Fifth Grade Lesson Plans Session Twelve - Eucharist

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1 Fifth Grade Lesson Plans Session Twelve - Eucharist Materials needed: Price is Right Game (see material list below- please gather the materials you need, most you can find in your own home.) Before class begins: Be sure you have everything ready to play the Price is Right game with your class. Prayer: Our Father/Hail Mary/Glory Be Lesson: EUCHARIST Say: Tonight we begin learning about the most important sacrament in the Catholic Church: Eucharist. So let s start out by finding out what the word really means. Eucharist means thanksgiving. What do we receive at the sacrament of Eucharist? (The Body and Blood of Jesus) In the time of the ancient Hebrews, when someone was very thankful to God for something they would gather their family, go to the Temple in Jerusalem and sacrifice a lamb to show their gratitude. It was a thanksgiving sacrifice. Today at Mass we also give thanks and there is also a sacrifice. What are we thankful for? We are thankful that Jesus has come to save us from the power of sin. We are thankful that because of him, we can live forever in heaven.

2 So where is our sacrifice? I don t see any lambs at Mass. Jesus is our sacrifice because he gave his life for us. Have you ever heard the expression Lamb of God? Jesus is the Lamb of God who was sacrificed so sins could be forgiven. Now I m going to ask you to think back to the movie The Prince of Egypt. Remember what God asked the Israelites to do on the night of the Passover? ( Sacrifice a lamb and then spread the blood of a lamb over the doorpost.) What else did they have to do? Eat the lamb. What if the Israelites would not have followed God s instructions and just put the blood on the doorpost without eating the lamb? Their first-born would have died with all the other Egyptians. The blood of the lamb saved the Israelites first-born from death. Then they ate the body of the lamb as a sign of their obedience to God. Have you ever heard Jesus called the Lamb of God? Knowing the story of the Israelites, can you guess why? Just like the blood of the lamb saved the Israelites, the blood of the Lamb of God saves us. When you receive the Eucharist, you receive the Body and Blood of Jesus that saved you.

3 We believe that the bread and wine actually become the Body and Blood of Jesus. There is no more bread and wine on the altar. The bread and wine are no longer something; they are someone. So please tell me now what did Jesus do for us? Just as a lamb was sacrificed to save the Israelites, Jesus was sacrificed to pay for our sins. Without his sacrifice, we would die (spiritually). What does it mean to die spiritually? (It is the death of our relationship with God through our sin. It means that we will not get to spend eternity in heaven unless that relationship is repaired.) Through the blood of Jesus, we are saved from death just as the Israelites were. How would you rather die, physically or spiritually? This is why it is important to go to Mass. Jesus says that without his Body and Blood we have no life within us. What is that life he is talking about? It is everlasting life. Life after death. The life Jesus promises we will have in heaven if we allow the Body and Blood of Jesus to get us there. Play The Price is Right Game Preparation: Materials needed (please provide the simple materials for the game): 8 small items (see below), 1 Bible, 1 sheet of cardstock with Heaven printed on it, 10 large index cards,

4 Tally sheet for each team (example included in lesson plan), treats (optional) Purchase or find 8 inexpensive items around the house such as a bottle of lotion, a container of salt, a box of Little Debbie treats, etc. Give each item a price close to the actual cost and write it down in black ink on one side of a large index card. On the other side in red ink, write down an estimated amount that is either slightly higher or slightly lower than the actual price. Try to have about half the estimated amounts higher and half lower. Fold the index cards into tents so the red estimated amounts are showing. Make a card for the Bible with the actual value being what the Bible may have actually cost and the estimated amount slightly higher. Then make a card for the Heaven poster with the actual value being $0 and the estimated amount $10,000. Display all 10 items in a row on a table with the Bible in the 9 th spot and Heaven in the 10 th spot. Play the game: Pair up the kids, or make small teams and give each team a tally sheet. As you point to the first item, have the kids decide if the price shown is higher or lower than the actual price. Have them check the box accordingly on their tally sheet. Once they have made their choice, turn over the card to show the actual price and see if they got it right. Do the same for the rest of the items, one by one, as the kids keep score. Ham it up as a game show host might do, describing each item, etc.

5 Have the kids guess if the actual price of the Bible is higher or lower but before revealing the actual price, stop to see how well the kids are doing so far. Ask if any team got eight correct seven six etc. Then turn over the Bible price. Whether the kids said the actual price is higher or lower doesn t really matter. Explain that even a Bible has a price and can be bought. Last, have them guess if the actual price for Heaven is higher or lower than $10,000. The price of Heaven is important. Tell the children not to consider only the poster but the price Jesus paid for us when He died on the cross. Most likely some of the teams will guess that the price of heaven is higher, much higher than $10,000. As you turn over the card to reveal the price ($0) explain that what Jesus did makes Heaven absolutely free. Not even one hundred thousand million dollars can buy heaven!