Important Suggestions, Lesson Ideas and Helps for Teaching with Cal & Marty:

The cornerstone of literacy is repetition, whether you're studying verses or how to hit a golf ball. Cal & Marty is designed to help students WANT to improve their score. But to really learn these verses, you will need to present them again at a later time, using this software and other learning approaches, such as creating an art project or skit about the verse. The best way to increase long-term memory is to repeat content over the long term!

Let your Students Create the Verses !
I've used scripture memory software for years in my lab so hear me on this one: One of the best ways to learn a verse with Cal & Marty is to have the student doing the typing of the words into the editor. Typing and proofreading the verse set is a form of memory work! Kids like to type. The keyboard is a toy to them. 

When having the kids edit in verses do this: Have one student be the READER straight from the Bible. Have one student be the TYPIST. Have another student be the PROOFREADER.

Now you know why Cal & Marty is NOT full of pre-made verses. It is better if the students do the editing. That's why we've made the editor so easy to use. They'll even enjoy making up their own comments and quizzes. (Plus, I didn't want to have to type a hundred verse sets in 5 different translations!)

There is a nifty way to have STUDENTS do the typing of the verse, but still use YOUR comments and quiz content when they go to unscramble their verse.  What you'll be doing is creating a "placeholder" verse in the editor with your comments and quiz. Then the kids will come along and edit in the complete verse.

Here's how to do it: Open the Verse Editor and start a new verse set. Then select ADD a verse and type in the scripture reference. Then you need to type something in the verse field, such as the first word or a number just to fill the space and fool the editor so it has something to save (it can't save the verse if there's nothing there). No need to type in the entire verse. Your text can simply be a placeholder. Then click SAVE VERSE. Now click ADD COMMENT and ADD QUIZ and put in your entire comment/quiz content. Save and exit. Now your kids can open the Verse Editor, "edit" the set your started by adding the complete verse text, save, and go play the game. Their content pops up and after they have unscrambled their verses YOUR content pops up. Try it. It's fun.

Tips on How to Use the Verse Editor

Cal & Marty is designed to group verses into "sets. "

So, for example, you can created a set titled "Psalms" and add verses from the Psalms into that set.
You can create sets titled "Misc" or "Favorites" or "Fall 2010 Verses" ...whatever.

1. When you first open the Verse Editor, you will see some pre-existing sets of verses you can choose and edit. They are examples of how you can create different types of sets, and they also work in the game!
    
2. To create your own new set, select Create New Verse Set from the menu.
   A file dialog box will open. Type the name of your set and click SAVE. (this creates a file into which the editor will save your set's verses)
   
   Now that you've created a set file, you need to add verses to it!
    
3. Click Add New Verse and fill in the verse editor form with your verse.
    
4. When you're done editing in the new verse, Click Save Verse.  You must always save your work after you have typed it.
    
5. Now you have the option to either Add another New Verse, or Add a Quiz to that verse you just created.  (Quizzes are attached to specific verses, not verse sets, and can only be created for a verse after you have 'saved' the verse.)

You can add as many verses to a set as you want. For example, you can create a set called "Psalms" and add a bunch of individual memory verses to that set.

To view what's in a Verse Set, select "Edit Existing Set" from the Verse Editor menu, select a verse set to examine, and then click the <arrow> keys on the bottom of the editor screen to toggle through the verses in that set.

To delete a complete set, or all sets, go into the folder where you installed Cal & Marty and delete the text (txt) file by that name.

There is no functional limit to the number of verse sets or verses you put into Cal & Marty. But there is a practical limit of how many you want to have to slog through to find your desired content.

Download a free Philippians 2:5-11 verse set WITH lesson ideas for teaching children about the Cross. www.sundaysoftware.com/luther-calvin/philippians2.htm  This page includes the fun scripture memory game "How Few Can You Do".

Helpful Game Tips:

When the program first starts up, you can hit your spacebar to bypass the music and speeches (but why?).

When you slide the scrambled words into place, you must get them exactly in the right place or they won't "snap in." Watch carefully how the words slip/snap into place when you get them near enough and release your mouse button. The Timer will continue to count UP until all the words are in their correct positions.

