Skip to main content

Reply to "The Woman at the Well Lesson Set - FUMC Ann Arbor, MI"

The Woman at the Well

Games Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Play an experiential game called “Kisses for a Samaritan” to help children feel compassion. If time, play a game of “Tennis Ball Juggle” while answering questions.

Note: This workshops were written for 1st through 6th graders though not all grades visit all workshops.

Scripture Reference:

John 4:4-42
Key Verse: “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.” John 4:13-14a (NIV)

Rotation Objectives--

at the end of the Rotation, kids should be able to:

  • Locate the stories in their Bibles (older students); Younger students will learn that the story is in the New Testament.
  • Understand how radical it was for a Jewish person to associate with a Samaritan.
  • Put themselves in the place of the woman at the well and feel the type of compassion Jesus was offering.
  • Discover that Jesus fulfills our spiritual needs rather than just our physical needs.
  • Understand the change that took place in the woman.

Leader Preparation:

  • Read the scripture for this lesson.
  • Read and reflect on the overview material provided for this lesson.
  • Gather the materials.


Supplies List:

  • Bibles (for 3rd grade and up)
  • One purple Adventure Bible with tabs (Law, History, etc.)
  • Bible tab writing kit: tabs, fine-line Sharpie pen (for 3rd grade and up)
  • Story paraphrase (see attached)
  • 2 bandanas or blindfolds
  • Masking tape
  • 4 rulers
  • 1 bag of chocolate kisses and a small bowl to hold 6-8 kisses
  • 8 index cards to use to make Disability Cards (see below)
  • Kitchen timer or stop watch
  • Questions sheet from “Throw a Rock in the Well” game (download from the Internet, see resources at end of lesson)
  • 6 tennis balls


Before Start of Class:
Write out the Disability Cards, making 2 of each that say: “you can’t see”, “you can’t bend your arms at the elbows”, “you can’t speak”, and “you can’t move your legs.”



Presentation


Opening - Welcome and Lesson Introduction:

Greet your students warmly, welcoming them to the Games Workshop. Introduce yourself and any other adults.
[Note: The Shepherd will be quietly taking care of attendance, etc. while you are starting your lesson.]

Say: Let’s begin with prayer. Ask for any prayer requests. Ask if anyone would like to lead the group in prayer. Be prepared to say a prayer yourself, working in prayer requests. Use the Lord’s Prayer as the ending. A suggestion: “Dear God, Thank you for bringing us all here today. Be with those who couldn’t be here. We praise you for the chance to learn about your son Jesus. Help us to understand what this story hold for us. (End with the Lord’s Prayer) Amen.”

Say: We are learning (continuing to learn) about the story of Jesus and the woman at the well. This woman was considered an outcast. We will be playing a game that will help you to understand compassion for others that are different from yourselves.

Dig - Main Content and Reflection:


For 1st and 2nd graders:
Ask: Where in the Bible would we read about Jesus, in the New Testament or the Old Testament? (new)
Say: The Bible is divided into two testaments – the Old Testament tells us stories about before Jesus was born and the New Testament tells us about Jesus.
Ask: Who can tell me what the first four books of the New Testament are called? (the Gospels)
Say: The word Gospel means “good news”. Jesus teaches us the good news about God’s love for us. Part of that good news is that God wants to have a close relationship with us.
Ask: How do you get a close relationship with someone – like if you have a really good friend – how did you become close friends? (spent time together, talking, listening)
Say: When we read the Gospels we learn about what sort of a relationship we can have with God and Jesus. Our story can be found in the gospel of John. Listen while I tell the story.
Hold a copy of the story (see attached) in an open Bible while you read the story.

For 3rd grade and up:
Distribute Bibles if needed.
Ask: The Bible is divided into two sections, what are they? (Old & New Testament)
If we want to read a story about Jesus, where would we find it?
Say: Besides being divided into two testaments, the 66 books in the Bible are further divided into collections.
Ask: The book of John is part of a collection of Bible books called what? (the Gospels)
What are the books in the Gospels? (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John)
Say: If you have your own Bible today, be sure you receive a tab for the gospel section of your Bible. [Show the classroom Bible with tabs. Have the Shepherd do a tab for the Gospels, for students who bring their Bibles. Use the classroom Bible with tabs as an example.]
Ask: What does the word gospels mean? (good news)
Say: Jesus teaches us the good news about God’s love for us. Part of that good news is that God wants to have a close relationship with us.
Ask: How do you get a close relationship with someone – like if you have a really good friend – how did you become close friends? (spent time together, talking, listening)
Say: When we read the Gospels we learn about what sort of a relationship we can have with God and Jesus.
Have everyone find John 4:4 in his or her Bible.
Read them the story from the attached paraphrase. [Note: The exercise of finding the story is important – don’t skip it.]
[Note: After the second week of the Rotation the students will become more familiar with the story. Have them locate the scripture in their Bibles. Then ask them to tell you the story. Fill in any missing details by using their Bibles. Don’t read the paraphrase unless it is necessary.]

