9 ways to prepare for better SRE lessons
Start preparing new resources for your SRE classroom to help your students learn from God’s Word.
The schoolyards are no longer silent but filled again with the happy chatter and noise of children playing. As our city comes out of isolation, many of us are looking forward to resuming our SRE classes and reconnecting with the students and teachers we’ve been missing and praying for.
Jenn Phillips has already shared some great ways we can be putting this period of waiting to good use in her latest article, encouraging you to continue train and grow as a SRE teacher . To help you practically prepare for the classroom, here are nine resources you can gather now for your students.
A question box
This is a great resource to take to your SRE class. A question box allows you to encourage and respond to questions when you’ve had sufficient time to prepare a helpful answer, rather than halfway through the Bible story. If you can leave materials in your classroom, you could make a question box out of an old tissue box or shoe box. If it needs to fit into your bag, then decorate an A4 envelope or plastic sleeve. Add some paper slips cut to the right size and a spare pencil or two and it’s ready to go!
Related
Helpful ways you can keep growing as a SRE Teacher
Prepare to return to your SRE classroom with these five practical ideas.
Routine cards
These are laminated or sturdy cards that help the students remember the routine of your SRE lesson. Including both words and pictures makes them easy for students of all ages. They can be stuck up in the order you choose to run your lessons such as ‘welcome’, ‘bible story’, ‘discussion’, ‘prayer’, ‘song’, ‘activity books’ and ‘pack up’. Part of your welcome can include pointing out this routine. This is helpful for kids who want to know what’s coming next and for teachers as they guide the students through the lesson.
Big questions and answers
A helpful way to frame each SRE lesson is with a big question and a big answer. The question invites students to think and engage in the lesson to find the answer. It’s a great way to teach one clear big idea each week and to use your time wisely to support it. As you look ahead at the lessons you’ll be teaching, you can prepare a big question and answer for each, as the lesson aims and outcomes of the authorised SRE curriculum make this easy. Include them in a display folder for the whole term, create laminated sheets you can stick up or utilise Powerpoint slides to help your students remember what they’ve learnt so far.
Memory verse activities
There are several memory verses suggestions supplied across each semester but I like to choose one to focus on each term. Now is a great time to think about which memory verse you’ll teach and how you’ll teach it. Perhaps you could print several words of the verse across different pages or posters so they can be sorted into the correct order or some removed as students memorise it. You could also make one larger poster with flaps that cover the words or pictures that replace words. If you’re musical you might find a simple rhyme or melody that matches the words of the verse as a memory aid. There are some great ideas here as well as some tips about teaching memory verses in the back of your Connect teacher’s manual.
CEPConnect.com.au
Find a whole range of games, songs and online resources available that are already approved and ready for you to use at CEPConnect.com.au! You might find something fantastic to include in your lessons. I recommend checking out both the general section and the specific area of the curriculum you will be teaching.
Prepare pictures
Pictures, illustrations, posters and photographs are an effective way to engage student’s attention and aid their memory. For example, I’m preparing a large scrapbook for my Kindy class with illustrations of each Bible story stuck in and ready to go. This will make it easier for me to tell the story well rather than juggling bits of paper and will save me preparation time each week. It also makes it easier to remember previous lessons as I can turn back the pages to prompt the students’ memories. Photos of people and places can also be a powerful teaching aid. As an experienced teacher shared at the last SRE conference, showing the students real photographs of places like Bethlehem can help them understand that the Bible is not a fairytale.
Resources for games
There are many games you can have up your sleeve that require very few resources (see here for some examples) though you might like to spend some time thinking about which new games you might try and how you’ll teach them for the first time. There are other games that do require more planning and now is a great time to buy and prepare what you need to be ready. For example, you could tailor a familiar game like Memory (matching picture cards), Simon Says or Snakes & Ladders and make a new version that reinforces the lessons you’re teaching. Or you could find a new game to play just for fun with your students in those ‘in-between’ moments.
Learn a new song or two
Some of us are fantastic at leading singing and others of us find it terrifying! By being familiar with the song you are teaching and thinking ahead about how you’ll lead it can make it a lot more achievable. Music is a powerful teaching tool so take this opportunity to find a song you think your students would enjoy (ensure you submit it for approval if it hasn’t been approved already). Many songs now come with video clips that take the pressure off you as the teacher to provide all the energy and excitement. Talk to fellow SRE teachers about how they do music and see what you can learn from them. Tim Beilharz also shares some more ideas here.
Prepare for Christmas
Doesn’t Christmas always come around so fast? Often it catches me without time to prepare the cards and gifts I’d love to give my students. Perhaps now you could be making bookmarks, craft packs or cards that can be ready for Christmas this year. It might involve finding small books or items by shopping online or planning with fellow teachers about what could be done together. Preparing for Christmas might also mean getting a head start on plans for your SRE assembly.
I believe continuing to bring our students, teachers and leaders before God in prayer is the most important thing we can be doing now. It is our Heavenly Father who grows faith in the hearts of us and our students and who will open the door for us to return to teaching. But our hands can be active as we pray. What can you be preparing today for excellent SRE lessons tomorrow?
