Holy Week and Easter

Transcription

1 SCIENCE LEADER GUIDE Holy Week and Easter (Matthew 21:1-11, 27:32-66, and 28:1-10) Age-Level Overview Age-Level Overview Open the Bible Activate Faith Lower Elementary Workshop Focus: We open our hearts to the light of Jesus. Cardboard Caves: Kids learn how caves are made. : Spark Story Bibles : None : None : Cardboard (corrugated and thin), scissors, containers (plastic butter containers work well), pins, soil, crayons, cups, water, paper towels, labeled picture of the layers of the earth Upper Elementary Workshop Focus: Our actions reflect our beliefs. Colors in the sky: Kids experiment to learn why the sky can be different colors. : Spark Bibles, Spark Bible Stickers : Pencils : None : Construction paper, pens, clear plastic bottle, water, flashlight, spray bottle, paper towels, milk, glass jar, mirrors that can fit in the jars, marbles (Note: If you don t have access to a dark room, you ll also need blankets or heavy coats) All Kids Workshop Focus: Faith is a powerful tool! Lighten Your Load: Kids experiment with simple tools. : Spark Story Bibles, Spark Bibles, Spark Bible Stickers : Pencils : Spark Story Bibles, Spark Bibles : Wooden yardsticks, rectangular wooden building blocks, levers (butter knife, crowbar, tweezers, tongs, scissors, bottle opener, stapler, hammer, wheelbarrow, etc.), sheet 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 a downloadable Family Page for this rotation s story filled with ideas for families to use to explore this story and live out their faith at home. Science Workshop, Holy Week and Easter Rotation Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2009 Holy Week and Easter 109

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3 SCIENCE LEADER GUIDE Holy Week and Easter (Matthew 21:1-11, 27:32-66, and 28:1-10) Lower Elementary Workshop Focus: We open our hearts to the light of Jesus. Keep these tips in mind as you welcome kids to the workshop and explore the story together. Each week, remember to welcome kids to the rotation. Keep in mind that for some kids it may be the first time they are visiting your workshop! If kids have heard the story several times during previous weeks, read it again! Kids learn through repetition, and every workshop will explore the Bible story in a slightly different way. Remember that the Shepherds are there to support you as they accompany kids each week. Be sure to visit to download the Family Page for this story. Make copies of it and ask Shepherds to distribute it during the Wrap Up. Open the Bible (10 minutes) Holy Week and Easter Storytelling Welcome to Spark Science. I m glad you re here. If you were going to explore a cave, how would you get in? (through the opening, a hole in the ground) What would you take with you? (flashlight, rope, food, water) Why would you take those things? (A cave is dark. I want to be able to find my way back. I might get thirsty.) What do you think you might see in a cave? (a bear, a bat, spiders, rocks) Would you ever go alone or without letting an adult know? (no) Spark Story Bibles None Caves are holes in the earth. They are dark except near the opening. That opening is where water or wind broke through the rock. Some caves have animals living in them and wonderful rock formations. Today s Bible stories include a dark cave. For a while, there isn t a hole or opening for even light to come in. But the cave doesn t stay closed and dark. Something wonderful breaks through and lights up the cave, and it isn t a flashlight. Everyone turn to page 476 in your Story Bibles, and let s find out more. We re going to read The Day Jesus Died and The Empty Tomb. SCIENCE Science Workshop, Holy Week and Easter Rotation Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2009 Holy Week and Easter 111

