Curriculum

Write lessons once in Library, then use Plan to decide which lesson each group gets each week. Leaders open the lesson in the Serve app on meeting night.

Library

Curriculum > Library shows your lesson series.

Each series shows a status:

• Needs content: no lessons, or no lesson has anything in it yet.
• Draft: some lessons have content.
• Ready: every lesson has content.

Create a series

1. Click New series.
2. Add a Cover image, Series name, Grade and Description.
3. Save.

The grade is a label for finding the series. Plan decides who actually gets it.

Add lessons

Open a series and click New lesson. Lessons are numbered by week in the order you add them.

On each lesson row you can Duplicate, Print, Move to another series or Delete. Deleting or moving a lesson renumbers the weeks after it. Lessons can't be reordered, so add them in order.

Write a lesson

Open a lesson to edit it. It saves as you go.

Lesson and Leader Prep

The toggle at the top switches between two parts:

• Lesson: what the leader uses in the room.
• Leader Prep: background the leader reads beforehand.

Summary

Click Add a summary for the big idea in one sentence, plus rows like "Primary scripture: Psalm 139".

Blocks

Drag a block from the left onto the lesson, or click it.

• Teaching: Header, Text, Scripture, Quote, Callout.
• Doing:
  • Questions: numbered discussion questions with follow-ups and leader notes. Paste a list and click Auto-format to split it into questions.
  • Activity.
  • Poll: students answer anonymously on the leader's phone, then the leader reveals the results.
  • Would You Rather: the leader counts hands, then compares with other groups.
  • Timer.
  • Name picker: picks a random student, with no repeats until everyone has had a turn.
  • Prayer: the group's prayer requests. See Prayer.
• Media: Image, Video (YouTube plays in the lesson).
• Layout: Section, Divider.

Use a block's menu to move, duplicate or delete it.

Preview shows the lesson exactly as leaders see it on their phone.

Print

Click Print. Turn Leader notes and Prep sheet on or off. The page tells you whether it fits on one page.

Plan

Curriculum > Plan is a calendar of meetings for each group type and season, with a lesson on each date.

Set up the calendar

1. Pick the group type and season.
2. Click Set up the calendar.
3. Pick Meets on, How often and an optional Time.
4. Click Generate dates.

Changing the rule later adds new dates but doesn't remove old ones. Use Select > Delete dates to clean up.

Assign lessons

• One date: click the date, pick the Series and Lesson, then Save.
• A whole series: click Assign a series, pick the series and a start date, then Assign N lessons. Lessons fill the dates in order and replace anything already planned.
• From Library, the Schedule button on a series does the same.

Different lessons for different groups

Tabs let you plan at three levels:

• Whole type: every group of this type.
• By grade: a grade or grade range.
• By group: one group.

The most specific plan wins: a group's own lesson beats its grade, which beats its grade range, which beats the whole type.

In By group, click Mark no meeting for a week a group isn't meeting. The type's setting decides whether that week's lesson is skipped or later lessons shift forward.

What leaders see

The Serve app shows each leader the lesson planned for their group's next meeting, like "Tonight's lesson" on their Home screen. Weeks with no lesson are skipped.

The Serve app doesn't know about Mark no meeting yet, so a leader may see the planned lesson for a week you marked off.

Common questions

A leader sees "Nothing planned yet". Their group's type needs a calendar in Plan with a lesson on an upcoming date.

Week numbers changed. Deleting, moving or duplicating a lesson renumbers the series.