Lessons For Sunday School - 3 Interesting Teachings to Offer Your Students

The goal of Sunday school is to educate the congregation's children about the religion and the Bible. However, after coming up with lessons for Sunday school day in and day out, it can become difficult coming up with new Bible lessons for kids.

Here, you will be supplied with three interesting Sunday school ideas that are sure to pique your students' interests.

Mustard Seed Sunday School Lesson

Lessons For Sunday School - 3 Interesting Teachings to Offer Your Students

The members of your children's church have undoubtedly heard about the important of the mustard seed to Christian faith. But do they understand the story behind the importance? This lesson will teach a valuable Bible study lesson to your kids.

First, read either Matthew 17:19-20 or Luke 17:5-6 to your children. Then explain the story of the mustard seed, and how Jesus once said that if we have faith the size of a tiny mustard seed, we can accomplish anything.

Open the discussion up to your child's Bible study class. Ask them-will God do anything and everything we ask him to? No, probably not. Explain that this is because God knows what's best for us, and He wants what is best for us. Ask your class to name something they believe God can do (or has done) for them. Then go around the class and share how you show your faith in God.

Cain and Abel Bible Lesson

The story of Cain and Abel is one of the most widespread parts of Sunday school curriculum. It is a lesson about anger and how to take responsibility for our sins, as they can't be hidden from God.

First, paraphrase the story of Cain and Abel for your children's liturgy. Then turn the discussion to them. Tell him how sometimes, when things don't turn out the way we want them to, we look for someone else to blame. Emphasize that we should really be looking to ourselves in situations such as these.

Sermon on the Mount Lesson for Sunday School

This lesson focuses on the idea that it's more important for us to worry about our own actions instead of others'. First, read Matthew 7:1-5 and Luke 6:37-42 to the children's church.

Next, reiterate the idea that we should be concerned about our own actions instead of others' by making a mirror out of cardboard and foil. Have the children glue a picture of the Bible on the foil to remind them that the Bible is, ultimately, their mirror.

These are just three of many valuable lessons for Sunday school that can help your children's liturgy better understand faith and the Bible.

Lessons For Sunday School - 3 Interesting Teachings to Offer Your Students
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Mary-Kate Warner is the publisher of Christianity Cove, the web's #1 resource for lessons for Sunday School and ideas for teachers.

Visit her website today for a free Sunday School teaching video:

http://www.christianitycove.com/vid/

Exploring America - History Curriculum For High School Homeschoolers

Finding a good history curriculum for high school was one of the greatest challenges I faced when I was being homeschooled. It seemed like most of the good history books stop at the Civil War or World War II. What about modern history? It's hard to find a history book from a Christian perspective about modern history. Have you run into this problem, too? This difficulty has been overcome with a high school history curriculum from Notgrass Company. Exploring America by Ray Notgrass is an amazing curriculum that is exciting as well as educational. It begins with Christopher Columbus and ends at the present time. Each day is broken up into short concise lessons.

Sometimes history books seem to make the exciting events sound like nothing more than boring facts, Mr. Notgrass has an engaging writing style that makes the events come to life. There are also daily assignments that encourage the students to dig deeper. Sometimes they will read a document, speech, or hymn from American Voices, which is a 400+ page companion book that comes with the curriculum. Other times they will look up relevant Bible verses and also memorize verses. Writing assignments (including writing a research paper) are also part of the assignments. Students who finish the course will have three credits, one in history, one in English, and one in Bible. How's that for hitting 3 birds with one stone?

This book is essential for every high school student and will give them the tools to take an in-depth look at American history from a Biblical perspective. If you are looking for a really good American history high school curriculum look no further. Exploring America has filled a big gap in the history curriculum for homeschoolers. Exploring America is the best high school curriculum for American history I have ever seen! I wish it had been around when I was in high school.

Exploring America - History Curriculum For High School Homeschoolers

Exploring America by Ray Notgrass

Reviewed by Amy Puetz

Exploring America - History Curriculum For High School Homeschoolers
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Do you want really exciting history with accurate facts presented in an interesting way? Uncover Exciting History: Revealing America's Christian Heritage in Short, Easy-to-Read Nuggets by Amy Puetz offers a snapshot view of America's history from Columbus to World War II. Each chapter is short and easy to read. Find out more at http://www.AmyPuetz.com

Amy Puetz is a homeschool graduate, a self-taught historian, and a servant of Jesus Christ. History has been a passion for her since childhood. Years of in-depth study (both in modern and old sources) have equipped her to write historical books. She especially loves to dig for little-known stories that show God's providential hand.

Importance of Religious Education in School Curriculum

Where to place religious education in the academic curriculum, is one of the renewed discussions currently highlighted throughout the US. This debate has been motivated by developments planned to minimize provisions by providing a framework for religious education that can advance good practice in teaching and learning and alleviate some of the issues of training teachers and providing high quality resources when each local area may have a different syllabus for the subject.

