LESSON IDEA: Teaching the Sequence of Holy Week EVENTS...
If you have or want more than 20 minutes worth of software time on Holy Week subjects, you'll most likely being combining several shorter pieces from one or more programs. I call this the "string of pearls" method of using software.
Teaching the Sequence of Holy Week to Children:
Two of the hardest things for kids to remember are the
sequence of Holy Week events and the people who populate the stories (so many of them). Some of the following choices will help your students learn these things better than others.
Sequencing creates a mental framework that holds on to information better and longer. Consider how children remember certain letters by reciting the entire alphabet to know what I mean. (the brain loves to create relationships between content and connectional patterns) Sequencing also teaches CONTEXT. Example: You're teaching the Last Supper, but what was Jesus' frame of mind at it? He was getting pretty worked up, as evidenced by the Garden of Gethsemane prayers which immediately follow the supper. To me, that's an important piece to understanding the Last Supper and who Jesus was, and how courageous he was. Knowing he had just had an important dinner with his disciples serves to heighten what happens in the Garden and when the Disciples scatter. I believe we do a disservice to kids when we break up Holy Week into little pieces.
 For older children and youth, you can use the MAP of Jesus' last two days in Jerusalem found on the Professor's shelf in
Life of Christ CD to SEQUENCE and ESTABLISH CONTEXT. I even have a handout at my website for using that map. Look for the link in my Life of Christ guide, or click the link
here to view and print it.
Note: In our Jesus in Space CD,
students have a really fun quiz about the sequence of events at
the Last Supper.
The little dudes don't understand maps, but they do understand FEELINGS (context). So after using
Play & Learn Children's Bible CD's several Holy Week short stories -they can DRAW FLASH CARDS of the various events, then play a game of sequencing with them. Those Flash Cards can include drawings of bread, cup, dinner, lamb, garden, prayer, --to help them sequence the PROPS of the events. And as you play the game... You can discuss each one, reinforce each one.
One of the ways I used to teach Last Supper to my Confirmands was to set a
PASSOVER TABLE, explain all its elements, then strip away everything =in their sight= to get the Passover meal to COMMUNION. This helped them see the connections. I've done that with young children too. It helps demystify the Table. After using the
Last Supper lesson in Life of Christ (Lesson #31)
-your students should be able to tell you what the main elements of a Passover table are, and how they related to Jesus. There are numerous websites which discuss the elements of a Passover Table. I would highly recommend creating such a table in your computer lab. [This is a perfect example of my computer lab teaching model --the software is a
component in a lesson plan, not a replacement for a lesson plan.]
The Last Days of Jesus ..."through the eyes of"....
Peter, Mary, etc.
This is a familiar way to look at the Passion
story in some curricula.
But depending on the software and age groups you have, these
“through the eyes of” topics can be a bit difficult, as most
software is oriented towards a particular story, not a person. (It’s
easier to focus a drama script or art project of your own making on
such an angle, than it is to find a piece of videotape or software
that focuses just on that.)
 Let’s
Talk CD is a good program for kids who can type/read because
they can create an onscreen animated character who SPEAKS out-loud
whatever the kids type. So for example, the kids can create a
presentation about “what Peter was thinking” during the Trial,
and “how he felt” after denying Jesus and seeing him on the
cross.
www.sundaysoftware.com/lets-talk is a very versatile CD and
particular good at EXPRESSING what a character (your student) is
thinking because the kids make the computer talk, and they love
that.
Other options:
What many of us do in our labs is use the software that
available and beef up our lesson ‘angle’ with teacher-led
questions/emphasis. Example: we’ll cover the scope and sequence of
the last days of Christ’s life –which feature Peter—by using Life of
Christ CD, which has several Holy Week presentations in it. Then
your Bible story/question of the day/memory verse work does
additional work on “what Peter did.“ For YOUNGER kids…you can do
the same by cherry picking the Cross stories from Play and Learn
Children’s Bible CD
www.sundaysoftware.com/playand.htm
Method of Using Multiple Pieces of Software in One Jesus Lesson:
There are many programs which touch on something about Holy Week. One creative way to design your lesson, then, is to pull from these various resources rather than depend on one program to do it all. I call this the
"string of pearls" lesson method. On one computer I might have
Life of Christ, on another -Footsteps of Jesus
CD, on my third a map showing Jesus spots in Jerusalem. I then circulate my students through the computers. Over time, you'll collect several pieces of Jesus software in your "library" to select from. This string of pearls lesson takes advantage of such a library.
