Teacher Tips

Sunday School began as a once a week Christian school that taught illiterate children how to read. Without help from public schools, poor children were left uneducated with no chance of improving their situation. During this time in the 19th century, children worked six days a week leaving only Sundays available for their education. In … Read more

Fifteen years ago, I nearly gave up on teaching because of a group of unruly students. I was a student teacher in a first grade classroom gone berserk.   My college supervisor was observing that day and this is what she saw:  complete and utter chaos. I remember that day like it was yesterday.  A classroom of 74 six and … Read more

Trying to engage a room of preschoolers is like herding cats.  Every little one has his own idea of what fun looks like and it is usually different from yours! Try these quick tips for preschool classroom management and share own ideas. 1.  Be extremely prepared. In preschool world, downtime is the enemy.  While you pause to look for … Read more

A majority of the churches in America and across the world have less than 100 members.  These are small churches with small children’s ministries.  Many of these churches will have all children in the same classroom for Sunday School. That means multiple age groups will be learning together in one Sunday School classroom. What can … Read more

Whether you are reading to your own children or reading a book as part of your Sunday morning lesson at church, it is important that you read it in such a manner that kids will be captivated and engaged by it.  Imagine hearing a song with awesome music where the artist sings in a very … Read more

In my large group teaching I don’t usually have kids follow the lesson along in their Bible. That’s because we have a broadly graded program that includes many preliterate readers. Usually I’ll just read it aloud or have older kids read the verse for the group. Then any supporting texts I’ll display on PowerPoint or … Read more

He was a scrappy little guy.  Hair disheveled, quick with his fists, faster with his mouth.  Teachers branded him grades before he ran into my class.  I was never very fond of those heads-ups, but I suppose they got me prepped. Upon stepping into my fourth grade classroom, I practiced a little rebellion of my … Read more

Children say the cutest things. I have a long list of memorable questions and statements which children have made during my ministry career. Most are hilarious. Others, quite sad. Still others probe the depths of Christian spirituality, often retaining characteristics of humor and grief. All of them reveal the innocence of childhood in a way … Read more

Kids love stories, but sometimes us grow-ups take all the fun out of the retelling. One of my Sunday School teachers sent me this video link tonight. At first I thought it was just another cute kid telling a bible story, but it’s really much more. This young girl tells a Bible storybook version of Jonah with … Read more