Praise God! Part 5

Our kids understand why we need to praise God!  This exercise has also equipped them with the vocabulary to praise God. 

We defined praise one last time:
Praise God: To tell God how great He is!
Praise God: To thank God for all He has done for us!

Orange: Who is praising God?
Yellow: Why are they praising God?
Pink: What action are they taking to praise God?

I made a sheet for the kids to fill out:

 _____________________________ Praises God




God deserves my praise because____________________

I praise God when I ___________________

When I praise God, I use words like ________________________

I can do these things when I praise God ____________________.



I will praise God because He _____________________________.

Praise God in the ______________________________________.

Praise God when He ____________________________________.

Praise the Lord with ____________________________________.

Because God is __________________________, I will praise Him.

I will give God _________________________________.

When I praise God, I feel ________________________________.

______________________________ praises God.

Praise God ________________________________________.


Of course we colored it before we wrote on it...

And then we filled it in, either with words from our brain, or with words from the construction posters on the wall. 

Here are some finished products!

I think it went very well and can't wait to do it again with another set of children. 

Praise God! Part 2

The Lesson Plan for week 1:

Define praise:  allow kids to define first.
Praise: To tell someone how great they are
Praise: To thank someone for what they have done for us

Praise God: To tell God how great He is
Praise God: To thank God for all He has done for us.

Discuss:
Who gets praised?  We all do
What do we get praised for? doing what we're asked, being polite, etc
Who praises God?  We all do
What does it look like when I praise God? 
How long do we praise God?
Where do we praise God?

On a note card or paper write
Orange: who praised God?
Yellow: why did they praise God?
Pink: actions they did to praise God?

Introduce a song for the kids to sing.  We sang several songs, but we started with verse 1 of Praise Him (#300 in Songs of Faith and Praise).  We sang it together, then we read the first stanza, defining words as we went.  Taking the orange crayon we had given the kids, we asked them to draw over the words in that stanza that discussed who was praising God.  We repeated this process for yellow and pink colors as well, only on the first stanza. 

We next did the same project with Doxology (#66).  It was simple song to sing, and another way to teach the kids to praise God.  Again, we had the kids highlight with orange, yellow, and pink crayons. 

The completed "Praise Him."  It took three weeks to finish.

A sideways Doxology. 

This took about 40 minutes.  I don't know why I thought I could teach this whole lesson in 1 hour!  Parts 3 and 4 coming soon!

Cleaning up the blog

I'm not sure what happened to our lessons, but some of them are, well, wonky.  It's a technical term.  :)  I will go back through and clean them up slowly over the next few days.  Hopefully these from this point forward stay un-wonky.  Thanks for your patience.

Praise God!

As adults, we take for granted that we know how to praise God.  Think about it: HOW do we praise God, and HOW did you learn how to do so?

The elders tasked us with teaching our children Revelation.  Yikes!  A difficult task for anyone, but to bring Revelation to a 6 year old level required brain stretching.  What did we want our little ones to learn about Revelation?  God won the fight?  Heaven is a wonderful place?  Jesus is Lord of all?  We certainly didn't want to introduce new vocabulary like "prostitute."   Or cause nightmares in one of our sensitive souls. 

So, we're praising God.  All throughout the book, the saints, elders, 4 living creatures, and the heavenly host are gathered around the throne in heaven, praising God.  Can you imagine it!  It gives me chills, and it gave Kim chills, and we want it to give our little ones chills, too. 

Over the next three Sundays, we're going to be teaching our children praise vocabulary using song book songs, children's songs, Psalms, and key verses from Revelation (there's the tie-in) to teach our children how to praise.  We will post pictures and lesson plans as I write them.  For now, here's a letter we wrote and sent to the parents and children in our class:

Dear parents of our wonderful first graders,


This Sunday and for the next two Sundays, we will be studying praise. We are going to be discussing who praises God, what we do when we praise God, what words we use to praise God, and why God needs to be praised. It’s a lot to cover, and we would love your help to reinforce these ideas at home. Today we looked at two song book songs that discussed praising God. We also looked at Revelation 4: 5, 11 and saw the four living creatures praising God. Next week, we will again look at a song book song and Psalm 100 to see what words are used to praise God and why we should be praising Him. Next, we will use our new skills to write our very own Psalm of praise to God. We will also look more closely at Revelation 5 and the praise vocabulary that is presented to us in that chapter.

