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Zacchaeus

Lesson Set

Overview of this set:

  • Art: hear the story of Zacchaeus and understand that God knows each of us by name. They will make a nameplate with Model Magic clay.
  • Bible Skills & Games: learn or review the story of Zacchaeus. They will play a game based on cheating, even be able to cheat themselves. They will discuss real-life cheating and its effect. They will also use a simple cookie as a way to understand that God’s love is always there for us.
  • Movie: watch the video Treasures in Heaven and will discuss how we are called to show our love for Jesus by repenting and sharing treasures.
  • Puppets: use puppets to act out four skits that will help them understand repentance, forgiveness, and the love of God. (scripts included)

  • Storytelling (not provided): hear the story told by Zacchaeus himself. They will then learn the song, “Zacchaeus.”

Scripture Reference:

Luke 19:1-10

Memory Verse:

Luke 19:9:
“Then Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.’”

Concepts:
The Spirit of God is not contained in boundaries. Sinners are not left out of God’s love and concern. God is accessible to the marginalized and the outcasts of society. Jesus is the revelation of what God is like.




Zacchaeus

Art Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:
In this workshop, the learners will hear the story of Zacchaeus and understand that God knows each of us by name. They will make a nameplate with Model Magic clay.


Supplies List:

  • The Children’s Bible in 365 Stories;
  • several colors of Model Magic;
  • tile or wood pieces to put the finished work on;
  • glitter or glitter glue,
  • buttons,
  • old jewelry,
  • ribbon,
  • rick-rack, etc. for decoration;
  • copy of the memory verse;
  • paper;
  • pencils.

Teacher preparation:

  • Read the Bible passages.
  • Read over the background material included in your teacher packet as you review the lesson plan so you will be able to give background information about the story if necessary.
  • Familiarize yourself with the art project.


Presentation

Opening - Welcome and introductions:
Greet the children and introduce yourself. Remember that you are interacting with a different group of students each week—some may not know you. Wear your nametag and make sure that the children are wearing theirs.

Dig - Main Content and Reflection:

Lesson Plan:

1. Spend a few minutes introducing the story. Review a little background information (from your background material), especially about the use of tax collectors (publicans) and the attitudes toward them. Tell them that this story is found in Luke 19:1-10, but we are going to read it from our Children’s Bibles. Read the story from The Children’s Bible, page 355 (story 312). They might like to see the picture with the story.

2. Show the memory verse and go over it together. In the NRSV Bible, this is verse 9 of the story. Ask if they know what is meant by “son of Abraham.” If not, tell them that since Zacchaeus was a Jew, he was descended from Abraham and was referred to by that phrase. Also, he became a son of Abraham that day by virtue of his faith in God through Jesus, which is something each of us can do even if we are not Jewish by birth.

3. Ask the following questions:

  • Does the story tell us that someone introduced Jesus to Zacchaeus? (No.)
  • How do you think Jesus knew Zacchaeus’ name? (Accept any answer but lead the children to the fact that God knows all about us, including our names.)
  • How do you think Zacchaeus felt when he realized Jesus knew his name? (Accept any answer.)

4. Tell the children: “Today our art project has to do with our names.”  Explain that Jesus calls each of us individually by our name to come follow him. Each of us is individually responsible for responding.

5. Give each child a piece of white paper that has been folded “hot dog style” (in half lengthwise). This will give them a guide for the size of their nameplate.

Note: Items 5 and 6 may be omitted with older children as they can shape the letters without writing them first. This is up to the teacher’s discretion.

6. Instruct them to write or print their name on the paper in large letters filling as much of the paper as they can. They will want to leave more space than normal between the letters.

7. Now have them take colors of Model Magic and shape it like the letters they wrote,

placing the letters on the tile or the wood. They will need to glue the letters down after they like their design. (They can put them over the paper if they need to for a guide. If they use the paper they will have to transfer the name from the paper to the wood while it is still wet enough to reshape if something comes apart.)

8. They may add any decorations they like. They may need to glue the decorations to make sure they will hold when the design is dry.

Closure:
You may need to begin with some of these questions while the children are working depending on time.

