Exodus Sunday School lessons from Sunday Software

Exodus Lesson Sketches
a resource for use with Sunday Software's Exodus Adventures CD

plus...how to make an Egyptian Village in your classroom

The following lesson "sketches" and schedule examples are companion resources for Sunday Software's Exodus Adventures CD www.sundaysoftware.com/Exodus. You are welcome to use them with or without the use of the CD!

In addition the lesson plan content and scheduling suggestions, this document also includes additional classes, lesson ideas, media suggestions, activities, and a VBS schedule adaptation.

Our Exodus Adventures CD has three separate lesson-games in it:

Moses, Pharaoh and the Plagues (How the Israelites came to Egypt, How Moses led them out)
Red Sea to Mt. Sinai (Manna, Bitter Waters made Sweet, Water from the Rock)
To the Promised Land (overview of the story and books after the Book of Exodus)

Below are three lesson sketches, --one for each of the three game found in the Exodus Adventures CD.

Each lesson-game on the CD can be used to form the major activity of one lesson. Each lesson-game takes about 30 to 40 minutes to complete, ...depending on the age of your players. Each game tells the story and has reflection material, meaning: the software is nearly a complete lesson in itself. Your players navigate "Robin" a teenage archaeologist in a 3d-style landscape to explore elements of the Exodus story. She is guided by her grandfather who gives her directions and reflects on meanings. Listen carefully to him! Read and print the Exodus Adventures game guide at www.sundaysoftware.com/Exodus/guide.htm

For best results, use the CD as part of a multi-week study of the Exodus.

In our suggested lesson schedule below, you will see a plan for the students to play Game 1 in the CD on one week, then learn more about the story over the next two or three weeks using another medium (such as game, drama, art). This is the "rotation style" of Sunday School... many weeks and media on one story. Ideally, the computer-lesson teacher stays with the software and computers each week, while the children rotate to a different teacher/workshop each week to work on the story.

We designed the CD's content assuming your kids had some familiarity with the story. Thus, you will see in our schedule that we put everyone in the Video Workshop on Week 1 to get "the big picture."

This is a typical "four workshop - four week" rotation. Adjust the schedule to fit the number of age groups you want to rotate. Three weeks on one story is considered a minimum. Four is good.

Multi-week Sunday School Schedule Examples

STORY 1: Moses, Pharaoh, and the Plagues	WEEK 1	WEEK 2	WEEK 3	WEEK 4
Class A (youngest group)	VIDEO	GAME	Art	COMPUTER
Class B (middle group)	VIDEO	Art	COMPUTER	GAME
Class C (older group)	VIDEO	COMPUTER	GAME	1/2 computer, 1/2 art*

Rotation Model Sunday Schools will quickly recognize this 'rotation style' matrix, but you don't have to do a Rotation style Sunday School to create a Rotation Style computer lab experience, or special unit on the Exodus Story. Rotating classes into your computer lab allows you to ASSIGN one teacher to be your computer lab teacher. This means they will get well acquainted with the software!

Classes A, B and C could be "Class A = 1st-2nd graders, Class B = 3rd-4th, Class C = 5th-6th". In a smaller church you can lop-off Class C. In a larger church you can add a fourth or fifth class and a fourth or fifth week with new activities. In a really small program you could have all your students as "Class A" and walk them through the four week schedule.

*Class C should be your oldest children. They are going to help test drive the software in Week 2, which should be a big help to the computer-teacher. Then in Week 4, half of them are going to help the youngest students navigate the Exodus Adventures program. The young elementary children love the game, but need help. The other half of your older class will do an art project. You may choose to let the kids decide whether to assist in the lab or do the art project.

Starting everyone off with a Video quickly gets everyone up to speed on the story.

This manipulation of the schedule is part of what makes "rotation style" of teaching so interesting. We can target certain ages to certain activities within the schedule, and adjust the schedule depending on the media we are using. Having older kids help younger with this particular piece of software is important.

In the examples below, Stories 2 and 3 in the Exodus trilogy repeat the same schedule of lessons/media with some minor changes.

