Unit 18 / Lesson 2
How To Lead
Click for slides
Teacher's Prep
Games
Pictionary
Materials:
Whiteboard and erasable markers OR an easel with paper and markers.
If you are not familiar with pictionary, it is a game of speed sketching.
A list of suggested words of various difficulty:
Easy words:
Bench
Horse
Boat
Eye
Giraffe
Island
Popcorn
Turkey
Ping Pong
Zoo
Alive
Cough
Frost
Pink
A table
A bowl
2 large spoons
About 50 cotton balls
A blindfold
Medium words:
Island
Popcorn
Turkey
Ping Pong
Zoo
Alive
Cough
Frost
Pink
A table
A bowl
2 large spoons
About 50 cotton balls
A blindfold
Hard words:
Alive
Cough
Frost
Pink
A table
A bowl
2 large spoons
About 50 cotton balls
A blindfold
Have a way of showing someone only one of the words above (you could either cover up all of the other words, or whisper it to their ear at the beginning of their turn).
Scoop the Snowballs Challenge
Watch this video to see what it is like
For every group of four children, prepare
1 bowl
2 large spoons
1 table
About 50 cotton balls
A blindfold
Note: have some tongs available in case some children have trouble with the scoop. Younger children can use the tongs, or their hands.
Mad Libs (online)
The concept of this game is to collect words from the class, and stick them into a story generator. Normally, the words chosen will result in a funny story and a good laugh.
Get familiar with how to run the game on this website:
Note: we used the same website in lesson 86. The website has a lot of stories to choose from (on multiple pages), so you will want to check that you are not repeating a story.
Main Activity (Baking):
Concept: make any baked good, e.g. cookies; brownies.
Recipes can be found on the Internet -- for example, here:
Note: you may want to do the baking activity at the start of the lesson instead of the end, so the food will have time to bake in the oven. You may also need a volunteer to check on the oven.
Intro
SLIDE 1
Gathering
SLIDE 2
How was your week?
SLIDE 3
Intro Game: Pictionary
Instructions
We’ll start our lesson with a game of Pictionary!
We'll take turns drawing a word that I'll give you. We'll see how fast you can draw, and how fast we can guess. Today we'll all be on the same team, and you’ll all have a turn drawing.
Teacher: Use the lists of words as seen in the teacher’s preparations section at the beginning of this lesson. Show one word to each child when it is their turn. If the class is stuck, you can tell them the answer after a minute of trying.
SLIDE 4
Draw a horse!
SLIDE 5
Draw an ice cream sandwich!
SLIDE 6
Draw a person coughing!
SLIDE 7
Debrief
We played this game because it reminds us that it can be really good to work together. The more we can help each other, the better we will be.
Relevance
SLIDE 8
But, in real life, it's not always easy to work together. Sometimes people don't get along, so they fight and they're not happy together. And, other times, people can't work together because they don’t have a good plan to follow.
And that is why we need leaders! Leaders bring people together, and leaders help everyone to know what to do.
The Bible shows us what great leadership is like, so that we can be great leaders when it's our turn to lead.
SLIDE 9
Big Question
So, our big question today is:
What do leaders need to do?
Big Idea
Today we'll learn about two things that leaders have to do.
1. Leaders need to learn, and
2. Leaders need to talk.
Main Activity (Baking Part 1)
SLIDE 11
Bible Reference
SLIDE 12
We'll see these ideas in the story of Nehemiah.
Let's start by watching a cartoon about the whole story.
Teacher: play this video:
Nehemiah Rebuilds the Wall | Stories of the Bible, by Saddleback Kids
Now let's read about a part of the story. If you were here last week, you'll remember Nehemiah asked the king if he could go to Jerusalem to help his people.
Well, afterwards, the king said yes, and the king even promised to help Nehemiah! So, Nehemiah took the long journey to Jerusalem. And, after he took his journey, he rested for three days, because he was probably very tired.
Then, one night, he went out and walked around the wall, so he could see what needed to be done.
Now let's read our Bible passage.
Nehemiah 2:11-18
11 I went to Jerusalem and stayed there three days. 12 Then at night I started out with a few men. I had not told anyone what God had caused me to do for Jerusalem. There were no animals with me except the one I was riding.
13 It was night. I went out through the Valley Gate. I rode toward the Dragon Well and the Trash Gate. I was inspecting the walls of Jerusalem. They had been broken down. And the gates had been destroyed by fire. 14 Then I rode on toward the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool. But there was not enough room for the animal I was riding to get through. 15 So I went up the valley at night. I was inspecting the wall. Finally, I turned and went back in through the Valley Gate. 16 The officers did not know where I had gone or what I was doing. I had not yet said anything to the Jews, the priests, the important men or the officers. I had not said anything to any of the others who would do the work.
17 Then I said to them, “You can see the trouble we have here. Jerusalem is a pile of ruins. And its gates have been burned. Come, let’s rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. Then we won’t be full of shame any longer.” 18 I also told them how God had been kind to me. And I told them what the king had said to me.
Then they answered, “Let’s start rebuilding.” So they began to work hard.
Point 1
The first point in our story that we see is, Leaders need to learn
SLIDE 13
Game: Scoop the Snowballs Challenge
Instructions
Setup
For every group of four, set up:
A table
A bowl
2 large spoons
About 50 cotton balls
A blindfold
We’ll start this point with a game! It's the Scoop the Snowballs challenge!
Let's watch a video to see what it’s like:
Here's how it works. You will be in teams of 4. In each of your teams, you will gather around a table, and you will take turns being blindfolded and scooping the snowballs into a bowl.
Each of you will have two minutes to scoop as many snowballs as you can. You can use both spoons at the same time. You won’t be able to see the snowballs, but your teammates can give you hints!
