Exodus Software Lessons, Schedules, Village

Example of a Multi-Week Exodus Schedule of Lessons

The following schedule illustrates how three different grade groups could be ‘rotated’ through a set of classrooms, each using a different medium to teach the story of Moses and Pharaoh.

Week 1 they all watch a video together about the story. Week two through 4 they rotate through three classrooms. In the computer lab they use Game 1 from Exodus Adventures CD. (Suggested lessons for video, game, and art are also listed further down this page.)

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!

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

Classes A, B and C could be your 1st-2nd graders, 3rd-4th, and 5th-6th groups. 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.

 

A ONE CLASS ~ FOUR WEEK LESSON SCHEDULE

If you just have ONE CLASS using Exodus Adventures CD, I recommend doing a unit about each story. Thus, you could do a four week unite on “Moses Pharaoh” that would look like this:

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

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 suggests a typical VBS schedule you could use for an EXODUS VBS. Activities 1, 2 and 3 need 40-45 minutes. You’ll notice I don’t use Exodus Adventures CD for preschoolers. See the lesson ideas below to plug into this schedule.

Exodus Lesson Plans,  Ideas and Links

…for all 3 Stories in the Exodus CD:

 Pick and choose!

How to make an EGYPTIAN or HEBREW VILLAGE in your classroom/lab…

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.

The idea: Stack boxes to form walls and ruins of walls. (photo right of my former computer lab with boxes on the wall)

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 1×1 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. 4×8 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.

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 visually 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. And they are a lot of work to carry in and out.

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.

How to Make the Bitter Water turn Sweet… 

(As Moses did, Robin must find the branch and throw it into the Well of Marah in Exodus Adventures CD game 2.)

—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. You can also cover with PINE BRANCHES or PALM BRANCHES, or buy “tiki” grass party thatching from Oriental Trading Co. 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.