STORY 2: Red Sea to Mt Sinai	WEEK 1	WEEK 2	WEEK 3	WEEK 4
Class A (youngest class, 1st graders or older)	VIDEO	GAME	Cooking	COMPUTER
Class B	VIDEO	Cooking	COMPUTER	GAME
Class C (oldest students)	VIDEO	COMPUTER	GAME	1/2 computer 1/2 cooking*

STORY 3: To the Promised Land	WEEK 1	WEEK 2	WEEK 3	WEEK 4
Class A (youngest class, 1st graders or older)	VIDEO	GAME	Drama	COMPUTER
Class B	VIDEO	Drama	COMPUTER	DRAMA
Class C (oldest students)	VIDEO	COMPUTER	GAME	1/2 Comptr 1/2 Drama

You'll notice a neat scheduling trick in Story 3. Instead of putting the older class in the Game lesson on week 4, we're going to have the older class split up and help the younger two. The youngest class will really need their help to get through the computer game, but the little kids will love it. If you don't want to do this, swap in "game" in week four for the oldest group.

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL SCHEDULE ADAPTATION (suggested)

The following schedule mimics a typical VBS week.
Activities 1, 2 and 3 need 40-45 minutes.

DAY 1: Moses, Pharaoh, Plagues	Gathering	Activity 1	Activity 2	Break	Activity 3	Activity 4
Preschool		VIDEO	Art	SNACK	Drama/Game	Worship
Younger		VIDEO	Computer	SNACK	Art	Worship
Older		VIDEO	Game	SNACK	Computer	Worship

DAY 2: Red Sea to Mt Sinai	Gathering	Activity 1	Activity 2	Break	Activity 3	Activity 4
Preschool		VIDEO	Cooking	SNACK	Game	Worship
Younger		VIDEO	Computer	SNACK	Cooking	Worship
Older		VIDEO	Game	SNACK	Computer	Worship

DAY 3: To the Promised Land	Gathering	Activity 1	Activity 2	Break	Activity 3	Activity 4
Preschool		VIDEO	Art	SNACK	Game	Worship
Younger		VIDEO	Computer	SNACK	Art	Worship
Older		VIDEO	Game	SNACK	Computer	Worship

Lesson Sketches:

STORY 1: Moses, Pharaoh, and the Plagues
VIDEO	"Moses" from the animated Nest series. http://www.sundayresources.net/biblevideos/oldtestamentvideos.htm Or, Exodus (DVD#2) from the What's in the Bible Series DVDs...overview of Exodus.
Art	There are numerous Art project ideas in the Rotation.org Lesson Exchange's Exodus lessons section.
COMPUTER	Print and use the "Mission 1" handout from http://www.sundaysoftware.com/Exodus/student-handout.pdf
GAME	There are numerous game ideas in the Rotation.org Lesson Exchange's Exodus lessons section.

STORY 2: Red Sea to Mt. Sinai
VIDEO	"Moses" ...the version starring Sir Ben Kingsley as Moses. Cue it to this part of the story (after the Red Sea).
Cooking	Making Manna, tasting bitterness. There are several cooking lessons in the Rotation.org Lesson Exchange's Exodus lessons section.
COMPUTER	Print and use the "Mission 2" handout from http://www.sundaysoftware.com/Exodus/student-handout-mission2.pdf
GAME	See my "Games Workshop" outline at the bottom of this page. It was a lot of fun!

STORY 3: To the Promised Land
VIDEO & Videotaping	Movie: "Moses" ...the version starring Sir Ben Kingsley as Moses. Cue it to the end after Mt Sinai. It's short but no other "Moses movie" does this scene. So what you're going to do after watching it, is have the kids create their own "Alternate Ending." First, discuss Moses' reaction to being taken to see the Promised Land, but not getting to enter it. Then, pair up after the discussion, one child will play Moses, the other God. Give them some costumes, let them rehearse, and then videotape each pair in a 60 second "Alternate Ending". They pretending to walk up Nebo, look over the Promised Land, God describes how good its going to be, and then God says, "but you cannot enter." Moses is flabbergasted. He recounts his journey to God in an attempt to change God's mind. God has to stand tall! Should be a lot of unforgettable "playback fun."
Art	Kids will create an "Exodus ViewMaster." Instructions for one Exodus Viewmaster: (1) Cut a circle out of posterboard approximately 12" in diameter. (2) Cut a square piece of posterboard approximately 12"x12" (3) You will be placing a brass brad in the middle to fasten circle to square, creating a turning round disk against a square piece. (4) Cut a notch out of the top of the square piece, -removing a "pie piece" from the square approximately 4 inches high and 4 inches wide. The width can slightly wider at the outer edge. This notch will be revealing the drawings on the round disk as the round disk is turned. (5) Draw on the round piece -subdividing the circle into five pie pieces. Label each pie slice with a book of the Pentateuch. List key stories and a symbol that represents the book (such as Moses giving his Deuteronomy speech), and illustrate the pie piece to represent the stories in the book. (6) Assemble the round piece to the square piece with a brass brad. You may attach clear cellophane over notch for embellishment!
COMPUTER	Begin by leading the kids on a walking tour of the Pentateuch, -the first five books. Have them flip along with you. Identify key sections and stories. Then go to the Exodus Adventures Game 3 and play the flying game which introduces them to some of the content of Lev/Numbers/Deut. It has a set of questions in it that describes as well as quizzes students on "the Exodus Story AFTER Mt. Sinai."
GAME	"The Deuter-athlon" Here are two games to begin your Deuter-athlon with... Deuteronomy 6:4-5 Hear O Israel... Round one: Be the first team to correctly recite this passage together to a judge. Round two: Teammates recite it individually. If one person falters, whole team has to repeat. Round three: Other teams can try to distract. Deuteronomy 31-32: Moses' commands them to carry the Ark and then raps about their future and calls them to "Choose Life." Team must come up with song: Refrain1, Verse2, Refrain2, Verse2, Refrain. Write this on a handout. Include list of keywords from passage for them to cogitate on. Award extra points for performance.

