Posts Tagged ‘Curriculum’

Posted on March 1, 2010 - by rfrank

The Kitchen video sampler

Evan Doyle just emailed me and told me that our next KidzMatter email is ready to be proofed. Of course, I don’t proof it, that’s Tina’s job. You can thank me for that! But I always like taking a look at it before it hits the Inbox of over 15,000 children’s pastors and leaders.

Tomorrow’s email is about the overwhelmingly positive feedback we hear from everyone using The Kitchen. Evan also put together a cool video sampler to showcase some of the videos we have produced for the lessons. While the curriculum is not media-driven but teacher-driven, we understand the importance of media with today’s kids. That’s why we have invested so many resources into these videos. While we still have a way to go, the videos keep getting better and better every week.

After setting up and tearing down a portable video studio at my church for the first few months (a ton of work), we finally have a green screen studio of our very own! A church in town (my grandma’s church) had a few classrooms they weren’t using. They gave us a classroom to use as a video studio. It is such a blessing to have a real studio where we can leave everything set up and ready to shoot. I’ll have to share some pictures of our studio in an upcoming blog post.

Click here to watch the video that we will be sharing tomorrow. Enjoy!!

Posted on February 4, 2010 - by rfrank

Roger Fields, curriculum and the new purple gorilla

God has blessed me with some great friends. It seems like most of them live in other states and I only get to see them once or twice a year. One of those friends is Roger Fields.

Roger is one of the most creative guys I know and he is a loyal friend. He also knows what he’s talking about. Roger is one of those guys that when he talks – I listen. He sent an email yesterday to his eBlitz subscribers (you should sign up) and it got me thinking. I thought I would share his thoughts with you.

Curriculum is a Disease.

That’s right! I said it. Not only does the word “curriculum” sound dry, stale and academic, it sounds like a disease! Pronouced “kuRIKyoolum,” say it out loud slowly and tell me it does not sound like a disease. The only word it rhymes with is “diverticulum” which is a herniation through the muscular wall of a tubular organ such as the colon. That’s right. There’s a link between curriculum and hernias. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

Can’t you hear it now? “My aunt Thelma has pancreatic curriculum.” “Bobby got acute curriculum and had it for 13 weeks. It hit him on a Sunday morning at 11:00 when he glazed over and stiffened up in his metal chair while staring at the white board.” Any day now the World Health Organization will declare an outbreak of curriculum a pandemic sweeping through Sunday Schools across America. This virus must be stopped now before if bores children into a comatose state and shuts down blood flow to the heart.

Research shows that children exposed to dry curriculum through their elementary years develop hardness of the heart. They acquire a resistance to the Spirit of God and a blockage in their inner ears.

We need another word. There is nothing wrong with using materials to help teach kids. I am a curriculum publisher. But the WORD “curriculum” has got to go. It encourages the flawed idea that we can subject kids to an academic lesson and expect them to get excited about God. The bug is not so much the curriculum itself but the curriculum mentality that is the ailment. Until we can come up with a better word that sounds more alive, there is, however, a four-step remedy for the curriculum malady. Think of it as curriculum bypass surgery.

1. Use curriculum that uplifts the amazing character of God and what He has done for us. Remember it is ultimately about what God has done for us not about what we do for Him.
2. Encourage your teachers to read over the “lesson” at the start of the week to give the Holy Spirit time to make it real and practical in their lives before Sunday rolls around.
3. Get kids involved with what you are teaching. Guard against creating a spectator environment where kids merely sit up straight and listen.
4. Don’t be afraid to change direction at a moment’s noticed based on how God leads.

Together we can stop this dreadful disease from sweeping though our churches and choking the spiritual life out of kids.

Roger Fields

P.S. Have you seen the Bo Zerk, the new purple gorilla, in Kidz Blitz Live? Go to http://www.kidzblitz.com/go.htm

Posted on December 8, 2009 - by rfrank

How are things cooking in the Kitchen?

I’ve had a lot of you ask me how things are cooking up in The Kitchen. As you know, last week we launched our first ever year-round curriculum for children’s ministry. You can read my announcement here or learn more about the curriculum here.

