Melissa and I have been teaching the elementary ages using the Bible Study Guide curriculum for over six years and we love it so much that we purchased our own personal set. The curriculum is broken into four units which cover the entire Bible and offers student worksheets at different levels. Melissa uses the primary level for her 1-3rd graders and I use the advanced version for the 4-5th graders.

In addition to the student worksheets, many other optional resources can be purchased to utilize in your classroom such as:

Unit Teacher's Guide - Detailed instructions and lesson plans are included in each unit. These are a must have! Included are suggested drills, review questions, and additional Scriptures with background information provided to aid in a greater understanding of each lesson. Maybe it is because I'm a visual learner but one of my favorite parts of the teacher guides is the corresponding visuals for each lesson. They are simple illustrations using stick figures but we have found them very helpful when we've enlarged them and mounted them to astrobrite cardstock.

Advanced Teacher Key - When we first started using this curriculum, the company did not offer answer keys for the worksheets therefore we made our own answer keys! Now they are offered for purchase. We always recommend validating answers with the Scripture.

The Bible Book Summary Cards - Another must-have in my opinion. These are one of my go-to tools if we complete our lesson a few minutes early. They make reviewing facts about the books of the Bible fun with colorful visuals and suggested questions to engage the students. It is also a great warm-up activity to introduce your lesson.

Wall Maps & Timeline - We both like and use the maps, but found the timeline better used in a homeschool setting. We found the pieces on the timeline too small for use in a classroom setting. I prefer this large timeline that I put together in my classroom.

HOW DO WE USE THIS MATERIAL IN OUR CLASSROOM?

In our classroom, we kick off each Sunday morning with a pre-activity designed for early arrivers. This gives us a chance to welcome guests and chat with students about their week. Sometimes, we use those initial minutes to go over the "Remember It?" section of the worksheet pictured below, helping students recall previous lessons.

Before class, we write the Book & Chapter of what we will be studying on the dry erase board. This helps new students quickly get accustomed to looking at the board and preparing to have their Bibles open to the correct passage. Given our limited time (approximately 40 minutes), we dive right into the lesson, working through the worksheet one block at a time. We read the recommended Scripture and discuss the questions/answers/applications for each passage, helping students practice finding and reading Scripture. To aid younger students, we create overhead transparencies of the "block" section of each worksheet, laminate them for durability, and label them with the lesson level and number. (Labeling is crucial to avoid confusion, as the transparencies look similar - We learned this the hard way!)

The transparency allows the teacher or helper to "write in" the answers while projecting the worksheet image on a screen, providing younger students with spelling and visual cues. After some trial and error, we found that a blue vis-à-vis pen shows up best when projected. Once class is over, you can wipe the transparency clean with a baby wipe or damp paper towel and reuse it. You could also use a document camera or Elmo for the same purpose, but we're "old school" and love our overhead projectors! After completing the "block" section, we can review and discuss other sections like the Timeline, Map, or Apply It portions of the worksheet on the opposite side, as shown below.

Sometimes, we chose to skip tcertain sections and use alternative methods like flip-charts, review games, or hands-on activities to keep the lessons engaging and dynamic. We hope this provides a helpful overview of how we utilize the Bible Study Guide curriculum in our classroom. We'd love to hear your ideas and how you use this curriculum to teach God's Word!

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