign just for them! 
Staying with the superhero theme, we were the Fantastic 3rd & 4th graders!! 
Our #1 Arch Enemy is the Devil!!
We fight against him daily!

I used an old box for the grade sign, covered it with blue bulletin board paper, designed and printed off the large orange letters/numbers from the computer. Then added who our #1 arch enemy is.



Using the Ceiling!

Just for fun, We cut large stars hanging from the ceiling to match our "superhero" theme.





Featuring the Main Bible People!


I decided to feature each Bible hero in the same way. Each lesson had a "shooting star" showing which Bible person we were going to focus on that particular day, highlighted by a picture and name of this person on the tail of the shooting star.
There was enough room on the tail of the star to add:
  1. Bible verse of the day
  2. Lesson number
  3. Lesson sub. theme 
  4. Scripture reference of where our lesson was found. 
  5. Other tid-bits
With each day following the same pattern, it was easy for my students to find the lesson reference  plus follow the focus of our lessons. The way our room was set up, we moved the chairs each day to face the particular lesson we were giving that day.

This shooting star highlights Noah!


This shooting star highlights Samson!


This Shooting Star highlights David! 



The Rainbow

When teaching about Noah, most everyone has a version of God's awe inspiring rainbow that showed and still shows God's mercy.

Bible verses on display are highly appropriate 
especially if they fit the lesson at hand. I put one of my verses on the rainbow, and 

The verse on the rainbow is 
Ephesians 6:10 
"Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might."


If you will notice we have folding walls in the rooms we use for VBS. 
This has always been a challenge with our wall visual aids. 

Here is a  Tip of the Day,  to see how I hung my teaching aids. 




The poster directly below the rainbow is the scripture where God made the covenant 
with Noah and all the earth.
Genesis 9:8-17


Defining Words!

Defining Bible words is so important even in VBS.
Again because of time sake I like to have my words displayed to where I can refer to them.

The bright red sign under the poster defines the word covenant. 


This wall décor is more than just decorative. 
It's helping to teach and highlight the Word of God.
I can refer to verses and words on the wall 
and the students can see and read what I am actually talking about. 


To talk about Mighty men of faith, we must first 
describe what faith is
 and 
how important it is to have this faith. 

Hebrews 11:6  
Without faith it is impossible to please Him. 
For he who comes to God must believe that He is 
and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.


On this poster I used different versions of  Hebrews 11:1 plus a couple definitions of faith so my students could compare versions showing how the same words are translated differently. 
I also thought it may be easier for them to understand the verse.


To see how I explained Noah's faith to my students by using the visual aids below, click here. 


Bible Person and Books of the Bible Facts!



 Facts about Noah are displayed here
and the book of Genesis, where our lesson is found! 
These are teacher helps as well as student helps!


These are facts about Samson, and the book of Judges!


These are facts about David and Goliath! 
Facts about the book of 1 Samuel were hanging on the tail of the shooting star.



Maps!


I love Bible geography! It helps the students realize that real things happened in a real place!! 

This map shows the table of nations for the lesson on Noah, and was enlarged from my Bible.
All of these maps wee colored with chalk pastels.





This map is for the lesson on Sampson.



This map is for the lesson on David and Goliath.


Costumes!


Here, me and my helper have our Armor of God on because we need to be ready for our arch enemy at all times!!
The armor was made of paper but did the job! 
It had wrinkles in it to show that we had been in a few battles.





A couple other costumes.




Props!


For Noah we made an altar and set it in the corner.
It was made of a box with paper "rocks" taped to it.



For Sampson I had a real jawbone in plastic.


Also for Sampson we made the pillars in Dagon's Temple.
Later, my co-teacher, who was behind the green cloth,
 knocked the pillars over when it came to that part of the lesson. 





Sheep, 5 smooth stones and sling for David.



The long red string above, showed how tall Goliath was!

I thought this was a great illustration!
The "X" marks the spot where the stone hit Goliath. 
(Sharing this idea from one of our other teachers,)


I thought the band-aid was a nice touch!


Each Lesson Set-Up in the Room!

We used the a soldier wearing the labeled armor of God and moved him around each day for our different lessons, reminding them that in order to fight our arch enemy we could not forget our shield of faith!

⭐Noah⭐




⭐Sampson⭐




⭐David⭐


We moved the chairs and Bibles around each day to focus on the lesson at hand.


The rest of my list has to do with developing the actual lesson. 
It all takes time, so I like to have the featured Bible people and theme at least 3 months in advance.

Bible
Nice sized visual aids 
Storyline
Hands on if possible (sheep hair, smooth stones, etc..)
Application
Reinforcing activity
Memory Verse
Take Home item


Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave a comment!