Here’s what the last week has been like in a word: amazing! When we announced The Kitchen to the world (or the small part of the world that listens to us!) it started a buzz. This morning in our staff meeting I learned that last Tuesday (launch day) we saw a huge jump in traffic on the website. Many of you, I’m sure, were downloading the sample lesson or watching Tina’s intro video.

The response has knocked our socks off. Literally every day kid’s church leaders and children’s pastors are signing up for this new curriculum. They are talking to us too! Here is some of the stuff we are hearing:

“What a wonderful resource you have given kid’s pastors!  Of course, I was waiting for the announcement yesterday, and looked over the site once it came online.  It looked wonderful.  But last night late, I downloaded the sample and went through it more carefully.  I can say it’s the best curriculum I have seen.” BG

“Just finished watching the videos, reading the sample and I have to say this looks really great. I love how you have given us back the teaching role and yet have enough variety that will help my ‘extra’ energy kids hang with me. I’m going to give a quarter a try! Should be great to kick off the new year!” TB

Today in our staff meeting we prayed, by name, for every church and leader that has purchased The Kitchen and will be using it in their church. We understand the importance of what you are doing and are here to support you however we can.

As a children’s pastor, I understand that there are a lot of great curriculums available. I encourage you to download the sample lesson and see what sets The Kitchen apart from others. If you are looking for something teacher-driven, Bible-based, video-supported, with more stuff in each lesson than you could ever use, this might be what you are looking for.

Posted on December 1, 2009 - by edoyle

Look what we’re serving up

Today is a big day for the KidzMatter staffers here in Indiana. We are launching a new product called The Kitchen.

The Kitchen is a quarterly kid’s church curriculum that is Bible-based, teacher-driven, video-supported, and has tons of extras. I do mean tons of extras. When you download a sample lesson and check it out for yourself, you’ll see what I’m talking about! We hope you’ll be bummed that you didn’t get to everything you wanted to at the end of kid’s church.

The Kitchen is a dream come true – and not just for me. Last summer (2008) on our strategic planning day I announced to our staff that I wanted to start publishing curriculum. We decided we would start with elementary kids’ church.

Earlier this year (in May) I called Tina Houser on the phone and shared my vision with her for the curriculum. Tina was a full-time children’s pastor at the time where she had been serving for 17 years. I made the big ask and asked her to pray about joining my staff where she could focus her attention on making this curriculum a reality. It didn’t take long for her to say yes.

Bill Hybels talks a lot about hiring “tens.” When we got Tina, we got a ten. Tina has jumped in the driver’s seat and has pushed hard since July on The Kitchen. She has been writing like mad, hired a branding company, hired an animation studio to help with the videos, developed a great marketing strategy, and so much more.

Enough of the story, let me tell you what it so great about the curriculum. I’ll use bullet points to keep it simple.

• Teacher-driven. We know that most of you do kids’ church the traditional way with a teacher up front leading the action. We like that.
• Bible-based. This curriculum is not virtue or character-trait based. We figure as important as character traits are, kids learn those at school. This curriculum is about building a solid Biblical foundation in kids’ lives.
• Video-supported. We know today’s kids connect with videos and media. The Kitchen is video-supported, not video-driven. Each week you get a fun video to support your lesson.
• Extra galore! I’m talking puppet skits, games, object lessons, science experiments, Bible verses, take-home ideas, worship videos, PowerPoint slides, blessings, plus more! There’s plenty to pick and choose from.
• Subscription-based. Buy it by the quarter or by the year – it’s up to you.
• Electronic. Sorry, no thick notebooks or teacher manuals coming to you in the mail. Everything is downloadable.
• Affordable. All of this costs less than 10 bucks a Sunday.

Get to the website and learn more about The Kitchen for yourself. I can’t wait to start using it myself the first Sunday in January! You’re going to love it too! Be sure and let me know what you think.

Posted on November 8, 2009 - by rfrank

9 trends in CM leadership – part 7

Trend #7: Teaching is moving back to the teacher (Imagine that.)

Today’s kids are heavily influenced by screens—cell phone screens, computer screens, TV screens and movie screens. Over the past five years, there has been a big push to use screens when teaching today’s media-saturated kids.