It has been recognized that the production of high-quality resources for religious education is challenging when publishers cannot be as confident as they are in other curriculum areas that all pupils in a particular key stage will be studying the same topics. Seeking agreement on what might constitute a national framework for religious education has been a protracted and carefully negotiated process requiring decisions to be made regarding what should be recommended and with what degree of prescription. Determining the curriculum for any subject is bound to be fraught with difficulty, as choices have to be made concerning what to include and so inevitably what to exclude. In religious education the process has always been regarded as particularly sensitive, given the potential for controversy when there is a need to take account of more than one major religious tradition and limited curriculum time available. The emerging consensus as to the desirability of a national framework has been challenged by moves to go beyond the establishing of a set of guidelines to advocating a national syllabus for religious education that would more closely mirror the provision for other subjects in the English National Curriculum.

At the same time as this issue has preoccupied religious educators, other advancements in the syllabus have challenged the addition of religious education as a compulsory subject. The strengthening of personal, social and health studies in the National Curriculum and the introduction of citizenship as an additional compulsory subject has led people to question the worth of religious studies to the education. Religious studies provide a heavy set of arguments that demand serious attention of religious educators, not only in the US but also across other international communities.

Importance of Religious Education in School Curriculum

Few years ago, there were only four departments of religious studies in British Universities. The recent decision by a university in the UK that was a pioneer in establishing the academic study of religion, as opposed to theology or divinity, to close its department of religious studies and offer staff a merger with a department of theology in a neighboring institution indicates that the claim of the discipline to have a unique contribution to make is still not generally understood and may not be sufficiently convincing to secure its status in the modern university. Nevertheless, religious studies have been regarded as a significant influence on the teaching of religious education in schools. The impact has perhaps been overstated and was in any case largely confined to one aspect of religious studies; the phenomenological approach. Much remains to be done to develop understanding of the relationships between religious studies, theology and religious education.

Importance of Religious Education in School Curriculum
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Mathew Simond is a journalist and an SEO-based copywriter. He is also a webmaster of many websites including http://www.psychologycolleges.net and http://www.religiousstudiesonline.org He aims to provide healthy information and advice on academic degrees.

Some Qualities of Effective School Leadership

Schools today are constantly asked to perform at a high level to improve the achievement level of their students. The school's teachers are on the front line and considered responsible for the majority of reasons why students perform well in school. However, we should not forget the importance of effective leadership when it comes to student achievement and effective teachers. When we look at the big picture, the principal is the person most likely to be responsible for the over-all performance of the school. That's why it's so important to understand the qualities an effective principal should have.

One of the most important steps an effective principal should make, is to surround himself or herself with a quality staff. That staff must include teachers, administrators, and support staff. Principals should realize that they are only as good as their staff. A principal should live by the philosophy that says "two heads are better than one", and no single individual can know everything about everything..

The next step to being an effective principal is to make sure that students perform at a high level. This goal can be accomplished by making sure the climate of the building is always conducive to successful learning. Some of the steps that can be utilized to accomplish this goal include: making sure there are very few distractions throughout the school day, having a clear discipline plan that everyone is aware of, making sure the entire staff is aware of the school mission, developing a strong school improvement plan, maintaining a bright and clean building, displaying student work or/and accomplishments, keeping students informed about the mission of the school, making students responsible for their education and the educational environment in the building, providing effective tutoring services, being a visible principal, and having a positive and courteous staff willing to assist everyone.

Some Qualities of Effective School Leadership

Another important step is to make sure the entire staff is involved in the decision-making for the building, and include students whenever possible in that process. Every staff member must believe he or she is important, even vital, to the over- all success of the school and its students. Try and get the entire staff to be a part of ongoing activities in the building, and encourage them to take on leadership roles in different programs and activities. It is the task of an effective principal to empower the staff to make decisions and become leaders throughout the building,

It is also important to have the school and its students be part of the ongoing evaluation process. This will help identify strengths and weaknesses in the school and curriculum. Diagnostic testing, as well as other evaluative procedures should be a part of this process. All data collected from these evaluative procedures should be given to the school improvement team, this will help the team to be better prepared to develop an effective school- wide improvement plan to govern the school. Whatever plan is decided upon should have input from the entire staff. This will give the staff clear ownership of the plan and ensure its success. Effective leadership should utilize the strengths of the entire staff by always including them in the process ( as individuals and cooperatively as a team).

