Introduction to Spark!

Welcome and introductions, Open in prayer

Agenda:To explain the Spark Philosophy and the approach we took with the curriculum, talk about the age-appropriate Spark Bibles, Give an overview of the Spark Curriculum Model options, And to dive in and actually walk through a Spark lesson.

Background on how Spark was developed:Augsburg Fortress is a publisher of both curriculum and worship resources. We have developed numerous faith formation curricula over the past several decades. Because of the large investment of resources required to develop something on the scale of a Sunday School curriculum, we did an exceptionally large amount of customer research. We found three particular needs that weren’t being met by existing curriculum: 1. Existing curriculum isn’t as “Bible Centered” as it could be: Respondents felt that kids didn’t really leave with a deeper understanding of scriptureMany felt that existing curricula didn’t teach Bible stories very well2. Didn’t engage kids as well as it could – kids were bored, weren’t really learning anything3.It wasn’t really easy to use – this was the biggest common complaint. Lessons took a long time to prepare - Teachers have less time to prepare than ever before – busy people!Lessons require a certain level of biblical literacy, and many teachers may not have that depth of biblical understandingTeachers didn’t always understand what to expect from the age level they were teaching, which led to more frustration for the teachers.With all of these things in mind, we developed this new curriculum. As we go through today’s presentation, I think you will see how we have integrated these needs into every aspect of the Spark.

We have done something very unique with Spark – we created two age-appropriate Bibles. These have been designed to be the key learner resource. Imagine that – the Bible being the learner resource that children use each week to dig into the Bible stories!

The Bible we created for the younger learners is actually a Story Bible:Designed for children age 2- grade 2 – often, there isn’t a Bible resource for children who haven’t already learned to read pretty well, but young children LOVE stories, and can certainly engage and respond to the what these stories can teach them. Extraordinary artwork – We will take a look at a few of the pages to show you what I mean – it is rich, engaging, and all full-color art.150 Bible Stories – that is a LOT of stories. It had to be – it covers every story for the entire curriculum, including the three year lectionary curriculum! Compared to many other Bible story books, this is 2 or 3 times what they contain.Written to Read Aloud – these are stories to be shared and talked about. Parents and teachers will have a way to tell a wealth Bible stories to their children! What a great way to get kids started with Bible learning!So what is the benefit to having an age appropriate story Bible?

imagine that you are a 1st Grader. You are asked to read this passage:(Show Psalm 23)If you are a 1st grader and are asked to read this passage, (and you get no additional help):What challenges would you have? challenging words like pastures, righteousness; all of the “eths” (leadeth, maketh, restoreth); Are you able to associate these written words to the intended meaning? The imagery of sheep and shepherd is probably not familiar to a typical 1st grader; “Righteousness” is an abstract concept that this age level probably doesn’t already understand; Can you comprehend the “big picture” of the passage? Is this passage really about us being sheep and waters?Can you understand the context of the passage? What part of the Bible is this from? Where does it fit in context of the Bible stories that I already know? Who is doing the talking? Be aware – while a first grader will be able to understand parts of this, a lot of it will not be accessible to them. Let’s look at a different way of communicating this passage of scripture…

These pages are from the Spark Story Bible, which is geared for kids aged 2-grade 2.(Read the story from pages 160-163 of the Spark Story Bible. Text is below)

(Finish reading the story)How was that second encounter with this same passage different than the first?(context was established, language was contemporary and words were easier to understand, pictures reinforced the message, reflection question)Note two things – Squiggles – gives the youngest something to find and respond to. Squiggles is in every story and conveys the emotion of the story at each point.Spark Spot – A reflection question, activity, discussion point that allows children to respond to the story.So that is the Spark Story Bible – let’s look at the Bible for the older kids.

The Spark Bible is Designed for children in grades 3-6Features the NRSV translation – some might wonder why we chose this for this age level – the reading level for NRSV is a bit more challenging, but since this is the most preferred version used in mainline congregations, we wanted to have kids read the same version they hear in worship and that their parents read. Also, we included lots of call-outs through-out to help explain challenging words and to provide historical and cultural context in age-appropriate ways.Designed to engage learners on multiple levels – integrates activities, reflection questions, and more throughout the BibleActively engages students in marking their Bibles and making them their own– Uses stickers that help kids mark their Bible – stickers included in each Bible such as, “I Memorized It” and “Reminds me of…” - help kids interact with God’s Word.

Here is the opening to the Psalms. A few things to note.The introductions help establish context for each book of the Bible. Note how short and succinct this is!“The Know it/Think about it/Try it” callouts are throughout the Bible – these are great ways to interact and respond to the passage!

Here is an example of the stickers included with the Bible. There are 11 different kids of stickers, and they get kids into the practice of using a marking system for their Bibles. Imagine what one of these Bibles would look like after using it for a few years. It would be full of markings and stickers and underlined passages – what a great way to have kids really make the Bible their own!At the end of today, each congregation is getting a Spark Starter Kit that includes both of these Bibles – Explore them! They are amazing, I think you will agree!