4 Besides the cave, what else was dark? (the world, the sky) Why was it dark? (because Jesus was dead) What provided light? (The sun lit the sky. The angel lit the cave.) Activate Faith (25 minutes) Cardboard Caves Set Up: Cut the cardboard into squares that cover the plastic butter containers. Activity Instructions After Jesus died, he was put into a tomb. His tomb was a cave in the side of a hill. Caves are holes in the earth. Do you know how caves are made? (People made them. The earth made them.) People can make caves, but it s a lot of hard work. Most caves are made by water going through the soil and slowly making holes in the rock underground. Water was even mentioned in today s story: drip, drip, drip. We re going to see how dripping water makes caves. 1. Distribute butter tubs, cups, cardboard and crayons. The tubs will be the middle of the earth. Show the picture of the layers of the earth and point to each level as you name it. Scientists think that if you went to the middle of the earth, you d find very hot, heavy iron. Above the iron in the core is a layer of melted rocks. This layer is called the mantle. Above the mantle is bedrock. This is where we find a lot of caves. None Cardboard corrugated and thin Scissors Containers, plastic (butter containers work well) Pins Soil Crayons Cups Water Paper towels Picture of the layers of the earth, labeled There s bedrock under your feet no matter where you live. Bedrock layers can be very thick or very thin, just like our pieces of cardboard. Have kids compare cardboard pieces. Your cardboard is your bedrock. Most of the time, water runs off rocks. To make your bedrock water resistant, color it with the crayons. Then put it over your tub. In some places, it s easy to see bedrock because it s either at or very close to the surface. In other places, bedrock can be under hundreds or thousands of feet of soil. Unlike rock, soil soaks up water. Some of the water gets used by plants, but some water travels down until it hits the bedrock. We re going to put our soil in cups. To let it hit the bedrock, poke some small holes in the bottom of your cups. Distribute pins. Have kids poke holes in the bottom of the cups. Retrieve pins. Next, decide if your model is in a place where the bedrock is close to the surface or far away from the surface. If your bedrock is close to the surface, put just a little bit of soil in your cup. If your bedrock is far away from the surface, put a lot of soil in your cup. Distribute soil. 112 Workshop Leader Guides Science Workshop, Holy Week and Easter Rotation Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2009

5 Place your cup on your bedrock. Add one small cup of water. What do you think is going to happen? (The water will go out of the little holes. The bedrock will get wet. The wet cardboard will fall apart and make a hole.) When our bedrock gets wet, it will get softer. If it gets wet enough, it will break apart and make a hole. We d call that hole a cave. A similar thing happens in nature. Even though water usually just slides right off rocks, a little bit can get in cracks. This water makes the rock weaker and washes away a bit of rock. The cracks get bigger and bigger. After hundreds of thousands of years, you might get a hole big enough to call a cave. Let s look at our models and predict which ones will be the first and last to get caves. (The ones with thin cardboard and not much soil will get caves first. The ones with lots of soil and thick cardboard will get caves last.) Add more water as necessary. Listen for dripping sounds; relate them to the ones in today s story. 9. If you have time while waiting for caves to form, do the following. When Jesus was put in his tomb, he was dead. For many years, people thought the bats, bears, snakes, and spiders they found in caves in the winter were dead, too. During the winter, these animals might breathe only once every 3 minutes. How long can you hold your breath? Count the seconds as they hold their breaths. Since they aren t breathing much, their hearts slow down as well. Clap your hands with me. Clap about once per second. This is your heartbeat now. Clap your hands once a minute. This is how fast a hibernating animal s heart beats. Unlike those hibernating animals, Jesus was truly dead, wasn t he? 10. Let s look at our models. Does anyone have a cave? Does anyone have a soft spot? Were our predictions correct? Send (5 minutes) Wrap Up Remind the Shepherds to distribute the Family Page for this story if the kids haven t already received it and come together for Wrap Up. It takes a long time for caves to be made. Water works slowly, little bit by little bit. That s also what happened with Jesus. He spent years walking around, telling people about God. When God raised him from the dead, the cave was filled with light. Suddenly, people understood what Jesus had been telling them! Join hands in a circle and follow my instructions. Family Pages None SCIENCE Science Workshop, Holy Week and Easter Rotation Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2009 Holy Week and Easter 113

6 Prayer Time Dear God, As a circle, we are closed. Have everyone draw close, fold arms, and lower heads. Today, we saw that caves are openings. As we open our circle (Begin to move back, leaving more and more space between one another, opening arms to touch each other s outstretched fingers, heads up and smiling!) between each other, help us open our hearts and minds to your word. Amen. If there is time, pray again and do the actions without instructions so the prayer is not interrupted. 114 Workshop Leader Guides Science Workshop, Holy Week and Easter Rotation Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2009