An effective principal works constantly to improve the school each day. This can be accomplished by having some kind of assessment of students and the staff throughout the school year. Utilizing different assessment tools are helpful with evaluating the overall picture of what is happening in the school. Standardized testing of the students is one form of assessment, and teacher grades, school projects, special activities, and programs developed specifically for everyone school are others. In addition to evaluating students, the staff should be evaluated throughout the school year. The principal can use classroom observation and walk-throughs as tools. Another powerful tool is to have the staff conduct self- evaluations of themselves and the school. This is a good way to encourage the staff to be honest about themselves and their school and what they expect the actual educational outcomes should be. The data collected from these varied evaluation procedures can be utilized to develop professional development opportunities for the staff and to develop the full school improvement plan for the school.

The effective principal must be organized and have a clear mission for the school. They must be clear about what he or she wants to accomplish each school year. The principal must prioritize what he/she believes are the most important attributes of a high achieving school. He should always try to educate students at the highest levels, as well as providing a clean and orderly school. The atmosphere must be positive and conducive to learning. Principals who incorporate the qualities discussed in this article will have made a major start toward being successful. This can lead to having a successful school and having students who are learning at a high level.

Some Qualities of Effective School Leadership
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For additional information go to http://outskirtspress.com/survivalkit

Ronnie Phillips, a very experienced educator and parent.

Issues and Trends in Curriculum - From Technology to Global Awareness

Many immediate and complex issues overwhelm educators today. With positive and negative global influences, educators must look beyond the surface of education. Students are not just products of their schools but will become shaping forces in society, determining the success and failure of their nation's future. Curricularists, educators, and everyone in leadership need to work together to develop a well-rounded curriculum, which includes the learning of different cultures. Our next generation will need to cope with cross-cultural matters and grow into sensible adults who are fair and just to the global society.

Technology plays an essential role in our education today and will even more so in the future. Especially in countries where economic and political situations are stable, the accessibility of the Internet and computers to maximize curriculum and to act as a means of communication among educators, even to the extent of intranets, must become available. This technology should be available in every school funded by taxes and donation from private industry.

Technology can also close the gaps between the educational levels around the world. Because of the political and socio-economic differences among countries, it would be impossible for this degree of technology to reach all parts of the world, yet effort should be made to see that education is fairy distributed to all children everywhere. This will require volunteers, donations, and assistance from the capable countries internationally. Even if there was just one computer in every town for those countries for school children, it would make a difference.

Issues and Trends in Curriculum - From Technology to Global Awareness

Another reason technology is significant to our curriculum development is for cultural knowledge expansion. The need to understand different cultures is an emergent issue in today's education and societies as relationships among countries become more intertwined. The United States has always been a country of diversity; however, for the longest time, the contents of its curriculum were selectively western-focused.

For example, high school world history courses emphasized primarily European and western history. We now can make use of technology to design a world history curriculum that includes not only that part of world history but extends farther. San Diego University, in cooperation with the National Center for History in the Schools at the University of Los Angeles, offers Internet information on world history and assists teachers in delivering a whole curriculum without excluding a major part of the world's people, events, or times (San Diego State University, 2007).

We should also take advantage of technology to form a curriculum for creating international awareness, understanding various cultures, and learning different opinions and values. Curriculums
need to focus on melting down barriers against others who are different and to encourage mutual respect and understanding for other cultures and beliefs. One way to promote cultural exchange is through technological communication. Thanks to the advancement of technology today, students all over the world can actually use computers to see and to talk to each other. More effort on promoting such communication should be encouraged and assisted by the government, various organizations, and individuals with the means to do so. One day, through the help of technology in education, people will learn that we are all part of the world community.

Issues and Trends in Curriculum - From Technology to Global Awareness
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Reference

Dunn, R. (2008). World history for us all. San Diego State University. Retrieved April 3, 2007, from http://worldhistoryforusall.sdsu.edu/dev/default.htm
Kame'enui, E. J., Carinem, D.W., Dixon, R.C., Simmons, D.C., & Coyne, M.D. (2001). Effective teaching strategies that accommodate diverse learners. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Lieberman, A., & Lynne, M. (2005). Teachers as leaders. The Education Forum, 69, Retrieved March 29,2007, from http://www.proquest.com
Ornstein, A. C., & Hunkins, F. P. (2003). Curriculum: Foundations, principles, and issues (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Allyn & Bacon.
Tanner, D., & Tanner, L. (1994). Curriculum development: Theory into practice (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson.

HSPT - What You Need To Know About the High School Placement Test

What is the HSPT?
The High School Placement Test (HSPT) is a nationally-recognized private school entrance examination, created by the Scholastic Testing Service (STS), available to students as part of the private school application process. The test is designed for middle school students trying to get into high school, so the majority of test takes are eighth graders (some seventh graders do take the test). For the most part, a typical middle school curriculum will have exposed students to the content tested on the HSPT, though some basic understanding of algebra and geometry is necessary for the math sections.

