The Story of Creation

Creation

In the beginning God made Heaven and Earth;

He gave the dark and the water their birth.

Next He said, “Let there be light,”

And so created day and night.

            And there was evening and there was morning,

            And that was the first day.

And God said, “Let there be air

Between the waters; make a sky there.”

Wet clouds above and wet ocean beneath,

And between good dry air to breathe.

            And there was evening and there was morning,

            And that was the second day.

Then God took the waters under the sky

And moved them aside so the land was dry.

And on that land between the seas,

He grew up fruitful plants and trees.

            And He saw that it was good,

            And there was evening and there was morning,

            And that was the third day.

And God created two great lights,

One for days and one for nights,

And hung in the sky stars to shine,

So there were signs to tell the pass of time.

            And He saw that it was good,

            And there was evening and there was morning,

            And that was the fourth day.

Then fish leaped on the waters bright,

And in the air birds took to flight,

And God made their numbers increase,

Until they filled the sky and seas.

            And He saw that it was good,

            And there was evening and there was morning,

            And that was the fifth day.

Then God made creatures to walk on land,

To climb the trees and slide in the sand.

And last of all he gave Man birth,

To rule the beasts, to love the Earth.

            And He saw that it was good,

            And there was evening and there was morning,

            And that was the sixth day.

And then God took a day for rest,

And said, “Now this day will be blessed,

It will be the holy Sabbath day,

To set apart to rest and pray.”

            And there was evening and there was morning,

            And that was the seventh day.

The Story of Adam and Eve, Level B (Grade Level 3-4)

Adam and Eve

            On the Earth God had created a beautiful garden called Eden. A great river flowed into it, which separated into four rivers, named Pishon and Gihon and Tigris and Euphrates. The garden was filled with all kinds of trees which were pleasing to the eye and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

            Then God formed a man from the dust of the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and he became a living being. He named him Adam, and gave him the garden’s fruit to eat and its animals to care for and name. But each of the birds and the beasts had companions, and Adam had none. So God said, “It is not good for Man to be alone. I will create a helper for him.”

            God put Adam into a deep sleep. While he slept He took one of his ribs, and covered the place with flesh. And from the rib He made a made a woman, and took her to the man. Adam said,

                        “This is now bone of my bones

                        and flesh of my flesh;

                        she shall be called ‘woman’,

                        for she was taken out of man.”

            When Adam was first created, God had told him, “You may eat of any tree in the Garden of Eden, except for one. You must not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for if you eat from it, you will surely die.” So Adam warned his new wife not to eat from this tree.

            Now of all the wild creatures God had made, the serpent was the craftiest. One day he said to the woman, whose name was Eve, “Didn’t God say, ‘You may eat of any tree in the garden’?”

            Eve replied, “We may eat fruit from any tree in the garden, except for one. God said, ‘You must not eat from the tree in the middle of the garden, or even touch it, or you will surely die.’”

            “You will not surely die,” the serpent told her. “God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

            Eve looked at the fruit of the tree, and it was pleasing to the eye and looked as though it would be pleasing to the tongue as well. And now she knew that it would also give her wisdom. And so she took some of the fruit and ate it, and also gave some to Adam, who ate the fruit as well.

            Then both of their eyes were opened. First they saw that they were naked, which they had never noticed when they were like the animals and had not eaten of the fruit. They made themselves clothing out of fig leaves.

            Then Adam and Eve heard the sound of God walking through the garden, and they hid among the trees. God called to Adam and said, “Where are you?”

            “I heard you in the garden,” said Adam, “and I was afraid because I am naked, so I hid.”

            “Who told you that you were naked?” asked God. “Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

            The man said, “It was the woman you put here with me! She gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

            God said to the woman, “What is this that you have you done?”

            “The serpent deceived me,” said the woman, “and I ate.”

            So God told the serpent,

                        “Cursed are you, above all creatures,

                                    tame or wild.

                        You will crawl on your belly

                                    and eat the dust

                                    all the days of your life.

                        And I will put hatred

                                    between you and the woman,

                                    and between your children and hers;

                        he will crush your head,

                                    and you will strike his heel.”

            Then he said to the woman,

                        “I will greatly increase your pain in childbearing;

                                    with pain you will bring forth children.

                        Your desire will be for your husband,

                                    and he will rule over you.”

            And to the man he said,

                        “Cursed is the ground because of you;

                                    only through painful toil will you eat

                                    all the days of your life.

                        The Earth will produce thorns and thistles for you,

                                    and you will eat the plants of the field.

