Curriculum for the Fall Quarter

(September, October, November)

All Classes Start at 9:30 a.m.

 

Values of the Walk With Me Curriculum

 

 

Our Sunday School curriculum, Walk With Me, for preschoolers through eighth graders provides everything you need—leader’s guides, children’s resources, music CD’s, visual aids—and lots of creative ideas to make learning fun and to make the Bible come alive in kids’ lives.

 

This curriculum was developed over five years and is definitely unique.  The values of Walk With Me are:

 

1.   Centered on a Reformed interpretation of Scripture — emphasis on the Lordship of Christ and our role as God’s covenant people

•  every story in the Bible tells us about God and every story must be understood as part of the one story of God’s redemption and restoration of this fallen world through Jesus Christ

•  aims to be faithful to Scripture and to make the Reformed faith come alive in our everyday experiences as children of God

2.  Grows faith—nurtures and encourages children and youth to make a personal commitment to Christ and to build on that commitment.

• Know -- learning the content.  We want children to know the Bible and the teachings of the church.

• Grow — more than knowledge.  When we hear what God has to say to us, it changes our hearts.

• Show — changes lives.  The teaching has a real impact on lives and the way children live out their faith each day of the week.

3.    Instills knowledge (biblical literacy, Reformed beliefs) but also challenges children to respond with heart and lives.

 

4.    Builds community

• leaders and children are encouraged to become a small group together by caring for each other, encouraging each other, challenging each other, and to have fun together

• everyone should feel loved, accepted, and safe in these small groups

 5.   Celebrates diversity

• wants children to realize that God’s family includes people from all parts of the world, from all cultures, and from all races

6.   Prepares kids to share their faith with others — includes activities that provide ways for children to respond to what they’ve learned by acting and serving

 

7.   Makes learning enjoyable

 

8.   Respects diverse ways children learn.

   

 

 Walk With Me uses Multiple Intelligences

 

How do children learn?  The answer to that question can be almost as varied as the children in your Sunday School.  Some learn best through words.  Others learn through music.  Still others learn through nature or through movement.

 

Sessions in the Walk With Me curriculum try to respect the many ways children learn.  Walk With Me sessions include a wide range of activities that speak to children with the following types of learning styles (based on Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences).  The learning styles represented teach children who are:

 

• Word Smart — learn best through verbal activities (listening, reading, or speaking), including discussions, worksheets, writing, reading, storytelling, and word games

• Number Smart — learn best by exploring patterns and relationships through activities such as problem solving, logical puzzles or games, making charts and graphs, or putting things in sequence.

• Picture Smart — learn best by visualizing concepts.  These kids enjoy viewing maps, slides, pictures, videos, and diagrams; making jigsaw puzzles; and expressing their ideas with shape, color, and design.

• Body Smart — learn best by using their bodies, acting things out, using puppets, moving—anything hands-on.

• Music Smart — learn best through sound, music, and rhythm—playing musical instruments, writing their own songs and raps, listening to recordings, singing, and so on.

• People Smart — learn best through doing things with others, cooperating and working in small or large groups, role playing, conversations, brainstorming, and other interactive exercises.

• Self Smart — learn best by working independently through such thins as writing in a journal, meditating, reading, and reflecting.

• Earth Smart — learn best through activities connected to living things and natural phenomena, through nature walks, examining plants and animals, nature experiments, and activities that focus on ecology.

Levels and Topics

 

Preschool (3 and 4 year olds)

A 40-session curriculum

 Kindergarten – Grade 1

The lessons at this level are grouped around simple, important themes like Jesus Loves Children and God Wants Us to Obey.

Grades 2 and 3

They began to understand the Bible’s chronology as they go through the Bible for the first time at this level.

 Grades 4 and 5

With a fairly developed understanding of time and sequence, they go through the Old and New Testaments again, adding some of the more difficult stories that were not included at the earlier level.

 Grades 6, 7, and 8

• Middle school young people need to:

• Be able to say what they believe

• Be introduced to the church

• Understand their place in the larger world

• The themes for the three years are;

• Year 1:  themes that are important to Christian living

• Year 2:  What we believe (based on Reformed teachings found in the Heidelberg Catechism

• Year 3:  theological themes that shape our faith