October GIFT: Church History

Here is an outline of what we did at our October GIFT session.  The lesson was an introduction to our shared history as Christians, with the focus being on Bible stories and how they inform our faith.  We only had time to touch briefly on each story, but it gives us a foundation from which to build, as children will hear more about some of these folks while doing their Faith First textbook work.

Entering In: As families arrived, we took the children's photos for use in their progressive craft books.  Then, families were asked to work on a Bible Scavenger Hunt.  This hunt is based on the "Break Through Bible" from St. Mary's Press; these are new Bibles we are using at GIFT.

Introducing the Theme: Our theme for GIFT this year is "Our Faith Story."  We talked about how each person has a different story of how they came to be at GIFT that day.  I shared a bit of my own story, which led me to my parent's faith stories - we talked about how our stories are like a big puzzle, with all the pieces coming together to make us who we are at the moment.  We went to our "book box" for the session's symbol: puzzle pieces.  Then, I told the children that although we all have our own stories, our own puzzles, we also have shared history as Christians and as Catholics.  Our early history started with people sharing stories that eventually went into the Bible, and these stories are part of all of our faith puzzles.

Active/ Visual Learning: Biblical History Puzzle

At each table there were one or two large puzzle pieces.  Each piece had a hole in the center, where I had placed images of Biblical people.  (I found the images using Google Image Search).  I asked the children to bring the pieces forward in numerical order, and I placed them on the board while I talked a little about each person's story and the lesson we can learn from them.  Making the pieces stick was accomplished by laminating the yellow paper and spraying it with removable adhesive.  Some of the pieces I asked for two-at-a-time, such as Adam and Eve or Mary and Joseph.  We put all 12 of the apostles up at once.  Here is a brief listing of who was on the board and what we talked about:
Adam & Eve: God created everything
Noah: He built the ark when a big flood came: God promised to always be with us.
Abraham & Sarah: They had a baby that God promised them even though they were quite old and Sarah laughed at the idea: Anything is possible with God!
Joseph: Jacob made the mistake of not only having a favorite child but showing it, and this brought Joseph a lot of trouble including being sold into slavery by his brothers and spending time in prison.  But he never lost his faith, and God helped him become an important leader and save Egypt (and those same brothers) from starvation: Hang in there!
Moses: God made Moses a leader, even though he didn't think he'd be good at it.  Then, he sent him the 10 Commandments.
Ruth: As a young widow, Ruth stood by her mother-in-law and took care of her: from Ruth we learn the importance of family love.
David: This king is important because he is an ancestor of Jesus, and there are prophecies about the Messiah coming from his lineage.
Job: The story of Job's suffering teaches us the tough lesson that God won't make everything easy for us; life is hard.  But God will be there and will give us people in our lives to help us through the tough times.
Mary & Joseph: These two teach the ultimate lesson in saying yes to God!
Baby Jesus: Came as a sign of hope and peace to all, especially the poor as he was "born in a barn."
John the Baptist:  This eccentric guy listened when God told him that Jesus was coming, and he had the honor of baptising Jesus.  I pointed out to the kids that their baptism is one thing they have in common with Jesus - cool!
Jesus (adult): He made the list twice; I did point out to the kids that the baby and the man were, in fact, the same person!
The 12 Apostles: We put them all up at once, and I talked about them as the first core group of followers who were then sent out to grow the church after Jesus' ascension.  I did not get into Judas and his particular role in all of that.
Mary Magdalene: Through her we learned that God loves and forgives us no matter what, even if people think we don't deserve it.  I also pointed out her privilege of being the first to the empty tomb.
Priscilla & Aquila: I admittedly had never heard of these 2 before reading the timeline in the front of the Break Through Bible.  They were a married couple who ran one of the earliest home churches.
Last piece: You!  Each of us has our own place in Church History, as the Church is, after all, the People of God!
Here are some more photos of the cross puzzle:

Projects: The kids made 2 projects at this session.

Book: We started our photo books, which we will add to at each session.  Our first page is a collage of Biblical figures, with the caption, "Our Church has a long history, and I am part of it!"  The child's photo shows through a window we punched on the page, so each child becomes part of the collage. 

Puzzle People: Each child made a cardboard version of himself/herself on cut-outs that will fit together like a big puzzle and be put on display in the church commons.  

Prayer: For prayer we sang "Halle Halle Halle", with verses I wrote specifically for 3 different types of GIFT students: Verse 1 was for kids who are new to GIFT and not preparing for Eucharist this year.  Verse 2 was for our First Eucharist students, and verse 3 was for our "veteran" students who have already celebrated First Eucharist.  Each verse welcomed and encouraged the children to grow and share their gifts.  During "their" verse, the children brought forward their puzzle people as a sign of entering into the faith-building process.

Notes:

The Breakthrough Bible is available at Holy Cross Books in Lakeville or through St. Mary's Press

The cross puzzle and puzzle people can be found at Oriental Trading Company.

Parents who missed GIFT this month: Make-up materials are available, but limited.  Email or call Dez to reserve yours!