Unit 17 / Lesson 3
Weakness
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Teacher's Prep
Games
Knee Trembler
For the concept of the game, watch this video:
Minute to Win It: Knee Trembler (2 vs. 2), by Outscord
Materials:
Tape to mark a starting line
Two hula hoops (or one hula hoop per team)
Ten oranges -- five per team
If you have a large class and want to play the game with more than two teams, you’ll need five oranges per team, so please multiply the numbers accordingly.
Minute to Win It: Speed Eraser (Head-to-Head)
Speed Eraser (modified)
For the concept of the game
Watch this video:
Minute to Win It: Speed Eraser (Head-to-Head)
We will modify the game for our lesson:
Instead of having single cups in a line, we will have a 3 x 3 grid of cups, so that pencils have more places to land.
And, instead of having one person bounce pencils into the cups at a time, we will have three people per team bouncing pencils into the cups at a time. So, you can imagine three children on different sides of a table, and between them, the goal is to bounce a pencil into all nine cups in the 3 x 3 grid that you make.
Materials:
40 (ideally unsharpened) pencils (20 per team) with rubber erasers on one end
18 drinking cups (9 per team). Cups should ideally have some weight to them, e.g. ceramic cups, so that the cups will be harder to knock over.
Teacher: before the lesson, please prepare two tables for the game. Each table should have a 3 x 3 grid of 9 cups, and about twenty pencils on it.
Not In My Backyard
Materials:
Four sheets of paper per child. So, a class of 25 should have about 100 pieces of paper in total.
Split the paper into two even piles, one per team. These will be made into paper snowballs to be thrown back and forth.
You will need several chairs to form a fence to divide the room. The chairs do not need to form a tight wall; they just need to divide the room clearly.
Main Activity (Salt Dough Dinosaur Fossils):
For craft instructions including the materials needed, see this website: https://www.kiwico.com/diy/art-creativity/quick-easy-crafts/salt-dough-dinosaur-fossils?srsltid=AfmBOoqD-JrQZTeu9iX9xXgEC4e2uptdB3Wn4ESEpqnCfwsgtWesgsmQ
You will want to make your own samples before the lesson to show the class. Making samples will also help you to get familiar with this activity.
Intro
SLIDE 1
Gathering
How was your week?
SLIDE 2
Intro Game: Knee Trembler
Instructions
Let's start our time together with a game! It's called Knee Trembler. Let's watch a video to see what it's like:
Teacher: play this video:
Minute to Win It: Knee Trembler (2 vs. 2), by Outscord
SLIDE 3
So, here are the rules: we'll have two teams, and we'll take turns lining up at the starting line. When it's your turn, you'll pick up the orange between your knees, and try your best to hop across the room. Then you’ll drop the orange off inside the hula hoop on the other side of the room. Once you’re done and the orange is on the ground, the next person on your team can start. Your team can only carry one orange at a time, so if a person is still carrying an orange between their knees, all the other oranges have to be on the ground. The first team to get five oranges in the hula hoop wins!
Debrief
We played this game because it gets us thinking of what we can do and what we can’t do. We can all do some amazing things if we put our minds to it. You could say, we all have strengths. But, at the same time, there are things we can’t do. You could say, we are all weak in some ways.
Relevance
SLIDE 4
We all have things about ourselves that we wish were not that way. We might not have the strongest muscles,
SLIDE 5
or we might not have the fastest brain,
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or we might not have the most courage,
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or maybe we have another problem that bothers us every day.
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We are all weak in some ways. But the Bible teaches us how to be awesome even when we are weak.
Big Question
SLIDE 9
So, our big question today is:
What should we do about our weaknesses?
Big Idea
Our big idea today is:
We can learn from animals!
Today’s Bible passage talks about four different animals. All four animals are weak, but their weaknesses don’t stop them. And these animals will teach us four things. The four things are:
1. We need to watch the time;
SLIDE 10
2. We need to find true safety;
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3. We need to work together; and
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4. We need to be helpful.
Bible Reference
Now let’s read about our four animals.
SLIDE 13
Proverbs 30:24-28 (CEV)
24 On this earth four things
are small but very wise:
25 Ants, who seem to be feeble,
but store up food
all summer long;
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26 badgers, who seem to be weak,
but live among the rocks;
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27 locusts, who have no king,
but march like an army;
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28 lizards, which can be caught
in your hand, but sneak into palaces.
Point 1
The first thing we learn from animals is: we need to watch the time.
Game: Speed Eraser
Instructions
Let's start our point with a game! It's called Speed Eraser!
Let's watch a video to see what it's like.
Teacher: play this video:
SLIDE 17
Minute to Win It: Speed Eraser (Head-to-Head)
So, the point of the game is for your team to bounce a pencil into every cup!
SLIDE 18
Let’s split into two teams.
And to make it easier, each team will send THREE people at a time to bounce the pencils.
We'll all start at the same time, and when all your cups have a pencil, you win the round! And then, after your round, your team can send out another three people and we'll play again until everyone has had a turn.
Teacher: praise the children for their efforts.
Debrief
We played this game because it makes us think about the time.
We all want to be as fast as possible. So, we get things done a little bit at a time.
Bible Reference
In our Bible passage, our first animal is really good at using their time.
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Let’s go back to our first verse.
Proverbs 30:25 (CEV)
Ants, who seem to be feeble,
but store up food
all summer long;
Explanation
Our first Bible verse is about ants!
Ants are tiny little creatures, but they’re really good at getting things done.
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They collect their food in the summer, because something inside them tells them it’s time to work.
And, then the winter comes, and you don’t see them anymore, because they’ve finished all their work, and they get to rest!
So, they know when to work hard, and they know when to rest.