Ask the following:

  1. If Jesus knew Zacchaeus’ name, do you think he also knew how Zacchaeus was taking money from people? (Accept any answer.)
  2. Do you think God knows your name? (Yes.)
  3. What else does God know about you? (Accept any answer.)
  4. Does God like everything about you? (Accept any answer but tell the children God loves them even though God may not like everything we do and say. God is there to forgive us for our wrongdoings when we ask.)

Tell them to take their name home and put it where they can see it often to remind them that God knows everything about them and loves them very much no matter what mistakes they have made.

Closing:
Close with the following prayer, or use one of your own:
Dear God, thank you for knowing each one of us by name and for loving each one of us, even though we are all different. Thank you for loving . . . (name each person in the room.) Amen.

Journal Time:
Help the shepherd pass out the journals. Have the children write a sentence or draw a picture in response to the following:
The fact that God knows everything about me and still loves me makes me feel . .

Dismissal:
Have the children help you tidy up the workshop space. Dismiss them with instructions about where they are to go. If you complete the lesson with quite a bit of time left, you may allow the children to visit the Ewing McGee Children’s Library, being quiet so as not to disturb classes still in session.


References:

A lesson set from: Brenthaven Church

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






Zacchaeus

Bible Skills & Games

Summary of Lesson Activities:
In this workshop, the learners will learn or review the story of Zacchaeus. They will play a game based on cheating, even be able to cheat themselves. They will discuss real-life cheating and its effect. They will also use a simple cookie as a way to understand that God’s love is always there for us.


Supplies List:

  • The Children’s Bible in 365 Stories;
  • four containers: 2 filled with pennies, 2 empty (the containers should be color-coded, example: 2 red/2 blue);
  • for the cookies: plastic tablecloth, sugar cookies, icing, sprinkles (heart shaped if possible), plastic knives, paper towels or paper plates, wet wipes, baggies (for the student who may not want to eat their cookie or be able to finish it-please mark their name on the baggie);
  • printed memory verse;
  • pencils.

Teacher preparation:

  • Read the Bible passages.
  • Read over the background material included in your teacher packet as you review the lesson plan so you will be able to give background information about the story if necessary.
  • Familiarize yourself with the game rules.


Presentation

Opening - Welcome and introductions:
Greet the children and introduce yourself. Remember that you are interacting with a different group of students each week—some may not know you. Wear your nametag and make sure that the children are wearing theirs.

Dig - Main Content and Reflection:

Lesson Plan:

1. Spend a few minutes introducing the story. Review a little background information (from your background material), especially about the use of tax collectors (publicans) and the attitudes toward them. Tell them that this story is found in Luke 19:1-10, but we are going to read it from our Children’s Bibles. Read the story from The Children’s Bible, page 355 (story 312). They might like to see the picture with the story.

2. Show the memory verse and go over it together. In the NRSV Bible, this is verse 9 of the story. Ask if they know what is meant by “son of Abraham.” If not, tell them that since Zacchaeus was a Jew, he was descended from Abraham and was referred to by that phrase. Also, he became a son of Abraham that day by virtue of his faith in God through Jesus, which is something each of us can do even if we are not Jewish by birth.

3. After reading the story set up to play the game Cheater! Cheater!

  • Set up 2-containers of pennies at one end of the room. Set up the other 2-empty containers at the opposite end of the room. Divide the students into two teams and have them stand behind their team’s empty container.
  • Designate the first student in each line to be the Cheater Catcher. *(Or, you can just let each team select who is to be the “cheater catcher"). Have that person stand behind the opposite team’s penny container in the middle of the room. It is their job to try to catch the opposite team’s runner trying to cheat by taking more than 1 penny.
  • The first student in each line now must run to his or her team’s container of pennies. He or she is allowed to take 1-penny, but can try to take 2 or 3 pennies without getting caught by the cheater catcher. If the cheater catcher catches someone taking more than 1 penny, the catcher calls out Cheater!! The runner must now stop and show his or her penny(ies).
  • If the runner has more than 1-penny, he or she has to give all the pennies taken to the other team. If the cheater catcher makes a wrong call, then his or her team must give 2-pennies to the other team.
  • The runner then runs to his or her team’s empty container where the penny or pennies are deposited if the runner hasn’t been caught. (The cheater catcher cannot call “cheater” once a runner deposits the pennies in the team’s container.) The runner now becomes the team’s cheater catcher. The former cheater catcher runs to his or her team’s line, tags who will be the next runner, then gets in line to wait a turn.
  • Repeat until everyone has had a chance to be a cheater catcher and runner. At the end, see which team has the most pennies.

