Hello, summer!

Ready, set, go! This is an exciting phrase for those who are about to embark on a fantastic adventure or begin an awesome task. I cannot think of a better theme for summer. A myriad of activities to keep everyone busy—church camp, VBS, mission trips and family vacations, to name a few. Summer is full of wonderful opportunities to impact others for Christ. Seize each opportunity that summer presents to share the gospel of Jesus with both those on your class roll and any visitors who may come your way.

The SPLAT curriculum is designed to provide students with five different areas of discipleship throughout each lesson. Each section of SPLAT—Share, Pray, Learn, Apply and Tell, lists several activities to choose to help you share the lesson. Be sure to consider your students learning styles, interests and their knowledge of God’s Word as you prepare. Knowing your students helps you choose the best activities for them. In addition to the thirteen dated lessons, there is a Patriotic Theme Lesson also included. This lesson can be used in place of one of the other lessons or as an extension lesson to be completed at a different time.

While planning and preparing each week, remember that your own knowledge of God’s Word is vital to the success of your Sunday School class; therefore, I encourage you to spend much time in personal Bible study and prayer. The teacher devotional featured at the beginning of each lesson is meant to help focus your heart and mind on God’s Word. I pray that God will speak to your heart as you continue to be a faithful steward of the Word.

Please know that I am praying for God to bless you and your students. I am so thankful for you. So… ready, set, go!

Thank you so much for choosing to use SPLAT for your children’s Bible study time. I hope you are excited about the amazing things that God is going to do through you during this time.

SPLAT stands for Share, Pray, Learn, Apply and Tell. You and your students will go through each of these five elements each week. Our desire is that your students:

Begin to share life experiences with each other and with you. Learn the power of prayer both publically and privately. Experience God’s Word through active learning. Apply the never ending, never changing truth found in God’s Word. Tell others about what they have learned during SPLAT.

As you view your set of SPLAT 3rd and 4th Grade Teacher Leaflets, you will see multiple suggestions for each lesson element. You do not have to use all of the teaching options provided under each heading. Instead, choose one or more of the teaching options for use based on how your students learn, the amount of time you have to prep, what best fits your teaching style and based on how you believe the Holy Spirit may be directing your teaching time.

During Share, be sure to remember to have your students place their attendance sticker on the attendance chart. The attendance chart is located in the SPLAT 3rd and 4th Grade Visuals. The attendance stickers, however, are located on the sticker page in each child’s set of SPLAT Student 3rd and 4th Grade Leaflets. You will want to place the attendance chart in your classroom somewhere with easy access.

Teaching students the power of prayer is an important part of your Bible study time each week. During Pray, don’t be afraid to ask students for prayer requests or for a student volunteer to pray each week.

Each week’s lesson for Learn and Apply will vary. So, please pay attention to creative ways our writer has used the visuals, student leaflets to develop fun hands-on learning activities and object lessons.

Tell provides the perfect opportunity for you to hand out the SPLAT 3rd and 4th Grade Tell Cards to each student. Be sure to explain that each tell card should be taken home and saved each week like a trading card. In each child’s set of tell cards, one special tell card for the student to color. You can use this as a prize for a game or a special challenge for students. A student may color it and give it to someone else as a way to tell him about Jesus.

SPLAT visuals can be identified by lesson number and the portion of the lesson in which the visual will be used. Visuals have a unit visual for each unit in the quarter. The unit visuals should be hung in a special place in your classroom to help students know what unit they are studying and to help them memorize each unit memory verse. Each set of visuals also contains the A New Creation Visual. This visual should be placed in your classroom where students can easily view it and use it at various times throughout the quarter to present the gospel message.

Finally, you should notice that there are fourteen lessons available for this quarter but only thirteen weeks. The fourteenth lesson in the quarter is the Theme Lesson. The Theme Lesson allows you to present a lesson out of the chronological scope and sequence in order to fit a specific holiday in each quarter. Whether you use it or not is up to you. If you choose to use the Theme Lesson, you would either combine two of the lessons from this quarter or simply skip one and then fill in the chronological gaps for your students the next week.

