Woman at the Well. Lesson At-A-Glance. Gather (10 minutes) Open the Bible (20 minutes) Arrival Activity Kids have their thirsts quenched.

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1 Woman at the Well Lesson At-A-Glance Scripture Reference John 4:5-42 Lesson Focus Jesus is the living water. Life Question What do you thirst for in life? Bible Memory Verse The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water. John 4:15 Gather (10 minutes) Arrival Activity Kids have their thirsts quenched. Activity Pages, crackers or other salty snack, cups, water Opening Conversation Kids talk about the importance of water. Opening Prayer Kids rub a salty cracker on their tongues before praying and drink water afterwards. Crackers or other salty snack, cups, water Open the Bible (20 minutes) Woman at the Well Story Kids carry water as they read the Bible story. Water Facts and Figures Kids dive into water facts and figures. Remember It Kids memorize the Bible Memory Verse. Spark Bibles, Spark Bible Stickers Spark Bibles, Spark Bible Stickers, Large bucket filled with water, rags Grades 5-6 Classroom Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2010 Augsburg Fortress. Woman at the Well 61

2 Activate Faith (10 minutes) Lesson At-A-Glance Who Were the Samaritans? Kids learn about the tensions that existed between Jews and Samaritans. World Water Shortage Kids learn about how precious water is to people in other parts of the world. Water Miracles Kids match the water miracle to the biblical reference. Spark Bibles, Send (5 minutes) Closing Conversation Kids talk about how Jesus, as living water, quenches, cleans, heats, cools, and refreshes them. Closing Prayer Kids open and close the prayer by drinking a cup of water. Family Pages Cups, water Visit for more Spark content! Watch a short Lesson Prep Video that will prepare you and give you confidence to explore this Bible story with the kids you are leading. You will also find four downloadable resources for this lesson: an Activity Page, a Family Page, and two additional in-class activities. 62 Woman at the Well Grades 5-6 Classroom Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2010 Augsburg Fortress.

3 Gather (10 minutes) Arrival Activity Before serving any food, check with caregivers for kids with food allergies. Provide an alternative, if necessary. If some kids arrive earlier than others and you need a lesson-based activity, make copies of the downloadable Activity Page and set them out for kids to try. As kids gather in the room, direct their attention to a table where you have crackers or another salty snack ready. Encourage kids to take as much of the snack as they like. Today we ll start things off by having a snack. Eat up! But remember, you can t have anything to drink until I give the signal. Wait a few minutes until all the kids have had something to eat and are thirsty. Then serve water. Activity Pages Crackers or other salty snack Cups Water Opening Conversation Who was able to try a Faith on the Go! activity this past week? Tell us what you did. Allow some time for sharing. Who can tell me the Bible Memory Verse (BMV) from last week? If kids remember the BMV, invite them to recite it for the group. Guide the kids to help them remember parts they don t. Distribute leaflets and pencils. Look together at the pictures on the front page, then read the Life Question and Lesson Focus. It s obvious that Jesus is not water, even living water. And when we look at the Life Question What do you thirst for in life? we are not talking only about water. How is water being used in these examples? (a metaphor or figure of speech) How does a metaphor work? (It suggests that one thing is something else, so that we can understand something about the first thing.) In the Life Question, we understand that thirst is a metaphor for the things that we need and desire in life. This includes water, of course. And Jesus as living water is a metaphor that suggests that Jesus supplies what we need, physically and spiritually. Ask volunteers to read the facts about water in Water Essentials, Essential Water on the second page of the leaflet. Encourage kids to share their thoughts and engage in discussion. Grades 5-6 Classroom Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2010 Augsburg Fortress. Woman at the Well 63

4 Opening Prayer Before serving any food, check with caregivers for kids with food allergies. Provide an alternative if necessary. Ask kids to gather in a circle and grab a portion of the salty snack. They will also take a cup of water, to be held in the other hand. Before we start this prayer, I want you to take the salty snack and rub it on your tongue. Do not drink the water until the prayer is over. You may eat your snack before we begin. Crackers or other salty snack Cups Water Dear Jesus, We come to the well, our spirits parched. We come to the well, feeling dry inside. We come to the well, unsure if we re clean. We come to the well, defeated and drained. You sit by, hungry and thirsty yourself, But ready to pour yourself out. We thirst after you, Lord Your wisdom, your salvation, The flow of life eternal. Lead us in your ways, and open our hearts To the spring that never dies. In your name we pray. Amen. (Drink the water.) Open the Bible (20 minutes) Woman at the Well Story Fill a large bucket with a handle and have rags handy in case of spills. Ask the kids if they know where the book of John is. Then invite them to turn to John 4:5-42 on pages , the story of Jesus meeting a Samaritan woman at the well. Go around the group, with each kid reading one verse. As each verse is read, the reader will go up to the bucket of water and move it several feet, in any direction. Invite kids to place I Read It stickers in their Bibles. When Jesus meets the woman at the well, it s an incredible moment. He is talking to a Samaritan woman. There are two things wrong with this in Jesus time. Jews did not like Samaritans and were not supposed to have anything to do with them. And men were not supposed to talk to women. Once again, we find Jesus reaching out to those who were outcasts. Spark Bibles Spark Bible Stickers Large bucket filled with water Rags 64 Woman at the Well Grades 5-6 Classroom Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2010 Augsburg Fortress.

