Holy Week Activity – Looking for Clues in the Good Friday Passion

Joe Paprocki Lent

Here’s what I’ll be doing this evening with my 4th graders:

  1. After our opening prayer, I’ll have my aide, Daneen, take those students who have yet to finish their final assessment into the neighboring room so that they can complete the test.
  2. Meanwhile, I’ll meet with each of the students who have completed their test to go over their results with them. As I’m meeting with them individually, I’ll have them work on a Holy Week crossword puzzle at their desks.
  3. A half-hour into class, I will need to send 3 or 4 of my students to the church to practice for next week’s closing liturgy.
  4. The rest of us will work on a Holy Activity that I call “Looking for Clues” in which we will explore the Good Friday Passion reading according to John, looking for clues of the many images that are mentioned in that Passion reading. The students will follow this “Looking for Clues” Blackline Master that I created this morning. The BLM shows pictures of 16 objects or images mentioned in the Passion reading according to John (lanterns, torches, weapons, a fire, a rooster, a whip, etc).
  5. We’ll go through the pictures first, making sure they know what each picture is. Then, as I read aloud the Passion according to John (abridged version), I’ll ask the students to raise their hands when they hear me mention one of the objects or images from their sheet. Note that I wrote in the word “rooster” to use over the existing word for obvious reasons…no need to invite giggling and immature behavior.
  6. The students are then to write a sentence or two describing briefly how that object or image fits into the story. See the answer key I’ve provided. I’ll use this to suggest what they should write for each after they’ve volunteered a few answers in their own words.

Hopefully, this will provide the young people with some preparation for hearing the Passion reading on Good Friday if they attend (and if they don’t attend, at least they had a chance to explore it).

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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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7 Comments

  1. Hi Everyone,

    i too am a catechist. I teach 5th graders, this week while they are taking their test for the end of the year we will alo be making resurrection rolls.

    Reply

      • For Resurrection rolls you take large marshmallows and dip them in melted butter and then in a cinnamon/sugar mix and then wrap them in a crescent roll and bake according to the crescent roll package. The marsmallow represents Jesus and the crescent roll is the tomb. after you bake them (use parchment paper or tinfoil to line pan) the marshmallow has disappered and you are left with an empty tomb and a great treat. We will be putting them together and in the oven before they take their test and then we will have the treat after they have all completed their test!

        Happy Holy Week everyone!

        Reply

  3. Thank you so much for sharing! You have been such a VALUABLE resource this past year. It was my first year teaching Faith Formation, and I found myself coming back time after time. Thank you again for sharing your time, talent and creativity with us!

    Reply

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