Sunday School & Boys!

[Sweetpeach]

Hey Hivers, if you're teaching SS to a class of mostly boys, what teaching tips, ideas can you share that helps capture the hearts of the Little Men?

 

At our church, at the grade 2/3/4 level and 5/6 level, we have a huge glug of boys . . . and I just wonder if any of you would like to share how (or if) you change your teaching style to accomodate an energetic, lively and potentially rowdy group of mostly boys, some with little churchy background?

 

I think boys and girls process their adventure with Jesus in different ways - and I want to be sensitive to that.

 

Anyone with thoughts/ideas?

 

You can pm me if you think it would be easier!

 

Thank you, Tricia

[Julie in Austin]

A topic near and dear to my heart!

 

My rule is that each child should have something physical to do at least once every few minutes. This requires simply swapping out what you might have done verbally for what you might do physically:

 

Instead of: "How do you think the disciples felt when . . ."

 

Say: "Show me with your faces how you think the disciples felt when . . ."

 

Instead of: "Was that the right choice for Jenny to make?"

 

Say: "Stand up if you think Jenny made the right choice."

 

Instead of: (going through a list of good and bad choices and asking the kids which is which)

 

Say: "OK . . . thumbs up or thumbs down on these . . ."

 

Also, have the kids act out scripture stories as much as possible.

[chickenpatty]

Dh uses a lot of props when teaching Bible stories. For instance, last Sunday, he was teaching about David & Goliath, so he brought in his boxing gloves, head gear and a large chain. He put all of these on (the chain was to be chain mail) and acted as Goliath. He chose one of the smaller boys to be David and then acted out the story. Often, he'll use our Little People toys as props for stories.

 

The boys in the class are especially captivated by the props & visuals and, of course, they love it when the stories are action-packed.

 

Another thing he will do is say "posture position" periodically throughout the class. Whenever he does, the kids are reminded to sit up straight, feet on the floor, and hands in their laps. This helps reign in some of the extra wiggliness.

 

They love songs with motions too, and sometimes he will have kids from the class take turns in leading the song/motions.

 

HTH!

[Carol in Cal.]

Tell the stories instead of reading them. Say what you think is cool about them. Be real. Sing songs. Pray. When you pray, ask them what we should pray about today. Add in some prayer about the points of the lessons. The next week, connect the new lesson to the old one.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I used a lot of action too. But not so much that they get wound up!

 

For example, when teaching about the slaves in Egypt we played "Mother, may I" - only it was "Master, May I?"

 

We used play dough on occasion to fashion parts of our story.

 

I would put simple "Jeopardy" style games on the white/erase board. The kids really liked choosing their category and answering the questions.

[Starr]

Keep them busy. :) Who can find this verse and read it to us? Is this book in the old or new testament? ??? No time to breath...keep moving. Acting things out, relays, Bible atlas, prayer books, word searches. Okay, they exhaust me. :lol:

[Brenda in FL]

We had a group of such boys when ds was in 3rd grade. The choir teacher and the Wednesday night teachers had such a time with them, but I never heard of any problems during Sunday School.

 

So, I asked the teacher why this was so.

 

She agreed that they could be challenging, but she would resolve to love them more! And that made the difference!

 

This was a great teacher who has a passion for creationism and science - so she was probably able to captivate the boys' attentions a little better than most, but I believe the "love" thiing was the key!

[Sweetpeach]

I don't think SS curriculum is the be-all and end-all . . . but have any of you have a particular book/pkg that you found super engaging and boys could sink their teeth into . . .

[Halftime Hope]

1) break the lesson into two parts if you can...there's nothing wrong with starting it, leaving them at a cliff-hanger, doing something else, then coming back to finish.

 

2) Get them out of their chairs and onto the floor. This is totally counter-intuitive, and it may not work for your group, but one year I co-taught with a master teacher, and I learned from her that the confines of a chair may not be the best place, ergonomically, for a wiggly body. The kids listened and attended much better sitting on the floor. We had to establish ground rules first, as in they had to sit, not lie down, but it worked like a charm. They seemed so much more comfortable and could listen better. If a girl is wearing a dress that is not conducive, she may opt for a chair or she may borrow a light weight throw-sized lap-cover.

