Optimally, Abraham & Sarah CD and most of our software is EASIEST to use with 3rd through 8th grade because they can quickly understand a program's interface, read text on the screen, and do well following the teacher's instructions. But many of us also have preschoolers and early readers to whom we "STRETCH" our software down to in order to make good use our software budgets. When designing software, we try to keep that in mind. And we put a lot of age-appropriate tips in our program outlines that you can print from this site. See Abe's Outline

From a design point of view, we believe it's better to make a CD that appeals slightly more to the older kids, because the younger kids aren't as discriminating and don't mind your help or adjustments. And because you'll be re-using CDs again over the next few years, it's good to have CDs they can grow into. Saves your budget too!

I have both preschoolers and Middle Schoolers coming into my lab. So I've become something of an expert at stretching our software. By the way... I have devoted an entire chapter to this subject in my book about "stretching" down to preschoolers and up to teens. (It has a lot of good tips and the book is spiral bound so you can copy those pages and give them to your teachers.)

Here's a picture of a preschool Sunday School class from my church using Abraham & Sarah CD.

My co-lab leader Jim (pictured) and I had been using Abraham & Sarah with our older age groups with great success that month. When it was our preschoolers' week in the lab, Jim and I wondered whether or not the "Near Sacrifice of Isaac" was too much for them. Having used it with 1st and 2nd graders already, we decided to give it a try with our preschoolers (ready to pull the plug at the first sign of distress!). The preschoolers were totally fine with it. We explained it at their level, and they watched the story animation and music video intently. In fact, they wanted to see it twice. The kids clicked the lyrics discussion activity and Jim and I read the content off the screen -adding age appropriate adjustments on the fly.  Afterwards, we led a rousing version of the classic "Father Abraham" song (right arm, left arm, spin around....). 

The key to using any software with younger children is:

• Be right there with them at the computer, ready to explain things and read things. Interpret/rephrase on the fly.
• Know what to skip. For example, we didn't use the "Insane Fanatasy" music video and exercise with younger children. It's mainly on the CD for older elementary students and teens.

Older Elementary and Teens do great with every portion of the Abraham & Sarah CD. It's one of the few CDs in our catalog that doesn't have content older teens would consider beneath them. Music videos appeal to children and teens. We usually view them twice: once for the visuals, once for the lyrics. The "Insane Fanatasy" video and activity is especially "ripe" for discussion with kids 4th grade and up.

Print my Student Handout
This free handout has "fill in the blank" and questions for each of the story sections that will provide structure and a sense of accountability to your kids. Have them fill in the section of the handout that corresponds to the section of the CD you are studying that day.

One year when we taught with Abraham & Sarah CD with young teens, we gave the youth THREE WEEKS in the lab to use the CD --which allowed them to get through all three major stories and use the timeline, quiz and Insane Fanatasy areas   Lots of discussion those weeks too..

If you'd like to discuss your classroom use of Abraham & Sarah CD, email me at neil@sundaysoftware.com

You'll also find that our Abe CD Outline has a lot of good teaching helps in them.

<>< Neil MacQueen

Sunday Software