Let's Talk CD is
a great program to follow-up the short presentations in Life of Christ
CD. After using one of LOC's lessons, we'll take it's quiz, then create
a question...such as, "how would DEFEND Jesus at his trial?"
...come up with a speech. In Let's Talk, the kids create an onscreen
character who can speak back whatever the kids type. Very effective and
fun.
A Wall Display Idea: a "What happened where?"
wall map.
There's a map in Life of Christ Cd, but you
can take any map of Jesus' last days in Jerusalem and copy it to a transparency. Then project it on a wall (on to butcher paper, vinyl sheet cut from mattress liner, or long roll-up blind) and have the kids TRACE IT. Then use permanent markers to color in the lines and add locations. Now go do your research on the computer using any number of programs, such as, Life of Christ and Sandals Atlas. Have them discover "what happened there" and "what was probably going through Jesus'
thought and feelings at that point." Add those to your display. For a game- place numbered markers on correct locations (Last Supper location being #1)
Here's a link to the "Jesus' Last Two Days"
handout I created using the map in the Life of Christ CD.
And who is salvation for?
Awesome Bible
Stories CD answers that in its presentation of the story of
Zaccheus.
Jesus said, "Surely salvation has come to this man's house."
The
story of JONAH in our
Elijah-Jonah CD also answers this question. God saves the
wicked Ninevites over the plant-loving objections of Jonah. "I
knew you would be compassionate and forgiving" he yells at
God.
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LIFE OF CHRIST CD
Most of our customers have the
Life of Christ CD
which has MANY Holy Week story presentations in
it. We have
also created a new program to
follow-up these presentations in Life of Christ. I
first thought up Let's Talk
CD after using Life of Christ for many years
wishing I had a "dig deeper/reflection" program
that would come after we viewed a presentation
in Life of Christ CD. See some great lesson
examples of that below.
27. Mary Prepares Jesus Body for Burial
--with perfume (Matthew 26:6-13)
Mary believed Jesus when he said he would be
crucified and wanted to show she loved him.
What can you do to show your love for Jesus?
If you own
Footsteps of Jesus
CD, it has a photobubble which includes
some audio info about this story. Check
our Footsteps guide
for the location of it.
28. The Plot to Catch and Kill Jesus
(Matthew 26:1-16)
Why the Jews and Caiaphas plotted to get rid
of Jesus. Has jealousy ever made you say
something that hurt others?
29. A Grand Entry Into Jerusalem --Palm
Sunday
(Luke 19:28-46)
The prophetic prediction behind the act.
Jesus sobs over Jerusalem (and why). Do you
honor Jesus as your king? If so, how?
After
viewing this lesson in Life of Christ
CD, turn on your Let's Talk CD.
Imagine
what various people were saying that day
as Jesus rode into town. Assign
different roles/points of view to
students and have them CREATE THESE
VOICES/opinions in Let's Talk --which
animated characters will speak aloud.
Children there that day, old people,
priests, romans, soldiers, sinners. What
did they shout? What were they thinking
to themselves? What questions would they
have wanted to ask? What was Jesus
thinking? What would the STONES have
shouted, had everyone been silenced?
Footsteps
of Jesus
has a photobubble that shows the East
Gate as it appears today.
See screen shot of it below on this
page. My study
guide to Footsteps has some good
material on the legend of the Messiah at
the East or "Golden" Gate. Raphael's
Tour in Pathways has a video
about Palm Sunday in Jerusalem.
Play and Learn Children's Bible also has
it. A few years ago in my class we
viewed the three "snippets" from each of
these programs -rotating around our
computers. Then we discussed what Jesus
meant when he said "the rocks and stones
will sing." We used Kid Pix 3's ability
to speak aloud whatever the kids typed
to have them illustrate a scene of rocks
and provide "rock lyrics" ...."how
would stones praise Christ?"