Neil's Notes on Games/Drama Workshop for the Exodus Story

These notes come from a 'rotation' of lessons I did in 2001 and again in 2004. They were originally posted at rotation.org and numerous other churches have adapted them to their situation and sensibilities!

GAMES WORKSHOP
In 2001 we did these activities as a Drama Workshop and a Games Workshop in a Fellowship Group. In 2004, we didn't do the relay games, and only did the Marching through the Wilderness Activities -turning them into more interactive games. Here are our notes.

Here is our 2004 Games Workshop Lesson:
"Marching Through the Wilderness"

1. Read the Story of Manna & Quail, Bitter Waters, and Water from the Rock.
We used the paraphrased but excellent compilation of these three stories found in the "365 Bible Stories" Bible from Lion Publishing. It's just a great read-from Bible to have.

We stood in a circle and I read aloud. As I read, we acted out each part, each emotion, each action. We made it quite fun (kids love to pretend to complain!) even the older ones liked it.

2. We Marched & Complained our way over to a game we dubbed "Catch a Flying Quail."
We used rubber band to fasten large spoons to the backs of folding chairs. Split the class into pairs --assigning each pair to a chair. One person "catapulted" an animal cookie at their partner who had a basket. Catch it and you get to eat it. Warning: animal cookies shatter on impact (which made the game a little more fun actually). Bring a broom.

Recount and Discuss some things about the Manna story. The kids particularly liked the translation for manna: in Hebrew it means "what is it."

3. We Marched and Complained our way over to the Marah Well.
[As we marched, we stopped and asked them why they were complaining. We kept on the theme of "why don't people trust God?" and "how should they have acted toward God and their leaders?" Again, they liked the complaining part and tried to get creative about it.]

The Bitter Waters to Sweet "trick" is very neat. Nobody ever figured it out til we told them. And telling them was powerful! [My younger daughter came home and did the trick for her teenage sisters then told them the story.]

Exodus 15: 22-26 Station -- Marah and Bitter Water
We had a tub of water sitting in middle of circle of large pillows which had been covered by canvas tarp. "Moses" offered them a drink out of the tub. But we had secreted about 1/4 tsp of baking soda into cups which were stacked as if new. When water was dipped in the cups by "Moses" the soda instantly disolved. Then Moses talked to God about his people and threw a stick in the tub and invited the kids to take a new cup (no baking soda in it) and be refreshed. The kids were pretty amazed at this sleight of hand. **Encourage them to tell the story and do the trick at home.

"Marah" means "bitterness" What were the people bitter about?

4. We then complained and Marched our way to Meribah.
Exodus 17:1-7 Station: - Meribah and the Rock of Horeb
They traveled from Elim further across the wilderness and came to Rephedim where they found no water. They quarreled with Moses and he struck the rock of Horeb with his staff. Moses called the place "Meribah" meaning "quarrel."

Originally we did this using a super-soaker being shot from being a tarp at the kids. We modified this for colder weather like this: We wrapped the entire class in a tarp "to be the rock" (which they thought was funny) and handed them a super-soaker one-by-one to shoot water at a poor Hebrew puppet about 20 feet in front of us. It was a HOOT! Afterwards, I thought that "had this been warmer" I would have asked for a volunteer to wear a raincoat and be a bit of a moving COMPLAINING target for the rock.

