Free Play
This is the number of free play centers we are supposed to set up each week.
5
Three important teaching tools to prepare the children to hear the story.
1. Large muscle finger play
2. Small muscle finger play
3. Set Limits
Three things to consider when choosing the songs for each week.
1. Refer to the Parent Information Chart to support the teaching at home
2. Support an attribute (or character trait) of God or Jesus in the Bible Story.
3. Support the Bible Story’s Main Truth.
This is the allotted time for this activity on our schedule.
15 minutes
We NEVER say this to the children to describe this time of the schedule.
This is our nap or rest time.
This is why we set up free play centers.
This activity allows the children to transition from home to classroom. This interactive time provides a great opportunity for developing relationships with the children.
This is the goal of the TEACH part before we tell our planned story.
Remind children that the story comes from God’s Word – the Bible.
Challenging yourself to put this in every introduction.
Attribute
2 ways you can divide this time....doing each of these for 7 minutes.
1. Large muscle actions
2. Rhythm activities
This is the why and the goal of having quiet time for preschoolers.
CLs introduce a lifelong habit of taking time to think about God. Because this is a period of quiet reflection rather than a time to sleep, it is not necessary to turn off the lights.
These are ways we can do transformational teaching during free play time.
1.Play the Music songs in the background
2. Engage children in a conversation about the main truth and the attribute
3. Talk about the Scripture Verse to familiarize children with it before the teaching time.
Three components of Scripture Time.
1.State the Scripture Verse as it is written in the Sample Lesson.
2.Explain the scripture verse
3. Plan an appropriate activity for your age group that is simple, practical, and fun.
We are asked to not do these 2 things when planning or leading music time.
1. Refrain from actions that might detract from worship and activities that require too much preparation.
2. Do not use sign language for an entire song. A simple hand motion for a specific word is sufficient.
We use this at the beginning of the year during this activity time, in order to be diligent to prevent accidents or wandering off whenever children are taken outside the classroom.
Use a knotted rope for children to grasp when moving from the classroom to another location.
These three steps, when done in order, prepare the children to have a successful quiet time.
Prepare an active transition, followed by a quiet transition, to help children settle their minds and bodies.
Set the limits for children to sit or lie quietly during this time (for example, no talking, no touching anyone, and no playing with anything).
The CL who is not greeting should be doing this, when not playing with the children.
Give volunteers good instructions for how they can help to calm and engage children who areexperiencing separation anxiety.
Three guidelines to help us write our questions.
1.Order the questions along the same sequence of the Bible Story.
2.Focus on the facts of the Scripture passage and the Main Truth.
3.Create questions about God’s Attributes and the gospel.
The Basic Truth Songs of the Christian Faith seem difficult to teach. BUT we can do this to make it less daunting to us and the children.
When using a Basic Truth of the Christian Faith song, choose whether to sing the full version of the song OR the short version with just the question and answer twice. Younger children might prefer the short version.
Four places we can use/look at in order to get ideas to do during this activity time.
1. For ideas, see Children’s Program Activity Music (download from MyBSF),
2. Large Muscle and Rhythm Activities listed later in this document. (CL Manual)
3. Email list Brenda sent on March 24th
4. You-Tube - Preschool Movement Ideas Brenda has shown us during training times.
The manual lists these 4 things that we can remind the children to think about.
You may think about God and the Bible Story you heard, but we will not talk nor whisper.”
o Another option is to encourage children to think about one of God’s characteristics or ask them to thank God for things that are special to them.
These are the titles of the free play centers.
1. Familiar
2. Quiet
3. Active
4. Imitative
5. Creative
A purposeful way to help children remember the scripture verses.
Plan a review once or twice a month when children repeat and talk about the verses they have heard. Make this interesting and fun. Limit the number of verses according to age and attention span.
5 additional ideas we can use when we write our introductions.
(Not the attribute or main truth)
1. Gospel message
2. Highlight a word or concept
3. Clarify a word or phrase
4. Enhance worship by leading children to respond to God
5. Occasionally use pictures.
The manual lists these 4 categories a Children's Leader could choose from when planning for Large muscle/Rhythm Time. ( 5 are listed however we can not choose one of the ideas.)
1. Group Games
2. Music
3. Bible Verses
4. Music Activities
This is the exact verse reference and wording that we say to the children every week.
Teach: Remind children each week: "God says in Psalm 46:10, ‘Be still, and know that I am God.’"