It's all coming together...

For the past two Thursdays, Jared Boltman (our elementary director), Jesse Eastes (the guy working on his degree bringing a psych perspective) and I have met at a coffee shop to detail out the curriculum for Bridge 45. We've already completed Units 1 & 2 and will do Unit 3 tomorrow. It's amazing how all the thoughts come together. I'm realizing that God speaks to me through creativity. I love watching Him work! Ideas come to mind and I know they're only from God. Concepts fit together and are of the biblical soundness we seek. We're so excited that we know the 4th and 5th graders will love it too!

I'll post elements of the curriculum once I get it all typed and formatted. But for now, here are some of the elements we have:

-The 4 units are broken up into three three-week sections. In week 1 the lesson on what the Bible is (where it came from, who wrote it, why it's important, etc.) will be presented through a creative large group teaching that lasts 35-40 minutes. Each kid will be given a Bridge 45 notebook in which to take notes, write down questions, etc. The notebooks are to go home with them and be brought back each week (it'll take a little while to set that pattern). The notebooks will also have a homework section (which won't actually be called homework) that gives them a couple of verses to look up throughout the week, and space to write 3 questions that they have while reading the passages.
-In week 2, we'll have worship and then go straight to small groups (no large group teaching). The small group leader will review what was taught the week before, the group will go over their questions from the homework, and then they'll start working on a timeline project. 3 sheets will be given to people in the group. One will detail the languages the Bible is written in. Another the authors of the Bible. The third the I can't remember off the top of my head. As a group, they'll compare the info and start to create a timeline.
-In week 3 each group will be assigned a section of the Bible, and the entire class will make a large, color coded timeline on butcher paper which we'll hang on the long wall in our new modular unit.

Each of the three weeks builds on the others. Other times in week two their group will script a newscast and in week three produce and tape their newscast. Our hope is that while they'll still learn even if they miss a week, they won't want to miss a week.

More to come soon!