Lesson 3 of 4. Cooperation Listens. (Cooperation requires listening well to know what needs to be done for the common good.)

Transcription

1 Copyright 2015 by Elizabeth L. Hamilton All Rights Reserved. Cooperation Preparation Lesson 3 of 4 Cooperation Listens (Cooperation requires listening well to know what needs to be done for the common good.) Scripture: Listen to your father, and do not despise your mother. Proverbs 23:22 Print on cardstock one copy each of the picture pages. Print one copy of the age-appropriate activity sheet for each child. Print one copy of the ear template for each child (if using optional craft). Purchase a pair of big costume ears or make your own big ears using the craft instructions. Review Say, showing the character wall: Cooperation that s this month s character trait Hold up the pictures from Lessons #1, and #2, reading the captions. Say: We ve already talked about how cooperation makes music. Every instrument must get along well with the others. You show cooperation when you get along well with others. Say: We talked, too, about cooperation needing every part. You show cooperation when you include everyone in doing a job that helps everyone. That s very important in a class, isn t it? Every part of the class must be included in our lesson. You must ALL do your job to make our class work well. Introduction Clear your throat and pull two giant ears from behind your back. As you move the giant ears to the sides of your head, say, "Cooperation wears listening ears." Wiggle the giant ears to get undivided attention. Display the picture of the martial arts students, reading the caption, Cooperation Listens. Say: Let s find out what that means. Tell this story in your own words, changing it to fit your listeners culture and ages. Display the picture of the martial arts partners throughout the story. Jethro tugged the bright yellow belt of his white uniform. He glared at the girl beside him. You aren t being a good training partner, Gabbi! he hissed. If you don t cooperate, we ll never learn these self-defense moves! Gabbi brushed hair out of her brown eyes and frowned. I AM cooperating, Jethro! she hissed back. Cooperation listens, you know! But YOU aren t listening! You aren t listening to ME! Jethro snapped. Well, you aren t listening to ME, either! Gabbi stamped her bare foot on the big blue mat. Then she grabbed Jethro and tried to throw him to the mat, but Jethro tripped her. Gabbi fell on her back.

2 When Jethro reached down to help her, she bit his hand. Then she started to cry. She cried. She kicked. She screamed. In other words, Gabbi threw a big black temper tantrum right there on the big blue mat. Calm yourself, Gabbi, Jethro snarled. He could barely hear himself over her noise. Get up and we ll try again. He tried once more to help her to her feet, but she rolled away from him. That made Jethro very angry. He kicked one of Gabbi s legs. He was about to kick her other leg when a hand touched him. A black uniform loomed above them. The class instructor spoke. Enough, Gabbi, their teacher said. Pick yourself up right now. Gabbi knew she had to obey. She hurried to stand, yanking her uniform into place. You were right, Gabbi. Cooperation does listen, began the instructor. But the reason it listens is to learn what needs to be done. It listens to the person who can best tell what needs to be done. The teacher tapped Jethro s arm with one finger. Jethro, don t ask Gabbi to listen to you. You aren t the teacher. You haven t learned these moves yet. You might give bad instructions. The teacher turned to Gabbi then. Jethro should not be listening to you, Gabbi. You also are still learning. You don t know how to do this skill yet, so you are not a good teacher. Do you agree? Gabbi nodded, We both should listen to you, she said. You tell us what we need to do to learn the skill. And that, said the teacher, is why you must listen well to learn any skill. The teacher called for the rest of the class to sit down. Jethro and Gabbi had to stand. They waited as twenty boys and girls sat on the blue mat. They watched as twenty pairs of eyes stared at them. The teacher pointed to Gabbi and Jethro. Jethro and Gabbi are training partners, he said. Training partners need to show cooperation. Cooperation listens. Cooperation listens to learn what needs to be done. Cooperative students listen so they can work well with their training partners. When you listen to my directions, you learn how you and your partner can help each other learn a skill. You can cooperate. If you don t listen well, you can t cooperate. The instructor motioned for Jethro and Gabbi to sit down as he continued. When you cooperate, you do what is best for the whole group not just for you not just for you and your partner. You must listen to learn what is best for the whole group. He had them return to their practice then, and they all cooperated much better. Bible Story: God s People Listen Nehemiah 8 13 Do you remember a Bible man named Nehemiah? Nehemiah directed God s people in building the big wall around Jerusalem. The people listened to Nehemiah and cooperated to build a strong wall. God s people listened and cooperated on other things, too. Display the illustration of Ezra throughout the remainder of the Bible story. After the people finished the wall, Nehemiah and a priest named Ezra told the people to come and listen to God s Law. Ezra stood on a high platform, and read the Law to them from a big scroll. He read for many hours every day, and God s people stood and listened. God tells us that everyone who was old enough to understand stood and listened. Boys and girls your age didn t go to children s church. They stood with their parents and listened to Ezra read. They listened and they learned. God s people learned that their nation was to be pure, and that could happen only if they all obeyed God s Law. The trouble was that they had not been obeying it. Their nation was not pure. They were not to live the way people did in other nations, but they had. Now they must all work together to become a pure nation.

