Friday, June 16, 2017

Short Attention Span Sunday School: Primary 5 Lesson 25 The Kirtland Temple is Constructed

PRIMARY 5 LESSON 25 THE KIRTLAND TEMPLE IS CONSTRUCTED

from history.lds.org

CLASSROOM PREP
Have a photo of the Kirtland Temple on display either printed out, laptop, etc.

Display D&C 88:119 on the board
Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God

You could also bring in a photo/print/model of your local temple to display

 Have "I Love to See the Temple" playing on a laptop in the background...


OPENING ACTIVITY IDEA #1
Idea from the manual...have the word SACRIFICE written one letter per piece of paper and give it to them scrambled. They have to unscramble and put the letters in the right order to spell the word.


OPENING ACTIVITY IDEA #2
Someone who works in construction could come in at the start and talk about how they build a house or a structure.
Give them questions beforehand to prepare and be sure to give a time limit.
Questions like: How much work is it to build a house? How much work do you think it would be to build a building? What if you’d never done it before?


LESSON
illustrate as much as possible, and use images from LDS.org about kirtland too

In December 1832, the Lord commanded the members to build a temple in Kirtland, Ohio!
He told them to establish…(reference scripture on the board)

They didn’t have a lot of money at all.
How do you think they felt about being commanded to build a huge temple? Nervous about the cost and the work - if they were working on the temple, they wouldn’t have time to earn money for their family

They didn’t start building it right away.
In fact they hadn’t even started it six months later! That’s a pretty long time!


In June 1833, the Lord revealed to Joseph Smith that he wasn’t happy with the Saints. They hadn’t followed his commandment!

Have someone read in D&C 95:3 how the Lord felt about it. A grievous sin, etc

How do you think everyone felt when they heard that? Humbled, ashamed, eager to start

Have someone else read D&C 95:11-12
What is promised if they keep the commandment? They shall be blessed with power to build it
And what would happen if they don’t! They lose the power of God’s help and will walk in darkness

They repented and FOUR DAYS LATER they began hauling stone and digging trenches to prepare.

Joseph stood up in a meeting and asked how they thought the temple should be constructed.

 Some said logs.
Some said a framed wood structure.
He said, “Shall we, brethren, build a house for our God of logs? No, I have a better plan than that. I have a plan of the house of the Lord, given by himself…”

Who remembers the story of the 3 Little Pigs?
Two of the pigs thought they had the best plan but their houses were too weak. Logs and straw.
The one pig with the stronger house built it out of brick.
This house of the Lord was to be made out of stone.

The plans were shown by vision!
Joseph Smith and his counselors knelt to pray and saw the vision.
First they saw the outside, and then in the vision the building seemed to pass over them and they saw the inside.

The Kirtland Temple wasn’t like today’s temples but rather like a special meetinghouse.
The Lord told them exactly how to build it

Show photos of the Kirtland Temple inside and outside
Details: 110 feet tall, stone, outside walls covered with plaster, inside the seats could turn around and face either side. One side was for Melchizedek Priesthood holders and the other side for Aaronic Priesthood holders.

A lot of sacrifice had to be made!
The men who weren’t on missions were expected to help build the temple.
Joseph Smith himself worked in the quarry to cut the stones. Show images from online
On Saturdays, the men with horses and wagons hauled stone from the quarry to the temple site so on Monday there would be stone already there to work with.

Emma supervised the women in Kirtland who were sewing clothes for the temple workmen.
They also made carpets and curtains.

 Everyone worked every day! They also gave all their money to help.
They prayed for help! They really wanted to finish the temple.
The Lord answered their prayers by sending church members to Kirtland who had a lot of money.
They helped pay for things!

They also continued to have persecution.
Mobs tried to destroy it!
Men would work all day on the temple, and then have to stay up all night guarding it with their guns.
Joseph Smith also had to be guarded all day because there were threats against him too.

Members collected broken dishes and glass to be mixed into the plaster so the temple would be more beautiful. When it was finished, the plaster on the outside sparkled when the sun shone on it!

The Lord wanted the temple built so He had a place where heavenly messengers could come restore keys of the Priesthood.

By March 1836 it was ready to be dedicated! We’ll learn about that next week.



TIE-BACK TO THE SCRIPTURE AND VISUALS
use these at your discretion, whatever your class would like to see
i know they will be fascinated to see temples and especially the inside of temples!

