Curriculum Review: Group's Buzz (first reaction)

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. Below are my first reactions to the curriculum after spending about an hour reading, playing, and messing around with it. I know that an hour is not very long with a curriculum and that is why I am calling this my first reactions. With respect though, I don't give most curriculum that much time in review.

Here is what Group says Buzz (quoted from FAQ's at Group.com/buzz):

Group’s Buzz curriculum is an entirely new way to teach children the timeless truths of the Bible—a way that excites and engages kids. And that delights leaders!
We’ve designed Buzz for Sunday school, but its fl exibility makes Buzz a great choice for children’s church…midweek…anytime you want kids discovering and applying Bible truth!

If you want to see all of their FAQ's go here.

(Full Disclosure: I bought this curriculum. It was not free. I am not being paid to write a review. This is just my opinion. Enjoy)
Overall Reations

Series, Crime and Punishment- not big on the title. Don't think 3rd and 4th graders will want to dive in and learn about it.

The packaging- clever with nice graphics. Looks like a part of a honeycomb. Looks like a board game.

The tag line- If it's in the lesson, it's in the box. - nice concept. I'm glad I don't have to go gather all of the supplies. Not the first time Group has done this and it is a nice feature.

Quick Start Guide- Liked it . Without it I wouldn't have a clue what to do. Easy to read and easy to follow.

Promotional Piece- It's the biggest thing in the box. Everything else is cut down from a standard piece of paper except this piece. I know you want me to buy other stuff but make this smaller. It just felt misplaced.

5 colored spinners for opening activity and Bible Time- nice feel. spins well. most kids will be able to use these and be successful.

CD- I've always had a hard time with the production quality of what Group does. The songs on the CD are kids singing to "eletrofied" soundtracks. It's a philosophy difference that I have with them. They didn't change theirs on this CD and I haven't changed mine yet. The stories and such on the CD are not great production quality either. They are good just not great. It always seems like they are doing recordings in a closet down the hall instead of in a studio or the mix is just a little bit off or something. Might be a little harsh but they can do better here.

Journal for Leaders- Read the first 2 in the book. Very good. Short and sweet and to the point. Not to much for any volunteer.

Opening Activity Cards- Good idea. Great questions. I don't know if 5 cards are going to last 13 weeks though. They don't feel like they will hold up over time with 3rd-4th grade boys.

Bible Buzz Cards (The lesson)- Nice graphics. Nice size. I didn't like that I had to tear them out of the book. I felt like I was going to rip the pages even though they are perferatted. The material on the cards are very good. Great activities to get the kids moving, thinking, and doing. Nice uses of different learning styles. Good reinforcement of the main point of the lesson. The great advancement here is that the kids get to pick the cards and decide what they want to do. It gives them ownership, something most curriculums don't even try. That is a nice change of pace.

Application Dice- Nice idea. Again giving ownership to the kids on how they are going to apply the lesson of the day. Didn't like that I rolled sports on both dice at the same time the first time I rolled though. Just felt awkward.

Prayer Tangle and Time piece- The Tangle toy was very creative and confusing all at the same time. Here is a picture taken from TangleToys.com.


You are suppose to have the kids tangle up the toy and then untangle the toy as long as the timer goes. The problem is my assistant couldn't figure out how to tangle it back up. It took me about 3 minutes to figure it out. Once you figure it out it isn't that bad but I don't think the new kid at church is going to like this activity very well. Especially when the other kids who know how make fun of them because they know how to do it. Just saying...

Faith Buzz at Home- I like the key chain idea. A nice way to collect what you have learned over the series. The cards themselves are short and sweet. Not a lot of info or activities to do because of size but I think a great reminder for the kids.

Final thoughts and observations: Overall I like the idea that the kids don't know what's coming. They don't know what game, activity, or response time is coming. That point alone gives them or makes them feel like their is ownership and excitement. I really like this. For some reason though, the first use of this curriculum that came to mind was not Sunday School. In fact the thing that I would do with this curriculum is give it to a small group of parents who is looking for something for their kids while they do small group. Instead of babysitting the person watching the kids could easily pick this up and play/learn with the kids. Because it takes little to no training on how to do. The other thing that I thought was that it could be a great family game for parents wanting to talk about spiritual things. I don't think that either one of those is bad. In fact, I think there needs to be a lot more of that kind of stuff out to chose from. Group may have developed something for the family during the week by accident but I think it would fit very well. I would use it with my family if my kids weren't 2 and 4 right now.

So what are your thoughts? Have you seen this curriculum yet? Do you think I'm way off base? Do you think it would be a good family piece instead of a Sunday School piece?

Curriculum Review: Group's Living Inside Out

Over the next several months I will be doing curriculum reviews on this site. There are tons of curriculum out there for elementary kids and I will try to get around to as many as I can. I am going to start with new ones that came out this fall and work my way back. Here are the 7 areas in which I rate curriculum:

Bible Content:

Age appropriate:

Ease of use for volunteers:

Ease of Prep for staff:

Bells and Whistles (graphics and music):

Parent Information:

Technology needed or provided:

I am rating all of these on a 1 to 5 scale with 1 being needs much improvement and 5 being WOW!

