{"id":1220,"date":"2018-06-14T13:00:25","date_gmt":"2018-06-14T18:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/wels-educator\/?p=1220"},"modified":"2018-06-18T11:39:46","modified_gmt":"2018-06-18T16:39:46","slug":"teaching-bible-lessons-to-our-preschoolers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.mlc-wels.edu\/wels-educator\/2018\/06\/14\/teaching-bible-lessons-to-our-preschoolers\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Bible Lessons to Our Preschoolers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Bonnie Homan<\/em><\/p>\n

T<\/em>his article was written in May 1995. Does it still apply today?<\/em><\/p>\n

Last summer, Professor Beverlee Haar came to Jordan Lutheran School for a course in early childhood education. This was an intensive\u00a0workshop in two-and-a-half days. I felt like my head was spinning from all the invaluable information\u00a0we received. The greatest and newest piece of information for me was about telling Bible stories. It was completely different than the way I had been teaching Bible stories for the last 20 years. I had always used props such as flannel board items, puppets, pictures, and books. Professor Haar suggested telling the story without anything except one’s\u00a0knowledge and verbal skills. She also advised us to start the story with \u201cA long, long, time ago . . .\u201d I have to admit that I was\u00a0a bit skeptical. It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks.<\/p>\n

It took me a while to reflect on a new approach, but the most important question I had to ask myself was, \u201cWhy am I here?\u201d Isn’t my first and foremost purpose to bring our young lambs to know and love Jesus? Why am I hesitant? I knew that telling the Bible story without visuals would mean extensive research so that I could be an expert for each Bible story. I also realized that telling a story with only myself made me a bit uncomfortable. I asked my pastor what would be my best study guide to the Bible, and he suggested Franzmann’s commentaries (Werner Franzmann. Bible History Commentary<\/em>, v 1-2, Milwaukee: Northwestern, 1980, 1989).<\/p>\n

I planned my first lesson and digested as much information as I could about the lesson. I knew that it was time to put it all together. I gathered my 15\u00a0preschoolers at my feet for \u201cJesus time.\u201d I started with \u201cA long, long time ago . . .\u201d and proceeded to tell the story of Jonah in the fish. I was amazed at how intently the children were listening. They seemed to hang on every word. I then followed the story with an art project. (We made a fish, of course.)<\/p>\n

The feedback from the parents quieted the rest of my fears. The parents who came to school the next day said, \u201cMy child recited the story from front to back. What\u00a0did you do differently?\u201d This was enough to make me a believer in this new approach\u00a0to my Bible stories.<\/p>\n

Here is the procedure outline:<\/p>\n