Great site that discusses elements of the D&C 88 scripture
https://history.lds.org/story/six-things-to-remember-about-the-kirtland-temple-story

Images of the Kirtland Temple
https://www.lds.org/media-library/images/category/kirtland-ohio-temple?lang=eng

Videos from Mormon Newsroom (owned by the Church):
Mormon Temples overview and discussion and lots of video of various temples

Tour of Paris France Temple
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksZ-oDCBsfU



LEGO HOUSES
Let’s see how we as a class can work together to build a temple!

Bring in a baseplate and Legos, or blocks, or Lincoln Logs
Think ahead to how they might want to construct it, and be sure to have the materials needed. For example, for a roof they may want a second baseplate for the top if using Legos.

Tell them they will build a house together as a class. Challenge them to cooperate as the early Saints did!

Before the roof is on, have D&C 88:119 descriptive phrases written out on separate strips of paper, and use idea from the manual enrichment activity #2 to discuss each.

Talk about ways you can incorporate those into your homes.
As you go through each one, fold it up and put it in the house.
Then when you're all done, add on the roof!

Ideas of what you could discuss for each one:
House of prayer = encouraging/reminding families to pray, saying your own prayers, praying for those in need

House of fasting = thinking about people who are in need, fasting with faith, supporting those in your family who are fasting and not eating in front of them, paying a fast offering

House of faith = how do we show our faith? faith is an action word, so what can you actively do this next week to show your faith or what can you do to gain more faith?

House of learning = Heavenly Father loves us to learn good things, especially the words of the Savior - can you read the scriptures and The Friend?

House of glory = what do you think that means? What does glory mean?

House of order = helping clean up, being responsible for your own things, how do you feel when things are disorganized? Can you have a clear mind?

House of God = what does that mean to you? What would a house of God not feel like? Look like? If you’re not sure your house is a house of God, how can you help it become one? If not now, maybe when you’re an adult?



SACRIFICE FOLLOW-UP
Remember the word we started with? SACRIFICE?

What sacrifices did the everyone make to build the temple? Time, talents, money, energy, family togetherness

What sacrifices can we make right now to help our local temple work get done? Family history to find names, go to the temple when old enough, visit it now to feel the Spirit while on the grounds, being well behaved when babysitters come over so our parents can attend, etc.



TORTILLA MIRACLE STORY
We are so blessed to have a temple close by.

Many many many members around the world do not and they have to sacrifice a lot of time, money, and energy to get to the temple.

Tell this story and have tortillas as a snack while they listen.
Illustrate it to hold their attention, and/or show images of the Guatemala Temple!




TAKE HOME IDEAS
Temple stickers from Deseret Book
D&C 88 print from Deseret Book, Pinterest, or Etsy, etc...or make your own!
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Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Short Attention Span Sunday School: Primary 5 Lesson 24 The School of Prophets and Word of Wisdom

PRIMARY 5 LESSON 24 THE SCHOOL OF PROPHETS AND WORD OF WISDOM

ACTIVITY FOR THEM AS THEY ARRIVE

Hand them this fun worksheet and a pen/pencil to do as you’re getting ready to start your lesson.



CLASSROOM PREP

Write on the board:
Why does the Lord want us to be healthy?

Post this scripture:
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1 Corinthians 3:16



OPENING ACTIVITY - ARMOR OF GOD
Have a bowl of water and a small clementine orange.
Talk about how the orange represents a person, a child of God.
Write on the orange with a Sharpie “armor of God” and how that person is following the commandments and making the right choices.
Drop it carefully in the bowl and watch it float. The Lord is helping them stay afloat and not sink!
Then take it out and take off the peel.
Uh-oh, this person is no longer following the commandments. They are no longer promised to be protected by the Lord as they aren’t doing their part.
What happens now in the water?
They sink!



LESSON PART 1
Today we’re going to learn about how we can do our part to have protection over our physical and spiritual health - we’re going to learn about a law of health that helps us to care for our body.

One of the greatest gifts from our Heavenly Father is our physical body!
Why would he want our bodies to be healthy?
Refer to the scripture on the board.
Because it’s a temple to house our spirit. If we obey the law, we’re promised great blessings!

Today we’re going to learn about that law.

Do you know what it’s called?



WORD OF WISDOM SONG
Create a scroll or flipchart (some method that only allows them to see the illustrations as you go vs. the entire thing at once) for the song and sing as you unscroll or go through your chart.


 Have them sing it through a few times to see if they know it, then see if they can sing it by themselves.

Let’s learn how this Word of Wisdom law came to be!



LESSON PART 2
illustrate as much of this as possible

Why do you think we have schools? Learning together is fun, you can learn from others, you can strengthen each other
The Lord told Joseph Smith to start a school - he called it the School of the Prophets
He wanted this school to teach the leaders about the gospel so they could serve the members
They were supposed to teach one another about the gospel!


