Back to School with a Leap!
Written by Carolyn Warvel
(A big thanks to Charlotte Hubert who sent in many of the ideas I used for this lesson)
(Second - Fourth Grade)

This lesson was also written for younger children using the book "Froggy Goes to School". (Click here to view the younger children's lesson)

Teaching Concept:  In this lesson children learn that we need to be prepared for school so that we will be successful. Not only do we need the right clothes and supplies, but we need to prepare our hearts and minds.

Early Arrivals Activity

1. Make a backpack and things to go in it -

What you will need: Bright colors of card stock (heavy paper), brown paper lunch bags, glue, computer printer paper, crayons or colored pencils, and scissors.

What to do:

1. Print out the backpack patterns onto card stock and cut them out. Front pattern with memory verse, front pattern without memory verse, back pattern.

2. Print out the school supplies pattern on to printer paper.

3. Cut the lunch bags so that they are the same length of the back pattern from the bottom to the dotted line. Fold the back pattern down on the dotted line. Glue it to the back of the bag so that the folded flap hangs over the top of the bag to the front as shown in the picture. Fold the ends of the straps down. Place glue on the folded ends and glue the straps to the back of the bag. Glue the front pocket to the front of the bag around the edges. Leave the top edge unglued as shown in the pictue. Glue the small tab to the front flap as shown in the picture. Then glue the smallest rectangle at the ends over the tab, as shown in the picture, so that the front tab can be inserted and pulled out of the rectangle.

4. In class have the children decorate the backpacks if they would like and glue it together. Have them color the school supplies pattern and cut the pictures apart. Set them aside to use during the lesson.

The Lesson

Being Prepared:

How many of you have started to get ready to go back to school? What have you done to prepare? Have you gone shopping for new clothes and shoes? Have you grown out of your clothes from last year?

It's fun to get ready for school; buying new clothes and notebooks, and brand new pencils, and crayons and other things. It's an exciting time, wondering what your new teacher will be like and who will be in your class. It can also be kind of scary. You will be meeting new people. You may be worried if you will know any one in your class, if you will be able to find your class, or if your teacher will be nice, or if you will make good grades.

You need lots of things for school. You wouldn't want to go unprepared. Would you want to go to school without your lunch or money to buy a school lunch? No. Would you want to go to school without having something to write with? No.

It's important to be ready for school; to have what you need to do well in school. It's important to wear the right clothes too.

Being Spiritually Dressed:

All these things are important, but there is something even more important that you need to be ready for school. You need to prepare your minds and hearts, the things you don't see.

You're not likely to forget to put on your school clothes, but it's easy to forget to prepare your heart and mind because you can't see them. The Bible tells us (Open your Bible to Joshua 1:8 and read the verse.) "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." KJV "Study this Book of the Law continually. Meditate on it day and night so you may be sure to obey all that is written in it. Only then will you succeed." NLT

This verse tells us how we can do good and be happy in school, at home, and wherever we are. It tells us to study God's words day and night. Studying school things, like reading and writing, is very important, but the most important thing is knowing God. So it is very important to study God's words and obey them in order to be ready for school. They will teach us how to treat our classmates, and get along with others.

(Open your Bible and read Philippians 4:6-7), "Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank Him for His answers. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus." TLB.

It is important to be ready for school and the most important thing you can do each day is to pray and read your Bible. If you do this, you will be happy and God will guide you, help you, and teach you what you really need to know.

Prayer

Father, We thank you for our schools. We pray that you guide our teachers and principals. We know that learning things is very important and that you want us to do good in school, but that the most important thing we will ever learn is to love you and put you first in our lives. If we do this, no matter how well or how poorly we do in school, we will have a happy, good life. Help us to remember to pray for our teachers and friends and to make learning about you the most important thing in our lives. Amen.

Give each child the backpacks with the school supplies. Tell the children to lay out the items in front of them.

Now lets look at some things that we need for school. Pick up each item as you talk about it and show the children. Have them find the same items from the ones they colored and place them in their backpacks.

1. Lunchbox - You wouldn't want to forget your lunch. You would be pretty hungry by the end of the day. You also wouldn't want to forget to feast on God's words. They are like candy. The Bible tells us “How sweet are your words to my taste; they are sweeter than honey.” (Psalms 119:103). It's important to feed your body and it is also important to feed your soul with God's words.

2. #2 Pencils - Pencils are important. Did you notice the #2 on this pencil? We use pencils at school everyday. You wouldn't want to be without a pencil in school. Yes, pencils are important, but nothing is more important than God. He should be #1 in your life. The Bible says, " Thou shalt have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20:3), and "And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." (Deuteronomy 6:5).