[Harriet Vane]

There are a lot of good suggestions in this thread. I will add a few:

 

--Let them act out the Bible passage. To make that go faster it works well for the teacher to read aloud, while the actors silently pantomime. It also works well for a few kids to read the "parts" or characters while other kids pantomime silently.

 

--Turn the study questions into a point-earning endeavor (every man for himself) or a team competition.

 

--Draw the Bible passage as a cartoon. It's especially great if you show up with paper that already has the boxes drawn on--you know, the "official" cartooning paper.

 

--Do the aforementioned contest in the gym. Correct answers earn a free throw.

 

--Take a walk. You need specific parental permission for this. Read the passage in the church before heading out. Each kid carries the photocopied passage on the walk. Shout questions and discuss as you go along.

[Harriet Vane]

I don't think SS curriculum is the be-all and end-all . . . but have any of you have a particular book/pkg that you found super engaging and boys could sink their teeth into . . .

 

I find that the Bible study needs to be meaty. The rate at which a SS curriculum grows just does not match the growth of a kids' brain and understanding. As such, I almost always use a curriculum one level too high, and I almost always add in a LOT of Bible questions. (By one level too high, I mean that 5th-6th graders would use the junior high level, and junior high students would use high school or even adult materials.)

 

My favorite curriculum is Piper's Children Desiring God. It's a stark contrast to the glitzy, hyper, cartoonish swill that is out there, and it's much more inductive and Bible-STUDY focused. There are still limitations, as with any curriculum, but I much prefer this one to many others I have used.

 

Here's a link:

 

http://www.childrendesiringgod.org/

 

I have a book recommendation as well. This resource is absolutely the best thing I have found for children's ministry. It's great as individual reading, though I have also used it as a training tool with a team of teachers. I assigned reading and we would discuss at a meeting. I also recommend this to anyone who teaches the Bible (ie homeschoolers):

 

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=10953&netp_id=213554&event=ESRCN&item_code=WW&view=covers

[Janet in Toronto]

I've taught Grade 6 for a few years and found that competition tended to get the boys involved.

 

For example, I made up some matching games with coloured index cards. Say, the name of a sacrament on one and a fact about it on another. Times 20 or whatever. Two sets. Divided the class into two teams and they had to match up the card pairs. First group to complete correctly won.

 

Or a game where I put the names of Abraham's descendents on two sets of cards and teams had to make a family tree on the floor. First team to complete correctly wins.

 

Stuff like that. Boys love it. Girls (in my experience) have more fact knowledge. So they all work together!

 

The other thing I did to keep order at the beginning of the class (while kids were arriving) was to have some kind of paper/pencil puzzle that reviewed the previous week's class. Either a word search or crossword puzzle or something like that. As the kids came in, they got a pencil and puzzle and could work on it quietly, or with their friends. Got them settled in pretty easily. I used this online tool to make the puzzles. I'd take up the answers once everyone was there, and this served to review the previous week's lesson and was a good intro to the current week.

[Sweetpeach]

Thank you, Strider, for the book recs.

 

Kid Ministry is so much more than kids -- doing the kids means doing the families, especially the families without a church grid. Our church does attract many folks who haven't had tremendous experience with church (which is why I love it all day!).

 

Do you have any fav. titles that speak to this kid + family connection?

 

TIA,

Tricia

[Sweetpeach]

I've taught Grade 6 for a few years and found that competition tended to get the boys involved.

 

For example, I made up some matching games with coloured index cards. Say, the name of a sacrament on one and a fact about it on another. Times 20 or whatever. Two sets. Divided the class into two teams and they had to match up the card pairs. First group to complete correctly won.

 

Or a game where I put the names of Abraham's descendents on two sets of cards and teams had to make a family tree on the floor. First team to complete correctly wins.

 

Stuff like that. Boys love it. Girls (in my experience) have more fact knowledge. So they all work together!