4. Gather the students back together to discuss and reflect:

  • In our game today it was fun to try to cheat. How many of you were able to get away with cheating? How did you feel when you didn’t get caught? How did you feel when you did get caught?
  • How do you feel when someone really cheats on you? It’s fun to play a game once in awhile where we can get away with cheating. But when we cheat in real life, we worry about getting caught. If we don’t get caught, we still know we’ve done something wrong. (Any comments/examples?)
  • Do you remember what Zacchaeus did for a living and why people in Bible times may have disliked him? (He was a tax collector. Back in Jesus’ time, tax collectors often cheated people by taking more money from them than they really owed in taxes. Then the tax collector kept the extra money, which is how they got very rich. The Roman government allowed this practice.)
  • What happened that changed Zacchaeus? (He met Jesus and decided he wanted to live Jesus’ way. When we choose to follow Jesus, God changes our whole life.)
  • How do we know Zacchaeus wanted to live Jesus’ way? (He said he would give ½ his money to the poor, and he would pay back more money than he had taken to the people he had cheated.) *When we are sorry, many times we want to make up for the things we have done wrong.
  • Cheating is not the only thing we try to get away with. What are some other things you can think of? (Doing sloppy work, or sneak out of work altogether. Saying unkind things about people and hope they don’t find out.)
  • Even though the Roman government allowed cheating for Zacchaeus, it wasn’t fair. What are some other situations in real life that are allowed, but don’t seem fair? (Examples: Some people are born into rich families, others are born poor. Some people are born into free countries, others live in dictatorships. Some children receive lots of presents, others do not.)
  • Sometimes we can do something to change an unfair situation. Any examples? (Like giving presents to kids who are poor or live in an orphanage; raising money to buy animals for families in poor countries through organizations like Heifer International; collecting food for 2nd Harvest Food Bank.)
  • Remember: as Christians, we are responsible for treating other people as fairly as possible.

5. Now for a snack and energy booster after all that running.

  • Have the children wipe their hands off with provided wipes. Give each student a cookie on a paper towel or plate.
  • As you walk around the table of children say: “The cookie represents Zacchaeus.” (Start handing out the heart shaped sprinkles.) “These sprinkles represent things God did before Zacchaeus met Jesus to show Zacchaeus that God loved him. What might God have done?” (Examples: God was loving him. Do you think God was watching over Zacchaeus and had him at the tree to see Jesus that day?)
  • “Now put the sprinkles on the cookies.” “What’s the problem?” (The sprinkles won’t stick to the cookies.) Explain that the sprinkles represent God’s love for Zacchaeus before he met Jesus. All the loving things God “sprinkled” on Zacchaeus fell off because Zacchaeus didn’t believe God.
  • “What does the cookie need to make the sprinkles stick?” (Frosting.) Give the children the frosting on their plate and let them spread in on their cookies. Now try adding the sprinkles again. They stay on the cookie this time!
  • “What did Zacchaeus need for God’s love to “stick” to him?” (He needed to believe that God loved him no matter what he had done.)


Closure:
Ask if there are any questions or comments about the story for today. Answer them and discuss whatever the children need to discuss about the story.

Closing:
Close with the following prayer, or use one of your own:
God, forgive us for the wrong things we do and show us how we can make up for things we do that hurt other people. Let Jesus live in our hearts and show us how to treat other people fairly. Amen.

Journal Time:
Help the shepherd pass out the journals. Have the answer the following:
Were you a “cheater” or a “cheater catcher”? Which did you like better, and why?

Dismissal:
Have the children help you tidy up the workshop space. Dismiss them with instructions about where they are to go. If you complete the lesson with quite a bit of time left, you may allow the children to visit the Ewing McGee Children’s Library, being quiet so as not to disturb classes still in session.


References:

A lesson set from: Brenthaven Church

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






Zacchaeus

Movie Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

In this workshop, the learners will watch the video Treasures in Heaven and will discuss how we are called to show our love for Jesus by repenting and sharing treasures. They will think about how they can act differently as a result of the love of God and Jesus in their lives.


Supplies List:

  • The Children’s Bible in 365 Stories;
  • Video: Treasures in Heaven, cued to the beginning of the story; popcorn;
  • copy of the memory verse;
  • pencils.

