Lesson: Growing Like Jesus
Scripture: Luke 2:39-52 - Boy Jesus at the Temple
Verse: Luke 2:52 - "Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men."
Since we'd been talking about Jesus' birth all December, and the new curriculum (started the 11th) begins with the Sermon on the Mount, I decided to teach about Jesus as a boy. As I perused books and websites for ideas, I got excited about "showing" the kids what it might have been like growing up when Jesus did. Thankfully, Emily, Eric, and Pete all agreed to help me staff various "stations" showcasing different aspects of Jewish life. We split the kids (between 20-25) into four groups and, after songs and introduction, sent each set to a seperate section of the room, rotating every 10-15 minutes after that. Emily read the Bible story and asked application questions; Pete helped the kids learn the memory verse, including using coloring sheets and measuring the kids' "stature" on the wall; I taught about scrolls and led a craft for each child to make their own (with Luke 2:52 on it); Eric ran the "carpentry shop" (wooden blocks) and talked about Jesus' family. Afterward, everyone gathered at the tables for a traditional snack of seeded grapes and matzoh.
The only thing I'd do differently is to plot the timing better - we took our time during the first rotation, and had to rush the next three to make up for it. I loved getting to implement so many learning styles and so much history! Hopefully the kids will be able to relate with the stories we're learning even better now that they have more context. And, if not, it was a fun way to shake up the routine and make use of Emily's and my guests!
I followed the same setup for Chinese Sunday school, except it was just Pete and me. That made it a bit more chaotic, but it still ran fairly smoothly and the kids seemed to get a lot out of it! I'd definitely like to be able to do more lessons like this in the future!
