The Making of our Scope & Sequence Part 2

Once we knew our objectives, we needed to figure out how we'd achieve it. Our program will run 36 weeks (9 months with a few weeks off here and there). The 36 weeks will be divided into four 9-week units. The units will cover the four head-oriented goals that we came up with. One of the points made at Conspire was about how 4th & 5th graders no longer listen to teachers just because they're tall... they need to discover biblical truths for themselves. Another element to address has been stated by our middle school pastor many times. When our 5th graders become 6th graders and move up to the middle school ministry, they haven't experienced sitting through a longer message. We want to be sure that we're not only teaching to where they are now, but also preparing them for the next ministry they'll transition into.

Our Bridge 45 format will include large group teaching and small groups, but not in the same traditional way of our kindergarten through 3rd graders. Rather than using the same method from week to week, we'll mix it up a bit. One week we'll have a primarily large group lesson with rotating teachers--our elementary director, the middle school pastor, the student ministries worship pastor, etc. The next week will be small group focused--where they take what was introduced the week before and discover it for themselves in the Bible. The following week will provide a service opportunity or a chance to apply the topic as a whole group. In the end, three weeks will be spent applying one central point.

Here's what we've come up with so far for our 36-week program:

Unit 1—Navigating the Bible
Weeks 1-3: Why we study the Bible. In this section we’ll look at what makes the Bible true, who wrote it, why it’s accurate, the inerrancy, etc.
Weeks 4-6: How to study the Bible. They’ll learn tools for looking up passages, how to read and understand passages, cross referencing, etc.
Weeks 7-9: Who has studied the Bible. We’ll look at missionaries and current-life examples of people who spend their lives to spread the gospel.

Unit 2—Key People and Events of the Old and New
Weeks 1-3: The Old Testament. How it’s structured with the Pentateuch, Judges and Prophets. What those sections are all about.
Weeks 4-6: The New Testament. How it’s structured with the Gospels, Acts, and Letters. What those sections are all about.
Weeks 7-9: How it all fits together. Understanding that the two sections make the Bible as a whole.

Unit 3—Defining Key Terms: Understanding the Spiritual Journey
Weeks 1-3: Sin, repentance, salvation.
Weeks 4-6: Grace, Love and Faith
Weeks 7-9: Fellowship (what the Bible says about the body of Christ)

Unit 4—Who I am in Christ
Weeks 1-3: Testimony—hearing that of others and developing your own.
Weeks 4-6: The Church—how each of us fits within the church.
Weeks 7-9: Gifts and Service—the roles we each play in the church.

The Making of our Scope & Sequence Part 1

While I know that most readers of this blog are familiar with the term "Scope and Sequence," I thought I'd explain it real quick for those who may not have heard it before. The scope and sequence is the overview of what all will be covered in a curriculum and in what order.

In making our scope and sequence for Bridge 45, we first went to our Children's Ministries mission statement: Equipping children and families to love the Lord for a lifetime with their head, heart and hands. Our core objective is to give our kids the skills they need to study the Bible. In order to accomplish this in a well-rounded way we needed to cover the three areas of our mission statement (head, heart, hands) in the implementation of the curriculum. So we came up with what we'd like our kids to know/achieve by the time they graduate out of our program. Here's what we came up with:

Head- What they should know or be able to do by the end of the year
-Navigate the Bible
-Give 2-3 sentence overviews of the Old and New Testaments and how they relate to each other
-Know key people and events of both the Old and New Testaments, as well as be able to define words such as apostle, prophet, disciple, etc.
-Define and explain salvation, sin, repentance, grace, fellowship, etc.

Heart- We'll see their head knowledge influence their heart
-Growing in their love for God and others
-Their prayer life
-Their desire to study the Bible

Hands- How their knowledge and understanding plays out
-Service opportunities
-Giving because of the biblical basis
-Verse memorization