Craig Jutila started creating videos in 1998 for his ministry at Saddleback Church. He told me, “We stumbled upon the media idea from a camp we did back in 1998. We would do a ‘camp news’ section each night. We had an idea to let the TV do the talking by having a child from the audience come up and play a game … entirely run by the TV. There was little set-up in advance for this, but we were amazed that the TV held the kids’ attention the way it did. From that, the idea was born to see if we could have a strong teaching element from the TV not only hold the kids’ attention but help them learn in a fun and creative way.” He went home and started creating video curriculum. By teaching in front of a camera, every child in the church could get the same Bible message in a format that they would relate to. He is recognized as a pioneer for video-driven curriculum in children’s ministry.

In 2003, the market was introduced to Kidmo. I remember seeing Kidmo for the first time at Children’s Pastors’ Conference. The company was marketed as “the reinvention of Sunday School.” At the time of this writing, Kidmo has 110 episodes (weeks) for elementary-age kids and 60 episodes (weeks) for preschoolers.

Thousands of churches have used Kidmo and other similar video curriculums in their children’s ministries. One concern that church leaders have voiced is whether it is healthy to use videos week after week. After all, hasn’t God gifted the local church with teachers? And aren’t teachers the ones who build solid relationships with the kids and their parents?

I am seeing a movement in the last year from media-driven curriculum to “teacher-led” media-driven curriculum. What sets teacher-led media-driven curriculum apart? The curriculum uses media elements (which kids connect with so well) but keeps the central focus on the live teacher, not the screen. Many children’s ministry leaders realize that nothing replaces a teacher opening God’s Word with relevance and teaching.

Companies like High Voltage Kids (www.highvoltage-kids.com) and the Willow Creek Association (www.willowcreek.com) are examples of companies marketing this type of curriculum.

Posted on September 18, 2009 - by rfrank

Freebie Friday: LifeChurch.tv OPEN

Freebie Friday is a weekly feature here on my blog.  Every Friday, I’ll post about a new freebie you can find online or near you!

This week in Freebie Friday:
LifeChurch.tv OPEN

LifeChurch.tv has always set the standard high for digital interaction in churches. They were one of the first churches to use the internet as a live broadcast medium for a church service. They’ve introduced fantastic tools such as YouVersion to the web for anyone to use at absolutely no charge. They’ve even got a service to resource churches- LifeChurch.tv OPEN.

A few weeks ago, Kendra Golden of the LifeChurch.tv Content Development Team introduced me to OPEN. OPEN was born out of a passion to see as many life changed as possible over as wide an area as possible. LifeChurch.tv makes some pretty sweet curriculum for their kids’ ministry, but in large part they were making it and then it was sitting “on the shelf”. So they’ve taken all of the children’s ministry curriculum and posted it on OPEN. Free.

Four years worth of preschool curriculum including videos, storybooks, lesson plans, and activity pages are available. For elementary kids, their weekend curriculum comes in 3-5 week series, and is a full hour of a video-driven program. They’ve also got KONNECT, a mid-week elementary discipleship program that is a two-hour program that goes through the stories of the Bible in a small group format with a game, a hands-on craft, and snack to reinforce the Bible story presented in a short video. Best yet, you can even visit lifekids.tv to provide follow up resources to kids and their parents.

And did I mention, it’s all free? You’ll probably want to mention it to your fellow staff members- the youth and adult programs from LifeChurch are up there too. Next time you need a change in your program, check out LifeChurch.tv OPEN to get a free series. You can’t beat that.

Posted on May 21, 2009 - by rfrank

Matt McKee on Buzz!

Matt McKee (follow him on Twitter, I do!) wrote a great review on Group’s new curriculum for elementary kids, Buzz. He discusses it all from the packaging, the CD, the activity cards and all the little gizmos. I found this very helpful since I’ve not taken time to look at Buzz up close and personal.

Matt says, “I’ve been excited to check out Buzz, a new Sunday School curriculum for elementary kids, for some time now. I was very happy when the Crime and Punishment series for 3rd and 4th graders came to my office today. I quickly opened it up.” Click here to read the rest!