We will have homework for the next two weeks. That sheet is attached. We are encouraging your child to make praising God a natural part of his day. We hope that as we enter this season of Thanksgiving, this will help your child understand that all blessings come from God, including his Son.

Learning to praise God is so exciting, and it’s a skill that needs to be developed. We hope you will partner with us in teaching your child this valuable skill.

In Him,

And the homework sheet:
 
 
Praise: To tell God how great He is


Praise: To thank God for all He has done for me.



This week I praised God for two things every day.



Monday: 1. ____________________________________________

2. ____________________________________________

Tuesday: 1. ____________________________________________

2. ____________________________________________

Wednesday: 1. ____________________________________________

2. ____________________________________________

Thursday: 1. ____________________________________________

2. ____________________________________________

Friday: 1. ____________________________________________

2. ____________________________________________

Saturday: 1. ____________________________________________

2. ____________________________________________

Sunday: 1. ____________________________________________

2. ____________________________________________



When you bring this sheet back on Sunday, you will get three extra stickers. We can’t wait to read your praises to God!

Love, Mrs. Kim and Mrs. Daesha

Salty Words

This is a salt shaker with real salt glued on the top! Glue sticks work wonders! :)

Daniel and the Lions Den

This is another adorable craft my three year old twins came home with. We have used the bag puppet to retell the story about 100 times since Sunday! :)

Habakkuk lesson and craft ideas

Here is a Habakkuk lesson:

What does it mean to be near something? It means you can reach out and touch it. It means you can feel it and know that it is there. Near is being close by to something.

God is always near to us.
God hears every word we say and knows every thought in our minds.

·If we want to be closer to God all we have to do is get closer to Him.

·Read James 4:8 – Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

·Ask God to come to you and he will! What a wonderful and powerful promise from God to us.

Story

·God is always near to us. Even in the Old Testament God was near.

·In fact, in those days God actually talked to people.

·Those people were called prophets.

·What do you remember about prophets?

·Sing prophet song.

· There was a prophet named Habakkuk. The book in the Bible that he wrote for us is a conversation between him and God! Isn’t that cool?!?!

· Habakkuk had a lot of questions that he wanted to ask God.

· If you could ask God a question, what would it be?

· Let’s see what questions Habakkuk asked God.

· Read Habakkuk 1:1-4

· Hold up Questions chart.

· God was near to Habakkuk. He heard his questions and he answered them!

· How do we ask God questions today? (through prayer)

· Habakkuk got his answer by hearing God’s voice.

· How do we get our answers?

· We get our answers by praying more and reading the Bible by ourselves and with our families.

· ;Habakkuk stood on the watchtower and saw all the bad things that were happening in the city. It made him very sad and confused.

· But Habakkuk trusted God to take care of him and his people.

· Sometimes we see all the bad things that people do and we get sad and confused. But like Habakkuk, we need to trust God and listen for his answer.

· Read Habakkuk 2:1

God is near to us. He will hear our cries and our questions. And God will answer us, just like he answered Habakkuk.

Here are more craft ideas for Habakkuk:

· Kids draw a watchtower and glue a strip with verse 2:1 on it to the paper.

· Use sugar cubes to build a watchtower. Could glue it to paper and then glue on verse strip.

· Homework coupon – to pray with your family this week.

1. watchtower – build out of sugar cubes or cardboard blocks

2. WS with watchtower and verse Hab. 2:1. Also discuss looking for God and His ways, not mans as you stand guard. – Connect to Proverbs 18:10

3. Temple –Hab.2:20 – Sing song from song book – Mirror WS since we are God’s temple

4. Habakkuk talked directly to God. We can talk to God through prayer. Prayer FC lesson – door hanger or prayer journal

5. Based on Hab 2:2-3 – Create tablets (on a WS or out of fun foam) and write “God has a plan.” OR a verse on the tablets. Could also be a puzzle.