3. A ruler - A ruler helps us to find out how long something is. You will need this in Math class. You will learn that you have to be very careful when you measure so that you get the correct answer. The Bible also talks about being careful when you are measuring. It says we have to be care when we measure people. It says, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Matt. 7:1-2). This means that if you are hard on people, don't give them a chance, and aren't forgiving, God will treat you the same way. If you accept people the way they are, and forgive them when they do something to hurt you, God will treat you the same way. Watch how you are measuring people.

4. An eraser - When we make mistakes we need an eraser to correct them.
Everyone makes mistakes, God wants us to forgive people who make mistakes. When you make a mistake, God will also be forgiven. "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Mt. 6:14-15

5. Glue - We use glue to make things, gluing different things together to make something beautiful. Jesus is the glue that brings us all together. The Bible tells us "There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. For you are all Christians – you are one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28) (NLT) This means that as Christians we should treat everyone the same no matter who they are, rich or poor, big or little, etc. We should treat all people nicely and never make fun or someone because he is different because Jesus loved everyone no matter what they looked like, or how much money they had, or where they lived, or the color of their skin.

Other Crafts

1. Make a survival Kit from a pencil box - Go to Just 4 Kids web site for directions.

2. Make a "Don't Forget to Pray " Bible Verse Pyramid - Print out the Pyramid pattern (Large file or small file) onto card stock (heavy paper) and then cut them out. In class have your children color the frogs. When they have finished, fold all the lines away from you and then glue the sides.

Activities

1. Play a memory game - Before class collect a bunch of school supplies. (lunch box, pencils, crayons, sandwich, hat and gloves, umbrella, books, notebook, scissors, calculator, ruler, etc. The older the children the more you can use. Place the things on the table one by one so that all the children can see them. To make it a little more interesting pull out some things that you definitely would not take to school such as a big teddy bear, a screw driver, a toothbrush, or a dog chew (anything you can find that wouldn't belong in school.) Tell them to close their eyes while you take one thing away. See who can guess what is missing.

2. Bible Verse Review Game - Cut out a bunch of lily pad shapes. Write the memory verse on the back of the lily pads, one word per lily pad. Leave some lily pads without any words on them. Place the lily pads on the floor with the words face down. Have the children sit in a circle around them. Tell them that we are looking for the Bible verse. Tell them the first word. Let the children take turns turning over one lily pad to see if they can find the first word of the Bible verse. If a child finds the first word he can tape it to the bulletin board. Keep playing until all the words are found in order and they are all hanging on the bulletin board.

You can also place the lily pads on the floor in random order or in a path and have the children jump from one lily pad to the other in the order of the verse.

3. Play a Beanbag Toss Game - Before class make some frog beanbags. Go to the Frogs Craft Page for directions and a pattern. Cut lily pad shapes from fun foam or green construction paper. Write the Bible verse on the back of the lily pads, one word on each lily pad. On some of the other lily pads write different things on them for the children to do such as: leap like a frog, ribbit like a frog, give a big smile, tell us the name of your teacher last year, etc. Turn over the lily pads so that the words don't show and place them on the floor in front of the children. Let the children take turns throwing the frogs onto the lily pads. If a frog lands on a lily pad, the child turns that lily pad over and reads it or has the teacher read what it says. If it is a word from the Bible verse, the child tapes it to the bulletin board in the correct order.

4. See whose frog can jump the farthest - Give each child a small plastic jumping frog from Oriental Trading. Type in 39/1561 or 39/14 in the search box on the left. Show them how to press on the backs of the frogs until the frog jumps. Let them practice with their frogs a few times. Pick two children to jump their frogs and see whose frog can jump the farthest. Have the child whose frog didn't jump the farthest sit down and pick another child to have his frog jump against the child's frog who jumped the farthest. Keep playing until all the children have had a chance to jump their frogs.

Links

Oriental Trading Company has many inexpensive religious items such as pencil and erasers that would make great end of the year gifts for your children.

Copyright © 2003 Carolyn Warvel
Contributing writer Nancy Foss
Danielle's Place of Crafts and Activities

All rights reserved.   No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information or storage retrieval system, except for local church or school use only.  This copyright notice must be included on all copies. Requests for permission to copy this material for any other uses should be addressed to Carolyn Warvel, 588 Duran Street, Henderson, NV  89015 or e-mail me at care@daniellesplace.com

Comments

We would love to hear your comments about this lesson. If you taught this lesson, we would love to hear how it went, if you changed anything, added anything, what age you taught and was it appropriate.  Any comments that would help others teach this lesson are welcome.

