God’s Plan of Salvation

Joe Paprocki Intermediate Grades

Here’s what I’m planning right now for my class this coming Monday, September 27, 2010.

Theme: God’s Plan of Salvation

Big Idea: God, our Rock, can be trusted because he kept his promise.

Although God gave us the wonderful gift of Creation, we sinned against him and one another. The story of Adam and Eve describes how this happened. Despite our sin, God promised to save us from sin and he kept his promise by sending us his only Son, Jesus. That’s why God can be trusted.

Engage (15 mins)

  • Show that I know all of the students’ names!
  • Opening prayer ritual
  • Play the song “To Jesus Christ Our Sovereign King” to help us recall what we learned about last week. (God is our king and he protects us by arming us with faith, hope, and love.)
  • Show Geico TV commercial in which the CEO talks about trust and then invites the Gecko to participate in a trust activity (falling backward and letting the Gecko catch him).
  • Invite a volunteer to do the trust activity as my aide and I catch him or her.
  • Explain that today’s lesson is all about how we can trust God.

Explore (40 mins)

  • Read the adapted story of Adam and Eve from the Finding God textbook (ch. 3).
  • Play CD of the story of Adam and Eve.
  • Talk about how it feels when we trust somebody and they let us down.
  • Talk about how important it is to keep promises.
  • Read from the textbook about how God promised to send us a Savior.
  • Do popsicle stick activity to introduce the concept of reconciliation:
    • Ahead of time, break 8 popsicle sticks in half to create 16 pieces, one for each student.
    • Distribute the sticks randomly, one to each student.
    • Invite them to walk around and find their “match.”
    • When they do so, have them glue the sticks back together.
    • Talk about how, through Reconciliation, Jesus helps us to put back together our relationship with him and with one another after we have sinned.

Reflect (10 mins)

  • Guided reflection on the theme of trusting in God
  • Listen to song: “On Eagle’s Wings”

Respond (10 mins)

  • Students work on Respond page of Finding God ch. 3.
  • Closing prayer: have student read Psalm 18:1-3 (The Lord is My Rock).
  • Give each student a white rock and have them print the words in marker, “The Lord is my Rock ” Ps 18:2.
  • Have them take the rocks home.
  • Send home BLM xxx.
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About Joe Paprocki 2742 Articles
Joe Paprocki, DMin, is National Consultant for Faith Formation at Loyola Press, where, in addition to his traveling/speaking responsibilities, he works on the development team for faith formation curriculum resources including Finding God: Our Response to God’s Gifts and God’s Gift: Reconciliation and Eucharist. Joe has more than 35 years of experience in ministry and has presented keynotes, presentations, and workshops in more than 100 dioceses in North America. Joe is a frequent presenter at national conferences including the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, the Mid-Atlantic Congress, and the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership. He is the author of numerous books, including the best seller The Catechist’s Toolbox, A Church on the Move, Under the Influence of Jesus, and Called to Be Catholic—a bilingual, foundational supplemental program that helps young people know their faith and grow in their relationship with God. Joe is also the series editor for the Effective Catechetical Leader and blogs about his experiences in faith formation at www.catechistsjourney.com.

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8 Comments

  2. THANK YOU for your blog!!! I’m teaching 5th grade this year after teaching 2nd grade for two years. Our first session went very well. It’s so nice to see how different catechists approach each lesson. Gets the wheels turning!

    Love the rock idea, too! I’m kind of a crafty gal, so I was thinking about those clear glass “rocks” you can find at any craft store. Maybe print a bunch of the verses, sized to fit the rocks, on plain paper. Give each child their own verse cutout, then they can glue the verse to the back of the clear rock?

    Reply

    • Hi Jennifer and thanks for your comments. Nice idea about the clear rocks. I was at the craft store today to pick up my popsicle sticks and had my eyes open for rocks but didn’t see any. Then again I wasn’t searching for clear rocks. Not to worry, however, I live right by some RR tracks so I can go and pick out some nice white rocks at no cost!

      Reply

  3. I thought this was a great idea, so I went to Michael’s and bought some medium-sized light ‘river rocks’ and they were even on sale! The I found some Sharpie oil-based paint pens, which wrote great on the polished stones. Then I had our pastor blessed the rocks ahead of time. Peace and blessings!

    Reply

  4. Thank you very much for your blog. It has already proven invaluable to me as I teach 4th grade for the first time. I especially love the idea of guided meditation and reflection. I don’t really have the confidence to do this on my own. Do you have a good resource for a variety of themes? I’m curious about how you structured your guided reflection on trusting God for this class.

    Reply

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