Sometimes one word will appear to be properly aligned, but it needs a little more nudging. And then, sometimes you just have it in the wrong place!  Cal says: try to put them in order from left to right, that way 'spacing' isn't so much a problem.

If there are TWO of the same word in a verse (such as "the" or "and") they are not interchangeable. Each must go to their correct spot. So if the first "the" doesn't snap in, try the second one.

If you CLICK either Ask Cal or Ask Marty ---a word will be snapped in place for you, but TIME will be ADDED to your clock.

Your final score is based on total time. More time = lower score. Read the full instructions for the game in the HELP file.

You can do "true/false" answers by putting TRUE in the (a) answer field, FALSE in the (b) answer field, and an asterisk * in the (c) answer field.

As you've probably discovered, Cal and Marty's heads follow the mouse pointer. During some of the HISTORY presentations, we recommend putting the point in the middle of the screen. Their eye and mouth movements have been keyed to look best when looking straight at your students.

Game Secret!

Have you discovered that you can CLICK AND ROTATE Cal and Marty's HEADS?

It's fun, and they don't mind one bit. Right-click on their heads for a menu. "Pan" for example, allows the user to Click and DRAG their heads off their bodies. If their head slides out of view completely, just right click and select 'reset.'

Lesson Planning Tips:

Before diving into the Scripture Memory Game:

Talk about the verse. Discuss the meaning of words in it, and the application of the verse to their life -the "so what."

Then have them edit the verse into the Verse Editor and play the game. Have them switch computers and play the memory verse and quiz that other kids have created.

After using the software, consider other projects to salt-in the memories.

Drawing project idea: Make a large banner of the verse.

Game/Drama project: Play pictionary with the words in the verse. See how many different ways teams can come up with to act out the words in the verse.

Use other software in conjunction with your memory verse.  Example: If you're studying the Lord's Prayer, Beatitudes, Salt/Light/Seek First, Pearl/Leaven parables, use Galilee Flyer the week before with the same group, then the following week use Cal & Marty to reinforce the verses. Galilee Flyer introduces and reinforces key verses, --and explains concepts in a fun "flying game" format.

AGE RANGE NOTE:

How young can Cal & Marty go? Short verses that are talked about can be identified even by early readers. They will look for what the words LOOK like. Write the words on a card in big block letters and arrange them on the table in front of the computer or on the wall. The non-readers will look for the first word on the card and then look on the Cal & Marty screen to match it and slide it into the first position. They learn the verse!

You can also shorten verses to make them easier to unscramble "by the shape of the letters".  Lord is my shepherd.  God so loved the world.  etc etc.

One last thought on "rewarding students" for doing well. There is nothing wrong with rewards. We all reward our children for different things. I like to be rewarded for hard work just like you do too. The question is WHAT do we reward them with? And do we make them feel UNappreciated if unrewarded? You will notice that Cal & Marty doesn't have a time limit. The clock counts UP. Reward students for improving their own score, not by beating others kids' scores. If you make the process of memorization fun, the memories by their very nature are more likely to get remembered!

Other ways of using Cal and Marty...

Make Your Own Scripture (one of my favorite ideas)

Let the kids make up their "own" scripture which summarizes the lesson, and use their own scripture as the memory verse for the day. I have frequently done this at the end of a Bible story lesson that didn't have a really good "memory" verse in it. So I'd lead a brief discussion about "how would you summarize this story/idea in one sentence", and then have the kids turn that into a memory verse in Cal & Marty.

How to Create Matching Quizzes Using Cal & Marty's program

---Want to have your students match Bible heroes to the books they appear in? Cal & Marty can do it! Read our simple "how to create a matching game with Cal" instructions at www.sundaysoftware.com/luther-calvin/calmatch.htm  

"Walking Through a Story"...by creating short verses in sequence in Cal & Marty

Here's a lesson concept for teaching the John 3/Nicodemus story that can also be applied to many other memorable Bible stories where there are several key verses and famous phrases.