7 SCIENCE LEADER GUIDE Holy Week and Easter (Matthew 21:1-11, 27:32-66, and 28:1-10) Upper Elementary Workshop Focus: Our actions reflect our beliefs. Keep these tips in mind as you welcome kids to the workshop and explore the story together. Each week, remember to welcome kids to the rotation. Keep in mind that for some kids it may be the first time they are visiting your workshop! If kids have heard the story several times during previous weeks, read it again! Kids learn through repetition, and every workshop will explore the Bible story in a slightly different way. Remember that the Shepherds are there to support you as they accompany kids each week. Be sure to visit to download the Family Page for this story. Make copies of it and ask Shepherds to distribute it during the Wrap Up. Open the Bible (10 minutes) Holy Week and Easter Storytelling Welcome to Science. I m glad you re here. Raise your hand if you like music. Raise your hand if you like opera. Expect no hands. I noticed that many of you looked around before you decided whether or not to raise your hand. Why? (to see if anyone else was raising his or her hands) Peer pressure is when you want to be like everyone else. It can be scary to admit that you like something different than everyone else. But it s important to be true to who you are. Our actions reflect our beliefs. For example, if I wear long sleeves when I am out in the sun, what might that tell you about my beliefs? (You think the sun can harm your skin.) As we read today s story, think about whether or not the characters are letting their actions reflect their true beliefs. Open your Spark Bibles to Matthew 21:1-11, page Follow along as I read. You may choose a sticker at any time. Spark Bibles Spark Bible Stickers Pencils SCIENCE Now turn to chapter 27:32-66 (page 1096). Who would like to read beginning at verse 32? Choose one kid. Last, who would like to read chapter 28:1-10? Choose a kid. Science Workshop, Holy Week and Easter Rotation Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2009 Holy Week and Easter 115

8 Who stayed true to his beliefs throughout all the stories? (Jesus) Was it easy for him to stay true to his beliefs? How can you tell? (No. He cried out to God.) Activate Faith (25 minutes) Colors in the Sky Set Up: Cut the construction paper into squares, one square of each color for each kid. Fill the clear plastic bottle nearly full with water. Activity Instructions At the beginning I mentioned that our actions reflect our beliefs. Well, when God created the world, God made lots of reflections. Today we re going to investigate reflections and how they can change. One constantly changing reflection is in the color of the sky. When Jesus died, the sky was dark. When he was raised from the tomb, the sky was filled with colors of sunrise. How many of you have seen a colorful sunrise or sunset? Respond to show of hands. Do you ever see those colors in the middle of the day? (not really) Do you ever see those colors in the middle of the night? (not usually, only during Northern Lights, sometimes over big cities) Today we re going to investigate why the sky looks differently colored at different times. First, let s see why we normally see sky colors only during the day. 1. Can you see colors in the dark? Darken the room or give each kid a blanket to work under. I m giving each of you a stack of cards. You re to write down, on the card, what color you think it is. Keep your head and the cards in the dark until you are done. None Paper, construction Pens Bottle, clear plastic Water Flashlight Bottle, spray Paper towels Milk, 1 tablespoon (15 ml) Jar, glass Mirrors that can fit in the jars Marbles Note: If you don t have access to a dark room, you ll also need blankets or heavy coats 2. Turn on the lights. How well did you do? (not very; I did okay on the light colors, but not the dark ones.) When it s dark out, we really don t see colors at all. That s because colors are made by the reflection of light. No light, no colors. 3. Speaking of light, what color is sunlight? (yellow, white, I don t know) True sunlight is white. But God actually used seven different colors to make that white light: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. And this light hits things as it travels through space and our atmosphere. What do you think it could hit? (clouds, water, gas, dust) Our atmosphere is filled with water vapor, ashes from volcano eruptions, smoke from fires, and many other tiny particles. We see a blue sky much of the day because the blue part of light is bouncing off tiny particles in the sky, while much of the rest keeps traveling on through. Pick up the bottle of water. This bottle will be our sky. Turn off lights or create a dark work area using blankets. Shine flashlight through the water. The light looks the same on both sides of the bottle. However, if we add some particles to this water 116 Workshop Leader Guides Science Workshop, Holy Week and Easter Rotation Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2009

