Saturday, December 16, 2017

Short Attention Span Sunday School: Primary 5 Lesson 46 Strengthening our Testimonies of the Restored Gospel

PRIMARY 5 LESSON 46: STRENGTHENING OUR TESTIMONIES OF THE RESTORED GOSPEL





CLASSROOM PREP

Write “KNOWLEDGE” on the board

Christmas decor on the table and put up some lights around the board!



OPENING ACTIVITY

Show this image from theredheadedhostess.com

Discuss what it’s telling us about how to gain our own testimonies.

What are some things that you have learned lately? What knowledge have you gained?
(they’ll probably tell you things they’ve learned at home or at school)
(share some cool facts about science or history)

While I love learning new things about the world, about science, about cool things I can make or do, new music I can listen to, interesting places I can visit…what’s the most special to me are things that I learn about Jesus Christ. This type of knowledge has a special name.
Do you know what it is?

Go to the board and continue writing “knowledge” so that the board reads:
Knowledge about Jesus Christ is a testimony



LESSON

You know how on some Sundays, people can go up during Sacrament Meeting and share their testimony?
If some kids in the class have done this, have them talk about how they feel when they do it, what makes them want to do it, how they feel after, why they do it, etc.

How do you gain a testimony? (write HOW in big letters on the board, hand them chalk and have them brainstorm answers underneath)


1/ SCRIPTURE
Hand out 2 Nephi 28:30 or have someone look it up
Discuss that we gain our testimonies a little at a time.
We learn things, we try to live that way, we make mistakes, we repent, we learn how to draw closer to the Lord, we learn how to listen to the Spirit helping us choose the right, etc.



2/ DOT TO DOT
Hand out a dot to dot from lds.org that results in an image of the temple.
Link here for some options:

Ask them to think about their dot to dot activity as they listen to a quotation:
Pass out the quotation from Joseph F Smith from the manual about “line upon line” and have someone read it out loud.

Discuss how the dot to dot activity relates to the quotation!


3/ WORDSTRIPS
Have the wordstrips from the manual printed out or written out and ready.
Write or post on the board the main “I can strengthen my testimony that…”

Then post up the wordstrips one at a time.
Discuss each one and use the questions in the Discussion/Application section and scriptures in the Preparation section.

Pass out an index card and pen/pencil and as you go through each wordstrip, have them copy it onto their index card. (at the end they’ll have a list of elements of a testimony to ponder at home)

Help them recognize how they feel when they think about these elements of a testimony.
Feeling good and happy inside is a witness from the Holy Ghost!
Emphasize that they already have the beginnings of a testimony.
They need to add to it and strengthen it through action -- prayer, study, obedience, and sharing with others.


4/ ELDER MCCONKIE’S QUOTATION

Post up his quotation on the chalkboard.
Have them write the formula on their index card.



LINE UPON LINE SCAVENGER HUNT

Give them a clipboard with a piece of paper and a glue stick.
We’re going to go on a line-upon-line scavenger hunt!
Go on a scavenger hunt with the clues below (take off the answers!), one line at a time.
When they go to that part of the building, have them glue it on, in order, underneath
(When they’re done, it will spell TESTIMONY if they read the bolded letter down).

Redo it for your building as needed based on the way your building is laid out (so you don’t have to zigzag across but can do a loop around to find everything).


Strips to cut out:

Our scavenger hunT starts here in our classroom!

These were growing in thE Sacred Grove (tree outside)

Remember that baptism is like a gate through which you Start your journey towards eternal life (door back in)

This place has plenTy of copies of the Book of Mormon if you need one (library)

He is our SavIor, he visited Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove and has appeared in temple (find a painting showing Jesus Christ)

Go to where we partake of the sacraMent and renew our baptismal covenants (chapel)

The organization of the restOred Church includes leaders who are set apart to help us! (bishop’s office)

Go where the where the youngest Primary kids learN about Jesus (nursery)

You will have finished our scavenger hunt once You are back in our classroom!



TESTIMONY & TAKE HOME IDEA

Prepare a take-home bag but don’t seal it yet - have a note about “bear-ing” their testimony on the outside of the bag. There are good number of scriptures and quotations, including D&C 58:6.

Inside that bag, have another smaller sealed bag inside, filled with Teddy Grahams

At the end of the lesson, have them put their index card inside so they can take it home safely, then seal it up!

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Short Attention Span Sunday School: Primary 5 Lesson 45 Lorenzo Snow Receives a Revelation on Tithing

PRIMARY 5 LESSON 45: LORENZO SNOW RECEIVES A REVELATION ON TITHING








CLASSROOM PREP


Post Malachi 3:10 on the board


On the left side of the board, draw a group of 10 things, like 10 circles or 10 boxes.
Next to that grouping, write: - Tithing = _______
Essentially it’s a math problem.

Have a photo displayed of Lorenzo Snow from your church library, church materials, or your laptop or phone. (most kids wouldn't know what he looked like)



OPENING ACTIVITY

Bring in a bag of Cheerios or something similarly small and inexpensive in great quantity.
Talk about what a tenth means.
Quiz them on various amounts and what the tithing would be on those amounts.
Hand out a scoop of the item and have them show you their answers.

Another idea is to have your financial clerk come in to talk about processing tithing!



LESSON

During the first 10 years in Utah, Brigham Young organized approximately 100 new colonies/settlements throughout Utah.
Thousands of Church members were arriving every year!
They all needed places to live.
President Young sent people north, south, east, and west of Salt Lake City to find places and to settle them - those places needed to have enough water, fertile soil, and also be safe from attacks by unfriendly Indians.

