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| I am looking for a curriculum for my 6th grade class and this one looks promising.I do have a couple of questions though.
1. I am wondering for those that are now using it would it work for 7th and 8th graders? Or even just 7th graders.
2. is it really working for the 4th and 5th graders? From the posts that I have read it seems that it is very confusing for 4th graders and would be borderline for 5th graders. I believe that the chat portion seems to be an issue with that age and honestly I can't imagine my 10 yr old wanting to participate. I wish that there was some way to go onto the mygrapple.com website as a visitor to check it out.
I'm sure I have more questions but they haven't surfaced yet so thanks in advance for any input you can give.
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| | You can download samples of the lessons from the Grapple website AND take online training that explains how Grapple works. If you are concerned about submitting your name, don't! No one will badger you. You might even get a friendly call from someone at Group who can address all your individual questions! (No pressure, just help... just like when you post on this forum.) I am launching a "Club 56" using Grapple curriculum for our 5th and 6th graders in January. I've taken the summer and fall to get the parents & children themselves into the planning process. It's my way to find out if the parents will support a website for kids and whether or not children will or will not visit a website. I asked the kids all the hard questions...including "Will 6th graders feel comfortable spending time with 5th graders?" "What activities would be fun for outings and special events?" "What's the best day and time for meetings?" I also found a parent volunteer to oversee the website and other parents committing to teaching and hosting outings. If I were you, I would download the sample lessons so you can s what's age appropriate for your children. Only you and your parents know what topics and activities will work with your kids. It's been my experience that that some 4th grade groups are more mature than others and that can even change from year to year! Hope this is helpful to you! AND I'd appreciate prayers as my Club 56 "Christ Leading Us Beyond 5th & 6th Grade"! (and FYI - I borrowed that acronym from a fellow Groupie...we all love to share!) Blessings, Lisa B from NC
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| ackleywi (11/14/2007)
1. I am wondering for those that are now using it would it work for 7th and 8th graders? Or even just 7th graders.
I have used it this quarter with 5-6th grade. Yes, I think it could be used with an older class, as long as the teacher adjusted a little. The older students would probably catch on to the web site a lot faster. On the other hand, a lot of features on the web site are pretty stripped down compared to what you would find on other sites, so older students would be unimpressed.
2. is it really working for the 4th and 5th graders? From the posts that I have read it seems that it is very confusing for 4th graders and would be borderline for 5th graders.
I really think that 4th grade is too young for this. That's why I pushed hard at my church to change from a 4-5th grade class back to a 5-6th grade class. (Yes, I got a lot of flak for that, since our schools have 6th grade in middle school.) I guess it depends on your group of students.
My students are largely unchurched, largely ADD/ADHD, extremely dysfunctional families. So my responses are from that point of view - it really does make a difference. No curriculum is written to fit that group, so whatever I use, I must adjust a lot.
In my opinion, it is exactly right for our 5th graders and 6th graders. The content is very edgy - so you have to like that kind of thing (I do). It is VERY relevant to these kids' lives. I like the topics a lot. These kids have one foot in childhood, and the other foot way into the teen world.
I adjust the lesson a LOT too though, to fit my class. The actual Bible study part of it doesn't work for us. Our students cannot organize themselves well enough to carry on their own discussions, let alone look things up in the Bible and/or write it down. (Many of them don't read very well). So I use the text and the idea, and re-organize it to fit my group. One of the lessons was "Is God a Party Pooper". The opening idea was for groups of students to write down their idea for the perfect party. They LOVED this. It was great fun.
The Bible study was to look up and learn about the feasts of the old testament. We didn't even go there, they would not have gotten anything out of it. Instead we talked about the idea that God created us, and He created us to have fun, and enjoy life. Same idea - God isn't anti-fun. I carried this into the idea that the world deceives us about what is fun. This really startled them, the idea that they have been tricked! I could see it on their faces.
We don't vote as much in class as the curriculum suggests - but I do pick some thing that they can choose. For instance, one of the 'prayer options' is to
keep a tissue in the air by blowing it, and say a prayer each time you blow
If I tried that in my class, it would be total chaos, and I'd never get them back. Instead, I give them a choice of sitting on chairs, or on the floor. This came about because I don't like to let them use chairs - they rock on them, make noise, fall over, etc. But they complained because they wanted to the chairs. So I let them vote, and when the agreed they wanted chairs, they had to promise to use them right, or I would take them away again. This gave them the choice to behave or not. As the curriculum says, they need to make choices, they need to learn how to make good choices cuz no one else is teaching them!
I guess my point is, the curriculum is good - I recommend it - but you really have to know your students.
iBeleave ... in Jesus!
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| | Hi ibeleave! Great modification ideas for children who are new to church and new to the Bible! Sounds like you have a dynamic group and what a blessing it is for them to have you leading in such an insightful way. Lisa B from NC
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| | I am using this with our 4th and 5th grade and frankly its not working very well. None of them are interested in going to the website, they do not like the games, and we are ending up with a lot of extra time to kill at the end of our SS hour. I'm not sure that its the age though, my kids seem to be getting all the concepts but seem bored. The titles are great and I had hoped the actual lessons would be better. I have a rotation of 3 teachers and none of them like this curiculum. |
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| debiblaylock (11/29/2007)
I am using this with our 4th and 5th grade and frankly its not working very well. None of them are interested in going to the website, they do not like the games, and we are ending up with a lot of extra time to kill at the end of our SS hour. I'm not sure that its the age though, my kids seem to be getting all the concepts but seem bored. The titles are great and I had hoped the actual lessons would be better. I have a rotation of 3 teachers and none of them like this curiculum.I'm curious. Do your 4th & 5th graders have a lot of experience visiting online websites? Do they simply not like the Grapple website or are they uninterested in websites in general? Lisa B from NC
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| | I have about 20-25 fourth - sixth graders. We launched it on Sunday morning and by that afternoon, more than half had been on the site, using the "let's talk" section, creating their own polls and voting. It was helpful having a laptop in the class with a projector showing the kids how to navigate around the site. Our kids love it! |
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| | Having the laptop in the room to show the children how to navigate the website is a great idea. If I can't get our church techies to let us go wireless in the building, I'm going to have to have that first meeting in my office or at someone's home.... It's that important! Thanks for the encouragement and feedback on website usage. I am just now sending out permission slips to parents. As soon as I get signed copies back, we can get rolling. Lisa B from NC
Lisa B from NC |
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