                        By the sweat of your brow

                                    you will find your food

                        until you return from the ground,

                                    since from it you were taken;

                        for dust you are

                                    and to dust you will return.”

            Then God made clothing of animal skins for Adam and Eve, and dressed them. And he said, “Now Man is like us, and he knows good and evil. He must not be allowed to eat also from the Tree of Life, and then live forever.” So God banished Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden to work the ground for their food. And he placed in front of the garden an angel with a flaming sword flashing back and forth, to guard the way to the Tree of Life.

Lesson 11 Reading: Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve

For use after Lesson 11.

Sight Words to Know

I, we, be, he, she, no, so, by, hi, too

as, his, is, was

to, the, from, one

are, were

for, her

they, you

Sight or Common Words Child Should Be Becoming Familiar With

there, where, why

with, then, that

I’ll, didn’t

Words above Instructional Level (From Context, Parent)

Point out what a child knows about the word; briefly explain rules he doesn’t know yet.

all, call

have, live

now, hard, bird, good, want

die, fruit

fish

see, sleep, eat, tree (long ‘e’ words to be studied next)

away, alone, Adam (two syllables, but other skills down)

woman

God made the sun and the moon. They were good.

God made the rocks and clay and rain. They were good, too.

God made plants, and they were good as well.

God made birds and fish. He made dogs and cats and pigs. They were all good.

Then God made man. He made him from clay. His name was Adam.

Adam was glad he was made. He gave names to the birds and the fish and the dogs and the cats and the pigs.

Adam: You are a snail. You are a jay.

But Adam was alone. There was a snail to play with the snail. There was a jay to play with the jay. But there was no one for Adam to be with.

God: It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a good help for him.

Then God made Adam lay down. Adam went to sleep, and God got one of his ribs. He made a woman from the rib.

Adam woke up. Adam was glad to see the woman. He gave her a name, too.

Adam: Hi! I’ll call you Eve.

So Adam and Eve were glad. They had fun. They played in the trees. They ate fruit from the trees, too.

God: You may eat from the trees. But do not eat the fruit from that tree. If you eat from that tree, you will die.

But there was a snake with bad aims. One day Eve was alone, and the snake lay in wait.

Snake: Hi, Eve. That tree has good fruit.

Eve: I can not.

Snake: But didn’t God say that you may eat from the trees?

Eve: We may eat from the trees, but not that tree. If we eat from that tree, we will die.

Snake: You will not die. If you eat from that tree, you will gain a brain. You will be wise.

Eve did see that the fruit was good to eat, and so she ate. Then she gave it to Adam, and he ate too.

Then God came by. Adam and Eve hid.

God: Where are you?

Adam: We hid.

God: Why did you hide? Did you eat from that tree?

Adam: It was Eve! Eve gave me the fruit.

Eve: It was the snake! He made me eat!

God: Since you did that, snake, you will have no legs. You will be like one big tail.

So the snake lost its legs.

God: Since you ate, Eve, you will have a lot of pain. You will hate snakes, and snakes will hate you. And since you ate too, Adam, it will be hard to eat. You will get grain from the clay with a lot of pain. You must go away, Adam and Eve. You can not live with me now. But you can still pray to me.

Lesson 18 Reading: Jonah and the Fish

Jonah and the Fish

For use after Lesson 18.

Sight Words to Know

to, the, from, who, into, of, done, one, once

there, very, where

was, as

could, should, would

are, were

you, all, have, for, far, they, their

don't

come, someone

Sight or Common Words Child Should Be Becoming Familiar With

people

know, knew

want, here, down

which

Words above Instructional Level (From Context, Parent)

Point out what a child knows about the word; briefly explain rules he doesn’t know yet.

find, storm, full, choice, mouth, worm

thing, think, sure

amaze (2 syllables, but otherwise mastered)

about, future, deserve, suffer, Tarshish, sailor, belly, after, sorry, forgave, angry, pity

            Once there was a man named Jonah. He went from place to place to tell people about God. With God’s help, he could even tell the future! But then one day things changed.

            “Jonah,” said God, “I want you to go to Nineveh. The people there are very wicked. They do not know about Me.”

            “Nineveh!” said Jonah. “I can’t go to Nineveh!”

            “You must go to Nineveh,” said God. “If no one tells the Ninevites about me, they will stay wicked. And then I will put an end to Nineveh. But I want them to have a chance to change.”

            “You should put an end to Nineveh!” said Jonah. “The people of Nineveh don’t deserve a chance. You should kill them all now.”