I am biased when it comes to curriculum because I helped create and produce G-Force, the joint curriculum between Fellowship Church and Lifeway. I hope this gives you at least an angle in which I am coming from.

The first curriculum is going be rated is Group's "Living Inside Out". So here goes nothing:

Bible Content: (5) Group is always good at Bible Content. I would say that they are either number 1 or 2 in the nation when it comes to this aspect of curriculum. So you can't go wrong here.

Age appropriate: (3) Seems to shoot on the lower age side even for the older pieces. Activities are experiences but not quite there yet.

Ease of use for volunteers: (3) Compared to other curriculum out right now it is pretty standard. Your great teachers will pick it up easy but your not so great teachers will struggle with the prep.

Ease of Prep for staff: (2) To many things to prepare. Each small group is suppose to be 5 kids and that adds up quick. That also means a lot more volunteers which means a lot more prep for staff.

Bells and Whistles (graphics and music): (3) Graphics are not bad but they are not great. Nothing really cool that catches kids eyes. Music is bland. Typical Group music that is overly kid singing and under-produced. This is one area in which I dislike almost every curriculum on the shelf.

Parent Information: (4) Very good daily activities for the kids and parents in the take home sheets. They look good for parents and give involved parents something to sink their teeth into.

Technology needed or provided: (3) DVD and CD provided. DVD has clips that are also under-produced. Standard Group video that is done on location in Loveland, CO. A little Cheese goes a long way. Some are funny and others are funny and are not suppose to be.

Overall Score out of a possible 35 points is 23.

Summery: This is an above average curriculum for large group/small group presentations but would not use in a Sunday School Format. Your kids will not be WOWed but parents will be satisfied.

I hope this helps. Until next time and on to the next curriculum…

Curriculum Review: Elevate

I worked at Fellowship Church in Grapevine, TX from 2000 until 2005. When I first started we were writing our own curriculum week to week with medium to mild success. We had potential so Lifeway Publishing picked us up and we started G-Force. G-Force is above average but we always had dreams for more. I left Fellowship to come to Cincinnati and after I left Fellowship Church came out with a new curriculum called Elevate. I have used the first 2 installments with my kids here in Cincy. I know the vision of this curriculum because I was still at Fellowship and helped in the dream phase. Knowing all of this now here is my assessment of Elevate.

Curriculum Review of Elevate:

Bible Content: (4) The first series, On the Trail, was great. One story per week that the kids really got into and learned. The second series, Heroes, is okay. There are 3 different Bible stories per week and kids can get them confused.

Age appropriate: (4) Elevate is written in an older and younger version and lends itself to both a 5th grader and a kindergarten. The place it could improve is having more of a focus of relationship building in the older grades. The younger is right on.

Ease of use for volunteers: (5+) This is where the curriculum will blow you away. There is a DVD with every week training on it for volunteers. It goes through every activity for that week and even gives examples of what kids might ask. This is the only curriculum to my knowledge who is doing this and has changed my volunteer’s effectiveness. This is a WOW!

Ease of Prep for staff: (4) This great for staff. They have an every week training video for the large group time that could be shown instead of performed if needed as a backup. I prefer live drama that is above average than recorded drama that is great. They provide almost everything on a CD-Rom for all activities. The place where this curriculum might be hard to prepare for is changing your set or environment every 8 weeks. It is well worth it but can be a challenge.

Bells and Whistles (graphics, music, and sound effects): (5+) Another WOW! They have the best graphics of any curriculum out. There are 2 songs that you get per 8 weeks but they are up-to-date and fun to sing. The eye candy on this is unbelievable and very engaging for the kids. The sound effects are second to none and add to the environment tremendously. The production value is top notch.
Parent Information: (2) There is a half page review for the parents that you can hand out at the end of your service. It goes over the main point, Bible verse and theme of the day. This is the one area that they could really improve on their curriculum. I would love to see some type of media, ie CD, for the parents to listen to in the car or some website that could be interactive for parents and kids to go over what they learned for that week.

Technology needed or provided: (5) 5 DVD’s, CD-Rom, and Sound Effects CD provided with curriculum. You will need a CD player, a DVD player, and a TV or projector.

Overall Score out of a possible 35 points is 31. It got a bonus point for every week training for volunteers and one bonus point for the Bells and Whistles.

Summery: This is a great large group/small group curriculum. The production quality is not matched by any other curriculum, including KidMO and Saddleback. The training is excellent for both volunteers and staff. The graphics are great. The transitions are funny and very appropriate. Elevate could really elevate its product with better parent resources. Right now North Pointe, or should I say The Rethink Group, is leading the way in that area. This is a must check out.

I hope this helps. Until next time and on to the next curriculum…