It was a memorable lesson. fyi...this
Palm Sunday "entry" scene in
Jesus Christ Superstar
the movie is fantastic.
30. Disruption at the Temple (Matthew
21:12-17)
Why people needed their money changed.
People misusing the Temple. Children sang
praises. When and how do you praise the
Lord?
Use
Let's Talk CD
after this Life of Christ lesson to give
voice to the people in the crowd. What
was their reaction to Jesus? Where
would Jesus go today to "disrupt the
temple"? Create this new place in Let's
Talk's "Conversation Now" instant
messaging module --having students
create dialog between Jesus and a person
in that "place today."
31. New Meaning to the Passover Meal (Luke
22:14-23)
An excellent presentation on the history and
practice of the Passover meal and how Jesus
redefined it. Have you ever taken Communion
to remember Jesus' death?
Raphael in
Pathways Through Jerusalem
discusses the events of that evening.
Play and
Learn Children's Bible CD has a
"Last Supper" story for
non-readers/early readers.
You could
use Fall of
Jericho Quiz game CD to follow
up any of these programs on the Last
Supper.
Create a question set about YOUR
church's particular Communion Liturgy,
the words/phrases you use, what happens
when, what we do and what we don't do.
By Lent
2007 we'll have released our first CD in
a series titled "Jesus
in Space". the first will
include Lord's Supper & Foot Washing
as a full interactive animated lesson.
32. Jesus is Arrested, Tried, and Tortured
(Luke 22:47-23:45)
Jesus, the crowds, the priests, the
soldiers, and Pilate. Have you ever been
accused of something you didn't do?
Gethsemane is featured in Footsteps of
Jesus CD and both Helena's and Raphael's
Pathways Through Jerusalem CD tours.
King Herod tours the reconstruction of
Caiaphas' house (the Palatial Mansion
section) in Pathways Through
Jerusalem.
King Herod's Tour in Pathways Through
Jerusalem shows the Lithos Stratos
pavement where Jesus was scourged.
Use Let's Talk CD
as a follow-up to this lesson. Have
students create a 'speech' by the
different characters as to what they saw
and why they wanted Jesus out of the
way. Use Let's Talk to create a defense.
The "Conversation Now" module in Let's
Talk is like an "instant messaging
program" in which two antagonists can
argue about the events and reasons.
33. Jesus Goes to the Cross (Luke 23:26-49)
Explanation of cross, calvary, the sign,
meaning of some of his last words. How would
you have felt watching Jesus die?
Alive Forever and Ever
The
lesson's question "How would you have
felt...." can be answered by your
students through Let's Talk CD's ability to create
animated characters who voice student
thoughts. You can also have them build
their own lesson on this subject in
Let's Talk.
Footsteps
of Jesus
and Queen Helena' and Raphael's
tours in Pathways Through Jerusalem
both have extensive material of the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre/Calvary/Cross.
Disciple's Diary (if you own it, it's
out of print) has a lesson on the Cross
narrated by The Disciple.
34. The Burial and Resurrection (Matthew
27:57-28:15, Luke 24:1-7)
The women discover the empty tomb. How would
you have reacted?
Footsteps of Jesus
has a great photobubble of the Garden
Tomb. It also has a section titled
"Gordon's Calvary" which is good. Use
Let's Talk CD
and create your own lesson
presentation for the kids to hear
and respond to about how they would feel
seeing Jesus crucified and buried. Or
have the students create the lesson
using Let's Talk's Lesson Builder. It's
a great way to learn the story "in their
own words." In one of your spoken-aloud
discussion questions in Let's Talk
presentation, ask the kids to give voice
to places where they can see the
resurrected Christ today.
35. Resurrected Messiah Visits Friends and
Followers (Luke 24:13-44)
The road to Emmaus story. Why shouldn't the
disciples have been surprised at Jesus'
resurrection? How would you have acted?
There are two good lesson idea below in
this document for Emmaus and Doubting
Thomas.
  **Life
of Christ also has some EXCELLENT interactive
maps
tracing Jesus' location in Jerusalem during
his last two days.