            “Jonah, go to Nineveh to preach,” said God. “Teach the people about Me.”

            But Jonah did not wish to teach the people of Nineveh about God. He wanted them to suffer for their wicked ways. So he got on a ship for Tarshish, which was far away. God would not find him in Tarshish. The sun shone and the sea was smooth, and Jonah was sure that he could get away from God.

            But as soon as the ship was away from land, a big storm blew up. The ship pitched and the sea frothed. It seemed sure that the ship would be lost.

            “Who did this?” cried the sailors. “Someone here is bad luck!” Jonah was afraid. If the sailors knew it was him, they would throw him off the ship into the sea. So he hid.

            But the sailors cast lots, and they showed that it was Jonah that had made the storm come. Jonah was full of shame. “God is angry with me,” he said. “Throw me into the sea, and then you will be safe.”

            The sailors did not want to throw Jonah into the sea. But at last they had no choice. They tossed him in, and the waves stopped right away. They were amazed, and they prayed to Jonah’s god.

            Jonah fell deep into the sea, and soon a huge fish came and ate him up. But in the fish’s belly, Jonah prayed to God. Once he saw light at the fish’s mouth, and he was glad in spite of where he was. Then after three days God made the fish swim to the coast and spit him on the sand.

            “Go to Nineveh,” God said. “Tell the people there about Me.”

            This time Jonah went to Nineveh to teach. When he spoke about God, the people were sorry for their wicked ways. They wore sackcloth and ashes and prayed to God, and God forgave them.

            When Jonah was done in Nineveh, he went away, angry. He still did not think that God should have saved Nineveh. The sun beat down on him, so God made a shrub grow up to shade him. Jonah sat by it in the cool and blessed the plant. But that night, God made a worm eat its roots, and it died. Jonah was very sad and angry.

            “Are you sorry for the shrub?” asked God.

            “Yes,” said Jonah. “I wish to die.”

            “You have pity for this plant,” said God, “which grew in one night and died the next. But you have no pity for Nineveh, where there were 120,000 people who did not know right and wrong?”

Lesson 20 Reading: The Story of Saint Nicholas

The Story of Saint Nicholas

For use after Lesson 20.

Sight Words to Know

one, once, was, love, to, from

his, has

good, her, they, their, want, all

there, very

when, why, where

are, were

said, again

the

knew

could

people

Sight or Common Words Child Should Be Becoming Familiar With

cannot

girl

two

out, house

other

great

Words above Instructional Level (From Context, Parent)

birth

world

long, bring

took, wood

cold, gold, pull

more, poor, north, horse

find, mind, behind

Jesus, often, wagon

Nicholas, reindeer, twenty-fifth

father, sister, after, remember

crying, making, morning, hoping

marry, sorry, sadly, quickly, dowry, city

            Once there was a man named Nicholas. He was a good man, and very rich too. One day he was on his way home when he saw a girl on her steps. She was crying sadly.

            “Why are you crying?” asked Nicholas.

            “Oh!” said the girl. “I am in love, but I cannot marry. My father is very poor, and he has three girls. He has no gold to pay a dowry.”

            “I am sorry,” said Nicholas. Then he went home, but the poor girl’s plight stayed on his mind. That night after the sun set, he left his house and went back to where he had seen her. He put a bag of gold coins on the steps where she had sat and left them for her to find.

            When the morning came, the girl was very glad. Soon after she was married to her love, and Nicholas was very glad too. But he knew that she had two sisters who still could not marry. So again he sneaked out in the night. This time he put two bags of coins on the steps, and the other girls were married too. From then on Nicholas often came to the homes of his city’s poor at night, and left coins on their steps when they were in need.

            But Nicholas knew he could do more. He wanted to spend all of his days making people glad. So at last he left his city and went north, where the snow was deep and the wind was cold. Horses could not go there, and wagons got stuck in the snow drifts. But great beasts called reindeer roamed the north, and Nicholas got to some of them to know and trust him. Then he took the wheels off his wagon and put long bits of wood on in their place. He hitched the reindeer to his new sled, and they pulled him on the snow with great ease.

            The reindeer ran more and more quickly, and then their feet left the snow! They flew in the sky, with Nicholas and his sled behind them. At last they landed at the North Pole, at the very top of the world. There Nicholas set up a shop to make gifts and toys, and soon he was joined by elves to help him. And each twenty-fifth of December, when people remember Jesus’s birth, he takes his gifts and toys and flies from house to house, hoping to bring joy to the world.