We have shown a little about how the Bibles work, now lets take a quick look at how Spark helps to engage all of the kids.Thinking about how Spark engages kids, here is the little background on the Spark approach – these are some of the things that with help engage all of the learners in the lesson.We have paid special attention to the Multiple Intelligence Theory of Education: Kids learn in a variety of ways, so within each lesson, information is presented in multiple ways to engage students with different learning styles.We have integrated anAge Appropriate approach to Bible LearningBible story based with age-specific Bible goals for each age levelLesson Focus All age levels explore the same Bible story each week through the lens of an age-appropriate lesson focus statement, making it easy for teachers to feel confident with what they are teaching.

With Spark, we have worked to include content that addressed the different ways that children learn.So what specifically do we mean when we talk about multiple intelligences? Many of you might already be familiar with these, but as a review, here are the eight intelligences.Linguistic intelligence ("word smart") Logical-mathematical intelligence ("number/reasoning smart")Spatial intelligence ("picture smart") Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence ("body smart") Musical intelligence ("music smart") Interpersonal intelligence ("people smart") Intrapersonal intelligence ("self smart") Naturalist intelligence ("nature smart")

We have actually developed it to work with any of the commonly used teaching models congregations use. There is a Lectionary-based model, a Classroom based model (what most people consider “traditional Sunday school”),And a rotation based model.These are three different models, but the approach to the lesson content is similar. They are all Bible centered, engaging to kids, and easy to use

Scope and Sequence connect to Revised Common Lectionary ReadingsLessons come from readings in the Old Testament, Gospel or ActsThree Year Cycle with Three Quarters each yearAge Grouped: Age 2-3, PreK-K, 1st-2nd, 3rd-4th, 5th-6th - This is something to notice – other lectionary curriculum is in a three year age bracket (example - grades 1-3, 4-6, etc.) This is because it is easier to just write one set for each age group. Spark’s approach means the lessons can be even more age-appropriate!

Here is the scope and sequence for the upcoming year. You can see that it links to the weekly lectionary readings and to the major stories related to what kids will encounter in worship on the major festival days, etc.

Scope and Sequence is written to follow the Salvation StoryBegin in Genesis and end in Acts each yearTwo Year Cycle with Three Quarters each year.Christmas Story is always in the Winter; Easter and Pentecost appear in the SpringTo be as age appropriate as possible, this is also age grouped: Age 2-3, PreK-K, 1st-2nd, 3rd-4th,5th-6th

As you can see here in the scope and sequence, it starts in the old testament, moves into the new testament in Q2, and actually finishes with an epistle lesson at the very end of the year.

Scope and Sequence contains both Old and New Testament stories each yearEight Stories will be rolling out each quarter for the next two years (total of 48 rotation stories)Eight workshop choices for every storyArt, Bible Skills and Games, Computer Lab, Cooking, Creative Drama, Music, Science, and Video. Preschoolers will experience an in-room rotation with Storytelling, Art, Snack, Music and Game stations.Resources are organized into four age groupingsPreschool (in-room rotation) , Lower Elementary (workshop rotations) Upper Elementary (workshop rotations) , All Kids (Kindergarten – Grades 6

This is the Scope and Sequence for the rotation model. They are being released in a logical sequence (Example – Q2 - Baby Moses, Burning bush, the Plagues, and the Red Sea)offer a lot of variety for rotation users.

In addition to the Bibles, the Lectionary and Classroom models both use leaflets. Each learner has a leaflet for each week, which will let them have something they can take home each week. It includes some additional pieces to engage kids in the Bible story. (Highlight a few features on this leaflet – Look it up, fun facts, etc.)(Rotation does not use leaflets)

There are also a few other things I want to mention. There will be a web subscription for the product available as well – it is an additional subscription and the web product is still in development, but it will have some additional components to it.One thing that I want to also mention is the leader prep videos. These are short 3-5 minute teacher preparation videos for your teachers. We have samples online at activatefaith.org – be sure to check them out. They will allow your teachers to get:Bible backgroundInformation on the lessonAge-appropriate tips These are created for everysingle lesson and every age level – so for first quarter there are somewhere around 150 videos we created to make it easy for teachers to prepare for each lesson – and this is just for this upcoming first quarter! These are also available along with the specific teacher guides on DVD.

Optional (if you have time): I am going to quickly walk through a lesson to show how all of this works together.Each lesson is set up in a similar fashion – GatherOpen the BibleActivate FaithSend

This lesson is from the grade 3-4 lesson on Baby Moses. This is the “lesson at a glance” that gives a quick overview of the lesson activities. It shows you exactly what you need for each activity as well.(point out the age-appropriate lesson focus, scripture reference, and Bible memory verse, activities, etc.)Each lesson starts with the gather time.

Next section of the lesson is Open the Bible(look for how it engages kids with the Bible and eth Bible story)Next section of the lesson is Activate FaithThe activate faith section is a response to the Bible story itself. Look at how this one page engages the different learning styles:Listen to the story with listening objectivesRead the contemporary retellingDiscuss the retellingInteract with a mazePhysically move around and interact with other kidsCreate a geometrically shaped picture from the story

This is a more detailed view of the lesson.You can see it has: cues for the teacher, historical information relevant for understanding the culture surrounding the text, and objectives for readers (“listen for dangerous places and safe places”).