Awesome Bible Stories CD
Outline and Teaching Guide
Written by Neil MacQueen, Sunday
Software, www.sundaysoftware.com
Visit our website Teaching Tips for
the latest version of this guide and technical help. (This page updated March
2008)
Printed from www.sundaysoftware.com/awesome/guide.htm
A PDF version of this guide can be
printed from www.sundaysoftware.com/awesome/guide-2.pdf
Important Version Note:
Sunday Software released two versions of Awesome Bible Stories CD -version
1.0 (September 2004) and version 2.0
(July 2005). The words "2.0" appear on both the jewelcase
artwork and CD. If you don't see 2.0 in those places, you have the first
release. The first release is also named "volume I". In version 2.0
we took that phrase off the CD. We announced a generous 1.0 for 2.0 swap for several months at our website and email
newsletter. The "generous replacement" plan ends/ended September 1,
2005. After that date, you can still swap your version 1.0 CDs for version 2.0
through the end of 2006, but it will cost you a few more bucks. Contact Sunday
Software at 800-678-1948 for details about the plan.
What’s different about
Version 2.0?
·
We
made several navigational improvements to help teachers. Now when you begin
Creation, Jacob, or Esther's stories you will notice that several story
sections appear to choose from. Use these to skip to certain sections.
·
An
Adam and Eve game was added, and 3 of their study notes were put between the
levels of the game.
·
About
5 dozen animation enhancements were added across all 6 stories. Some
explanatory texts were added too.
·
Some
study notes were adjusted, and some drawings were improved.
·
The
Esther and Creation Quizzes were tweaked.
·
The
mistaken point value in the Zaccheus Measure Up game was fixed.
·
The
Green "GO BACK” button was renamed “STORY MENU”. It’s the button to click
to change your activity within the story you have already
started to play. Main Menu takes you to
the revolving menu of six stories.
·
You
may also notice that version 2.0 works a little faster,
and better on slower machines. Hey....we care!
If the Purim video doesn't run (see Esther menu), you
need to install Quicktime on your computer. There's a copy of it on your CD in
the Quicktime folder. During installation, just click 'continue' if you don't
have an internet connection to register it. If you have
Using Awesome CD on a Mac: Drag the Mac
Zip file to your desktop and unzip it there. Trying to execute the unzip before you move it to your desktop will give you
an error message.
Who’s
this CD for?
Most of
this CD’s content is easily usable by Kindergarteners through Sixth Grade.
Having said that, we designed it with the expectation that an
adult would be present to enhance and explain content even further. Younger children will need to be guided
through some text-only content. As we do in all our CDs, we tuck-in extra content
for older students or students with extra time to use the CD.
How can you use this
CD?
This CD was
designed to be used in a classroom-like setting, though it can comfortably be
used at home too. The CD is not meant to be “browsed through,” rather, it was designed as six completely independent story-lessons. The story is
presented, background information is offered to be explored and discussed, then follow-up activities are available to reflect with. We
designed the content of this CD expecting that adults will be using the CD with
their students, making observations, asking questions, and pointing out items
of note. Preview the content and note which items you especially want to key-in
on. Some of the study notes have follow-up questions built-in. Which ones
you’ll spend time on will depend on the amount of time you have to cover the
content. Following the
use of the CD, if time permits, additional activities can be added to the
lesson plan. Some of the stories and study notes suggest additional activities.
To more fully teach these stories, bring in other media, such as, videotapes,
art projects and games that teach the story and its life application through a
different learning mode. One free source of such materials is the Lesson
Exchange at www.rotation.org
Younger children will need someone to read some of
the study notes to them. Typically with younger children, you don’t read
everything. You pick and choose. You may also want to rephrase some of the vocabulary
and concepts as you read them.
Lesson Planning with
this CD
It is
typical to begin the use of a CD by reading the scripture before seeing it
presented on the computer. However, it would be nearly impossible to read all the
chapters of Jacob or Esther’s story in one class time. Even the story of Adam
& Eve is a bit long in print for most classes. Prior to starting the CD, show students where in the Bible the
stories can be found. See how much they
already know of the story, and ask
key questions which you hope they will learn the answers to. Write them
down or post them for all to see.
The main
story presentations in all six stories on this CD are meant to be your lesson
plan’s “Bible reading.” If you can’t be
right next to the computer, give
students a list of “STOPPING POINTS” --the study notes and questions you want
them to stop and consider. Have the student write down their answers to
question you have told them to answer. You
can also give them some “fill in the blank” questions or definitions whose
answers are found in the story’s study notes.
Get the students “resting places” in the program to stop and let others
in the class catch up to that point. Having questions to answer will help them
focus on content and not just click to find the next activity. Quiz them on the
study note content after they have view it. For example, if they don’t remember
what “original sin” means in the story of Adam and Eve, send them back to find
out.
WHO
Are the text comments and study notes throughout this program for the kids or teachers? Our theory is that we HOPE the kids will stop
and read them, but we really put them there for the teachers to say “let’s read
that.” Often, you’ll find that you need to GO BACK THROUGH the story a second
time to hit the questions/notes they skipped over the first time. We made this easier to do in Version 2.0 Sometimes I have the kids go through the
story once on their own, then I point out which study notes we want to key in
on as we go through it a second time.
« In Version 2.0 of the
CD, we have added
extra navigational “jumps” to the longer stories: Creation, Jacob, and Esther.
In Version 2.0 you can click the green “Story Menu” button to access the Play
Story button again and jump into a specific section of the story.
Don’t let them rush through content in order to play the game.
It is suggested that you only allow them to play the activities
associated with the story they are learning. As much fun as Jacob’s wrestling
game is, you’ll want to save it for the time you are scheduled to teach that
story. Don’t hesitate to go back to a certain section of a story and ask more
questions. And if they don’t do too well on one of the quizzes, have them take
the quiz again. Record their scores to make a game of it. You will notice that none of the activities are meant to be rushed through only once.
Gabby Talker, for example, can be used over and over to have them respond to
different ideas and questions you might pose to them. For example, use Gabby
Talker to construct Jacob’s apology to his father.
If you have time, follow up your CD
use with other related activities. For example, after using Adam and Eve’s content, create a
giant Tree of Life and discuss/design the kind of fruit that would be hanging
from it. In the story of Creation, have students draw what a great Sabbath day
would look like to them. In the Talents game, create a giant version of it as a
floor game. Make your own talent bags, re-enact the story.
Navigating the CD
At the
bottom of every screen are four buttons. The orange “Main Menu” button takes
you back to the Main Menu of the CD. The green “Go Back” button takes you to
the menu for the story you are in. This button is called “Story Menu” in version
2.0.
Of the six
stories, three are longer and have more learning content: Creation, Jacob, Esther. Without discussion
time figured in, it will take between 15 and 20 minutes to get through each
story's content. And in many cases, you’ll go through each story TWICE in one
lesson.
Misc. Technical Notes
On slower
computers with tight resources the rotating main menu might rotate slowly. It is recommended that you run Awesome CD in
800x600 screen resolution so that it appears the full-width of the screen.
Older computers should make sure they have all other software/antivirus
programs turned off. Setting your color to 16bit rather than 32bit will help an
older graphic card cope with Awesome’s full screen
graphics. If you have
Update: Go to www.sundaysoftware.com/tips to
print three student worksheets for
Creation, Esther, and Parable of the Talents
The Creation Story - Genesis 1
Menu Choices:
Play the Story
Play the Days (game)
Creation Power Poem
Creation Quiz
Students
see & hear the story, understand its strange and powerful vocabulary, and
express the meaning of the story by using its newly learned words and concepts
in an interactive poem. Truly, Genesis 1 has some of the most amazing words and
majestic phrases in all of scripture. Our notes explain these ideas to children
so that they understand the power and majesty and goodness of God these words
convey, --without getting sidetracked into an
un-child-friendly discussion about “when and how” Creation came about.
« In Version 2.0 you can jump into any of the days
simply by clicking Day Menu. In version 1.0 you cannot jump ahead in the story.
Narrated
study notes appear after each Day of Creation. For younger students, pre-select
the ones you want them to hear. Older students will have time to learn them
all. The Creation Quiz reinforces
central concepts and order. Creation
Power Poem asks the students to identify what they think are the key words of the story –and creatively
recombine them into their own Creation poem. Encourage them to create several
possible poems. Stop, listen and discuss each. There’s a set of “suggested
uses” for the Power Poem that pops up when you first use it. The Days of Creation puzzle page is for fun
–but learning the structure of the days will help them organize and remember
content and meaning.
It’s easy
to forget how important Genesis 1 is to our understanding of God and our world.
Try and imagine a negative creation story. Have your students come up with one
if you have time. Compare it to the story we believe in. How would we worship
God if we believed God didn’t take care in creating the world? How would we
treat the world differently if we didn’t know that God had made it?
It’s easy
to forget how important Genesis 1 is to our understanding of God and our world.
Try and imagine a negative creation story. Have your students come up with one
if you have time. Compare it to the story we believe in. How would we worship
God if we believed God didn’t take care in creating the world? How would we
treat the world differently if we didn’t know that God had made it?
Student
worksheet for this story available at www.sundaysoftware.com/tips
Adam & Eve – Genesis 2
Menu
Choices:
Play the Story
Narrated-Animated Study Notes
Gabby Talker Reflection Activity
Adam and Eve Apples Game --“You can run
but you cannot hide from God”
The
challenge of teaching the Adam & Eve story is that in the Bible it is
rather long and conceptually complex for children. We’ve condensed it a bit and
made the language more kid-friendly. This story has received tremendous
theological treatment throughout the centuries, but our aim in this CD is to
make its basic meanings and images accessible to children. The goal of the
story retelling and Gabby reflection activity is to see this as a story
about God for us, not against us. God is upset with our bad choices and holds
us accountable for the consequences, but God is loving
nevertheless. The study notes, in particular, encourage students to consider
how human beings SHOULD react when they realize they’ve done wrong. Comment:
Any argument about the ‘historicity’ of Adam & Eve misses the point of the
story, and is rather too deep for most children to comprehend anyway. Be
prepared, however, to explain your church’s position on this issue to older
children.
Several Narrated Study
Notes appear on the main menu of Adam & Eve. Pre-select which ones you
want students to hear and discuss. We spent a little extra time illustrating
them because they share somewhat exotic information. Several of them pose
questions which can be answered there with the teacher, or answered on a notecard and brought to a discussion table in the middle of
using the CD. The Gabby Talker activity has several suggested uses (click the
instructions button in the activity). Recommendations: Work on offering an
apology to God. Or... have the students create a conversation between
computers, one taking Adam’s point of view, one taking God’s, etc. Younger
children can hear the words by rolling over them before clicking to select
them.
« In Version 2.0 of the CD three of the study notes were moved into
the new Adam and Eve game. This game can be found on the study note titled
“Hiding from God!” (found when you click the correct
‘target’ icon on the story screen) The study notes appear between the levels of
the game.
We’ve also
given you a menu button to access them without playing the game. But that’s no
fun.
The following DISCUSSION SCREEN
appears at the END of the game (when you win or run out of turns).
« Also in Version 2.0 of the CD there is an error in the study note
on the main Adam and Eve page. When you click the lower left “target” icon, it
reads “Is This Story for You” -but unfortunately it does not play that study
note! …it repeats another note. Here is
the correct study note it SHOULD have played:
Jacob & Esau -Genesis 25:19-28, Chapters 27, 29, 32, and Genesis 33:1-20
Menu
Choices:
Play the Story
Midnight Wrestling Game
Gabby Talker
One of our main
goals in this story is simply to tell this very l-o-n-g episodic story to
children in a concise and memorable fashion. This CD breaks the story into four
episodes:
1. Jacob and Esau are Born, Esau sells his birthright
2. Jacob, Laban, Rachel and Leah
3. Jacob wrestles with the angel
4. Jacob reconciles with Esau
« In Version 2.0 of the CD you can jump into one of the four
sections. Just click the Green Story Menu ball at the bottom of every screen to
jump back into the story’s menu and jump to a new section. In version 1.0 you
must play the story from the beginning.
Play the Jacob Story: This is
the second longest story on the CD. Its drama involves trickery and
reconciliation (not unlike Adam & Eve’s story in this CD and so many others
in the Bible). Study Questions
appear at various locations in the story. One slick way of using this story is
to go straight through it the first time without pausing for any study notes, --then, go through it again stopping at
Midnight Wrestling
Game: Tucked away in the Jacob story is the episode of
Jacob wrestling with the angel, --who turns out to be God, --who then changes
Jacob’s name to
Save the
Wrestling Game for after your discussion time. Note that there are additional
comments/questions found after the Wrestling Game finishes. Jacob’s story spans
eight chapters of scripture so we had to leave some episode out. We did not
include “Jacob’s Ladder” or the extended scenes with Laban
and the household gods. When you read the story of Jacob all by itself, it
appears to be a story about reconciliation within a family. But in the larger
context of Genesis, you could also say that it is a story about how God is
working through imperfect people (like us) to raise up
a people dedicated to sharing God’s message.