6. Make a bookmark about reading the Bible every day to prepare self for evil around us.

7. See Gal 6:7 lesson for WS

8. Hab. 2:4 – “Righteous will live by his faith.” – Faith song – Faith definition worksheet – See Romans 4 lessons for walk in faith of Abe WS

9.Discuss asking God questions. Make a list of the questions Habakkuk asked God. Then make a list of questions the kids would ask God. Could write them on butcher paper cut into a questions mark shape. Talk about how we talk to God today and we can ask Him all of our questions. Discuss how Habakkuk got his answers. Contrast with how we get our answers. Encourage prayer life and family Bible study time. Homework – coupon for family Bible reading and prayer time.

10. For the topic of “God is in contol.” – Make a spin-a-story paper plate craft titled “Times when God is in control.” Kids draw 4 times – sunshine for morning, moon for night, with friends, at dinner, at school, etc.

Zephaniah

Blanks say "God is the only judge."

Here is the lesson:

• Review “What is a Prophet?” poster
• Sing Prophet song
• Find prophet section in Bible
• Discuss who Zephaniah was. He preached to Judah
• Zephaniah wanted people to stop doing wrong and start doing the right things. He wanted them to return to God.
• Discuss a court room. Bring a picture of the courtroom
• Discuss a defendant, prosecutor, and judge and what each one does.
• Who decides who is right and wrong in the courtroom?
• What does it mean to judge something?
• Who decides right and wrong? God, parents
• How do our parents and other grown-ups determine right or wrong? They follow God’s rules
• Who is the ultimate judge who gets to decide right and wrong? God
• Does he surprise us with the rules? No, he tells us everything we need to know.
• God loves us and wants us to do right and good.
• He judges us based on the Bible.
• How do we know what rules God wants us to know and do? We read the Bible and do what it says. 
• Is God ever wrong in what He says is right? No!!
• What will God judge in us? Our lives, hearts, and actions.
• What happens on judgment day? Those who make decisions that make God happy and do what’s right will go to heaven. Those that make bad decisions will not.
• How can we be sure we are right when God judges us?  Obey the Bible, love God and Jesus, live holy lives
• What’s our reward for making good decisions? Heaven!!

Amos

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Here is the lesson:

· Tell the Amos story from Lynch book

· Discuss the letter

· Discuss what it means to seek something – look hard for something.

· Today we’re going to learn to seek God.

· Read Amos 5:14

· Amos talked about seeking God and returning to him

· What does it mean to seek good? Look for good things to do, look for the good things in people

· What does it mean to seek evil? Look to do things that are not good for us, that are against God

· How do we seek evil? Do things we know we’re not supposed to do.

· How do we seek good? Do what things we know God wants us to do.

· What kinds of things do evil people do? sins

· What kinds of things do good people do? obey

· What does Amos promise if we seek good? The Lord

· Do we seek God with our eyes?

· How do you think we seek God?

· Why do we want to seek God?

· Why do we want God with us?

· What kids of things do we do if the Lord is with us?

· Discuss: What kinds of things do we seek right now?

· Hand the kids funny glasses. Write on the legs of the glasses or attach a tag: “God seeing (or seeking) eyes.”

· Discuss/chart: What kinds of things are we seeking with our God seeing eyes?

· Add to “God is…” chart and book

Here are the crafts:

· Worksheet: glasses: “I am seeking good” or “I am seeking the Lord” written on the lenses

· Binoculars made out of toilet paper rolls. Above words written on the rolls.

· Make cotton ball die cut sheep. Have kids draw glasses on the sheep. Write on the back of sheep “I can seek God.” Glue cotton balls on the front.

· Eat figs together.

Here are other ideas for teaching Amos to kids:

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1. Have a big sheep butcher paper to record notes about Amos, the book.

2. Make cotton ball die-cut sheep. Write verse on the back. OR Create a scene with several sheep and a verse to glue on OR “Amos was a shepherd who obeyed God.”