 

The other thing I did to keep order at the beginning of the class (while kids were arriving) was to have some kind of paper/pencil puzzle that reviewed the previous week's class. Either a word search or crossword puzzle or something like that. As the kids came in, they got a pencil and puzzle and could work on it quietly, or with their friends. Got them settled in pretty easily. I used this online tool to make the puzzles. I'd take up the answers once everyone was there, and this served to review the previous week's lesson and was a good intro to the current week.

 

These are some great tips, Janet in TO! Thank you!

[Sweetpeach]

A topic near and dear to my heart!

 

My rule is that each child should have something physical to do at least once every few minutes. This requires simply swapping out what you might have done verbally for what you might do physically:

 

Instead of: "How do you think the disciples felt when . . ."

 

Say: "Show me with your faces how you think the disciples felt when . . ."

 

Instead of: "Was that the right choice for Jenny to make?"

 

Say: "Stand up if you think Jenny made the right choice."

 

Instead of: (going through a list of good and bad choices and asking the kids which is which)

 

Say: "OK . . . thumbs up or thumbs down on these . . ."

 

Also, have the kids act out scripture stories as much as possible.

 

 

Great tips -- thank you!

[Danestress]

And one of the wildest is a girl. But my kids are on the young side (3 - 5) so I really keep the lesson part very short and sweet.

 

Apart from physical activity (I like to play a lot of games, some of which are not precisely connected to the bible story) I find that my more active children really like guessing games. I find reasons to pin things on other things blindfolded - "pin the animal on the ark" is always a hit.

 

I find that even my boys really like the craft part of the activities - not all of them, but at least as many as girls. I try to make something that they can take home.

 

I have two children with allergies, so I do no snacks at all. I think if I did do them, that would keep some of the kids happy, but I prefer not to have to single some kids out to not have a snack, and for 45 minutes, I think they can all survive.

 

I have one little boy who is really difficult and distractable. He has a hard time keeping still. In fact, he never sits still and I have an assistant who is almost entirely dedicated to managing him. The one thing I really believe, though, is that God gifts all people differently. This child is obsessed - and I mean totally obsessed - with all things electronic. He *can not* keep his hands off the tape player or video equipment. So I always put him in charge of those things. If we are playing a song, I let him start and stop the tape. It really keeps him focussed. Some days when I really am desperate, I have given him my cell phone to hold "just in case it rings." If he's holding my cell phone, he will sit right next to me, lol. He's on duty.

 

My best advice for nurturing boys, though, is to get men involved in Sunday School. We have an increasing number of men who will teach Sunday School with their wives as a team. It works REALLY well.

[iquilt]

I teach younger children this year, ages 3 & 4, but our group is 80% boys. We always start with something that allows them to move - either building a temple or church with large blocks or playing with playdough works well. This brings them together and allows a transition to the story and lesson. HTH

[Punks in Ontario]

in their grades 3-4 class. The older lady who taught about 6 very active boys would have them do very active things including jumping jacks and sit ups while she taught them. The boys loved it and learned quite a bit in the process. They were too busy to be distracting the others. I've been meaning to do this with my boys at home!:001_smile::001_smile:

 

Karen

4 boys (12, 10, 6, 5)

[Sweetpeach]

in their grades 3-4 class. The older lady who taught about 6 very active boys would have them do very active things including jumping jacks and sit ups while she taught them. The boys loved it and learned quite a bit in the process. They were too busy to be distracting the others. I've been meaning to do this with my boys at home!:001_smile::001_smile:

 

Karen

4 boys (12, 10, 6, 5)

 

Hi Karen, thanks for the tips and welcome to the Boards. I spent my two best ever summers at Muskoka Woods Sports Resort . . . are you anywhere near there?

 

T

[AndyJoy]

When I taught 3rd & 4th grade Sunday School, the boys especially loved playing active games to memorize our Bible verse. Their favorite was "stinky Scripture sheep"--basically, hot potato with a stuffed sheep that I got at the $1 store. Whoever was holding the sheep when the music stopped said the verse, then got to be the one to start the CD player again. This would literally hold their attention for 20 minutes!