Teacher preparation:

  • Read the Bible passages.
  • Read over the background material included in your teacher packet as you review the lesson plan so you will be able to give background information about the story if necessary.
  • Read also Luke 18:15-19:44 for the full sequence of scripture included in the video.
  • Preview the video, becoming familiar with the places where the video should be stopped for discussion. Don’t be afraid to view an important scene a second time if you feel it is worthwhile.
  • See that popcorn is made.


Presentation

Opening - Welcome and introductions:

Greet the children and introduce yourself. Remember that you are interacting with a different group of students each week—some may not know you. Wear your nametag and make sure that the children are wearing theirs.

Dig - Main Content and Reflection:

Lesson Plan:

1. Spend a few minutes introducing the story. Review a little background information (from your background material), especially about the use of tax collectors (publicans) and the attitudes toward them. Tell them that this story is found in Luke 19:1-10, but we are going to read it from our Children’s Bibles. Read the story from The Children’s Bible, page 355 (story 312). They might like to see the picture with the story.

2. Show the memory verse and go over it together. In the NRSV Bible, this is verse 9 of the story. Ask if they know what is meant by “son of Abraham.” If not, tell them that since Zacchaeus was a Jew, he was descended from Abraham and was referred to by that phrase. Also, he became a son of Abraham that day by virtue of his faith in God through Jesus, which is something each of us can do even if we are not Jewish by birth.

3. After reading the story, explain that we will be reviewing the story of Zacchaeus today by watching a video. This video includes the scripture we just read, and also refers to some other Bible stories with which you may be familiar. All of the stories you see are in the book of Luke. We don't know if Zacchaeus knew all these people that Jesus met on his way through Jericho to Jerusalem, but he might have. We also don't know if Zacchaeus had a wife and son as the movie shows, but he might have.

4. Tell the children that while they are watching the video, they are to look for certain things:

  • notice how different people react when they hear that Jesus is coming;
  • notice how alone and lonely Zacchaeus is;
  • notice how the video changes the story. The passage we read in the Bible says that Jesus stopped under the tree and spoke to Zacchaeus. Jesus knew Zacchaeus was there and Jesus just knew his name. The video shows it a little differently.

5. Pass out popcorn and start the video. Stop the video after the rich young man says, "You're a disgrace to our people." Ask: I wonder why the rich young man said that to Zacchaeus?

6. Restart the video. Stop it again after blind Bartimaeus says "He can change lives, Zacchaeus." Ask: I wonder why blind Bartimaeus says this? Do you think he believes this? I wonder why he believes before he even meets Jesus?

7. Watch the video to the end. After it is over, ask: What does “repentance” mean? Did Zacchaeus repent? (to experience sorrow for and to seek to change wrong behavior).
Ask if there are any additional questions or comments about the video. Take a few moments to answer them or discuss them if there are.

I wonder if people were friends with Zacchaeus after he repented.
I wonder how Zacchaeus felt when he was right with God and right with people.
I wonder what Jesus meant when he said he came to find the lost.
I wonder why the maker of the video changed the story somewhat.

  • Do you think money was as important to Zacchaeus after he met Jesus?
  • What do you think is important to him now?
  • What do we "climb up" to see Jesus?
  • What does God ask us to give up to follow him?
  • What do you think Zaccheus' life was like after Jesus left town?

Closing:
Close with the following prayer, or use one of your own:
Gracious God, thank you for loving each one of us, no matter what we do. Help us to love and accept each other, and to reach out in love and understanding and generosity. Amen.

Journal Time:
Help the shepherd pass out the journals. Ask the children to answer the following question:
What is your “treasure” and how will you use it?

Dismissal:
Have the children help you tidy up the workshop space. Dismiss them with instructions about where they are to go. If you complete the lesson with quite a bit of time left, you may allow the children to visit the Ewing McGee Children’s Library, being quiet so as not to disturb classes still in session.


References:



A lesson set from: Brenthaven Church

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





Zacchaeus

Puppets Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:
In this workshop, the learners will use puppets to act out four skits that will help them understand repentance, forgiveness, and the love of God.


Supplies List:

  • The Children’s Bible in 365 Stories;
  • puppets; any props necessary for the skits;
  • copies of the scripts;
  • copy of the memory verse;
  • pencils.