9 ... add a few drops of milk... and then shine the light through, what do you notice? Slowly move the light around to different parts of the bottle until you get the best color. (The light gets a blue-ish color.) That s because the particles are reflecting the blue light. 6. At sunrise and sunset, we might also see oranges, pinks, and reds. The sun is shining from a different angle, and we are seeing more of the colors getting bounced off the particles. We can see that as we try two ways to make rainbows. a. One way is to shine a light through a fine mist of water and look for the rainbow in the mist. Maybe you ve done this with a garden hose, or seen it in the large water fountains in parks. Have kids help you spray a fine mist of water while pointing a flashlight through the mist. Try various angles to see if you can make a rainbow. b. Another way is to bounce the light off a mirror placed in a glass. Use marbles to prop up the mirror on the bottom of the glass. Fill the glass with water. Have the kids shine the light at the mirror at various angles and observe the reflection on the ceiling or walls. 7. If time permits, allow them to add milk to the glass with the mirror and water to see if they can create other reflected colors. Send (5 minutes) Wrap Up Remind the Shepherds to distribute the Family Page for this story if the kids haven t already received it and come together for Wrap Up. Family Pages When Jesus died, it was a very dark time. When he rose from the tomb, light returned! Jesus is the light. Think of his light as being pure. Like the light from the sun, his light can be reflected in many ways, including hope, joy, love, healing, kindness, and forgiveness. When we are at our best, our words and actions should reflect in many different, Jesus-like, Christian ways. Prayer Time Dear God, None SCIENCE We have learned that reflection is what gives things color. As we enjoy the colorful things you gave us, help us to reflect on all that your Son Jesus gave us by his death on the cross and his resurrection. May our words and actions bring Jesus light to others. Amen. Science Workshop, Holy Week and Easter Rotation Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2009 Holy Week and Easter 117

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11 SCIENCE LEADER GUIDE Holy Week and Easter (Matthew 21:1-11, 27:32-66, and 28:1-10) All Kids Workshop Focus: Faith is a powerful tool! Keep these tips in mind as you welcome kids to the workshop and explore the story together. Each week, remember to welcome kids to the rotation. Keep in mind that for some kids it may be the first time they are visiting your workshop! If kids have heard the story several times during previous weeks, read it again! Kids learn through repetition, and every workshop will explore the Bible story in a slightly different way. Remember that the Shepherds are there to support you as they accompany kids each week. Be sure to visit to download the Family Page for this story. Make copies of it and ask Shepherds to distribute it during the Wrap Up. Open the Bible (10 minutes) Holy Week and Easter Storytelling Welcome to Spark Science. I m glad you re here. When something is bothering you, do you feel heavier? (yes) For a lot of people, when they are sad, worried, or afraid, they walk slowly, with their shoulders hunched over. Some people say it looks like the weight of the world is on their shoulders. Demonstrate and have kids act it out as well. In today s story, Jesus has plenty of weight on his shoulders, in more ways than one. His faith in God and in the importance of his mission carried him through the pain he endured. Let s read today s Bible stories The Day Jesus Died and The Empty Tomb, starting with The Day Jesus Died on page 476 in the Spark Story Bible. Read these two stories aloud, and invite kids to figure out what type of weight Jesus is carrying. After reading these stories aloud, invite older kids to circle the words carry his cross in Matthew 27:32, and encourage them to mark this portion of the story with a sticker. Spark Story Bibles Spark Bibles Spark Bible Stickers Pencils SCIENCE Science Workshop, Holy Week and Easter Rotation Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2009 Holy Week and Easter 119

12 What weight is Jesus carrying? (the weight of the cross, the weight of our sins) Did anyone help ease his burden? (Simon helped carry the cross. People took care of his body after he died.) Activate Faith (25 minutes) Power Play Set Up: Clear a large open area in the room. Place all the levers in one area and cover them with the sheet. Activity Instructions Jesus had to carry a very heavy cross. Trying to lift heavy things takes a lot of effort, unless you re allowed to use your brains more than your body. A long time ago, people started inventing tools to make their work easier. What are some tools that you know? (hammer, saw, drill, wrench, pliers) We re going to experiment with a very simple but powerful tool today. The lever. 1. We use levers all the time. Hold onto your Bible with one hand. Put that lower arm down on the table [or floor]. Lift your Bible toward your shoulder. That is the action of a lever. Your legs can act as levers; so can your jaws. Have kids bend and flex their knees, and open and close their mouths. Spark Story Bibles Spark Bibles Wooden yardsticks, 2 per group of 3 kids Building blocks, rectangular wooden Levers butter knife, crowbar, tweezers, tongs, scissors, bottle opener, stapler, hammer, wheelbarrow, etc. Sheet Levers let you move big things without having to work very hard. There are three parts to every working lever. The load is the part you are trying to move. What was our load just a minute ago? (our Bibles) If you are playing soccer, what would the load be? (the ball) What is the load for your jaws? (food) The second part is the fulcrum. The fulcrum is the part that doesn t move. What do you think the fulcrum was in our Bible lift? (our elbows) The fulcrum when you kick a soccer ball? (your knee) The fulcrum when you eat? (the back of your jaw) The third part of a lever is the effort, or energy you have to use to get the work done. How much energy does it take to lift your Bible? (not much) Do you think it would be easy or hard for a baby to lift your Bible? (hard) Why? (because they are small and don t have many muscles) How about a very strong adult? Would it be easier or harder for them to lift your Bible? (way easier) Let s see how you can use your knowledge of levers to make work easier. Put your Bibles on the floor. Now slide your little finger under the Bible and lift it using just your one little finger. How many Bibles do you think you could lift with just one little finger? 120 Workshop Leader Guides Science Workshop, Holy Week and Easter Rotation Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2009

13 Levers can help even the smallest among us lift more. Split into groups of two or three kids. Each group should find an area to work in. Make sure you take your Bibles with you. Put the yardstick on the floor. Put the Bible on top of one end. Try to lift the Bible using one finger. What is the load? (the Bible) What is the fulcrum? (the end of the yardstick under the Bible) How much effort did you have to use to lift the Bible? (not very much) You still are using more energy to lift the Bible than you need to. Put a block under your yardstick, between the book and your hand. What is the load? (the Bible) What is the fulcrum? (the block of wood) Now see how much effort it takes to lift the Bible. (It s very easy.) Does this lever remind you of anything? (a seesaw/teeter-totter) Experiment with your levers. Move the block of wood to different places along the yardstick. Try adding more books. See what you can discover. Give the kids time to experiment and share their findings. There are many other levers we use. See if you can identify the three parts of each lever that I have here. Uncover the levers. Send (5 minutes) Wrap Up Remind the Shepherds to distribute the Family Page for this story if the kids haven t already received it and come together for Wrap Up. Today we learned that levers make lifting heavy loads easier. Sometimes, it can feel like a heavy load to do the right thing. Jesus helped make that job easier by dying on the cross for us and rising again to new life. He also modeled a way for us to live and taught us how to pray. These are all tools of faith we can use in our faith journey. The gift of faith given us by God is powerful! Family Pages None Prayer Time Dear God, We learned today that there are many tools that can help us. Physical tools like levers help ease our physical effort. Faith is a tool you give us. Help us to use our faith when we are struggling. Help us discover just how powerful faith is by calling on you in tough times. SCIENCE Amen. Science Workshop, Holy Week and Easter Rotation Leader Guide. Spark Sunday School 2009 Holy Week and Easter 121

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