3. Talk about how Amos was not a professional prophet, but he obeyed God. Discuss how Ralph is a professional preacher, but we all are supposed to teach others about God. Review Gospel FC. Homework – to share Jesus with one person this week.

4. Amos 1:11 – Compassion – define – definition WS – Discuss how can you be compassionate today? – What did the people do wrong back then? Brainstorm ways to show compassion. – Homework coupon “I will show compassion this week.” - Role play compassionate scenarios

5. Amos 2:7 – Take care of the poor and needy – Brainstorm and chart ways to help the needy – Tour pantry – Organize a coat drive or school supply drive for the church – Do a family service project, maybe clean out toys and donate to Impact, etc.

6. Amos 2:10 and 3:2f – God provides – Discuss all the ways God provided for Israel through the years (manna, Red Sea parts, Jesus, etc) – Then make a list of all the ways that God provides for us today. Make a headband that says “God will provide.”

7. Eat figs since Amos was a shepherd under the fig trees (Amos 6:14)

8. Righteousness – define – definition worksheet with sequins, etc. – Discuss the things we do in worship service and why we do each part (pray, sing, Lord’s Supper, sermon, offering). Explain that in OT the people offered sacrifices and they were just doing it without thinking – that upset God. And today if we go to “big church” and don’t think about what is happening then we upset Got too. List the things we should and should not do in worship service as a T-chart. Make sure to stress that God cares about our heart, not the ritual. (Amos 5:24)

9. Obey – Talk about how Amos obeyed God – obedience definition worksheet – List how you can obey God. Make a headband with a medallion that says, “I will obey God like Amos.”

Isaiah'c Call

Kids draw a self-portrait. Then glue on a black paper ball for the coal.
*This idea is from Holly* Thanks for sharing!
Here is the lesson:

· What is a prophet? Discuss definition poster

· Tell the kids that Isaiah had a vision in which God called him to be a messenger of His.

· Read 6:1-2. Then distribute paper to each kid. Read it again very slowly and have the kids draw what you read.

· Compare drawings and talk about how they are all similar and different.

· Read 6:3 - Have this verse printed on a sheet of paper. Discuss the meaning of “holy.” Why did the angels say holy? Who is holy? Why did they say it three times? Use vocabulary card

· Read 6:3 again – discuss “glory” - Use vocabulary card – connect to the miraculous signs of God – Name some things we see around us that show God’s glory (plants and their life cycle, love, sun, babies, etc.)

· Read 6:4-5 – Why is Isaiah sad? What does “Woe” mean?

· Discuss unclean lips – define as saying mean things or bad words or impure words. Make a chart of things that are pure and unpure to say. Then discuss what happens when you say pure things – what happens when you say unpure things.

· Read Isaiah 6:6-7 = What does that mean? (If possible, bring in tongs and a coal-like rock. Touch the kids lips with it as an example. Could also have the coal-like rock as a symbol for them to take home to say pure things.)

· Read 6:8 – God asked Isaish to be a messenger for him to talk to the people. Does God want us to be messengers for him today? How can we do that? Missionary blurb and connect that we are all missionaries each day for Christ.

· Isaiah had to listen for God. God talked to Isaiah when He called him to be his prophet for the nation, but God also talked to Isaiah often. Isaiah had to learn to listen for God.

· Review Questions –

o Who was Isaiah?

o Who talked to Isaiah?

o What is a prophet?

o Why did God choose Isaiah to be his messenger?

o Act out the angel touching Isaiah’s lips with the coal.

o What does God want us to tell people today?

o What would you do if you heard God’s voice?

o Give 5 reasons for Isaiah to follow God’s command

o How would you react to hearing God’s voice?

o How would someone today react to seeing a vision of heaven like Isaiah saw?

o How would God get you attention today?

o Do you agree with Isaiah being scared?

Here are the crafts:

· Handwork = WS with big lips on it – Kids write the nice things they should say to others. Could glue small rock on the paper.

· Handwork = Badge “I will say pure things.” With lips stamped on it.

· Handwork = Send a note to our missionaries

· Handwork = Headband –“I will listen for God.” And glue big paper ears to it.