Year 2 Scope & Sequence

When we sat down to start planning our second year of Bridge 45, it was a bit more of a challenge than last year to come up with a scope and sequence. Last year we spent the first portion of the year teaching about what the Bible is, where it came from, and how to study it. It was a great way of introducing the lessons we covered the rest of the year because we gave kids tools to use before asking them to use it. Our delemma this year was that new fourth graders entered the class and needed to catch up, but we didn't want the fifth graders to have to go through all the same material again.

We figured out that study tools could be taught throughout the year in small group time, which took care of one major element. The rest of the challenge was in helping the kids see the Bible as a whole without being too repetitive of last year's material. Our solution was to go through the Bible section by section, showing how you can apply all parts of the Bible to your life. Unit One only uses references from the Law and History (sections 1 and 2 of the Old Testament), Unit Two draws from Poetry and Prophecy, Unit Three from Biography and History (first two sections of the New Testament) and Unit Four is from Letters and Prophecy.

We then made a list of what our kids are facing. The points on this list came from the book Leading Preteens and from our observations of the kids. Then came the challenge of pairing the life points up with sections from the Bible. In the end, I'm really excited about what we came up with!

When creating the specific lessons, we referred to a list made by last year's small group leaders and their groups of what the kids liked best about different weeks of Bridge 45. We found that some of their favorite things were when we used video clips to illustrate our points, team teachings, lots of class interaction, and doing more whole group activities (not always staying just in small groups). We made sure that each lesson we planned involved elements of this list. The crazy thing was it took only 4 times of meeting once a week to plan out the whole year!

And even better than a smooth planning process--we're seeing a great response from the kids! Four stories stand out to me:

A few weeks ago I was walking through the cafe at church, and I heard a fourth grade boy asking his third grade friend (not realizing what grade his friend was in), "Why haven't you been coming to Bridge 45?" The friend responded, "I'm only in third grade." Our fourth grader then said, "Well, you should come. It's awesome! It's like the best thing ever!"

The mother of one of our most shy boys recently told me about how much her son loves Bridge 45. This boy hasn't attended any of our classes for at least 3 years now because he has such separation anxiety when his mom drops him off. Nothing seemed to help him. But he started attending Bridge 45 at the beginning of this year, and can't wait to come back each week. He even told his mom that Bridge 45 is "better than recess."

A family that had attended our church for a few years went in search of one closer to home a little over a year ago. The first week of the school year they were back because they missed being at Morning Star. Their fifth grade daughter fell in love with Bridge 45 and asked her mom if they could start attending all three services just so she could be in her class more. She can't wait to invite her friends too! Her mom told me the past year or so has been really hard as they visited different churches, because everywhere they went, her daughter seemed to get lost in the Children's Ministries because they weren't reaching her where she's at.

Our Women's Ministries Director was telling us this week about how a mom in our church that's going through a divorce right now was having a hard time getting to church because in the past, her fourth grade son never wanted to go to his class. Pattie (the Women's Director) strongly insisted (ok, fine, she made her) that the boy try out Bridge 45. He did, and he loved it. Now he can't wait to come back to church, and the mom is able to be ministered to in the service.

All this shows me just how essential it is to reach our fourth and fifth graders exactly where they're at. To understand who they are and how they learn, and to work with it. I feel so blessed that while I hear so many other Children's Ministries workers talk about how they're loosing their fourth and fifth graders, ours are our most enthusiastic attenders.

And... just to make an already long post even longer, here's this year's scope and sequence:


Unit 1—It’s All In the Family Law & History (September 20—November 15)
Introductory Week: Background information on what we need to know about the Bible before heading into the new year.
Weeks 1-3: Parents—God set the example as the perfect parent by protecting His people, giving them second chances, and providing for them.
Weeks 4-6: Family Dynamics—God gives second chances to His people, and we should do the same for our families.
Weeks 7-9: What About…?—God provides for His people in every way. When we are faced with difficult circumstances, we can know that God will always provide.

Unit 2—Prayer Poetry & Prophecy (November 22—February 7)
Weeks 1-3: Who are we talking to? Understanding that God is the God of mercy, justice and truth.
**Christmas: Break from the normal schedule. December 13, 20, and 27 we’ll be using “The Stars of Christmas.**
Weeks 4-6: How do we talk to Him? We can talk to God as someone who knows us—like our best friend, someone with authority—like our parent, and someone with reverence—like someone who is very important.
Weeks 7-9: How does He respond? God responds according to His nature—with mercy, justice and truth.

Unit 3—Reality & Relationships Gospels & History (February 14—April 11)
Weeks 1-3: The reality of Jesus and a relationship with Him. First looking at the importance of having a relationship with Jesus and then looking at the relationships modeled by Jesus—with the Jews, with the Father, and with us.
Weeks 4-6: What the Bible teaches about friendships with those around us—We can look at the example of Jesus’ friendships with the apostles and the example of friendships in the early church, which leads us into looking at our friendships with our church family.
Weeks 7-9: Peer pressure and standing firm in our faith (how our relationship with God affects our relationship with those around us)—God wants us to have discernment, God can soften anyone’s heart, God wants us to stand up for our faith, and God wants us to never compromise.

Unit 4—Growing in Knowing Jesus Letters & Prophecy (April 18—June 13)
Weeks 1-3: Who is Jesus and why did He come? Looking at how He came to serve, teach, love and prepare the way.
Weeks 4-6: Knowing how He wants us to live—joyfully, attentively, with unity and with clarity.
Weeks 7-9: Knowing Him more through personal study of the Bible—understanding what the Bible is, reading the Bible regularly, reading the Bible slowly and praying for understanding.