Active learning requires supplies. The following supplies are supplies that you may want to consider having on hand in your classroom and considered basic classroom supplies: extra Bibles, pencils, crayons, colored pencils, permanent markers, watercolors, washable markers, finger paints, craft paints, paint brushes, washable glue, hot glue gun and sticks, glue sticks, tape (scotch, Washi, masking, double-sided, duct), hole punch, stapler, scissors, cotton balls, Popsicle sticks or craft sticks, copy paper, construction paper, bulletin board paper, wax paper, poster board, poster putty, a chalkboard, cardboard, foam sheets, foam board, whiteboard or flip chart or chart paper, lunch paper sacks, glitter, glitter glue, chalk or markers, foam cutouts, chenille wires/stems, yarn, string, ribbon, index cards, note cards, paper towels, paper clips, Play-Doh, modeling clay, cardstock of all colors, dowel rods, brass fasteners, tissue paper, project display board, rubber bands, aluminum foil, safety pins, pushpins, T-pins, clothespins and stickers. Other supplies will be required for certain activities and crafts. They can be found in the materials list on each week’s teacher leaflet.

Praying for a SPLAT-tastic time in your children’s Bible study time!

introduction

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Love in Christ,Elizabeth Stacks,SPLAT 3rd & 4th Grade Teacher

Once you have received your copy of SPLAT, it is recommended that you get a little organized. This can be easily accomplished with the use of a portable file folder case and fourteen hanging file folders.

Label each folder with the dates found in the quarter you are working with. Then place the teacher leaflet, student leaflets, tell cards and visuals for each date in their specific file folder. You may even want to place the tell cards inside a zipper bag so they don’t fall out of the folder.

Then you are done getting organized for the quarter. Your material for each week is all together and ready for you to prep each week. All you need to do is grab the next week’s folder on your way out of class or just grab the next week’s teacher leaflet. Leaving the student leaflets, tell cards and visuals, help you to prepare for an emergency substitute teacher.

HOW TO ORGANIZE SPLAT

MATERIALS LIST

COLOR SWATCH

3RD & 4TH

GRADE

Unit 1, Lesson 1June 3, 2018

Teacher Devotional

Common sense versus book sense—while these have been debated concerning which one is more important, I conclude the former hinges upon the latter. Romans 10:17 declares, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Faith in Jesus, that results in eternal life, comes only when one has been exposed to God’s Word. So, godly common sense stems from book or Bible sense. Wow! Read and study Ecclesiastes 8:17. Job understood this well. Spend some time studying Job 39 this week.

Background Commentary

The church at Corinth was situated in an area saturated with paganism and human wisdom. Many who lived there prided themselves on their knowledge of earthly things. However, they were the least in wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:26). Paul said, “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty” (verse 27).

Relying upon their own wisdom about how the world worked and how eternal life was obtained, many who lived in Corinth and the surrounding areas were lost. They were self-reliant and self-righteous; they were so sure that they had all the answers to life, they refused to place their faith in the Lord (verses 26-28).

Paul wanted the church at Corinth to understand the importance of being mature children of God who could lead those around them to Jesus. Paul wanted everyone to know Jesus, and he wanted God to get all the glory.

Lesson 1

6 - 3 - 2018

Unit 1 Theme: Ordinary to Extraordinary

Scripture Text: 1 Corinthians 1:26-31

Application: I glorify the Lord when I share the gospel with others.

Unit 1 Memory Verse: “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” 1 Corinthians 1:27

Lesson 1 Memory Verse: “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” 1 Corinthians 1:27

Basic classroom supplies

SPLAT 3rd & 4th Grade Visuals: Attendance Chart A New Creation Visual Unit 1 Visual Lesson 1 Learn Visual Lesson 1 Apply Visual

SPLAT 3rd & 4th Grade Student Leaflet and sticker page

SPLAT Tell Card

Rubik’s Cube or another challenging puzzle

Telephone, light bulb, other inventions

Choose one or more:

Display the Lesson 1 Apply Visual. Ask a student to read aloud the words printed on the visual. Instruct students to locate Psalm 17:8 in their Bibles. Allow the first one to locate the verse to read it aloud from his Bible.

Direct students’ attention to page 4 of the student leaflet. Ask a student to read the heading text and the activity instructions from the top of the page. Look at each background picture and think about the things you would see there. Ask: what is something extraordinary that you would see or do? What makes that place extraordinary? Have students illustrate their answers in the background boxes.

Read 1 Chronicles 16:8 aloud to your students from the Bible. God’s children are expected to tell others about the greatness of God. If you have any saved students, ask one of them to share his testimony with the class. If not, share your own testimony.