Another church adapted this by having teams throw a small "staff" (stick) at each team's grey trash bag full of water to make them break. At first, they were far back.

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The following Games were played as part of our 2001 Journey across the Wilderness.

For two or more teams...

Build the Pyramids Relay

Pairs place a large block between them (belly to belly) and must carry it to the Pyramid, drop and run back. Can't use your hands except at starting line. If the box is dropped you must pick up box and go back to starting line and start over. First team to get all their boxes to the pyramid wins.

Manna Cracker Whistling Relay

Each player on the team gets three manna crackers. First player must eat their three manna crackers and whistle reasonably well (swallowing or not) before second player can start eating and try to whistle. First team to have last person whistle is the winner. You can use saltines, or get flat Mazah bread crackers.

The Bitter Meribah Water Relay

Each person receives a small cup. When it is their turn they put water in the cup, place on head and walk toward their "Meribah water well" (a pitcher) and dump water in. They can only use hands to fill cup and dump cup. First team to get water up to line on the well wins.

Whack the Rock of Horeb Game --- Grand Finale....everybody wins (or loses depending on how you look at it!)

Each person takes a turn hitting the rock of Horeb (an adult with a super soaker under a sheet that has a hole in it). The Rock, however, has been told only to gush forth water when the "true leader" of the Hebrews hits the rock. The true leader is determined by drawing a number known only to the Rock. The Rock gushes forth when that number (kid) comes forward and hits the Rock. After gushing, select a new number and have kids again come up one at a time. Play until quite a few "leaders" have been squirted.
(This was very popular)

These ideas for use with our Exodus Adventures CD originally appeared in our Summer Computer Lab Lesson Ideas webpage at www.sundaysoftware.com/summer.htm

How turn your Classroom into
an EGYPTIAN or HEBREW VILLAGE

An article from Neil MacQueen, Sunday Software

Many years ago when we were getting ready to teach with Joseph Story CD, I decided to redecorate our computer lab to look like an Egyptian village. We weren't allow to make any permanent improvements, so necessity mothered a few inventions which I'm sharing here. We left the village decor intact over the summer and the following Fall we taught with our Exodus Adventures CD. A couple of these ideas are things I wish we had done, and how I thought of doing them. If you have suggestions, email neil@sundaysoftware.com and we'll get them added here.

For more creative decor ideas, go to www.sundaysoftware.com/photos and www.sundaysoftware.com/contest to see photos from our customers.

You can see MORE creative Summer and VBS computer lab decor ideas and lessons at www.sundaysoftware.com/summer.htm They include design ideas for turning your classroom into a Jungle, or a Camp-out, or Peter's House with the hole in the roof, or a Baseball stadium.

Boxes are your friend...

The idea: Stack boxes to form walls and ruins of walls.
Cardboard is your friend! Freezer boxes and the like usually come unprinted on the inside. For a more 3-D effect use old boxes you have turned inside out, or buy a stack of new boxes (inexpensively from Uline.com).
Depending on your "permissions" you can fix or stack the boxes against the wall in a variety of ways.

Way 1: Lay out boxes on the floor and use packing tape to tape the back of it. Then, hang the cardboard wall . In this photo, we bought new plain boxes, used a glue gone to glue the boxes firmly to each (while lying on the floor), then tacked them to the door frame. they stood up surprisingly well. We were asked not to tack into the drywall, but had to in two spots using long "hatpins" to be unobtrusive. They held for over two years. Alternately, you could glue the boxes to a thin lattice made of 1x1 wooden slats, then fix slats to the wall in as few points as needed or permitted. (Don't want it falling over!)

Way 2: Cut rectangular squares of cardboard and staple to a framework of wood slats. Prop/fix wood framework to the wall. Make your shapes irregular.

Way 3: Paint your cardboard (or wall, or big sheets of drywall). Use sponges to create texture, or use Textured paint. As it dries you can "stiple" it to give it texture. You can also get a similar effect by using beige paint and adding sand to the paint. (ask the paint store for sand)

Variation: Clever Mudbrick & Straw "Walls" Before you apply the textured paint, sprinkle some short pieces of straw on the cardboard, then paint over it with your "mud".

Variation: Buy sheets of drywall and decorate them with any of the above methods. 4x8 sheets can be propped up against the walls to form a "low village wall". Be sure to put the drywall into the corner of the room so you can fasten the sheets at right angles for more stability. Tack to the baseboard if you are not allowed to fasten to the original drywall.