Click here or the
picture at right for my "last two days"
worksheet created for classroom use with
the Jerusalem map tour found in the Practice
Book on the Professor's bookshelf. Please note,
if you also have a copy of Footsteps of Jesus,
there are several 360 degree photobubbles
showing what these locations look like.
The Last Supper lesson in Life of Christ may be
a little too obtuse for early readers to grasp.
So unless you plan to really go over the
connections mean between Passover, Seder, Last
Supper and Communion, you might want to just use
Play & Learn Children's Bible CD's Last Supper
selection.
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Many Sunday Schools also teach the Story of Esther
during Lent, because the Purim Festival before Passover
celebrates the story of Esther
Esther is covered in a BIG way in our
Awesome Bible
Stories CD. The first multimedia CD ever to do so.
Learn more.
A.B.S. has 6
important stories on 1 Great CD. Purim is the feast day celebrating the story of
Esther & Mordecai's victory over the forces of evil that
threatened to wipe out the Jews in exile. It's key verse is
spoken by Mordecai to Esther who must decide whether to risk
revealing her faith to her husband and the kingdom.
"Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just
such a time as this." This question reminds me of Peter's choice
in the courtyard. One
of the interesting traditions in Purim is the "tradition
of foolishness." It is the one time of year Jews are
encouraged to humble themselves by acting up and dressing up as
an expression of the deep joy they have in their freedom. Purim
is truly a party. This reminds me of what Paul said in First
Corinthians 18: "The cross is foolishness." and "through
the proclamation of our foolishness" God saves. In
the story of Esther, it is Haman (boo!) who builds the gallows
for Mordecai, only to be hung their himself. In
both stories, God saves.
The official date for Purim 2008
is March 21-22. Purim precedes Passover every year. It's
like Mardi Gras.
| Note About
Let's Talk CD for Lent/Holy Week
stories/subjects...
As you can see on this page,
Let's Talk is
extremely handy for creating/voicing
responses and reflections. This is exactly
why I built it. I wanted a
response/reflection tool to follow up other
software with.
There's a new Lesson
Outline for
Doubting Thomas
over in the Let's Talk Lesson Ideas webpage
www.sundaysoftware.com/lets-talk/more-lessons.htm
In 2007 my
class studied
Peter's Denial
and used Let's Talk CD to compose "What
Peter SHOULD have said to the people in the
courtyard... instead of whimping out."
Third graders can easily
use it, but even non-readers love using it
IF they have someone helping them type their
responses. They love hearing the computer
speak to them. Let's Talk can be use for any
subject, and has several different WAYS it
can be used, including building lessons that
speak aloud, only simulating "instant
messaging" on your computer. <>< Neil |
HOLY WEEK Content in
other software....
The
ILUMINA BIBLE CD/DVD has several short
animated VIDEO CLIPS covering Holy Week events.
Version 1.0 of iLumina has two clips: The angel
rolls the stone, Jesus is not there, the angel
speaks to the women. Gold Premium Edition has a Crucifixion video.
These animations are "ripe" for picking and using in tandem
with other software, such as Life of Christ.
They're short --about 1 minute each. My younger kids
were enthralled seeing Jesus as a 3D digital
character.
One of the great things about teaching with
computers is that kids will WATCH the SAME CONTENT
TWICE. They enjoy seeing the Last Supper in Play &
Learn CD, then seeing the 3D digital video of it in
the ILumina Bible. In my class of young ones, we
split up among our four computers to experience the
Last Supper story in Play & Learn Bible CD, but all
came back together to see it in ILUMINA.
Pathways
Through Jerusalem -- There's a bunch of truly
NON-traditional stuff in Pathways about Holy Week,
including: Raphael's tour of Jesus' last days in
Jerusalem, Helena's Church of Holy Sepulchre Garden
of Gethsemane visited by both Raphael and Helena.