Play the Game: “Kisses for a Samaritan”
Say: All of us have felt left out, or been excluded at one time or another, like the woman at the well.
Ask: Why do you suppose this woman was excluded from her own community? (accept all answers - she has had five husbands, and lives with a 6th man, she has not been able to bear children, and not having children was considered a bad thing, the other women point fingers at her, etc.)
It is easy to sometimes misjudge people isn’t it?

Say: Today we will be playing a game where we will have “active” participants, and “observing” participants. The active participants will each have a card that tells them what their “handicap” is. They will be asked to do something and will have to figure out how to do this with their handicap.

Instructions: (for leader)
Choose 6 people to be the “active participants”. (With larger groups choose 8.)
You should have at least 2 or 3 “observers”.
Distribute Disability Cards to the active participants.
Each active participant should read (or be read to) his or her card. The active participants should not read their cards aloud. They should not tell others what their card says.
All “active” participants should stand.

Two people are blindfolded.
Two people cannot bend their arms at the elbow, so rulers need to be taped around their arms.
Two people cannot speak. If they agree, tape their mouth with masking tape. (If they don’t want this, just make sure they don’t speak.)
For the larger group, two additional people can’t move their legs.
You and the Shepherd should help put on the tape, sticks, and blindfolds.

The “observers” which is the rest of the group, will watch carefully without talking, and be prepared to comment on what they see.
A bowl with number of kisses equal to active participants should be placed out of reach of the group.
Make sure they know what their card means, and understand what their limits are.

Instructions to be given to the class:
Tell the observers to sit without talking, and watch what is going on. This is a very important job, as the active participants are only aware of what they are trying to do, not the whole group!
They will have three minutes to complete this task.
Tell the active participants (not the whole group) that their task is for each active participant to eat one chocolate kiss.

You and the Shepherd should not assist anyone during this time.
Time them, and stop the game at the three-minute limit.

Process:
When three minutes are up, have them remove their props, and sit down.
Give everyone a kiss that didn’t get one, including the observers.

Ask (of the active participants):

  • How did each role feel? (give them a chance to answer before you prompt them with … Was it uncomfortable, frustrating, exciting, did they feel helpful, a bother, useless...)
  • Did you understand each other’s handicaps?
  • What worked? What didn’t?
  • What could you have done differently?
  • Did you feel compassion for any other participant?


Ask (of the observers):

  • What did they observe (see) going on?
  • How was it to watch and not be able to help?
  • Did they want to get up and help?
  • What do you think worked and what didn’t?
  • What could the active participants do differently?
  • Did you feel compassion for anyone? Who?


Say (to all): We all need to be leaders. We can’t just be passive and do nothing. Doing nothing is a decision, or a choice. You don’t have to choose to do nothing. In order for the task (eating kisses) to be accomplished, and for everyone to feel successful, everyone needed to act, or to do something. We are all leaders, even if we don’t always feel like one, we can all make a difference in how other people feel, by including them, and treating them respectfully. We never know whom we might be influencing with our actions.

Ask: Do you suppose the women felt different after she had spoken to Jesus? (accept all answers – she did act different in that she went into town and talked to other people to tell them about Jesus)
Say: The woman at the well was changed by her experience with Jesus because Jesus offered her “living water.”
Ask: What did Jesus mean by living water? (accept all answers)
Say: By offering the woman living water Jesus was giving her a chance to see how she could have a close relationship with God.
Ask: If we are to learn from Jesus’ example how can we help other people to obtain “living water”? (allow all answers – can go in many different ways: by befriending them, by accepting them, by talking to others about Jesus’ love, etc.)

If you have time: Play Tennis ball Juggle
(Leave enough time for the closing.) Everyone stand in a circle. Leader asks a question from the “Throw a Rock in the Well” game list. (see resources). The children raise their hand if they can answer the question. The leader calls on someone. If they get the right correct, she tosses the ball underhand to that person. (Tell the kids to only throw underhand). If the person does not answer correctly, the leader asks someone else. The ball does not get tossed until the question is answered correctly.

