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Quick Start Guide for Overviews

Written by Dianna Wiebe on .

Quick Start Guide for Overview

Needing a quick overview of how Old and New Testament Overviews work at Grapevine? See how easy it is to teach a Grapevine lesson!

Gather Your Materials

  • Bibles
  • Teacher book
  • Dry erase board and markers
  • Student books
  • Colored pencils

For Middle School Students:

  • Bible Dictionary
  • Topical Bible
  • Bible Concordance
  • Atlas of Bible Lands (optional)

Teach the Timeline First

Before you dig into the lessons, you will first teach the timeline for that section of the study to get a big picture of the characters and events you will be exploring. This is a great time to ask questions about what your students know about each point on the timeline.

  • Draw each event of the timeline on the dry erase board and have students fill in their timelines.
  • Briefly explain each event (you can use the descriptions in the teacher book) and which colors to use. You will dig into each character and event later.

The timeline can be taught in one lesson or split up into two lessons if the children are younger.

Teach the Lesson

Here are the different parts of the lesson in order. You can either teach the entire lesson in one setting or spread it out. There is a suggested teaching schedule in the back of the book which gives you weekly and daily schedule options for each grade level.

  • Timeline Review: Each lesson (after Lesson 2) starts with a Timeline Review.  This is a brief review of the last few points on the timeline. This review helps students continue to memorize the timeline while setting the context for the lesson you will be starting.  Students draw/write in the missing timeline elements and then review it with the class.
  • Verse Review: Memory verses from the last few lessons are quickly and verbally recited.
  • The Lesson Pages:
    • Draw: You will draw the stick figure on the dry erase board for the students.
    • Read: The Scripture passage is read and discussed for the section while the student draws the picture.
    • Discuss: The discussion notes are in the Teacher book and you can add your notes right on the page.
    • Map work: Older students can complete the map work if there is any for the lesson.
    • Lesson Review Questions: You ask the review questions and the students answer verbally.
    • Memory Verse: With each lesson, students will have a memory verse.
  • Drawing Page for Early Elementary and Elementary: The Student Drawing page is for students to draw their favorite part of the lesson. This is a great way for you to see what your students learned and remember. On this page students review the memory verse verbally or by writing it out.
    • Character/Event Cards: Using an index card draw the timeline character/event on the front and on the back put information you want your students to remember (see Teacher book for an option). Students can also write out their memory verses on the back.
  • Quest Page for Middle School: The Quest page helps students practice the skills needed to study the Bible on their own.  A word/phrase is given to look up either in a physical book or online.

Final Review

At the end of the section there is a Final Review. These can be completed verbally or used in a game like Jeopardy.

That’s all there is to it!

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