Page 30 in Pathways Guide has worksheet on Church of
Holy. Sepulchre. Raphael has map of Via Dolorosa. In
my Pathways Study Guide I note a lesson idea about
creating a "mini-Via Dolorosa" in your lab based on
the Pathways info. That may seem odd to Protestants
(like me), but in fact, the Via Dolorosa was another
device for teaching "Scope & Sequence." The Via
Dolorosa captured the Medieval imagination and
served to help illiterate populations remember the
events of Holy Week. Notes on legend of the Mount of
Olives found on page 24 of Pathways guide are worth
looking at even if you don't use Pathways.
Here's a Lent
Worksheet for using Raphael and Helena's
Tours in Pathways Through
Jerusalem CD. The worksheet comes from
lab teacher in Canada. Bring it into your
wordprocessor and add your own "reflection"
questions to it.
 What
to the Holy Week Sites look like today?
Footsteps of Jesus CD is full of "Look, see, let's talk
about it" interactive photobubbles of "Jesus
locations" in Israel as you would see them today. "Photobubbles"
are digital pictures your students can
spin around in looking not only left-right but
up-down. To your right on this page is a graphic of
photobubble of Jesus' tomb. Palm Sunday: Jesus
Enters Jerusalem photobubble with traditions of colt
and palms. Judas Betrays Jesus photobubble with info
button describing interesting facts about the 30
pieces of silver is very interesting. Post
resurrection appearances get a lot of coverage in
Footsteps. Outline has list of dozen+ questions kids
can search to answer or could be turned into quiz or
worksheet. Like Pathways, there's a Via Dolorosa
section in Footsteps with photobubble and info
button why Jesus died this way.
See brief outline of Footsteps by clicking here.
Please note: Footsteps of Jesus is now out of
print. Sunday
Software has some copies remaining probably through
summer '06.
fyi...Footsteps pictures can be "captured" and
printed out by using PRTSCRN button and pasting
into wordprocessor like Wordpad/Notepad to make
booklets, posters, etc. Techie note: You can
even turn it in to a bitmap image and import it
into Writing Blaster or Kid Pix 3 (creative
writing and drawing programs).
On
the right is a "screen capture" of the
interesting 360 degree photobubble in Footsteps
which was taken in front of the Church of All
Nations in the Garden of Gethsemane. It
overlooks the Kidron Valley and the Eastern Wall
of the Temple Mount. A.K.A. the "Beautiful" or
"Golden" Gate. This is the same view Jesus could
see on the night of his arrest. He was looking
right at the place where he rode in on his
donkey on Palm Sunday, and right at the Temple
which was at odds with him. What do you suppose
was going through his mind?
My
Footsteps of Jesus
Study Guide has the story of the "Golden
Gate" being the supposed site where the Messiah
would someday reappear at this gate at the end
of the world. Muslims believe he will unblock
the gate (this is both an ancient Israelite and
modern Islamic legend).
OTHER SHORTIE IDEAS:
(Note: some of these programs may be out of print
but quite a few of our customers have them in their
collections)
 Interesting
Idea:
Using Pathways and Footsteps tours, have students
tour Church of Holy Sepulchre and recreate several
room in several of their OWN classrooms (each of the
Church's rooms tell a different story in the
crucifixion. Chapel of Nailing, Chapel/Legend of the
True Cross, Holy Sepulchre itself. Kids as monks
telling the story to other kids! Bring in tours.
Gotta love it. There are some neat traditions tucked
away in Pathways and Footsteps that could be
translated into a walking tour.
LAST
WORDS OF CHRIST lesson...
Use the "record" feature in the
Kid Pix software
to record kids voices (using a microphone you need
to supply) of Jesus' Seven Last Words. Illustrate
them. Kid Pix 3 also has the option to Paint with
your voice (using a microphone). Pretty cool and
each "word" page would be a unique artistic creation
illustrated by the sound of the words themselves.
Alternately, you
can have the animated characters in
Let's Talk CD voice
these seven last words. They can even explain
them out loud.
FIRST WORD: "Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do."
SECOND WORD:
"Amen, I say to you, this day you shall be
with me in paradise."
THIRD WORD: "Woman,
behold your son. Son, behold your Mother."
FOURTH WORD: "My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me."
FIFTH WORD: "I thirst."
SIXTH WORD: "It is finished."