FABRICS are your friend...

Sunday Schoolers have done some amazing things with fabric store remnants and old sheets to decorate their classrooms.

Example: On the right you can see a sheet slung over two hanging pvc pipes fastened to the tracks of a drop ceiling.

Create a dramatic "tented" door entrance with this simple trick:

1. Tack a colorful sheet of fabric along the top of your door frame. Let it hang down about 3 feet.
2. Get two poles, about 8 feet each, and tie each of the two hanging ends to poles.
3. Fasten the bottom of each pole to the bottom of the door frame (using hardware or something as simple as twine to keep the bottom of the pole flush against the door frame. Adjust.

Fabric hung in the corner is very effective as well.

Looking to create a big tent but unsure how how to build the frame?

Use PVC pipe with connectors. Easy to set up and easy to take down and reuse later. For more rustic effect, use brown enamel spray paint on the pvc pipe (check with paintstore to make sure the paint will stick to the pvc.
You can also purchase a large free-standing tent, the kind seen at parties and events, and swag the inside with and visible outside parts of the tent with colorful remnant fabrics or canvas tarps.

Decorate with Palm Trees and Plastic Ficus trees

Home stores frequently have sales on plastic ficus trees and bushes. They'll last for years and find many uses.

Online Party decoration suppliers sell fun looking cardboard palm trees for between $6 and $8 each that can be pinned to any wall and will last a long time.

How to make Joseph's Well in 5 minutes

Buy a washtub, sit it up on sturdy boxes, and wrap tightly with canvas painters cloth. Spray paint the cloth with grey paint to create a 'stone' look.

How to make Joseph's Well --version 2:

Build a 3 x 3 x 4' high wooden frame and cover with painted cardboard. Paint 'blocks' on the cardboard. Put a tub at the bottom of it. Remember to paint and place a box "stone lid" on the well. If you get really inspired, put a rope with a "skin" bucket down in it.

Buy "stone walls" and sky.

Many online party catalogs sell rolls of corrugated cardboard printed with stone patterns on them. I've reused such for many different scenes. They also sell 'gossamer' ...which is a strong but very light/thin fabric that comes on big rolls and various patterns, including clouds.

**Note from experience: Do not buy concrete blocks. They hurt when they fall over.

Instead Sand Dunes on the wall...

Without paint... Cut fabric or canvas cloth in dune shapes and pin to wall. Place behind a stone wall/boxes on wall for a '3-d' depth effect.

With paint... Add painter's sand to any paint color and brush on directlyon wall, or brush onto sheets of cardboard which are cut in the shapes of dune. Add blue and small palm trees for an oasis in the distance.

Robin finds the branch and throws it into the Well of Marah in Exodus Adventures CD game 2.

How to Make the Bitter Water turn Sweet

---A cool demonstration that will leave them wondering "HOW'D THEY DO THAT"

Take a bunch of dixie cups and put about 1/3 teaspoon of baking soda in the bottom of each, then restack them and put back in their box. Tell the story of the Israelites complaining in the desert and tasting the bitter waters. Reach into your "well" and pull up a big pitcher of water. Grab the box of cups and pull out the stack. Pour water into each cup, filling vigorously with an inch or two of water in each and give to each child. The soda will instantly dissolve. After they all say "yuck", have them toss their water into a sink and bring their cup back. (Don't forget to talk 'meaning' and 'metaphor' about all this.) Now dramatically throw a branch into the water just like Moses did, pull up the SAME water pitcher from the well and pour into their cups. It will taste 'sweet' and they'll never figure it out!

Add Baskets and a Persian rug

Make Egyptian Wall Decorations/Art

Browse the internet for a few Egyptian graphics and hieroglyphics, print them and take to your local printer who has a large format printer and can enlarge them.

Cover walls with brown kraft paper dropcloths from your local paint store. The paper will look like stone walls once you copy hieroglyphics onto them. Write some Bible verses in VERTICAL columns (like Egyptian writing) so the kids will decipher them.

Make a simple SHEPHERD's SHELTER. Have a handy person in your congregation hammer together some sturdy limbs into a lean-to, and cover with light weight sticks and some plastic plants/ivy for looks. If you have the kind of ceiling you can hook into, suspend two sturdy limbs from the ceiling and place sticks between them. Use twine to tie the sticks to the suspended frame. Place a bundle of stick "firewood" in the corner for effect.