Application
The Bible tells us to learn from the ants!
We should work when it’s the best time to work.
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So, when we’re at school, we do schoolwork.
When we are at church, we learn about God and we think about how to follow Him better.
And, when it’s time to practice things, we practice.
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The key is to not get distracted, but to just do the thing we’re supposed to do.
And if we do that, we’ll get all of our work done at the right time, and then we can rest afterwards.
Discussion Question
SLIDE 23
Now let’s pause for a discussion question.
Do you have ideas for how to stay focused and not get distracted?
Point 2
Moving on, our second animal teaches us: We need to find true safety.
Bible Reference
Let’s read our second verse again.
SLIDE 24
Proverbs 30:26 (CEV)
badgers, who seem to be weak,
but live among the rocks;
Explanation
This verse talks about an animal that makes its home in rocky places.
Some people call it a rock badger.
A rock badger is a little animal that is soft and squishy and kind of slow.
Bigger animals might want to eat it. But no animal can break the rocks where the rock badger lives.
So, the Bible says the rock badger is wise, because it knows where to find safety.
Application
And, the Bible tells us to learn from the rock badger – because in real life there are all kinds of things that can hurt us.
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But, there is one place to find real safety, which is in God and His words.
There is no problem bigger than God, and God's promises in the Bible will always come true in the end.
So, we find our safety in God and His words.
Discussion Question
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Let’s pause for a discussion question.
Can you think of a promise that God has made to us?
Point 3
Moving on, our third animal teaches us: We need to work together.
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Game: Not In My Backyard
Instructions
Teacher: make a "fence" out of chairs to cut the room in half. On each side of the room, make a pile of paper for teams to make into paper snowballs.
We'll start this point with a game! We'll call it, "Not In My Backyard." We're going to form two teams, and each team will stay on one side of the room. We'll split this room into two halves, divided by a fence made of chairs.
Each team will have a stack of paper, which you can scrunch into a ball to throw.
And your goal will be to get as much paper as you can on the other side of the fence by throwing it over the fence. And, you want as little paper as possible on your side of the fence. You can't cross the fence, but you can throw the paper over the fence.
And after two minutes, we'll see which team has less paper on their side!
Teacher: play two rounds of this game. In the second round, you may want to re-balance the teams (perhaps add an adult on one side). And, you may want to give them a moment to discuss strategy. After you are finished with the game, put the fence away, and gather the class together for the next bit of teaching.
Debrief
SLIDE 28
We played this game because it reminds us, we need other people. One person alone can't get a lot done. But, if we all work together, we can win together.
Bible Reference
Let's read about the third animal which is small but very wise:
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Proverbs 30:27 (CEV)
locusts, who have no king,
but march like an army;
Explanation
Our third animal is a locust. It’s a little bug that eats plants. But, it’s pretty weak, and lots of other animals like to eat locusts. But, the locusts have a way to stay safe.
They stick together in huge groups, with millions of other locusts. And, they all travel together. As long as they’re together, there’s no animal that can eat them all. So, almost all of them will be safe as long as they are together.
Application
Locusts remind us, a lot of times, we are better together.
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Think of all the things we can do together! We can play with each other and learn from each other, and listen to each other. The Bible tells us that God’s people belong together. We all have different abilities, and we all need each other.
But, it takes work to get together. We need to get dressed and sit in a car, or a bus.
Some of us are more comfortable at home by ourselves. But, if we want to become stronger people, we need to get together with other people.
Discussion Question
SLIDE 31
Let’s pause for a discussion question.
What’s something that’s only fun with other people?
Point 4
Moving on, our fourth animal teaches us:
We need to be helpful.
SLIDE 32
Bible Reference
Let’s read our last verse.
Proverbs 30:28 (CEV)
lizards, which can be caught
in your hand,
but sneak into palaces.
Explanation
Our last animal is a lizard! In the place where the Bible was written, there are little lizards called geckos. Geckos are really neat. They have these sticky pads on their feet which let them climb walls. Geckos don’t eat human food, and they don’t bite us. So they don’t cause trouble. They just eat bugs. So, if you saw a gecko in your house, you just found a free bug killer!
We want to get rid of bugs anyway – so the gecko is just helping us. And, because it’s so helpful, it gets to live in houses, and it could even live in a palace back then.
Application
The Bible tells us to learn from these lizards. If we’re helpful, and we don’t make trouble for people, then people will like us! And, they’ll make room for us so we can hang out in nice, comfortable places.
So, it’s wise to always try to be helpful and not make trouble for people.
Discussion Question
SLIDE 33
Let’s pause for a discussion question:
What’s your favorite way to help people?
Conclusion
Let's wrap up this lesson by going over the big ideas again.
Our big question today was:
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What should we do about our weaknesses?
Our big idea was: we can learn from animals. The animals in our Bible passage taught us that:
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1. We need to watch the time;
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2. We need to find true safety;
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3. We need to work together; and
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4. We need to be helpful.
Main Activity: Salt Dough Dinosaur Fossils
And now, it’s time for our main activity. Today we are making dinosaur fossils!
Everyone knows dinosaurs were some of the biggest and strongest animals ever.
But, dinosaurs aren’t around anymore! Because, being super strong wasn’t good enough!
Eventually, the dinosaurs were replaced by animals that were smaller and wiser, just like the animals we learned about today.
So, remember, it’s okay to be small, and it’s okay to be weak, as long as you’re wise.
Teacher: lead the craft as described at this website: https://www.kiwico.com/diy/art-creativity/quick-easy-crafts/salt-dough-dinosaur-fossils?srsltid=AfmBOoqD-JrQZTeu9iX9xXgEC4e2uptdB3Wn4ESEpqnCfwsgtWesgsmQ