Thursday, January 4, 2018

Short Attention Span Sunday School: Primary 6 Lesson 1 Heavenly Father's Plan for Us

PRIMARY 6 LESSON 1: HEAVENLY FATHER’S PLAN FOR US



Found on Pinterest but source is unknown
There are many other variations as well if you look up “Plan of Salvation Love” on Pinterest





CLASSROOM PREP
Post this quotation at the very top of the board:
"I testify that life is a gift. God has a plan for each one of us, and our individual purpose
began long before we came to this earth."
—Rosemary M. Wixom

Or just the word PURPOSE with an image of the earth/globe next to it.


Have these questions printed/written out on separate pieces of paper and taped up to the board
What is the PURPOSE of life?


How can my life have greater PURPOSE?




OPENING ACTIVITY
Pass out post-it notes and pens to each person.


Give them time to answer one or more with separate post-it notes.
Have them stick their notes on the paper of the question they’re answering.
Tell them we will talk about their answers later on.




LESSON
Sing the first verse to “I Lived In Heaven” as you put up the sections of the Plan of Salvation.
Create them based on the image at the top of this post so you can rearrange later and have it
look like that.
For now, put them up as shown more traditionally in the manual etc.


I lived in heaven a long time ago it is true (put up premortal life as you sing this)
Lived there (point to it) and loved there with people I know, so did you (point to them)
Then Heav’nly Father presented a beautiful plan, (start filling in the bars between the
first sections)
All about earth (put this one up) and eternal salvation for man (put the rest up)



Today we're going to talk about a very amazing journey that your spirit goes on.

Let’s talk about this (refer to diagram of Plan)
What is called? Plan of Salvation, Plan of Redemption, Plan of Happiness
When you look at this plan, how does it make you feel?
Why would this be called the Plan of Salvation?
Why is it also called the Plan of Happiness?


Stick up Romans 8:16 on the board.
We are spirit children of a loving Heavenly Father - all of us!
That’s pretty cool!


Stick up President Kimball’s quotation from the manual (“Long before…”)
And before this earth, here in the premortal existence, we lived together as spirits.


In the premortal life, we learned!
Stick up D&C 138:56
We were preparing our spirits for life on earth.


When the plan was presented, we shouted for joy!

A Grand Council was held to present the plan
We learned we would need to follow the plan to become more like Him
That we would have an earth to go to, that we would forget our heavenly home,
that we needed all of this so we could choose between good or evil,
that we would have trials in our life in order to gain experience and to teach us to have
endurance, patience, and charity.

And then we came to earth - why don’t we remember the premortal life? We forgot our life with Heavenly Father, allowing us to develop faith in Jesus Christ.

What are we supposed to do while on earth? It says in Alma that this life is the time for us to prepare to meet God so we need to keep the commandments, repent when we need to, etc.


When we die, our spirits go where? Spirit world
This is not God’s presence...yet.


Resurrection will occur for who? For everyone, all mankind, this is a gift from our Savior’s
atonement


After resurrection, who will be worthy to live in the celestial kingdom? You must have faith in Jesus Christ, repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, live worthy
and prove their faithfulness / These are all degrees of glory


What if I were to show you something kind of cool:
Rearrange the Plan of Salvation cut outs to look like the image at the top of this post


Why would I arrange it this way? Our Savior loves us, we love Him, love one another, etc.
This plan is here because Jesus Christ, our Savior, loves us.


So what about your answers? Go through their post-it note answers and discuss

What is the purpose of life?
Discuss the below points, or review if already said
To prepare to meet God, to gain a body, experience joy and sorrow, make choices
To return to our Heavenly Father as a more intelligent, more mature, and more compassionate person - to be more like Him. 

Refer back to D&C 138:55-56
We were prepared for many great things we would do on earth.
We each have important things to accomplish

How can my life have greater purpose?
Discuss the below points,  or review if already said
Read the scriptures and follow our prophet
Stay close through prayer and follow the Holy Ghost’s promptings
Try each day to be more like our Savior
Appreciate our blessings
Serve others




HAIKU ACTIVITY
We’re going to do something to get you to think a little more about the Plan of Salvation.
Have any of you heard of a haiku?
What is it? Poem with a set number of syllables
So a haiku is a Japanese poem where the first line is 5 syllables, the second is 7, and the third is 5.

For example, a haiku about the Plan of Salvation could be:
I think it is great
I can be with family
For eternity


or


It’s all about love
And how we can be happy
For eternity


If you think you’ll need help, then pair up with someone else.
If you want to work alone, you can write your own
(pass out paper and pens)


Let everyone share their haikus



INTRODUCTION TO THE YEAR
So let’s talk about the PURPOSE of what we’re going to be learning all year.

Have the first letter of each book in the Old Testament written out on one long scroll
(tape together multiple pieces of paper and write the letters big).

G
E
L
N
(etc.)


Reveal it and see if they can guess what it refers to.


Once they figure it out, reveal a second scroll to replace the first one, and the second one
has all the names of the books written out.


Sing the Old Testament song with them a few times, pointing to each book as you sing it
(maybe really fast one time, maybe pinching their nose another time just to mix it up).


This year we’re going to learn about the Old Testament!
I want to hear what stories you know from the Old Testament (hear their answers)
Here are some of the stories we’ll be learning: Noah and the ark, Moses, Adam and Eve,
Daniel and the lion’s den, David and Goliath, Esther, etc.


What is the Old Testament? History of God’s dealings with his people from the creation of
earth until about 400 years before Christ was born.


There are a lot of FUN stories in the Old Testament!


Next week we’ll continue talking a little about the Plan of Salvation and then it’s onto Adam
and Eve.
Who has scriptures that they bring to class? Who has the Bible?




GETTING TO KNOW YOU GAME: NEVER HAVE I EVER
You guys probably already know a lot about each other, but let’s play a game so we can all
get to know each other better!


Have paddles created for each kid - could be a simple paper plate with a handle taped on
of some sort, etc.
One side it says “I HAVE” and the other side is “I HAVE NEVER”
Each side could be different colors to make it easier for them to quickly answer


Never have I ever…
...missed a high five
...eaten all of my Halloween candy in a day
...laughed so much that I cried
...been scuba diving
...had braces
...gotten stitches
...gone horseback riding
...read an entire book in a day
...dropped something in the toilet
...held a snake
...broken a bone
...slept until noon
...jumped off a diving board
...been to Disneyland
...won a contest
...been on a cruise
...been on TV
...stuffed my mouth full of marshmallows
...had dessert for dinner
...had sushi
...run or biked in a race
...thrown up on a roller coaster
...been rock climbing
...performed on a stage
...been trapped in an elevator
...chipped a tooth
...had a tree house
...traveled out of the US


And so on...continue until class is over.
If you run out of questions, have them make up their own to ask everyone.



TAKE HOME/TESTIMONY
We have a loving Father in Heaven who wants us to return to him!
Our purpose is to prepare for that day, and to try our best to choose the right and
learn to be like our Savior!
Take home ideas:
Something related to the LOVE theme for the Plan of Salvation
Something related to earth (earth squeeze ball etc) with the below quotation included
Something related to the Old Testament year topic
A photo of them (if you have one) with the quotation below printed on it
Something with their name or initial on it with the quotation below printed out to keep


"I testify that life is a gift. God has a plan for each one of us, and our individual
purpose began long before we came to this earth."
—Rosemary M. Wixom

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!