God’s Word is Our Foundation: Answers in Genesis Bible Curriculum

God's Word is Our Foundation

I’ve finally unpacked all the materials from the Answers in Genesis Bible Curriculum for Pre-K thru 1st Grade.  I’ve spent some time going through the Teacher’s Guide, looked through all the printables, games, pictures, and posters.  This curriculum comes with a lot of materials!  I’ve looked forward to the first lesson with my daycare/preschool kids.  Unit 1 includes lessons 1-10.  Lesson 1 is titled God’s Word is Our Foundation.

*Note:  This post was not sponsored by Answers in Genesis.  I was not paid to write this post.  I was not given any materials in exchange for writing this post.  I was not required to write a positive review.  I purchased the ABC Answers Bible Curriculum because I wanted to use it in my in-home daycare/preschool.  I think it is a valuable tool for parents and church ministers so I want to share it with you.  🙂

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living (Tina Truelove)

I love that the first lesson teaches that God’s Word is Our Foundation.  Kids learn a valuable lesson from the very beginning.  If they don’t believe the Bible is true, then everything in it is useless to them.  It’s important that children believe the Bible is absolute truth first.  Then, they’ll know everything in it is true and valuable to them for the rest of their lives.
 

The teacher’s guide instructs us to begin our lesson in prayer and they provide a great visual for teaching children 4 important parts of prayer:  Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.  Now, those are some big words for such little kids.  You can see from the flip chart visual in the picture above that the graphics are child-friendly and each picture shows children what each “big word” means in simple child-like language.

Remember that the purpose of lesson 1 is to teach children that God’s Word is Our Foundation.  I placed my Bible in front of the children.  We discussed that the Bible is the most important book ever written.  It’s the best book ever!

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living (Tina Truelove

The next page of the flip chart shows the kids a graphic of the Bible in the middle of some material things that kids might generally think are valuable.  As the kids look at the graphic, the teacher can use the group conversation guide on the other side.  The children discovered that the Bible is better than gold jewelry, ice-cream, and even better than chocolate.  The most important thing they learned is that the Bible is perfect, sure, right, and pure.

The focus Bible verse for this lesson is Psalm 19:7-8.

The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. – Psalm 19:7-8

My group is very young.  I only have one 4 year old.  This curriculum is intended for Pre-K thru 1st Grade.  I didn’t have my little ones memorize the scripture passage above.  The curriculum Teacher Guide provides a lesson for Kindergarten and 1st grade, but there is an adapted lesson for Pre-K.  Younger children can more easily memorize Psalm 119:89-90.

Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the Heavens.
Your faithfulness endures to all generations;
You have established the earth, and it stands fast. – Psalm 119:89-90

Y’all, guess what?  When you purchase this curriculum from Answers in Genesis, you get to download songs, but you can use the music videos here to teach preschoolers to memorize the Bible verse above (Psalm 119:89-90)!

OK, back to the lesson. 

This curriculum comes with plenty of visuals, but they suggest you add some things from home to enhance the lesson.  I filled two jars with water.  I added dirt to one jar and left the other jar clean.  The clean jar represents God’s Word because it is pure and perfect.  The dirty jar represents water that is not perfect.  You can’t clean with dirty water, but God’s Word is clean.  It changes us, cleans us, and makes us love God.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living (Tina Truelove)

Today, the kids were introduced to Justin and his family.  We read the story “Sand Castles and Clean Hearts.”  It’s a story about how we think we are clean but we’re not.  You’ll have to read the story when you get the curriculum, but just know that it’s a short, cute story that the kids will enjoy.  It helps them realize that even though we think our hearts are clean, there is still “dirt” there that needs cleaning.  God’s Word can clean our hearts.

If you don’t want to print off the story, you have two options.  The story is located on the back of a poster that is included in the teacher kit or you can read it from the computer.  The links to downloadable materials, songs, and stories are included in the Teacher Guide.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living (Tina Truelove)

The curriculum is set up so that you have so much flexibility.  If you are teaching older kids, you can use all of it.  If you have younger kids, you can use what works for them and save the rest.  The video below explains how to use the curriculum. 

  

Today, we chose to do the “jar sheet.”  This picture below is my example.  We colored one jar blue to represent clean water (God’s Word is Pure).  We used a glue stick on the second jar and then sprinkled dirt on it.  Now the kids have something to take home and talk to their parents about the things they learned.  Hopefully, they will tell them that they learned that God’s Word is perfect, sure, right, and pure.  Maybe they can recite the Bible verse or sing the song.  🙂

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living (Tina Truelove)

Since we are learning that God’s Word is our foundation, we get a great poster to use during the entire unit which helps us learn all the books of the Bible.  I’ll probably have this laminated and use it for years because it is a great resource for any age.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living (Tina Truelove)

If you are purchasing this curriculum to use at home with your own children or an in-home preschool, it’s important to note that this curriculum is a Bible curriculum.  It is intended to teach children the Bible.  You’ll have to add your own academic activities, but it is so easy to do.  For example, today’s focus is God’s Word.  You can focus on the letter B for Bible.  Do activities that teach the letter B.  Use the Books of the Bible chart above to count the books of the Bible.  If you choose to do the clean/dirty jar sheet, you can teach the letter J for “jar.”  As you move through the curriculum, there are multiple opportunities to integrate academics into your preschool or grade school.  However, Answers in Genesis also offers a lot of home-school curriculum choices.  You will want to check those out here.

If you think ABC Bible Curriculum is great for teaching children that the Bible is perfect, sure, right, and pure and that God’s Word is our foundation, please pin the image below!  We always appreciate some Pinterest love!  Then, scroll on down for more resources from Answers in Genesis.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living (Tina Truelove)