Teacher: run four rounds of the game so that each one can have a turn. Each child will have two minutes to get as many snowballs as they can into their bowl.
SLIDE 14
Debrief
In this game we played, it's not very comfortable when you're the one being blindfolded. It can be loud and confusing, and even frustrating. But, this game helps us to understand what learning is like.
SLIDE 15
Learning is hard because we sometimes don't understand the things we're trying to learn. It's like we are blindfolded. Other people might see what we're trying to see, and they might try to help us. But it can still be really hard to learn.
On the other hand, it’s really important for a leader to learn. A leader should do the hard work of learning, so they can help other people to have an easier time.
That's what Nehemiah did. Let's read the part of his story where he went out by himself to learn more about the wall.
Bible Reference
SLIDE 16
Nehemiah 2:13-16
13 It was night. I went out through the Valley Gate. I rode toward the Dragon Well and the Trash Gate. I was inspecting the walls of Jerusalem. They had been broken down. And the gates had been destroyed by fire.
SLIDE 17
14 Then I rode on toward the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool. But there was not enough room for the animal I was riding to get through.
SLIDE 18
15 So I went up the valley at night. I was inspecting the wall. Finally, I turned and went back in through the Valley Gate.
SLIDE 19
16 The officers did not know where I had gone or what I was doing. I had not yet said anything to the Jews, the priests, the important men or the officers. I had not said anything to any of the others who would do the work.
Explanation
SLIDE 20
Can you imagine what it was like to walk around the city at night?
SLIDE 21
It must have been uncomfortable and even spooky. Nehemiah might have heard wild animals making scary noises. And, he might have tripped over rocks -- because it was really dark.
SLIDE 22
But, Nehemiah really wanted to learn what the walls were like. He needed to know more about the walls before he asked people to help him rebuild them.
So, he learned, even when nobody was looking.
Application
SLIDE 23
And, we can do that too. If we want to help people, we need to learn a lot about the best ways to help them. We need to go out of our way to learn. And, we need to try really hard to learn, even when nobody's looking.
If we can keep learning, then eventually our ideas will be so good that people will want to listen. Then, we’ll be able to help a lot of people.
SLIDE 24
Discussion Question
Now let's pause for a couple of discussion questions about learning:
1. For you, what's the hardest thing about school?
2. Why might it be a good idea to learn hard things?
Point 2
SLIDE 25
The second point we see in our story is: 2. Leaders need to talk.
SLIDE 26
Game: Mad Libs
Instructions
Let’s start this point with a game. It’s called Mad Libs!
Teacher: access this website:
Play two or three rounds of Mad Libs, gathering words from the group to use. For each round, use a different Mad Libs template.
Note, the children may have seen this website in a previous lesson. If so, you'll want to choose some stories that they had not tried before, on one of the several available pages on the website.
SLIDE 27
Debrief
As usual, there's a reason why we played this game. We played this game because it reminds us of the power of words. A few words can make such a huge difference! And, it's like that with leaders too.
SLIDE 28
A few words from a leader can make a huge difference. Words can move people in big ways. That’s what we see in our Bible story. Let’s read the last part of the story again.
Bible Reference
SLIDE 29
Nehemiah 2:17-18 (ICB)
17 Then I said to them, “You can see the trouble we have here. Jerusalem is a pile of ruins. And its gates have been burned. Come, let’s rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. Then we won’t be full of shame any longer.”
SLIDE 30
18 I also told them how God had been kind to me. And I told them what the king had said to me.
Then they answered, “Let’s start rebuilding.” So they began to work hard.
Explanation
SLIDE 31
When we read Nehemiah's story, we can see he was really good at talking. Earlier in the chapter, he had talked very nicely to the king. And, the king promised to help him.
SLIDE 32
Then, he went to Jerusalem to help. And, when it was time to talk to the people in Jerusalem, he also talked nicely to them. Nehemiah talked like their problem was his problem. He wanted to show his people that he cared.
SLIDE 33
And, there’s a second thing he did well. Nehemiah wasn’t just nice. But, he talked about his ideas in a simple way. Even though there were lots of things to think about, he talked about the problem in a simple way. That way, everyone could understand the plan, and everyone could work together.
Application
SLIDE 34
And, we can all learn from that! If we want to get things done, it really helps to talk to people nicely. And, we should also try to talk in a simple way so everyone can understand the plan and work together. People can't follow you if your plan is super complicated. But if you're nice, and you make it easy to follow you, and you show people you know what you're talking about, then people will want to follow you, and you'll be able to do great things together.
Discussion Question
Now let's pause for a discussion question:
Who is someone you listen to, and why do you like listening to them?
Conclusion
SLIDE 35
Let's wrap up this lesson by going over the big ideas again.
Our big question today was: What do leaders need to do?
Our first big idea was:
Leaders need to learn.
We need to learn even when people aren't looking. We need to work on our ideas and make our ideas great. Then, we'll have something to say.
Our second big idea was:
Leaders need to talk.
After we have learned a lot of things, we should talk. We should talk to different groups to get them to work together. And, we should try to always say things nicely, and we should make things simple and easy to follow.
SLIDE 36
If we can do these things, we can be the kind of leader that God uses to do great things.
Main Activity: Baking
SLIDE 37
And now it's time for our main activity! Today we will be baking!
Baking is a bit like leadership because there’s a lot of work to do in the beginning. So, the hard work in baking reminds us of all the hard work we need to do in order to learn things.
But, our baked goods will also be sweet. And the sweetness reminds us to be sweet with people. We should talk nicely to people, and we should keep things simple. Then, you can give people a chance to do something amazing together.
Teacher: lead the class in a baking activity.