Esther
Menu
Choices:
Play the Story
Esther Quiz
Purim Video
Haman vs Mordecai game
Esther’s
story is so large and has so many plot twists that our main goal and challenge
was simply retelling it at a brisk pace to Christian children unfamiliar with
it. Its comical nature is very much in keeping with Jewish Purim tradition
–which the story of Esther inaugurates. The animated story has some
content/questions in various places for discussion.
« In Version 2.0 of the CD when you click the Play Story button
you can jump to several sections of the story. This is handy
for previewing, or for going back AFTER you’ve gone through the story to
revisit a scene or study note.
The Esther
story begins with a brief introduction about the time period. In order to keep the
story manageable, we only mention Queen Vashti,
though she is certainly a virtuous woman. There are some other details in the
Bible’s story of Esther which we left out for the sake of clarity and length.
The Purim videoclip
shows how one modern Jewish congregation celebrates this story, and includes
some follow up comments and questions for further discussion. After learning
the story on CD, you might throw a Purim party for the class. There are some
good Purim resources on the internet. The Esther
Quiz helps cement the story line and character motivations into memory.
The Mordecai vs
Haman “Connect Four” –like game is designed for fun, but also to help
them remember how Mordecai and Haman tried to outwit each other –one for good,
one for evil purposes. Assign one student to be Mordecai and place his markers,
then pass the mouse to another student who places the Haman markers into the
game board.
What is Esther all about?
It’s about many things. It’s about standing
up for your faith. It’s about protecting innocent people. It’s about the right
to worship God in your own way. It’s about the importance of maintaining your
heritage, even when you find yourself in a far off land. It’s about seizing the
opportunity to do good when it comes your way. It’s about using power and
influence for Godly purposes. It’s about influencing others to do the right
thing. See if your older students can add to this list, and provide modern day
examples for each.
Do some memory verse work
on Esther 4:14 after learning this story. “Perhaps you have come to such a
royal position -for such a time as this.” (Check your church’s preferred Bible translation).
Think about other ways to say this and what it might say to you, such as,
“perhaps you have come to be a soccer player for such a time as this.” One of
the study notes in the Esther story ask: What
positions of influence does a student hold and how could they use it for Godly
purposes.
Student
worksheet for this story available at www.sundaysoftware.com/tips
Parable of the Talents
- Matthew 25:14-30
Menu Choices:
Play the Story
Talents-Stewardship Game
This
parable has some vocabulary and concepts that will be new to many students. So,
we have created an interactive story in which they can select alternate
phrases for key ideas as they move through the story to help them understand
what Jesus is talking about. The idea here is that you’ll have the time to hear
the story several different ways. Here’s how it works.... The narration/animation will pause at 8
key concept points in the story to allow students to select from one of several
translation options. For example, students can select “you wicked slacker”
instead of “you wicked servant.” These options appear
as onscreen buttons: A,B,C,
or D. Option A always plays the original scripture version. Option A is
also colored red, so you could simply say “play the red options first time
through the story.” At the end of the selection, a “continue” and “replay”
button appears. If you press “replay” it will replay the previous scene and
offer you the translation options again so that you can pick another one. Some
of the options are fun translations.
You’ll see some study
notes/questions during the story. Additional concepts are narrated in a set
of study notes at the end of the story.
Your use and discussion of these note will depending on
your age group and the time you have. If you have time after going through the
story, encourage students to come up with additional phrases that could be used
at each point in the story. If you have time, older students could write a new
ending to the story. How can the wicked servant be rehabilitated? Being a good steward of your talents is
further explored through a fun onscreen Stewardship Board game for one or two
players.
The Talents Board Game considers
modern day ways we bury or invest our “talents.” The game uses the same 25 concepts each time,
but the good/bad results and # of spaces you move are randomly generated.
Theological Comment: Some students may feel that the
parable is unfair because it punishes the one servant for merely saving the
money. Clearly Jesus is teaching that he expects us to do more than keep God’s
gifts to ourselves. This is not a parable about ultimate destinations; it is
about God’s Kingdom here on earth (what Matthew calls the
For further discussion with older
students: The other
servants don’t say why they invested their talents, but we do know the wicked
servant hid the talent because he feared losing it. He believed his master was
harsh and punishing, and that caused him to misuse the talents he was given.
What we believe about God affects how we act as Christians. Discuss what may
have motivated the other servants to invest the gifts they were given.
Student
worksheet for this story available at www.sundaysoftware.com/tips
Zaccheus -Luke 19:1-10
Menu
Choices:
Play the Story
Zapping Zaccheus Quiz
How do you Measure Up
Teachers
have long-noted that Zaccheus is short just like most of their students, but
makes the effort to put himself in a place where he
can see Jesus. In fact, Zaccheus is something of a parable about knowing your
need for salvation and “looking for Jesus.” It begs for discussion about the
“trees” we use to see Jesus. This is the
emphasis we have placed in this retelling.
