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God Saves His People - Part 4

Teacher's Guide - this is just one possible lesson plan.  Visit the Moses Section for further ideas to supplement this. 

Introduction:

This last lesson in the series is titled Moses and the Ten Commandments.  The important thing to remember is these commandments should have an underlying theme of love.  "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"  Jesus said to him,  "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first  and great commandment.  And the second is like it:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." Matthew 22:36-40 nkjv

The message:  
  
Preschool thru Grade 1:  God saves us by giving us rules to obey.
  
Grades 2 and 3:  God saves His people by giving us commands to live by.

I've split this message into two separate ones depending on the age level.  For the younger children, the message is about God giving us rules to protect us from harm.  The rules are there to help us and make our lives easier.  God loves us so He gives us rules, and they will help us love God and others if we obey them.  Make sure you repeat the message many times during the lesson.  

For the older children, we expand on this message and say that God saves us by giving us commands to live by.  If we all lived by these commands we would truly love God and one another but not everyone obeys God's commands.  But that should never stop us from trying to obey what God asks.  Send the "Moses and the 10 Commandments" Take Home Sheet home with the children to encourage parents to discuss the message during the week.  It includes a poster at the bottom that the children can color and hang on their wall or refrigerator.  If you plan to send the Take Home with older kids (the younger kids already have one from craft time)  an option would be to include a printout of the 10 commandments calendar  so they can learn more about the lesson as a family.  

Preview of the lesson:

Some people like to do craft time first and story time second and some like to switch it around.  I like the first option, myself.

Always consider offering a mini book, Coloring Pages or the Ancient Egypt Coloring Pages for children who aren't interested in participating in the group activity (or if you get done the group activities very quickly and need something to fill in the spare time).  Everyone has a need for "alone time" once in awhile.  Also, sending home the coloring pages or mini book with the Take Home sheet provides parents with much needed help in reinforcing the lessons.  You can make a nice little booklet each week with the take home sheet on top -- I promise that most parents will appreciate the effort! 

Description	Time Allotted	Supplies
Welcome!   Receive name tags.  Have the children use crayons, markers, yarn, cotton balls and whatever other materials (such as wiggly eyes or buttons) you have available to personalize their name tag. Sing the Learning our Names song	15 to 20 minutes	Tablet name tags. scissors (or adults can precut),  crayons, markers, yarn, safety pins or tape.
Craft time! Preschool thru Grade 1:  Make the Custom 10 commandment calendar.  Combine the different options to suit class time - you can print 6 color version with images, 3 B&W version with images and 3 draw your own and you'll have about half an hour of work to do.  Grade 2 and 3:  Make the Parchment Commandments.  This project gives the children the opportunity to "rewrite" the ten commandments in more modern language.  Combining this exercise with creating their own parchment makes for a fun and educational craft.	15 to 30 minutes  depending on your adult/child ratio	Preschool thru Grade 1: 10 commandments calendar.   printer, paper, and crayons. Grade 2 and 3: Parchment commandments. cold coffee or tea, white paper, blow dryer, and markers.
Bible Story Time: Preschool thru Grade 1:  Read the Children's Version of Moses and the 10 Commandments.  (or read from your own store bought children's bible).   Grade 2 and 3:  it's tough to know when it's the right time to start readings from the Bible, but if the children have been read a children's version of the story in the past, I believe this is a good age to introduce the King James (or your preferred) bible reading.	10 minutes	Our Mini Book or Coloring Pages can be distributed to the children so can color during the story or at home this week.  Print the pages, staple them together in order and let the kids know when to turn the page.  The handouts can be taken home to color in.
Closing: Preschool thru Grade 1:  Depending on the time remaining, help the children to brainstorm about what each commandment means in their terms.  What would the world be like if we would all obey the 10 commandments?  God gives us these rules to protect us, just like when our parents give us rules to follow. Grade 2 and 3:  Depending on the time remaining, allow the children to discuss what a law is. What happens if we disobey the laws?  Explain that the commandments are God's law and they should be taken very seriously!  Even if you don't get caught at a lie or cheating God sees all and He takes his commandments very seriously.   Learn or send home the 10 commandments rhyme. All Grades: bring already prepared or make the Obey donuts.  The donut represents the letter "O" in obey.   Standard ending song:  for example We love to learn together,  together, together We love to learn together And give thanks to God. substitute "learn" for sing, pray, etc (to the tune of The More We Get Together)	5 to 15 minutes	Brainstorm Board (chalkboard, whiteboard, posterboard,...)       Words to: standard ending song