I'm typing out Bible Scripture and leaving a blank to be filled in as the older ones do Bible.

Verses you can use:

1. Prov. 16:3, "Commit your work to the Lord, then it will succeed." Even in our school work we should work for the Lord. God may have plans for you to teach children one day about Him! You may even teach at a church school.)
   
2. Prov. 19: 27, Stop listening to teaching that contradicts what you know is right. (In some schools, some teachers teach that mankind came from ----MONKEYS? How many of you believe that?
3. Psalm 33:4, - (THE WORD OF THE LORD IS RIGHT AND TRUE.) The Bible teaches us different. So pray for any teacher who tells you that you came from a Monkey!
   
4. 2 Timothy 2: 2;15 - "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." You need to study and to study, it
   takes WORK.
5. Prov.11:1- The Lord hates cheating and delights in honesty. If you cheat on your work, you cheat yourself and others.
6. Prov. 20:11- "Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right." Other students will know if you are a cheater. God knows if you are a cheater--even if the teacher doesn't at the time.
7. Thessalonians 4:11 - "And that ye study to be quite, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands as we commanded you." Why? Verse 12 says - That ye may walk honestly.
   
8. Colossians 3:23, "Work hard and cheerfully at all you do just as you were working for the Lord and not merely for your masters." He is the one you are working for.
   
9. 1 Thess. 5:6 - Always be joyful.

Pencil or Crayon Holder Craft

You will need: 1 3/4 oz. Pringles cans, colored peel and stick foam sheets, (You should get three out of each foam sheet cut lengthwise about 3 1/2 ". Measure to make sure.) Frog stickers.

What to do: Have older kids peel and stick the foam onto their own cans. Your little ones will need help. Older kids can use their cans as a pencil can and younger ones can use the can for crayons. This craft can also be used with the story of the poor lady at the temple who gave all she had. Suzanne

Your lesson was loved by the children. I must admit I could not for the life of me figure out why you had a story about a frog going to school for the story---But----it brought in the children's interest right into the lesson. I would like to see more recommended little stories to go along with the lessons. The children loved the Frog to dress. I gave the small ones a frog to hold as they first came and this distracted them until their moms left for church. I also did the lunchbag backpacks. Our church collected school supplies for all the kids along with treats, plus they had their backpack from your site. I added treats to this bag- and stressed--God's Words are sweet as candy! For the Bulletin Board, school cut-outs were used around our border. Used a picture of Church, Home, and School. The Seven Rules of Behavior were placed around the board with the Bible scripture beneath. Got a big response from the kids telling this and that. One little boy carried on telling us, only the Lord knows what, but he was sure enjoying the lesson. This is where I got the Seven Rules of Behavior- http://www.christianadhd.com/rules_niv.html We had a great lesson thanks to you, God, and of course - Froggy! We also covered the small Pringle cans with peel/stick foam for pencil can holders -- We used froggy stickers on the cans to decorate. Thanks so much, Suzanne

I used this lesson with my group of 4-9 year olds. They loved the Froggy goes to School book, and the older children related very well to Froggy's dream. I think all the different verses on the "supplies" were a bit overwhelming for them. They tend to do better with one main verse with everything centered around that. They loved the backpacks and took very good care of them, while they were in class anyway. Loved the lesson. Thanks. Barbara

Thought you might like to hear our take on the back to school lesson, which our 2nd and 3rd graders really enjoyed! I read the Froggy book, which was a big hit and used the story to talk about fears and concerns about a new school year. Then we discussed preparations that the children made prior to starting school...new shoes, cothes, supplies, etc. Then crossed the bridge to spiritual preparation and shared the two verses for success. We then started our craft time, and made the cute prayer booklet. The children seemed to have real concern for their teacher, principal, etc. Then we did one of my "inventions" where each child is given a tile from Home Depot, one that is about 4 by 4 inches. I bought some frog stickers and some frog foam shapes, as well as flower shapes we used as lily pads. Typed up some F.R.O.G. titles with what it stands for underneath, and they designed a tile with the frog theme...a hit. Then for our last activity, I took the nice frog coloring sheet (the large frog) and put a few of the scriptured school supplies around it for them to color. After prayer time, we had refreshments. To complete the theme fruit rollups, cherry flavored, became frog tongues!

It was a very cute lesson, one the kids enjoyed and learned from, and one where I could elaborate on a little to bring in my own ideas. Thanks for your excellent site. I refer to it every week! Debbie LaRose