sweetpea3829 Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Our church has asked me to evaluate and choose sunday school curriculum. This is an area that is way out of my knowledge-base. Can anybody offer some insight and suggestions on what we might want to consider? The sunday school teachers have forwarded to me two different programs to consider. One is from Orange, and the other is from Word of Life. I'm also open to other suggestions. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 I didn't know there was such a thing. No help though except a bump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Well, being from a Lutheran church background, all of our Sunday School material came from Augsburg Fortress Press. https://www.augsburgfortress.org/store/category/286016/Children It is Lutheran in background, but very mainstream and could be used in almost any denomination, since it really just sticks with the basics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherry in OH Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 If your denomination has a publisher, I'd start there. As mentioned above, Augsburg Fortress is a Lutheran publisher, ELCA to be exact. A Missouri-Synod congregation (also Lutheran) would probably be more comfortable with materials published by Concordia Press. Get several samples (at least one per age grouping) from the sources you are considering then compare and contrast them. Consider which most closely reflects the overall feel of your church. Does one or the other seem easier to teach? Which one appeals most to you and why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahW Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Our church has asked me to evaluate and choose sunday school curriculum. This is an area that is way out of my knowledge-base. Can anybody offer some insight and suggestions on what we might want to consider? The sunday school teachers have forwarded to me two different programs to consider. One is from Orange, and the other is from Word of Life. I'm also open to other suggestions. I'm not familiar with those programs. But since this is the internet forum for geeking out on the philosophy of education, here's a podcast on the subject of the purpose, and best methods of choosing, resources for Sunday School! ( :lol: ) But seriously, parts of the podcast are denominational-specific, but I like the two main overall points. Pick resources which respect the language and message of the Bible, and understand the goal to be providing children the content to make further connections for their later spiritual growth. hth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacbeaumont Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 I like the programs from Children Desiring God. I'd hyperlink, but I can't figure out how to do that on my phone. Sent from my U9200 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 I highly highly recommend The Gospel Project OUr church back in FL had been using Children Desiring God but everyone was struggling with the nitty gritty of it. We had stacks and stacks of papers, printouts, coloring pages, and informaiton but it was very difficult to pull it off and make it gel throughout the classes. Finally we switched to The Gospel Project and they are still using it 6 years later with great success. The Gospel Project is not expensive and there are different seasons/editions to choose from so that children rarely need to repeat the same information. If they do it would be several years apart. There is a beautiful video that accompanies each lesson and the teachers manuals are easy to work with. Children K-6 can be combined for the main lesson and then split up into Smaller Group times so that they can have something geared to their level which includes a lesson and hands on activitiy to reinforce the lesson. There is also a Gospel Project curriculum for teens, and even adults! If you want the whole church can be focused on similar theme during Sunday School hour. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It was a joy to teach and the children were really learning their Bible, and The Gospel- not focused on Bible Heroes or How to Be Good, or Good Character, but on the person of God, the Word of God and the Salvation through Jesus Christ- The Gospel. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssTreeB Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Does the Gospel Project have Sunday School and Kids Church materials? We have two services with two kids programs and we don't duplicate the activities because of overlap. We use Group publishing for complementary Sunday School and Kids Church materials, but we have to do SO much tweaking to make it work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Our church has asked me to evaluate and choose sunday school curriculum. This is an area that is way out of my knowledge-base. Can anybody offer some insight and suggestions on what we might want to consider? The sunday school teachers have forwarded to me two different programs to consider. One is from Orange, and the other is from Word of Life. I'm also open to other suggestions. I am not familiar with these, and there doesn't appear to be samples on the web sites. :-( I think Bible Study Guide for All Ages can easily be adapted to a classroom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IfIOnly Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 I highly highly recommend The Gospel Project OUr church back in FL had been using Children Desiring God but everyone was struggling with the nitty gritty of it. We had stacks and stacks of papers, printouts, coloring pages, and informaiton but it was very difficult to pull it off and make it gel throughout the classes. Finally we switched to The Gospel Project and they are still using it 6 years later with great success. The Gospel Project is not expensive and there are different seasons/editions to choose from so that children rarely need to repeat the same information. If they do it would be several years apart. There is a beautiful video that accompanies each lesson and the teachers manuals are easy to work with. Children K-6 can be combined for the main lesson and then split up into Smaller Group times so that they can have something geared to their level which includes a lesson and hands on activitiy to reinforce the lesson. There is also a Gospel Project curriculum for teens, and even adults! If you want the whole church can be focused on similar theme during Sunday School hour. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It was a joy to teach and the children were really learning their Bible, and The Gospel- not focused on Bible Heroes or How to Be Good, or Good Character, but on the person of God, the Word of God and the Salvation through Jesus Christ- The Gospel. Thank you for sharing. I use Good News Club materials for our Sunday school for much of those same reasons. I'm going to look into TGP. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almondbutterandjelly Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Depends on the age/grade. I like Abeka's Joyful Life for prek. https://www.joyfullifesundayschool.com/ I like Standard Publishing's Heartshaper for Kinder and 1st. http://heartshaper.com/ I like Abeka's Joyful Life again for 2nd and 3rd. Or Heartshaper again. I like books by Stephen James for 4th and 5th (he does a lot of madlibs and reader's theater and stuff.) https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Stories-Preteens-Storytelling-Library/dp/0784716315 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scbusf Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Our church uses the materials from Orange and we have for many years. I love, love, love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 (edited) I only know for Pre-K and K. For the last few years we used Hands-On Bible. It is not very meaty. There is lots of hands-on (hence the name) but I just felt like overall it was not great. ETA: I found it highly moralistic (God wants you to be nice!!) which is one reason I disliked it. This year we are using something different. I am hearing from the other teachers that this one involves A LOT of preparation. Lots of supply gathering. I have to teach this coming week so I can come back and post and let you know. Anyway, not much help, but prep and supplies is something I would look at. Edited September 11, 2016 by cintinative Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue plaid Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Our church uses material from Great Commission publications. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertflower Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Well, as a Sunday school teacher myself for youngsters (2 - 8 yo), I would consider the following: 1. Does it have an activity book. 2. Coloring pages would be nice (but I guess one can always get them free online). 3. Perhaps a teacher's manual 4. Perhaps songs for the little ones 5. Perhaps a student workbook 6. Accuracy in what your church believes in 7. Memory verses 8. I like programs that has visual aids. I've bought stuff from BSGFAA to help aid in my teaching. For example, the books of the bible summary cards. 9. Timeline 10. I like felt figures http://www.bettylukens.com/collections/bible-sets-1/products/basic-bible-set as a hands on learning thing. I know a lot, but I don't think you can please everyone. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Does the Gospel Project have Sunday School and Kids Church materials? We have two services with two kids programs and we don't duplicate the activities because of overlap. We use Group publishing for complementary Sunday School and Kids Church materials, but we have to do SO much tweaking to make it work. Gospel Project does not have both Kids Church and Sunday School. You can use it for either one. For Kids Church, you would include the Worship Songs Video. For Sunday School we had less time and therefore didn't always include the worship songs. I wish I could recommend another one, so you would have two that are awesome, but The Gospel Project is the only one I've ever used that was just plain awesome, easy to use, with projects and activities that actually work and really reinforce the lesson, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 I'll add a vote for The Gospel Project. It's easy to use and has actual meat instead of fluffy VBS type lessons. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaceful Isle Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 We use this https://generationsofgrace.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 Great Comission Publications Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdventuresinHomeschooling Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 (edited) We recently attended a church that used orange. I thought I would love it, but it left me wanting more too many times. My kids had lots of fun, but I didn't feel they were really engaging with the Bible or being drawn into the lesson. The other thing I don't like about Orange is that it is subscription based, so it is not a one time purchase. We actually didn't end up staying in that church. I am not familiar with the Gospel Project. Our current church uses something different, and I am not sure the name, but I will tell you my kids are growing more now, especially in worship. However, I taught childrens church a few years ago in a different state, and we used the Hands On Bible curriculum. Some things I really like about it were: They have an attention grabber that engages kids immediately. Then they break into smaller groups to dive into the word at age appropriate levels with only two grades together. Then we did some hands on activities and demonstrations that really helped both visual and kinesthetic learners. The other thing I really liked was that we read out of the Bible together and got into the Word. I taught third and fourth graders, and they were really able to engage with the Bible reading and apply it. There were some Socratic type teaching methods too. So, we had all the kids come together for singing and prayer at the beginning and then broke off into groups. The groups were also great to help us interact with the students on a smaller scale and get to know the kids more and do prayer requests, etc. The downside is potentially requiring more volunteers, and that it did take a little reading and prep beforehand for the group leaders, but these leaders took ownership too instead of just being "helpers" to a burnt out children's pastor. Also, the material didn't get stale because they moved to new material in new classes every couple years, but it can be a one time purchase. I know there are others I am not familiar with, but those are my experiences. Edited September 12, 2016 by AdventuresinHomeschooling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdventuresinHomeschooling Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 Just looked up the Gospel Project. This is what my children's church just switched to this month. I am getting involved with children's church next month, so I can give more feedback then, but I know my children's director was really excited about it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mschickie Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 We use Orange for our k-5 Sunday School and I love it. The stories are very engaging and the kids really are getting it. I am constantly going back and asking them about previous lessons and they remember. We have it set up with a large group activity that ties into the theme of the month or the particular story. We then do a music time and after that is our lesson. I love using the props and the slides that they suggest. The kids really love when I have props. After the lesson we practice our memory verse and then break into small groups. During the small group times kids work on an age appropriate activity and they do some sharing and prayer time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluegoat Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 (edited) My parish publishes its own program after failing to find one that worked for what we needed. But - I think before looking at programs, you have to be really clear about what your needs are. And you might need different programs for different aspects of your Sunday School. Obviously your group's theology is going to be important, whatever program you want will have to be compatible. What age groups of kids, how many, will they be in a group together, separate classes, or what? What are the main goals of your SS? Who are the teachers, and what is their background? What kind of help or resources will they need? How much time will they have, will it be variable? Will it be during Sunday service or at a separate time? How much money do you have to spend, and what other kinds of resources does your group have - are there a lot of art supplies, room for dramatizations, do you need something that will be inexpensive to use? Edited September 13, 2016 by Bluegoat 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.