Teacher preparation:

  • Read the Bible passages.
  • Read over the background material included in your teacher packet as you review the lesson plan so you will be able to give background information about the story if necessary.
  • Go over the skits to be familiar with the stories and the parts. There are four skits. Skits 1-3 have 4 characters; skit 4 has 5. When your class arrives, think about how to assign parts to each of the children. If needed, you can have the shepherd play a part or play one yourself. If necessary, you may repeat skits to give everyone a chance to play a part.


Presentation

Opening - Welcome and introductions:
Greet the children and introduce yourself. Remember that you are interacting with a different group of students each week—some may not know you. Wear your nametag and make sure that the children are wearing theirs.

Dig - Main Content and Reflection:

Lesson Plan:
1. Spend a few minutes introducing the story for the month. Tell the children a little background information (from your background material), especially about the use of tax collectors and the attitudes toward them. Tell them that this story is found in Luke 19:1-10, but we are going to read it from our Children’s Bibles. Read the story from The Children’s Bible, page 355 (story 312). They might like to see the picture with the story.

2. Show the memory verse and go over it together. In the NRSV Bible, this is verse 9 of the story. Ask if they know what is meant by “son of Abraham.” Tell them that since Zacchaeus was a Jew, he was descended from Abraham and was referred to by that phrase. Also, he became a son of Abraham that day by virtue of his faith in God through Jesus, which is something each of us can do even if we are not Jewish by birth.

3. After reading the story, discuss it using the following:

  • Zacchaeus had to climb a tree to see Jesus. Why do you think he went to so much trouble? Zacchaeus climbed a sycamore tree. The sycamore trees of this area were large, maybe 30 or 40 feet tall. They had a short trunk and spreading branches, so it would have been a good climbing tree. Just imagine how that looked!
  • Jesus stopped under the tree and called up to Zacchaeus by name. How do you think Jesus knew Zacchaeus’ name and that he was up in the tree?
  • Zacchaeus gladly welcomed Jesus to his home, so we know that Zacchaeus was happy to get to know Jesus. Would you be happy if Jesus found you and asked to come to your house? The crowd is not happy about Jesus eating with Zacchaeus. Why is this? The crowd says that Zacchaeus is a sinner. Does that make him any different from anyone else?
  • What does Zacchaeus do to make up for the bad things (or sins) that he has done? (Gives half his property to the poor, pays back four times what he has cheated people.) From this we know that Zacchaeus had cheated people when he collected taxes from them. The crowd probably didn’t like Zacchaeus because he was dishonest. But he was sorry and decided to pay back much more than he had taken.
  • Does anyone know what this is called when you do something to make up for sins? Repentance. Repentance is more than just being sorry for what you have done. It also means you’ll try to change your behavior and you will do something to make up for whatever bad thing you have done.
  • What does Jesus give Zacchaeus for welcoming him into his life and for being sorry and repentant about his sins? He says that Zacchaeus and his family have been saved.
  • What else did Jesus say that is good news for everyone? (He came to look for people who have strayed from God and bring them back to God.
  • Have you let Jesus look for you? (If anyone shares an answer, great, but you might need to move on.)

4. Begin the skits. Divide the class into the groups for each skit. Let each choose a puppet. The puppets don’t really have to match the parts they play. Let the children practice with the puppets for a few minutes—talking, not talking, turning to face another puppet, etc. Most children have used this type of puppet before.
You have several options about who will read the parts. You can the shepherd or yourself to read all puppet parts while children act out with the puppets. You may also allow each child to read and act out his or her own puppet part (this works well with Primary and Junior classes.)

5. Give out scripts to the puppeteers. Allow the group 5 minutes or so to practice their script. For Beginners, the shepherd and workshop leader should help with the scripts, perhaps even “speaking” the voices while the children act them out. Explain any words they don’t understand. You may want to do this for the older grades as well to keep the pace moving and to allow the children to focus on what is being said and not the mechanics of reading.

6. Perform each skit. After each skit, ask the performers to sit down. Ask questions of all the children about what happened in the play. If you have to repeat a skit to give everyone a turn, you may hold the discussion until after the second time you have repeated that skit. Some possible discussion questions follow.