The Zaccheus story will pause at
certain key points and a butterfly will fly around the screen. Click on it to open a narrated study
note. It may take you a number of tries to click the butterfly just so. It’s
not supposed to be too easy, it’s supposed to be fun.
At the END of the Zaccheus story you’ll see several colored butterflies, each
one of which reveals a study note to ponder. These are more “reflection
oriented” and would be good to do as a class together.
After working through the story,
take Zapping Zaccheus is a fun quiz challenge. Zap the “wrong answers” to
score. How Do You Measure Up is a reflection activity which
computes a score on how well you are living up to the Christian life. When more
than one student is at the computer, have each take the test, then right down
their score. A button reveals all the “test” questions for further discussion.
Here on the right is a graphic of the test questions >>
Additional Thoughts: The story of Zaccheus begins with the
story of Jesus and the rich young man who was blinded by his wealth from
following Jesus. Then Jesus demonstrates his power to heal blindness by healing
the blind man. Then Zaccheus tries to overcome his inability to see Jesus by
climbing a tree. The fourth character in this story is the crowd. Some bring
babies, some simply observe, others try to keep Zaccheus away from Jesus. They are blinded by their wrong way of
thinking. They don’t think a man like Jesus should be talking to a tax
collector. With older students, a good question to ask is this: “what are the things today which ‘blind’
(stop) some people from accepting Jesus and obeying his teachings.”
Zaccheus is a story about SALVATION.
Jesus says that “salvation has come to this man’s house” because of
what? How does salvation come to
us? When we welcome
the Christ.
Important Technical Note for the
Zaccheus “Measure Up” Activity:
Question
#10 is incorrect ONLY in version 1.0. “Always” should have had a point
value of 10, not 1. The selections are backwards ONLY in Version 1.0 of Awesome
CD.
« Tell your students to select
“higher” number on the slider if it is more true, and lower if it is less true about
them. This was corrected in Version 2.0.
Who is Gabby?
Gabby is
short for “Gabriel.” He’s the onscreen animated
narrator seen in four of the six stories. Not only does he narrate the
stories, he also provides commentary and study notes when asked. Gabby also has
three special reflection activities called “Gabby Talker.” Gabby Talker appears
in Creation, Adam & Eve, and Jacob & Esau. Click on the instructions
button on the Gabby Talker screen for user info and teaching details.
Each Gabby
Talker has its own special set of key
words from the story which the students can select in any order or
combination to express the essence of the story, an idea in the story, or
create new dialog, or a poem about the story.
Ways to Use Gabby
Talker
1. Have students create a poem that
summarizes the story or an idea in the story. Gabby can speak in as few words as the students want
to select. Which three or five words most fully express the story's meaning?
2. Have the students select words
that answer a question, such as, “What could Adam and Eve have said to God when they realized
they had done wrong?” and, “What would God have said to either Jacob or Esau at
the end of the story?”
3. If you have multiple computers, pose different questions to the
different computer groups. Or, have one computer speak for one character, and another
computer speak for someone else in the story.
4. Don’t just create one Gabby
Talker playback.
Encourage the students to try out different ideas and combinations for Gabby to
express.
5. In the
Creation Story, Gabby Talker is called “Gabby’s Creation Power Poem.” Unlike the other two Gabby Talkers,
the main idea here is to distill the story down to its powerful words in new
combinations, such as, “God said deep wild monsters good.” Repeat certain words
for effect. Be creative.
How to
Work “Gabby Talker”:
All three
Gabby Talkers work the same way and the instructions can be found onscreen.
·
Click any
word around Gabby to place it in one of the green boxes.
·
Click
play when you
have selected the words you want Gabby to say.
·
To
remove one word from a box, click the word in the box.
·
Click
clear to remove all the words and startover.
Technical
Help
Awesome
Bible Stories has a lot of animation. If your processor is too slow, or you
don’t have enough RAM or VIDEORAM, some of the animations may play slowly, or
get out of sync for a moment. For the latest technical help or update
information about this CD, visit www.sundaysoftware.com/support.
Please remember the 8th
Commandment and do not teach with illegally copied CDs.
Copyright 2008, Sunday Software. Visit us on the web
for more great software and teaching helps.
www.sundaysoftware.com
Revised 03-2008