5 Jesus shocks the woman by knowing things about her life that she did not expect a stranger to know. Do you think she was thirsty when she went to the well? (yes) So how does Jesus, comparing himself to water, make a big impact on her? (It makes her realize that she has a thirst for something deeper.) Jesus decides to stay in the Samaritan town for two days. What does this tell us about him and his ministry? (Jesus came for everyone.) Read and discuss Did You Know? on the second page of the leaflet. Read about another woman at a well in Look It Up! on the third page of the leaflet. Invite kids to skim through Genesis 24 to get an idea of what happened when Rebekah went to the well. (She found her husband.) Water Facts and Figures Ask kids to read Water Facts and Figures on the second page of the leaflet. Invite them to share other facts they know about water. When Jesus speaks about himself as water, it s easy to look at water as a common element. Were you surprised to see how scarce water really is? Why or why not? How does it feel to know that the same water from Jesus time is part of our water system today? Knowing that Jesus compared himself to water, how does that make you feel about protecting this resource? Remember It Ask kids to look up John 4:15 on page 1175 in the Spark Bible. They can also look at their leaflets. Verse 15 in John 4 is today s Bible Memory Verse. Teach these gestures to help the kids learn the BMV. The woman said to him, (Flap fingers to make a talking hand.) Sir, give me this water, (Drink imaginary cup of water.) so that I may never be thirsty (Pant.) or have to keep coming here to draw water. (Crank a well with big circular motion.) Spark Bibles Spark Bible Stickers Once kids have memorized the verse, encourage them to put I Memorized It stickers in their Bibles. They can also sketch a well in the margin. Grades 5-6 Classroom Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2010 Augsburg Fortress. Woman at the Well 65

6 Activate Faith (10 minutes) Who Were the Samaritans? Ask kids to read Who Were the Samaritans? on the third page of the leaflet. The history indicates that the bad feelings between the Jews and the Samaritans went back almost 1,000 years before Jesus spoke to the woman at the well. What are some other groups that you ve heard about who have tense relationships in the world? Invite kids responses to this and the following. Do you think it s possible that Jesus might talk to someone who belongs to a group that some Christians would consider enemies today? Why do you think Jesus shows compassion to the Samaritan woman? World Water Shortage Ask kids to read and complete World Water Shortage on the third page of the leaflet. What ideas did you come up with for helping out with the world water shortage? Are there actions we could take to ensure a better future in terms of the water supply? (Don t waste water. Contribute money and resources to organizations that work toward clean water.) How do you think being better stewards of the world s resources bring us closer to God? Water Miracles Ask kids to read and complete Water Miracles on the fourth page of the leaflet. Answer Key 1. E 2. C 3. F 4. B 5. G 6. A 7. D Spark Bibles Bonus Question: 5, 6, 7 Are there any other events involving water in the Bible that you can think of? Each of us also has access to a miracle that involves water: our baptism! At this point in our lives, we meet Jesus through water, in a sacrament that Jesus himself participated in with John the Baptist. What are some of your most powerful memories involving water? 66 Woman at the Well Grades 5-6 Classroom Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2010 Augsburg Fortress.

7 Send (5 minutes) Closing Conversation Water, as we have seen and heard, can do so much. It cools, quenches, and refreshes us. It can heat our baths and help grow our food. We turn to it for recreation, renewal, and revival. In what areas in your life do you think need water? What do you thirst for in life? Where do you see the living water of Jesus at work in you right now? Remember, you can never worry about running out! God s water is always there for you. Ask for a volunteer to read Faith on the Go! on the last page of the leaflet. If time allows, have kids discuss the ways they think God s living water will grow them as people. Closing Prayer Ask kids to gather in a circle, and pass out two small cups of water for each. Before we begin this prayer, I ll ask you to drink the first cup of water. Then at the end, drink the second. Now, drink the water and repeat each line of this prayer after me. Dear God, We have been refreshed, revived, renewed By the water that never dies, By your Son and the outpouring of his love, By the salvation that splashes across us To relieve every longing that dries us up. As we go forward, help us to see The precious fragility of your creation, The ways we can make a difference, And the thirst that plagues a weary world, That only you can satisfy. We stand ready to serve And pour ourselves out: Thanks be to God! Amen. Family Pages Cups Water Be sure to send a leaflet and a Family Page home with each kid. Grades 5-6 Classroom Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2010 Augsburg Fortress. Woman at the Well 67

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