  • Skit 1: Hannah disobeyed her parents’ clean-up rule and thought of a way to make it up to her mother. Do you think Hannah and her mother love each other? How do you know? Do you ever feel bad inside about something you’ve done? Can you share any time that you made up for something bad or wrong that you had done?
  • Skit 2: What were some of the bad things that happened in the skit? (Megan was a little too rough with the toy; Ethan was not very kind about it.) Should they be forgiven? ). Have you ever heard someone say he or she is sorry but you didn’t believe it? What do you think someone should when they have done wrong to someone else? (Be truly sorry and try to make it better (repent).)
  • Skit 3: What did you think about this bully? You may know someone like that (don’t name anyone, please.) Think about whether you would expect that bully to want to see a Christmas play? Could you be wrong about the bully like the kids in the skit were?
  • Skit 4: Do you like to imagine you were there when a Bible story took place? Did the crowd have a right to think Zacchaeus wasn’t nice? (Sure—he had obviously cheated them or people they knew.) Were you surprised Jesus would care about Zacchaeus? Why do you think he did? ( Jesus cares about all of us.) Does this story make you feel better about how Jesus must care for you? What does this story teach you about what God is like?

Closure:
Ask if there are any questions or comments about the story for today or about any of the skits. Let the children talk about what they liked about performing the skits with the puppets.

Moderator Updated links

Closing:
Close with the following prayer, or use one of your own:
Loving God, we know you know each of us and you love each of us. Thank you for Jesus who shows us what you are like so we can know you, too. Amen.

Journal Time:
Help the shepherd pass out the journals. Ask the children to answer the following question:
Which skit did you like best and why?
What did you learn about God today by hearing this story about Jesus?

Dismissal:
Have the children help you tidy up the workshop space. Dismiss them with instructions about where they are to go. If you complete the lesson with quite a bit of time left, you may allow the children to visit the Ewing McGee Children’s Library, being quiet so as not to disturb classes still in session.


References:

A lesson set from: Brenthaven Church

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


Scripts for skits:

Skit 1

Dylan: “Where have you been all morning? It’s Saturday, and you missed our hide-and-seek game.”

Hannah: “I had to clean up my room.”

Justin: “I thought your parents always make you clean your room during the week.”

Alexis: “So why didn’t you clean it up this week?”

Hannah: “I kept putting it off. My mom said that she likes to vacuum on Saturday morning so that she can enjoy the rest of the day, and when my room isn’t cleaned up, she can’t vacuum the whole house at one time. ”

Dylan: “So did you get a beating?”

Justin: “Or lose all your TV time for a year?”

Hannah: “Nothing like that. My mom looked so sad because she had planned to finish her vacuuming and then go on a walk. I was sorry that I hadn’t finished my room on time. I told my mom I would clean my room and vacuum it and the other bedrooms, so she actually got to leave earlier for her walk. She was so happy that I was sorry and wanted to make up for what I had done. She had a big smile on her face and hugged me. I said I would always clean my room on time in the future.”

Justin: “I think you got off easy.”

Dylan: “I think Hannah’s mom really loves her—and she’s really smart. Now everyone is happy—if her mom had just beat her or punished her, the floor wouldn’t have gotten vacuumed and everyone would just be in a bad mood.”

Alexis: “I think the whole thing worked out great—Hannah’s sorry, she’s not going to do it again, her mom forgave her, and everyone is happy.”

Skit 2

Olivia: “What was that snapping sound?”

Megan: “Oh, this mousetrap game part just broke. It just snapped when I was trying to fit it together. I’m really sorry.”
Ethan: “I can’t believe you broke that part. Now the game is no good.”

(Megan starts to cry.)

Olivia: “Don’t cry Megan. It’s not like you meant to break it. Maybe my Dad can fix it. Dad…can you look at this part?”

Olivia’s Dad: “What happened? Oh, the part is broken. You know I think this can be glued. If not, sometimes these game companies let you order a new part. We can try glue first, then call the company if it doesn’t work.”

Megan: “I can help you glue it. And maybe I can pay for the part if the glue doesn’t work. And Olivia, I’m really sorry. I knew I shouldn’t have pushed so hard, so it really was my fault.”

Ethan: “And Megan, I’m sorry I made you cry.”

Olivia: “I forgive you, Megan, because I can tell how sorry you are.”

Megan: “And Ethan I forgive you, because I know how good it feels to be forgiven when you’ve done something wrong.”