Leaders in the Kirtland Ohio area started to attend this school in January 1833.
It was held in the evenings in the upstairs room of Newel K Whitney’s store.

The Prophet taught the men how important it was to learn the gospel, to preach the gospel, and to learn about the world around them.

They also studied other languages! Hebrew and Greek

When they met, they often smoked and chewed tobacco. They didn’t know yet that it was bad for them!

 First thing they did at the meetings was light their pipes and smoked tobacco. If they weren’t smoking the tobacco, they were chewing it! When you chew tobacco, at some point it loses its flavor and you spit it out. It went all over the floor!

Joseph didn’t like teaching “in a cloud of tobacco smoke” and Emma Smith didn’t like cleaning up the mess!

On a particular day, February 27th 1833, Joseph Smith walked in and the room was filled with tobacco smoke. He had just been outside with fresh clean air. He noticed the difference. He left and prayed to the Lord to ask what to do. Guess what the answer was? The Lord gave him a revelation that we now called the Word of Wisdom!

Let’s go through it!
Have the key points written on papers that you’ll display and discuss each point and what it means, and have them ask questions etc. Some of the thoughts here are from the Gospel Principles manual, lesson 29

What to have/not have:
89:7 no “strong drinks” (alcohol)
  • Can cause problems for people, they can get addicted, they can do things they didn’t mean to do because they weren’t thinking clearly, they can cause accidents by driving drunk
  • Pregnant women who drink alcohol can cause problems for their baby

89:8 no tobacco
  • Can cause cancer in their mouth, problems with their teeth, addictive

89:9 no hot drinks like tea and coffee
  • Church leaders have said tea and coffee has harmful substances in it and we should avoid it
  • People can become addicted
  • This is a very common thing now, Starbucks everywhere!

89:10 wholesome herbs are good
  • What are herbs you’ve heard of? Do you see your parents cooking with them? What do they do?

89:11 herbs in their season, every fruit in their season
  • Why do you think herbs and fruit in their season is important? Fresher, less expensive when it’s seasonal, more varying nutrients and minerals rather than eating only apples all year

89:12-13 meat sparingly in winter/cold/famine
  • A lot of people eat meat with every meal, which is their preference. This tells us it’s healthier to not eat as much meat

89:16 grains and fruit are good
89:17 wheat for man

Promises:
89:18 health in their navel and marrow in their bones
89:19 wisdom and great treasures of knowledge
89:20 run and not be weary, walk and not faint
  


PICTURE SORT
So let’s talk about what’s healthy and what isn’t!

Bring index cards or pieces of paper with a different category written on each:
Healthy
Not as healthy/unhealthy
Harmful

Have everyone sit on the floor and set out the category cards on the floor, spread out in front of them

Bring cut-out images from grocery ads or food magazines, and have a wide array of healthy and unhealthy foods and even beer ads, etc. if possible.

Tell them to work together on the floor to categorize.

Be sure to talk about how families eat differently, everyone tries to be healthy but it can be hard, we all may have family members who drink or smoke and they aren’t bad and we shouldn’t judge them but love them and help them try to choose the right in a loving way.



FRESHFRUIT APP
Wonderful free app called Seasonal Foods Fruit and Vegs which shows you what’s in season in your area, per month of the year. Have them each pick a fruit or vegetable to look up and see the nutritional information!



SMELLING GAME
So what if we are trying to be healthy, but we really like to add salt to our food, or we like a lot of sweet sugary things?

Did you know that there are other ways to get our food to taste flavorful?
Hand out paper with either a numbered list or the page split into numbered boxes

Bring in spice bottles etc. with the labels entirely covered and one by one, have them sniff and write what they think it is.
(ideas: chili powder, cinnamon, garlic, vanilla extract, herbs, peppermint extract, parmesan)

Talk about how you can use healthy natural things like spices, herbs, extracts rather than relying on a lot of sugar or salt to make your food more flavorful.



CLARENCE ROBISON STORY
When we do our part to try really hard to be healthy, we can do amazing things with our bodies!
Remember the promise to run and not be weary?

From the 2016 issue of The Friend

Read his story
Display photo of him from online or show the images from the magazine story



EXTRA TIME?
Sing “In Our Lovely Deseret” together with hymnbooks from the chapel!
Discuss each verse!



TAKE HOME
Send them home with a small clementine orange (or healthy fruit leather, fruit snacks, some other fruit or vegetable related treat) with this scripture attached:
"And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings...shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge..." D&C 89:18-19



TESTIMONY
It’s important to decide now to follow the Word of Wisdom so when the time comes, you know your answer and can more easily say no.
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