(1) Split up your story into four or five compact sentences based on the scripture. See my example below.
(2) Write them on the board or on a poster. 
(3) Have grades 3 to teen create/type these key sentences as separate verse entries into the Cal & Marty verse editor.
(4) Use the 'add comment' feature and 'Add Quiz Questions' feature to key in on the unique concepts in each verse/phrase.
(5) After they are entered, play the game with this verse set. If you have multiple computers, have the teams switch computers to use other team's created sets and comments. (Kids like that.)

Example using John 3/Nicodemus of "Walking through a Story" with shortened verses:
I wrote these on the board and had the older kids enter them into a verse set.

• There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus.
• Nicodemus visited Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God."
• Jesus answered, "no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again."
• Nicodemus said, "How can anyone be born after having grown old?
• Jesus answered, "No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit."
• "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life."

Here's how I'd shorten the verses even more for younger children:
(I'd first write these out in big letters so the non-readers could look to match what I wrote with what's on the screen)

• -Nicodemus visited Jesus
• -Jesus, you are a teacher from God.
• -Jesus said, you must be born from above.
• -God loved the world and gave his only Son.
  
  Have younger students verbally repeat John 3:16 following the software.

A Few Technical Notes About the Program:

If Marty or Cal's head looks like rubbish, only partially visible, etc, --you may need to execute a 'tweak' to fix that. Go into the folder where the game installed, and double click the rendering.exe file. This will change the way the program works with your graphics rendering. If you encounter any program errors, we have those solved too!

Visit our Cal-Tech webpage at www.sundaysoftware.com/luther-calvin for special troubleshooting.

How to Copy Verse Sets from one computer to another...

If you have purchased multiple copies of the program, or a site license (available only from Sunday Software), you will undoubtedly find yourself in a position to use the following information.

1) Open c:\programs\calandmarty (or in whatever folder you originally installed the program) and look for the Verse Set you created. It will have the name you gave it.
2) Copy that file to a diskette or any type of removable media, such as a CD you can burn, or a USB Flash drive.
3) Take the verse over to another computer and copy it into the c:\programs\calandmarty folder on that computer, or whatever folder you originally installed the program to.

Example: Let's say I made a Psalm 23 verse set and named it "Psalm23." Its file name will appear as "Psalm23.txt". The Cal and Marty game will always list whatever ".txt" files it sees in its own folder. Warning: do not attempt to create your own text files outside the Verse Editor. The Verse Editor has a special way of laying out the text in the text file so the program knows what to do with the file info.

How to Delete a Player's Name from the list:

Open the file "PlayerNames.nam" located in the main directory of the program (c:\programs\calandmarty). It is a text file which can be opened and edited with Windows Notepad. For more help visit www.sundaysoftware.com/luther-calvin/cal-tech.htm or select "Uninstall the Inquisition" from your Windows Control Panel.

Caution: Do not attempt to edit/create verse set text files through any other program other than the Editor that comes with the program. Certain characters and spacing conventions are used by the editor to make the verses correctly appear in the game.

Extra Verse Sets to install in Cal & Marty's Scripture Memory Game:

Click on the following files and download them to your computer. When the download dialog box opens I suggest saving them right to a diskette (probably your 'A' drive), or any type of removable media, such as a CD you can burn, or a USB Flash drive. Then you can transport them to any of the computers where you have installed Cal & Marty. This zip file contains just two TEXT files. Double click the CAL-VERSES.zip icon and tell Winzip to unzip these two files into C:\Program Files\CalandMarty . Do not open the text files themselves in anything but Cal & Marty's Verse Editor --the spacing in the text file itself is required for Verse Editor to correctly parse it.

For these verse sets to appear in your Verse Menu in the game, they must be copied to the correct folder.
That folder is C:\Program Files\CalandMarty

These are fully editable. You can add your own comments and quizzes to them, though several already have such included. All are in the NRSV translation. The Misc Verses include Deut 6's "Hear O Israel" and Matthew 6's "Love Your Enemies..."

If they don't appear in the game to choose from, then you have somehow copied them to the wrong directory or misspelled the file path -C:\Program Files\Cal and Marty (note the spaces).

This document was printed from www.sundaysoftware.com/luther-calvin/tips.htm
Copyright 2004-11, Neil MacQueen and Sunday Software.