Six Year Scope and Sequence for the
G.R.E.A.T. Adventure Elementary Sunday School
at State Street UMC, Bristol VA

We wrote many of our own lessons, gleaned from Rotation.org, and also used lessons from the now defunct Cornerstones curriculum. In the early days of Rotation, we did not have the Rotation.org Writing Team's great lesson sets to use, but would use many of them now!

Year One

Bible Adventure #1 (About the Bible)
Abraham and Sarah
Jacob and Esau
Advent – The Incarnation (Cornerstones, *Unfortunately, Cornerstones has gone out of business and so, there went the files.)
Good Samaritan/Greatest Commandment
Jesus Calms the Storm
Easter: The Last Supper (Cornerstones*)
Pentecost – Coming of the Holy Spirit
Lost Sheep/coin

Summer: Parables:  The Prodigal Son, Sower, Talents

Year Two

Bible Adventure #2 (About the Bible)
Joseph and his Brothers ( , Potter's Publishing has also gone out of business.)
Joseph in Egypt & Family Reunion
Jesus Calls the Disciples
Advent – The Messiah (Cornerstones*)
John the Baptist/Baptism of Jesus
Jesus’ Temptation
Easter – Jesus Prays in the Garden
Saul’s Conversion

Summer: Adventures with Paul (missionary journeys, adventures, letters)

Year Three

Bible Adventure #3 (About the Bible)
Mary and Martha
Raising Jairus’s Daughter
Beatitudes
Advent – The Jesse Tree (Cornerstones*)
Healing Blind Bartimaeus
Raising Lazarus
Easter –Peter’s Denial
Peter’s Reconciliation

Summer:  Adventures with Peter (Pentecost, Peter and John Heal, Peter’s Dream/Cornelius, Peter in prison)

Year Four

Bible Adventure #4 (About the Bible)
Moses #1 – From Bulrushes to Burning Bush
Moses #2 – Plagues, Passover and the Great Escape
Moses #3 – The Ten Commandments
Advent – Christmas through the eyes of Isaiah
Moses #4 –Worship in the Wilderness (Ark of the Covenant)
Nicodemus
Zacchaeus
Easter – Empty Tomb

Summer: Adventures with David:  David’s anointing, David and Goliath, David the King, Solomon and Temple

Year 5

Bible Adventure #4 (About the Bible)
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
Esther
Psalm 23
Advent  - The Shepherds
Loaves and Fishes
Jesus Walks on Water
Easter – Events of Holy Week
Samuel

Summer: Old Testament Prophets (Elijah/Elisha, Jonah, Jeremiah)

Year 6

Bible Adventure #6 (About the Bible)
Into the Promised Land
Daniel in the Lion’s Den
The Lord’s Prayer
Advent – The Wise Still Seek Him
Lame Man Through the Roof
Lydia
Easter – Walk to Emmaus
The Great Commission

Summer:  Ruth and Naomi, Creation, Adam-Eve

We came up with this scope and sequence by creating a list of Bible stories using a children’s Bible and sending it out to our Children’s ministry folks and pastors for their input. They were asked to check their top 24 Old Testament and top 36 New Testament stories. We then had a small group meeting to compile the results. Then a group of 3 of us sat down to plug the stories into a sequence taking into account our specific church calendars. This is a working document – we like having a plan, but we realize that a plan must be responsive to the needs of our children and ministry, therefore it is flexible. We looked at our attendance trends for two years while working on this scope/sequence.

Lord’s Prayer, doxology, and worship will be covered during our children’s worship time. Creeds, Bible skills (intensive) will be covered during Confirmation and lock-ins. Lent/Advent/ will be covered during our Wednesday night ministries. VBS will include Marketplace for several years and focus on life in Bible times. Advent each year will focus on a slightly different aspect of the story, as will Easter.

We just recently did Ten Commandments in VBS as well as Creation, thus these come late in our schedule. Summer Celebration is a review session each Sept. over Labor Day weekend (when attendance is always very low) and a gear up for the new fall rotations. Flower Planting Day is a tradition at our church where elementary kids plant flowers around the church and our confirmands lead us in an outdoor worship service.

We are entering our final year of rotations now and are updating our scope and sequence. I'll post the new one here soon!