MATERIALS LIST

COLOR SWATCH

3RD & 4TH

GRADE

Lesson 1June 2, 2019

Teacher Devotional

After finishing college, I found myself in need of glasses. My diagnosis—nearsightedness means up close objects are clear, but faraway objects are blurry. Until putting on that first pair of glasses, I did not realize just how bad my vision had become. I do not remember having trouble seeing as a child; however, somewhere along the way, my vision changed.

Has this same situation occurred with my spiritual eyesight? The Bible addresses our spiritual sight in James 1:23-25. When we are focused on our Savior and the Word He has for His children, it is then that our sight is as it should be.

Background Commentary

The Holy Spirit had come and empowered the members of the church, and soon after, Peter began to preach to all those present about the salvation that is available to all who would believe (Acts 2:1-21). The Bible declares, in Acts 2:41, that the result of this preaching was “they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.”

The church was growing rapidly, not only in number of members, but also in fellowship and unity (Acts 2:42-46). As a result of this spiritual growth among its membership, more souls were saved and added to the church (Acts 2:47). This group of saved, scripturally baptized believers were being blessed abundantly because they believed and followed the pattern that Jesus had set for His church members during His earthly ministry (Acts 1:8). They were fulfilling their purpose and pleasing the Lord.

Lesson 1

6 - 2 - 2019 Scripture Text: Acts 2:42-47

Application: God blesses His churches when they focus on sharing Jesus with others.

Lesson 1 Memory Verse: “Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Acts 1:8

Basic classroom supplies

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

SPLAT 3rd & 4th Grade Visuals:

Attendance Chart

Where Will I Spend Eternity? Visual

Lesson 1 Apply Visual

SPLAT Tell Card

Binoculars (one pair for demonstration or a pair for each student)

Globe

A bag of miniature marshmallows

Small paper cups

Corkboard or foam board

Colorful pushpins

Salvation tracts

Choose one or more:

Invite your students to share any vacation plans or destinations that they have planned for the summer. Tell them they can witness to others about Jesus while they are there. Are there any aspects of their travel destinations that they can use to spark a conversation about Jesus and salvation? Provide your students with salvation tracts that they can take with them and give to others on their vacations or trips.

Complete the activity on page 4 of the student leaflet.

Before class, mount the Lesson 1 Apply Visual onto a corkboard or foam board and display it in your classroom (save visual to be used in Lesson 6). Talk with your students about the missionaries your church family supports and the places in the world where they are. Provide your students with colorful pushpins for them to mark the areas where these missionaries are serving.

Choose one or more:

Hand out the Lesson 1 Tell Cards to your students. Review the Bible account and application of today’s lesson. As a class, have your students read aloud the memory verse from side 1 of the Tell Card. Can any of your students say it from memory already?

Turn your students’ attention to side 2 of the Tell Card and have several student volunteers read the activity instructions for each day of this week. An activity for helping your students memorize the memory verse is given for Monday through Friday; however, Saturday’s activity contains only blank lines. Build your students’ enthusiasm for these activities by inviting them to make suggestions for Saturday’s activity. Provide your students with pens for writing their activity ideas on the blank lines.

BONUS ACTIVITIESUsing the globe, challenge your students to find the countries that you name as fast as they can. These countries could be random or be ones where there are missionaries your church family supports.

If there are any leftover marshmallows, let your students have a contest to see how many they can stack on top of each other. Who can build the tallest tower of marshmallows?

Let your students use the binoculars to view verses of Scriptures out of a Bible across the room. Have them read the verses aloud.

FOCUSED FOR THE FATHER

Discuss the Where Will I Spend Eternity? Visual.

Choose one or more:

Ask your students to point out where they live on the globe. Show them where the missionaries that your church family supports are located. Connect to today’s lesson by asking your students to tell or show you the places in the world where the gospel needs to be spread. Keep this globe in the classroom for the remainder of this quarter’s lessons.

Give one of your students an entire bag of miniature marshmallows. Ask your students to name a few of the many uses of marshmallows (such as, Rice Krispies treats, hot chocolate, s’mores and so on). This bag of marshmallows represents the blessings in the life of a faithful child of God, blessings such as peace, joy, love and your church family. Is it fair for just one person in the room to enjoy all of the marshmallows? Should they be shared? Fill the cups with the marshmallows and have a student give one to each of his classmates. Like the marshmallows, the gospel should be shared with others.

Display binoculars and discuss that their purpose is to help focus on objects. The Bible has a similar function; it helps children of God focus on the work God has given them to do—spreading the gospel. Connect this activity to today’s lesson about sharing the gospel.

Display the attendance chart. Write students’ names for the month of June. Students need to add their attendance and Bible stickers for today’s date. This will be a reoccurring activity for each Sunday. Encourage your students to be faithful in their attendance and bringing their Bibles!

Praying for your church family is a vital part of being a faithful church member. Model this prayerful attitude to your students during prayer time throughout this quarter.

Include a time for students to voice their prayer requests. Teach the importance of loving others and lifting their needs up in prayer.

Lead your students in prayer, asking for God’s help in sharing His Word with your students today. Remember to include all prayer requests.

Choose one or more:

Read Acts 2:42-47 from your Bible or ask a student volunteer to help. Establishing a solid foundation of Bible knowledge is important with any lesson, but today’s lesson offers a unique opportunity because it is these verses that begin this quarter’s lessons about the book of Acts.

Make sure that your students understand that the first church participated in many of the same activities that your church family enjoys today—Bible study, fellowship, enjoying a meal together and spending time in prayer for each other. Discuss some of the routines and events that your church family enjoys together.

Consider setting aside a special time of fellowship and fun for your students and invite another Sunday School class. Perhaps you and your students could make invitations, decide on a special menu, prepare food and have fellowship with other church members.

Invite a student volunteer to read the narrative on page 1 of the student leaflet.

Invite your students to complete the Bible lesson activity on page 2 of the student leaflet. Be sure to have your students read the directions before beginning the activity and answer any questions they may have.

Using the binoculars and the memory verse printed on a small card, engage your students in learning the lesson memory verse. Place the memory verse card in a far spot in your classroom and let your students take turns looking through the binoculars at the card and reading the memory verse aloud.

Have your students practice the lesson memory verse by completing the memory verse activity on page 3 of the student leaflet. Answers: witnesses, uttermost and earth. You may also have students color the globe if time permits.