Skit 3

Kid 1: “I can’t see the Nativity play. Don’t get right in front of me.”

Kid 2: (pushing) “But I want to see it too. You want to fight with me?”

Kid 3: (quietly) “Don’t get in a fight with him. He’s really strong.”

Kid 1: “Why would YOU want to see the play? You are about the meanest kid in the whole school. I wouldn’t think you’d care at all about Jesus’ birthday.”

Kid 2: “I don’t know much about Jesus, and I’m curious.”

Kid 3: “You don’t know about Jesus? Don’t your parents take you to church?”

Kid 2: “No.”

Adult: “Did I hear you say you want to learn about Jesus? You can stand in front of me if you want to see the play. I can still see over you.”

(After the play)

Kid 2: “I liked that play very much. Thanks for letting me in front of you.”

Kid 1: “I can’t believe he liked the play.”

Kid 3: “Yeah, wouldn’t you rather be pushing someone around or calling them a name?”

Adult: “Kids, that is enough, your words are as bad as a push. And you don’t always know what other people have in their hearts. Only God knows.”

Kid 2: “I’m sorry if I’ve ever done anything wrong to you guys.”

Kid 3: “Wow, that’s a change. Do you really mean it?”

Adult: “God knows when you’re sorry, and God forgives you for the things you’ve done. Try hard not to do those things again, ok?”

Kid 2: “I’ll try.”

Skit 4

Person 1: “What’s Zacchaeus doing here?”

Person 2: “You think he’ll try to charge us to see Jesus? He’ll do anything to make money.”

Person 3: “Look, he’s climbing that tree. I can’t believe he’d work so hard to see Jesus.”

Person 1: “Look, that must be Jesus coming. He’s stopping under that tree Zacchaeus climbed. I think he’s going to tell him a thing or two, finally.”

Person 2: “Let’s go hear. This ought to be good.”

Jesus: “Zacchaeus, hurry down! I want to stay with you today.”

Person 3: “I can’t believe it. He’s going eat with that bad man—that sinner.”

Person 1: “I can’t believe it either. Let’s follow them to Zacchaeus’ house.”

(Later, outside Zacchaeus’ house)

Zacchaeus: “I will give half of my property to the poor. And I will now pay back four times as much to everyone I have ever cheated.”

Jesus: “Today you and your family have been saved, because you are a true son of Abraham. The Son of Man came to look for and to save people who are lost.”

Person 2: “Did you hear what Zacchaeus just said he’d do—in front of all these people? He must be truly sorry and going to be honest from now on.”

Person 3: “How did Jesus know Zacchaeus was a good guy underneath it all?”

Person 1: “I guess that’s why so many people love Jesus--he is amazing.”

Person 2: “If Jesus knows about Zacchaeus, he knows how I truly feel, too.”

Person 3: “I’m sorry for the way I felt about Zacchaeus at first. I’m glad Jesus didn’t give up on Zacchaeus the way I did because now we have a ‘new’ Zacchaeus who is truly nice.”

Last edited by Luanne Payne
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Hi, Barb,

I haven't used this lesson, but it looks to me as if you only need a relatively small amount for each letter. The overall size for each nameplate seems to be 11x4-1/4. The key determining factor will be how thick each letter should be.

The lesson encourages you to attach bits of old jewelry, rick rack, buttons, etc. to the letters for decoration. But it also notes you may need to glue these to keep them attached. The more involved the students are in decorating, the less important the thickness of the letters will be.

I would buy a small amount to test on a longer name, like "Zacchaeus" to see how far it went. Then I could figure out which larger package to buy for the class, based on the instructions I was going to give my students about the thickness of each letter and how many students I was hoping to have. The classpack with 72 one ounce packages makes distribution easiest. I like reading the reviews on the Dick Blick Art Materials (dickblick.com) web site for helpful info about using the materials.

Another alternative to keep down the cost of materials would be to cut the letters out of card stock (either in advance or with the students if they are old enough to cut card stock). Then refocus all the creative portion of the lesson to decorating the nameplate. However, I always find that one of the huge advantages of using Rotation.org is that I have more budget for supplies like Model Magic because I haven't spent it all on printed curriculum.

Please let us know what you decide to do so that we can add your experience and your advice to this lesson set.

Anne

Last edited by Luanne Payne

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