There were men chosen to lead those settlements.
They were bishops, stake presidents, etc. and they supervised towns being built, and new wards and branches too.
As Church members arrived in utah from the East, they were usually assigned to live in one of the new settlements.
They were assigned where to go based on their skills because each settlement needed farmers, carpenters, brickmasters, butchers, bakers, and schoolteachers.

Not everyone was happy about having to go wherever they were told to go, but they trusted the Prophet.

Once everyone in Nephi, Utah gathered to welcome President Young and other leaders into town.
They had bands playing music, banners, and all the young women were dressed in white.
One of them was named Elizabeth Claridge.
There was a meeting soon after where the Prophet read names of men who would need to move with their families further south and start a new settlement.
No one knew who the Prophet had chosen to move until he read their name.
Samuel Claridge was Elizabeth’s father and he was called by the Prophet.
Elizabeth cried - why do you think she cried?
She didn’t want to move from her home.
The girl sitting next to Elizabeth was also called but that girl wasn’t sad because she knew her father would refuse to go.
Elizabeth told her she knew her father would go because “he never fails to do anything when called upon; and badly as I feel about it I would be ashamed if he didn’t go.”

She knew they would be blessed for obeying.

In those days, did you know tithing wasn’t paid with money?
What was it paid with?
A farmer would give one egg for every 10 that his chickens laid.
People would bring food they had grown, animals they had raised, and things they had made.
These were stored in a “tithing house” or a “bishop’s storehouse” that each settlement had.

There was also tithing labor -- people would work on Church projects one day out of every ten days.

One third of the things in the storehouses were used for the Church members there in that community.
The rest was sent to Salt Lake City to be used for general needs to help everyone.

One day, Mary Fielding Smith (remember her and the stories of her oxen?) went to the tithing office in Salt Lake City to pay her tithing with a load of the best potatoes she had grown.

One of the clerks said it was a shame she should have to pay tithing.

She said to him, “William, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. Would you deny me a blessing? If I did not pay my tithing, I should expect the Lord to withhold his blessings from me. I pay my tithing not only because it’s a law of God, but because I expect a blessing by doing it. By keeping this and other laws, I expect to prosper, and to be able to provide for my family.”

Joseph F. Smith was Mary’s son and recorded that they always had enough to eat.
They gained strong testimonies through their hard work.

Things in Utah got better with the telegraph (they could communicate with people far away) and with the railroad connecting people so they could travel to places faster.

After Brigham Young died, John Taylor became prophet.
Then Wilford Woodruff, and then Lorenzo Snow.
At that time, the Church was in a lot of debt.
It was expensive to pay for everything and they were having a hard time, no money was left!
President Snow prayed to learn what to do.
His answer was to go to St. George, Utah. He didn’t know why but he followed the Holy Ghost.
There hadn’t been rain in southern Utah for many months.
President Snow noticed the dry earth and thirsty plants and animals there.
The people in St. George didn’t know how to grow crops to provide the food they needed to survive.
President Snow received a revelation while speaking - to pay their tithing in full.
The people in St. George were promised that rain would fall if they paid their tithing.
On his way back to Salt Lake City, he stopped at the settlements and told them about the law of tithing.
Then he called a meeting in Salt Lake City with the leaders about tithing.
He said everybody should pay a tithing.
Saints everywhere started paying tithing.

President Snow kept watch for the weather in southern Utah!
What do you think he was watching for? (rain)
One month went by, two months, no rain!
The people in St. George were paying a full tithe and giving more too as offerings to the Lord.
The prophet prayed that the Lord would bless the people in their drought.
He promised them rain if they paid their tithing!
Finally he got word that it rained in St. George!
The Saints were blessed and able to harvest their crops that fall.

That next year, members of the Church paid their tithing and within eight years all the debt was paid off.
The Church continues to have enough money to run the church.




TITHING MUSICAL GAME

Have tithing slips for each child or just bring in one, or print out the image of the slip online so you don't waste your ward/branch's slips.
Talk to them about how to fill it out and what the various categories mean.

Download (for free) the green tinted page from this site that shows where tithing goes and print out one to teach from:
http://www.ayearoffhe.net/2010/11/week-45-paying-tithing.html

Play the song I Want to Give the Lord My Tenth and pass around a piggy bank (or box you’ve labeled with a dollar sign) and slips of paper from the Enrichment Activity that describe how tithing money is used.

Sing as it goes around...
When you stop the music, have the child holding the box pull out one of the slips and talk about it!
Then continue on with the game.


TITHING MUSICAL GAME PART TWO

  • Learn the song as best you can and then do activities with it:
  • Sing and sway side to side, and on the 10th beat, jump!
  • Sing and on every 10th word, don’t sing that word
  • Every time you get to the 10th word, turn and face to the right, then continue until you’re facing forward again etc

Having the words on the board with the 10th word circled will help with this!



PICTURE FRAME ACTIVITY

Are the blessings we receive from paying tithing only to do with money?
If we pay tithing, do we become rich with money?
The blessings we receive are often not relating to money.
Let’s talk about what some of those blessings are!

To hearken back to the Malachi scripture, have a big picture frame with the glass or plastic in but the back off.
Treat this as a window.
Have the blessings (listed in the Enrichment activity section) written on slips.
Sit behind the “window” and have them sit across from you.
One by one tape the slips with the words facing them onto the window and talk about it.

* You could have a picture representing the blessing instead of the words so they can guess.
* Instead of a frame, you could create your own window or just print out or draw a window image on paper and tape the blessing phrases to the back.



TESTIMONY & TAKE HOME IDEA
When we follow the law of tithing, we will be blessed spiritually and temporally!
An inexpensive picture frame with the Malachi scripture would remind them of the object used in the lesson and the principles taught...perhaps with a dime taped to the frame (next to the scripture or on the front)

Some chocolate coins would also be fun.