3 Here are just some of the things they would have to do. God s Law said the men were to marry only Jewish women, but they had married women from other nations. They had to send those wives back to the other nations deport them. The children must go with them, since the children were not pure Jews. God s Law said they should not worship other gods, but their foreign wives had brought in other gods, and they were worshipping those. They had to get every one of those gods out of their land. God s Law said they should keep the Sabbath holy and do no work, but they were working every day. Even the market place was open on God s Day. They had to close it down and obey God. The list goes on, but we read that God s people listened to Ezra and Nehemiah. They listened, and got busy together to make their nation what God wanted it to be. It was difficult for men to send their wives and children back to another nation. They would never see them again. That didn t seem best for the men. That didn t seem best for the wives or children either, but the men did it because it was best for the whole nation. It was what God told them to do. It was difficult to destroy all of the idols. That was work, and it didn t seem best for the men to have all that extra work. They did it, though, because it was best for the whole nation. It was what God told them to do. It was difficult to shut down the marketplace and do no work on the Sabbath Day. They had to bar the gates to keep salesmen outside the city, and they had to work harder to do everything in six days. They did it, though, because it was best for the whole nation. It was what God told them to do. They listened well, so they were able to cooperate and do what God wanted them to do as a nation. Apply the two stories in age-appropriate language. Hold up the picture of the martial arts partners, and read, Cooperation Listens. You show cooperation when you listen to learn what needs to be done then do it together. Let s pretend. Pretend your parents have a birthday party for you. Your friends arrive, and the party begins. Your parents tell you and your friends how to make it a wonderful party. They tell you to be kind to one another. They tell you to stay away from the pool until it s time to swim. They say that no one should eat any of the food until everyone sits down. They tell you some other things, too. Everyone must listen and learn what they should do. Everyone must show cooperation to have a wonderful party. What might happen if your best friend sneaked away from the outdoor games, went into the house, and ate all of the cake? There would be no birthday cake. The party might be ruined. Everyone must listen and cooperate to make it a wonderful party. Hold up the picture of Ezra and God s people, and read, Cooperation Listens. God wanted a pure nation, and His Law told the people what to do. They had to listen, and then work together to do what God s Law said. Suppose you were one of the children in Israel that day. You listened as Ezra read God s Law, and you didn t mind if the men had to send away mothers and children that were not pure Jews. Your father and mother were Jews, so you could stay. You didn t mind that some people had to destroy idols either. Your parents had no idols. Then Ezra read that part about what you must do on the Sabbath Day like our Sunday. You listened. You understood that you could not do the things you had been doing on Sunday, but you worked with the other people to be sure the marketplace was closed. You cooperated. Hold up the two pictures once more, and read, Cooperation Listens. Close by handing out assignment sheets.

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6 (optional display piece) HOW TO LISTEN 1. Face the speaker, looking at his or her eyes. 2. Be attentive, yet relaxed. 3. Listen to the words and try to picture in your mind what the speaker is describing. 4. Do not interrupt! 5. Do not think about your ideas. 6. Wait for the speaker to pause if you want to ask a few questions to get things right. 7. Try to feel what the speaker is feeling.

7 LISTENING EARS Craft Activity for Cooperation What You Will Need for Each Set of 2 Ears: 1 full-sheet 8.5 x 11 shipping label, example pictured here: scissors or craft knife foam board or heavy cardboard the ear templates provided on the next page printer What You Will Do: 1. Using full-sheet shipping labels, print out one set of ears for each child. 2. Peel off the printed ears and stick them on foam board or heavy cardboard. 3. Using scissors or a craft knife (Exacto), cut around each ear. 4. Hold up one ear on each side of the head to signify listening. 5. (Optional) You can attach the ears to a paper or elastic headband if you want to make them wearable.

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9 First and Last Name: I show cooperation when I listen to what needs to be done. Look at the picture on the next page. These children are on a field trip to the zoo. They want their field trip to be great for every child and for the teacher. List below the things the children need to do to show cooperation. See if you can find seven different things that will make their field trip great. You may ask for help Tell your parents about Ezra reading God s Law to the people. What did the big people and the children do while Ezra read God s Law? What did the people do after Ezra read God s Law? Learn your Bible memory verse so you can say it without any help. Ask a parent to sign on the line below to show that you completed this assignment. Christian Character-Trait-of-the-Month Program Cooperation #3 Ages 3 to 7 Copyright 2015 by Elizabeth L Hamilton For more information, visit

10 Christian Character-Trait-of-the-Month Program Cooperation #3 Ages 3 to 7 Copyright 2015 by Elizabeth L Hamilton For more information, visit

11 First and Last Name: I show cooperation when I listen to what needs to be done. How much do you know about a martial arts class? Have you ever attended such a class? If you have never attended one, find information about it. Visit a local martial arts school and ask questions. Go to the library or get information on the Internet. Learn what students do in a martial arts class. Learn what the instructors do. Then look at the picture on the next page. Answer these questions. 1. What character trait do you need when you want to get a good picture of a class? 2. What did the instructor need to do before someone took this picture? 3. What is the most important thing the students must do to show cooperation? 4. What things are they doing? 5. What things are they not doing? 6. One student is having trouble showing cooperation. Which one? 7. What is that student doing that the others are not doing? 8. Write your Bible memory verse on the back of this page. Then write about what you learned from the story of Ezra reading God s Law to God s people. How can you cooperate with people in your life to obey God s Law better than you have been doing? Write about that. Christian Character-Trait-of-the-Month Program Copyright 2015 by Elizabeth L Hamilton Cooperation #3 Ages 7 and Up For more information, visit

12 Christian Character-Trait-of-the-Month Program Copyright 2015 by Elizabeth L Hamilton Cooperation #3 Ages 7 and Up For more information, visit