Lesson Ideas

[epy]

I'm trying to get a lesson together(one-hour length) to teach the concept of the Jewish Sabbath to 1st-5th graders. The lesson material I have gives an opening and a closing that to the best of my knowledge are Jewish tradition. The only problem is that those only take about 20 mins. There is a cool slide show I found about creation(relevant because of the six days of work, seventh to rest). That brings me to a grand total of 25 mins. The lesson suggests that only restful activities are done. There are a lot of bible study or cultural background options, but the kids I have aren't very talkative and I don't want to sit there and be the only one talking . I like the idea of doing activities, that aren't too active of course. I'm not afraid of doing something really intricate. For instance I once did a Christian Seder as a lesson. However I don't have the amount of prep time I did for that, so the fewer materials I have to gather, the better. Any ideas?

 

[bearc0025]

I'm not sure of the age you're teaching to, but a few (short) ideas:
1. Ask them to come up w/ ideas of things they wdn't do if they were resting for the Sabbath (e.g., games, etc.). so they get the idea of how it wd affect their life and decisions.
2. Ask them how the Jews survived in those times (animals, water, etc.) and how it was all work. So to rest from that work was really an act of faith (e.g., Manna).
3. Ask them why God wanted this and how it honored Him. It's not just a rule or commandment, it is a form of worship and trust as opposed to just 'time out.'

Wait a sec, was this for yesterday? I hope this isn't too late.

 

[epy]

Thanks for the ideas! They are not too late. I have a couple of weeks left. That is a good thing because I don't feel like the lesson has quite clicked yet.

Any other ideas for acitivities?

 

[Aceybee]

umm... maybe don't focus on the don'ts part of it, although it does seem more talked about in the OT. Explore what it was supposed to be about.. eg Remember who you are and whose you are- who made you. Um. Get them to think of what sort of things they would do if they were spending the day with God..
Is it specifically the Jewish sabbath, or the friday sundown to saturday sundown holy day concept? cuz they can be very different concepts. If you are looking at the Jewish one, you could explore some of the guidelines and try to decide why these guidelines were given. You could make up some scenarios and they decide whether it was appropriate and why, and how through the activities that were appropriate, they would show trust, love and obedience.
I guess you could try and simulate some situations for them to feel it... like straight after God creates them, he creates a holy day for them to rest and spend with him on. later on, for israelites marching endlessly through the desert, a day where they didn't have to travel, work, any of that would have different circumstances - and they might be glad of the rest, but what makes them all "Shabbat"?
I'm not sure if that helped any- I'll keep an eye out on the sites I check in the next couple of days..

Good luck with it!