10 minutes

Choose one or more:

Read the Unit 1 and Lesson 1 memory verses on side 1 of the Tell Card. Since these share the same verse of Scripture, students should quickly become familiar with them.

Invite a student to read aloud the activity instructions located on side 2 of the Tell Card.

This week your students will be looking for things they consider ordinary and extraordinary. Your students should keep a list of the things they notice or observe. What do they notice about the things on their lists? How many things are man-made or God made? Invite your students to bring their lists back to class next week to share them with the class.

10 minutes

BONUS ACTIVITIESSing, “Rise and Shine, and Give God the Glory.”

Give students a few minutes to name one summer church event they are excited about and are planning to attend.

Conduct a sword drill using memory verses from previous quarters.

ALL FOR HIS GLORY

15 minutes

Display the attendance chart in a prominent place in the classroom. Invite everyone to add his name and today’s attendance sticker and Bible sticker for bringing his Bible to the chart. Encourage your students to attend class each week, bring their Bibles and visitors, too. Display and introduce A New Creation Visual.

Choose one or more:

Before class, gather a Rubik’s Cube or another type of challenging puzzle. Display the cube or puzzle for your students to see and touch. Set a timer for a minute and let your students try to solve it. Were they successful? Did they even try? You may have students in your room who have attempted to solve such a puzzle before unsuccessfully; therefore, they may even choose not to participate today. Why is the puzzle so frustrating? Is there really a solution? (Yes, a solution does exist and can be found through a simple Internet search.) Use this activity to help introduce today’s lesson about the things that God uses to confound (verse 27) those who pride themselves on worldly wisdom.

Before class, gather a telephone, a light bulb or other device or invention. Show the items to your students, and ask them to raise their hands if they understand and can explain how each item works. These inventions are best explained by those who understand them. The same is true for the things of God. Those who understand the things of God, have faith in them (those who are saved) and can explain them. Use this activity to introduce today’s lesson about giving God glory.

Invite a student to read the Bible account narrative from page 1 of the student leaflet.

Help your students transition to a time of Bible study through a time of silent prayer.

Make prayer requests an integral part of class time. Teaching students about the importance and need for prayer in their lives is essential to growing young prayer warriors.

As you lead your students in prayer, ask the Lord to help them remember that He wants them to be extraordinary by living their lives for Him.

5 minutes

Read 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 aloud to your students from your Bible. Encourage your students to follow along in their Bibles as you read or invite volunteers to participate in the reading.

Choose one or more:

Before class prepare the Lesson 1 Learn Visual by cutting the picture cards apart. During class, divide the cards between each student or small group of students after reading today’s Scripture text. Call on one student or one group at a time. Ask your students to share their pictures with the class and briefly explain the how or why of the pictures. For example, the picture of the northern lights, can your students explain how the northern lights occur? Can they explain who makes them occur? Continue this until all the pictures have been shared and explained. What if the same pictures were shown to other people in the world? Would they give the same answers your students gave? Why or why not? Ask your students to think of more examples they could share with those around them to help them understand the power and greatness of God as Christians are commanded to do in today’s text.

Direct your students’ attention to page 2 of the student leaflet after exploring 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 together. Complete the matching activity by drawing lines to connect the pictures of the things in the world God uses to explain things about Himself. Answers: A, 3; B, 1; C, 2. Connect the verse at the bottom of the page to the lesson by explaining God’s ways may not always make sense to the world, but it is always better. After sharing today’s Scripture text, further explain how God is glorified through the unexpected by having students complete page 3 of the student leaflet. Invite a student to read aloud both the heading text and the activity instructions from the top of the page. Your students will use the Lesson 1 stickers to label the pictures as ordinary or extraordinary. Review your students’ answers and use the examples to help further explain all the things God does that man often does not understand. Answers: Ordinary: Ice cube, Coal, Plant, Hello. Extraordinary: Iceberg, Diamond, Blooming flower, Let me tell you about Jesus.

Display the Unit 1 Visual. Discuss with your students what it means to give God glory. One dictionary defines ordinary as of common rank and not being distinguished by superior excellence. Extraordinary is defined as exceeding the common degree or measure, uncommon, rare, wonderful, special, particular or sent for a special purpose. Considering these definitions, explain how life is different when a person is saved.

15 minutes