The leader goes through the list of questions, with a different child answering each one, until each child has answered a question and has had the ball tossed to them. Thus a pattern of ball toss is established. [You may wish to go through the pattern every time someone answers a question correctly - tossing it to the first person who answered correctly then to the next person who answered correctly, etc.]

Once the pattern is established, the kids continue to toss the ball in the same pattern a couple times until they can do it without it hitting the floor. For the older kids, the leader can add another tennis ball when the first one is halfway through the pattern. Don’t stop at the end of the cycle, have them keep going. If they can handle two balls, and are following the pattern without dropping the ball, add another ball! For the older kids, add as many as they can handle which might be all six. The younger kids may only be able to do two or three.

Tell the kids to toss the ball underhand, carefully, because the object is to get it all the way around the pattern without it hitting the floor. They need to work together to do this. Once the pattern is established they should keep their eyes on only two people: The one throwing them the ball, and the one they are throwing the ball too.

A twist: they could repeat the answer to their question each time they receive the ball

Closing:

Say: The woman was changed by her encounter with Jesus. Jesus offered living water; he offered compassion. This week look for ways that you can help others to see Jesus’ living water.

Attachment: Story paraphrase
Jesus and His disciples were traveling through the land of Samaria. They came to a city called Sychar (Pronounced SI –kahr). There was a well there, where the people of Sychar drew their drinking water. Jacob, the father of the Israelites, had dug the well long ago. [Ask if they recall learning about Jacob.]

The afternoon was sunny and hot. Wearily, Jesus sat down by the well while the disciples went into Sychar to buy food. Soon a woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. “Give me a drink,” Jesus said to her. The woman was surprised. “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan?” she said. In those days, Jews had no dealings with Samaritans!

She was probably even more surprised when Jesus said, “If you knew who I am, you would ask me for a drink and I would give living water.” The woman said to Jesus, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where will you get this living water? Are you greater than our ancestor, Jacob, who gave us this well?”

Jesus told the woman, “Whoever drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. But anyone who drinks the water that I give will never thirst. The water that I give will be a fountain of water within, springing up into everlasting life.”
“Sir, give me this water,” the woman said. Jesus asked the woman to go and call her husband. “I have no husband,” the woman answered.
“You have spoken the truth. You have had five husbands,” said Jesus. “And the man with whom you are living now is not your husband.”
The woman recognized that Jesus was a prophet. She tried changing the topic, to get Jesus to argue about where to worship God: at Jerusalem as the Jews did, or at the Samaritans’ holy mountain. Jesus said, “Those who worship God must do so out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.”

“I know that the Messiah is coming,” the woman said to Jesus. “When he comes, we’ll get the whole story.” “I am he,” said Jesus. “You don't have to wait any longer or look any further.”

Just then, the disciples came back. The woman left her expensive water pot there by the well and returned to the city. “Come, see a man who told me all things that I ever did,” the woman told the men of Sychar. “Could this be the Christ?”

The men left the city to go and see Jesus for themselves. Meanwhile, the disciples told Jesus to eat. But Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to finish his work.” His work was to bring people to God. Many of the Samaritans believed in him because of the word of the woman. They asked Jesus to stay with them; and he stayed there two days.


Resources:

  • Story adapted from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group and from “The Woman at the Well.” Produced by the Bible for Children. ©2004. http://www.bibleforchildren.or...the_Well_English.pdf
  • Questions from the “Throw a Rock in the Well” game are available at the Resource Room of Daniellesplace.com (Small membership fee is required to join portions of this site.) Used questions # 1, 3-7, 9, 12, and 14. https://www.daniellesplace.com...man-at-the-well.html

Written by Melanie Snook and Melissa Martin and Carol Hulbert for First United Methodist Church
120 S. State Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48104

Copyright 2006 First United Methodist Church, Ann Arbor, MI.
Permission to copy materials granted for non-commercial use provided credit is given and all cited references remain with this material.

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.

Last edited by Luanne Payne
Rotation.org Inc. is a volunteer-run, 100% member supported, 501(c)3 non-profit Sunday School lesson ministry. You are welcome to borrow and adapt content for non-commercial teaching purposes --as long as both the site and author are referenced. Rotation.org Inc reserves the right to manage, move, condense, delete, and otherwise improve all content posted to the site. Read our Terms of Service. Get a free Registered Membership or become a Supporting Member for full access to all site resources.
Rotation.org is rated 5 stars on Google based on 51 reviews. Serving a global community including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, S. Africa, and more!
×
×
×
×
×