Unlike most other standardized exams, the HSPT does not have national administration dates. Private schools administer the HSPT as part of the application process. According to the STS website, students should not take the test more than once. In fact, if a student takes the test more than once, the STS indicates that the lower of the two scores should be used for consideration. Registration and test schedules are handled on a school-by-school basis; parents will need to contact the schools to which their children are applying in order to find out specific dates and deadlines. The STS does not handle registration.

What is on the HSPT?
The exam, which is about 2.5 hours long, tests the following abilities: Verbal Skills, Quantitative Skills, Reading Comprehension, Mathematics, and Language.

HSPT - What You Need To Know About the High School Placement Test

Verbal Skills
The verbal skills section has analogies, synonyms, antonyms, vocabulary questions, and verbal logic. The purpose of this section is to test a student's ability to understand the relationships between words and concepts.

Quantitative Skills
The quantitative skills section has number manipulation, geometric and non-geometric comparison, and patterns and sequences. The topics covered in this section include arithmetic, basic algebra, and basic geometry.

Reading Comprehension
The reading comprehension section has passages and questions that test the student's understanding of central meaning, ability to obtain information from reading, and basic understanding of vocabulary.

Mathematics
The math section has problems that test the student's problem solving abilities and understanding of mathematical concepts. The topics covered in this section include arithmetic, basic algebra, and basic geometry.

Language
The language section tests the student's understanding of written English. The problems are largely related to spelling, grammar, punctuation, and syntax.

Some schools also administer an optional science section, which covers general topics in astronomy, biology, chemistry, earth science, and physics.

The HSPT vs. the ISEE
The HSPT is comparable in both content and format to the ISEE Upper Level, another private school entrance exam. Content-wise, the biggest difference between the two tests is that there is no essay on the HSPT. The HSPT is primarily used by Catholic private schools; the ISEE is used by a wider range of private schools. In addition, the ISEE has three levels: lower, mid, and upper, which correspond to what grade the student is going into; the HSPT is for prospective high school students only.

Preparing for the HSPT
As with any standardized test, preparation is essential to success. There are a few HSPT study guides available on the internet and in stores; if, after reviewing concepts and practicing problems, you and your student decide that further assistance would be beneficial, then consider professional HSPT exam preparation. The HSPT can have a significant impact on a student's future and should not be taken lightly. Thorough preparation is the key to making the HSPT experience as smooth and stress-free as possible.

HSPT - What You Need To Know About the High School Placement Test
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TestMasters was founded in 1991 and has become one of the largest and fastest-growing educational companies in the United States. Test Masters offers classroom courses, 1-on-1 courses, online courses, and books for standardized exams including the HSPT, ISEE Lower, Mid, and Upper Level GMAT, GRE, LSAT, PSAT/SAT, SAT Subject Tests, ACT, and the EIT & PE Professional Engineering Exams in many states around the country. Since its inception, over 120,000 students have taken courses from Test Masters. The TestMasters official website is located at www.testmasters.com.

Home School Curriculum - 6 Features to Consider Before You Buy a Packaged Curriculum?

There are many home school curriculum's available and sometimes it can be hard to know which one to choose or whether to choose one at all. Here are some features of ready-made curriculum that you should consider before buying:

1. You may tend to spend more time on desk work and not feel the freedom to take advantage of home school support group activities, outdoor projects, or community activities.

2. Packaged curriculum tends to be expensive and leave you with less money for field trips or other supplies you might want to purchase.

Home School Curriculum - 6 Features to Consider Before You Buy a Packaged Curriculum?

3. You may tend to keep using the curriculum even if it is not working because you spent the money to purchase it.

4. Some packaged curriculum requires a great deal of teacher preparation and reading through manuals before you are able to teach the material.

5. There is a higher rate of burnout on homeschooling when people purchase a ready-made curriculum. It may cause you to grow weary of the preparation and your child to grow weary of filling in workbook pages and not engage his curiosity.

6. Packaged curriculum tends to be one-size-fits-all and is based on the average student. If your child is advanced or delayed, you may be disappointed with your purchase.

Packaged curriculums were originally designed for private school classrooms, but they do have their place in some home schools. If the parent and child enjoy structure and advanced learning, then a packaged curriculum could work for them. Many people adapt the curriculum to fit their needs and goals and some follow it exactly and have success. Once you assess your goals for homeschooling and take into consideration your child's learning style, you will be able to make an informed decision on what you need to purchase for homeschooling.

Home School Curriculum - 6 Features to Consider Before You Buy a Packaged Curriculum?
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Do you want to know more about home school curriculum? Download the free homeschool eBooks How to Find the Best Homeschool Resources or How to Get Started with Homeschooling at http://www.homeschool-how-to.com/free-homeschool-ebooks.html

Heidi Johnson enjoys helping people find resources to simplify and improve their lives.