SEVENTH
WORD: "Into your hands, I commend my
spirit."
Create a list of "I WONDER WHY" questions.
"I wonder why Pilate didn't set Jesus free?" Do
Bible study, discuss. Type and illustrate in Kid
Pix or
USE THE LESSON BUILDER in
Let's Talk CD to speak these question out
loud and have students create spoken responses.
Rewrite and illustrate a different ending to the
story in Let's Talk or Kid Pix: "What would have happened if Pilate had
set Jesus free?" Thinking through the "what ifs"
will help them understand what really did happen
and why.
MISC Software Notes and Lesson Ideas For Holy Week
Life & Ministry of Jesus CD
-- No lengthy Lent or Holy Week multimedia
material in this CD other than audio scriptures
with study notes in the Discover the Bible
section.
Fall of Jericho --Use
question editor to teach what comes next, "who's
who," where did it happen, what does bread mean,
etc. Research "who's who" in Bibleland.com and
turn into questions. Teach basic SEQUENCE of the
events (kids get them mixed up).
Disciple's Diary CD
(now out of print)
---a ton of material here. Articles, video,
illustrations, narration. Scrolls 9 and 10 in
the Archive have good audio narrative and video
clips. If you have purchased Disciple's Diary
from us and don't have our revised and expanded
STUDY GUIDE get it here.
This CD was often used in the "string of pearls"
style of lesson plan described at the beginning
of this page.
Play and Learn Childrens Bible CD
for Preschoolers/Early Readers & Children's
Activity Bible: BOTH cover the events of
Holy Week with several interactive stories.
Older students could "study" these programs and
use to teach a group of preschoolers.
See list of stories in both these programs by
clicking here. (Children's Activity Bible CD
is out of print.)
Here's a lesson style
I've used that works well if you only have one
week in the lab with each class:
Have your students see/read/hear it first in
Life of Christ or Play and Learn, and then
write/draw/present about what they learned in
Kid Pix..or a creative
writing drawing program. Each computer station
writes/draws about one particular aspect of the
teaching. After showing & explaining their work
to the class, they then print out a copy of
their presentation page for each student --so
that all the students end up with a booklet of
the class' work. Teacher can add their own
special page too.
If you have MORE THAN ONE WEEK
and several of the programs listed on this page,
you can do a much larger research project. Put
DIFFERENT programs on EACH computer and ROTATE
your kids through each computer station learning
what they can from that particular program
before moving on. A teacher at each station (or
older student) and a worksheet will help
regulate the browsing and help them remember the
content.
Create a Timeline Wall Display
-- Print out information from various programs
and use in construction of hallway display. Kids
can paint or draw on white butcher paper to
create TIMELINE of Holy Week display for
congregation.
LENT PASSAGES
Lent traditionally kicks off with the baptism and
temptation of Jesus.
Here are programs we recommend that have material on
those two stories:
The
Baptism of Jesus
(Matthew 3:13-17, Luke 3, John 1)
The Temptation of Jesus in the Wilderness
(John 1:15-34) (Matthew 4:1-11)
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Life of Christ:
Lessons #10, #11, #12 ...Baptism, 'Lamb of
God,' Temptations.
- JESUS
IN SPACE CD
covers the Baptism of Jesus and "About
Baptism" really well.
-
Disciple's Diary:
(out of print)
Narration: All about John the Baptist
and Jesus' Temptation in the Wildnerness
Videos: Don't miss Jordan
River flyover, Essene Temple, Judean
Wilderness, and Qumran. See note about
controlling 3-D motion above.
-
Life of Jesus:
Interesting study note about John the
Baptist
-
Walk in the Footsteps:
Photobubble and narration of baptismal site.
Wonderful photobubble and narration
of Wildnerness temptation area.
-
Walking in Their Sandals
covers both with maps and photos.
-
Play and Learn Children's Bible
(see
list of stories)
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I'd be happy to discuss your Lent-Holy Week Software Lesson Plans with you. Drop me some email.
Need any of this software?
This document is the copyrighted property of Sunday Software, www.sundaysoftware.com.
It may be used for local congregational and personal use only.
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New
in 2008..."
Pictured
right: