Level: 1 Ages 6-7

Subject: Religion

Topic: 1. Vocation as a response to God's call to love and service 2. Church as people of God: responsibility of members 3. Consequences of actions: right/wrong; good and not good

Outcome: 1. Students will define vocation and look at Sister Dorothy Stang's life as an example of Vocation 2. Students will look at the "churches" Sister Dorothy was a part of & explore how members of the Church are responsible for each other. 3. Students will explore the concept of consequences and reflect on the consequences of Sister Dorothy's choices.

A Note to Teachers: The materials in this lesson plan will need to be spread out over a number of days. Teachers will want to read through the lesson and test the web site links to insure that they are suited to their particular students. There are materials to tell the story of Sister Dorothy Stang to younger children. Information is linked under Day One below.

It is strongly suggested that you read the story of Sister Dorothy ahead of time and be prepared to paraphrase it for your students.

Worksheets 2A through 2F, referenced below, are linked on the same page as this document.

Procedures: Day One: 1. Review with the students that God created each of them as a special person, different from everyone else. Ask them how they are different from the person sitting next to them.

2. Tell them that God creates each person with special gifts or talents to use to make the world a better place. No two persons have the exact same gifts or talents. Use the collage of pictures found on 2A (attached with this document) and ask the students to look at the pictures and identify what the children are doing in each picture. Ask the students what gifts or talents the children in the pictures might have. Ask the students how each gift or talent that is shown can help make the world a better place. You may want the students to do this exercise on worksheet 2B.

3. Ask students what the word “vocation” means. In discussion with the children get across the following points: a. Vocation literally means “call”. b. God calls each of us into being when we are created, and God continues to call us to be the special person God has created us to be. c. God creates each of us with special gifts or talents to share with the world around us, to help make the world a better place. d. Throughout our lives God calls us to grow, to love, to help others.

4. Share the story of Sister Dorothy Stang with the students. (The story can be found at: http://www.sndohio.org/sister-dorothy/, and a more extensive biographies can be purchased through Amazon.com. This page http://www.sndohio.org/sister-dorothy/Dorothy- Stang-Materials.cfm has The Angel in Our Forest in online format for easy sharing with a class). Ask the students to listen for the gifts and talents God created Sister Dorothy with, and how God called her to use her gifts and talents to help make the world a better place. After the story begin the discussion by asking the students what they heard. You may want to list their answers on a board or the overhead, or you may want them to work in groups with worksheet 2C. Include the following questions in the discussion: a. What did you hear? b. What gifts or talents did God give Sister Dorothy? c. How did God call Sister Dorothy to use her gifts to make the world a better place? d. Do you think Sister Dorothy did make the world a better place? e. What did you like best about the story? Why? f. What didn’t you like about the story? Why?

5. Have students make gift boxes decorated with the gifts God gave to Sister Dorothy.

Optional Exercises to reinforce the concepts/Homework: 1. Lead the students in prayer after the discussion of the story. It can be a litany prayer that starts: “Father, we thank you for…,” “Father, we ask you to help….,” “Father, we ask you to….” 2. Lead the students in a vocation prayer like the following: Lord, thank you for calling me to be your child. Let me know what you want me to do and what kind of person you want me to be. Amen. (Courtesy of the NCVV’s materials for the 2006 World Day of Prayer for Vocations) 3. Assign the students the task of identifying some of their own gifts and abilities by assigning worksheet 2D 4. Assign the students the task of creating collages on how Sister Dorothy made the world a better place and on how we can make the world a better place.

Day Two: 1. Review with the students: “What does the word ‘vocation’ mean? What are the gifts God has given you? How can you use them to make the world a better place?”

2. Ask the students, “How does the Church make the world a better place?” Capture their answers in writing so you can go back to them later. If they have trouble with the question, affirm their efforts and tell the students you will explore the question together. 3. Ask the students, “What does the word ‘Church’ mean?” Capture their answers. Then take them to the following site and ask them to look up the word ‘church’. (Enter it in the second search box down the left margin—it will be marked “children’s dictionary”.)

Name of site: Wordsmyth Address of site: http://www.wordsmyth.net/ Brief description of site: This site is an online dictionary. (It includes an option for a children’s dictionary that has simpler definitions than other online dictionaries) Some features cannot be accessed without registering, but it will work fine for what is needed for this exercise.

Review the three definitions with the students. Tell them you are going to use the following: a church is a building; a Church is a group of Christian people who have the same beliefs.

4. Invite the students to further explore the concept of Church by doing the exercise on worksheet 2E. Read each of the first five verses to the students and ask them to identify if the ‘church’ being described is a building or a group of people, and to explain their choice. 1. Acts 11:22 people: a building doesn’t have ears, but people do 2. Acts 11:26 people: buildings do not meet, people do 3. Acts 12:5 people: buildings do not pray, people do 4. Acts 14:27 people: buildings cannot be called together, people can 5. Acts 15:3-4 people: buildings cannot be sent or welcomed, people can (Reinforce with the students that in each of the first five verses the church is described as a community of people. Ask them to listen to verse 6 and 7 and invite them to listen for a way to describe the community.) 6. Ephesians 1:22 (In both passage 6 & 7 the Church described as a body with Christ as the head—you may need to help the students uncover the description.) 7. Colossians 1:18

Reinforce with the students that as ‘church’ they are the hands of Christ—they use their gifts and talents to make the world a better place.

6. Take the students to the following site to reinforce the definitions of Church. They will literally build a church (and they are not finished until they put the people in the picture) and as they build they will uncover a “special message” that is a prayer that reinforces the definition of church as the People of God. You may want to have them write down the simple prayer so they can pray it together.

Name of site: Faith First: Design a Church! Address of site: http://www.faithfirst.com/html/kidClub/games/designChurch.html Brief description of site: This is a simple activity that only takes a couple of minutes, but will work well to reinforce the definitions. Optional Exercises to reinforce the concepts/Homework: 1. To reinforce the idea of “church as people” you may want to remind the students of the action lyric: This is the Church, this is the steeple, open the doors and there are the people. If you are unfamiliar with it, visit this link: http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1762920 2. A simple way of reinforcing the concept that the students themselves are the Church can be used when you lead the children in prayer: finish by inviting them, “Let the Church say, ‘Amen!’” to which they all respond with a strong “Amen!” 3. Assign the students the task of asking their parents how the Church makes the world a better place.

Day Three: 1. Review with the students the definitions of Church. Ask the students what they learned from their parents when they asked them how the Church makes the world a better place.

2. Share with the students the story of the Good Samaritan: LK 10:25-36. You may want to simply read the story to the children from the Bible. Another option is to print out and read the story from the following website:

Name of site: Children’s Chapel Address of site: http://childrenschapel.org/biblestories/goodsam.html Brief description of site: It starts with a “modern” version of the story—you may want to include it in the activity, or skip down to the children’s version of the passage from Luke.

Discuss with the students: “Were the robbers in the story responding to God’s call to make the world a better place?” (Ask the same question about the priest, the Levite and the Samaritan.) Ask the students, “Who in the story shows us a good example of how to be Church, how to be Christ’s hands taking care of each other?” Discuss with the students: “How do you take care of each other?”

3. Review with the students the story of Sister Dorothy. Ask them, “Can you name the churches (communities of people of faith) Sister Dorothy belonged to?” Capture the students’ responses. If the students have trouble answering, take them back to the work they did with worksheet 2E: Who were the people who listened to Sister Dorothy? Who did she meet with? Who did she pray with? Who did she gather together? Who sent her places? Who welcomed her?

4. Discuss with the students, “How did Sister Dorothy work with each Church to make the world a better place?” If the students have trouble answering, take them back to the work they did on Sister Dorothy’s gifts and talents and help them make the connections.

5. Take the students to the following site to reinforce ways they, as church, are responsible for other members of the church.

Name of site: Christ Jesus, The Way: Living Love Address of site: http://www.mhschool.com/mmh_games/content/benziger/reconciliation/primary/ch07_act1/inde x.html Brief description of site: This is a “concentration” game activity that accompanies the Benzinger chapter on reconciliation. It utilizes both pictures and words to give examples of helping others. There is a “How to play” button that will take the students through a tutorial of directions for the game. Make sure the computer speakers are on for this one!

Optional Exercises to reinforce the concepts/Homework: 1. Have the students write short prayers to God based on the day’s activities. Each student can read his or her prayer, with you inviting the class to respond, “Let the Church say ‘Amen!’” after each prayer is read. 2. For homework, ask the students to make a list of all the people they help in a day. Ask them to name how they help each person.

Day Four: 1. Review with the students the work of the past few days: “What does vocation mean? What does God call each of you to do? What does Church mean? How does the Church make the world a better place? How did Sister Dorothy use her gifts to make the world a better place?”

2. Show the students the word “CONSEQUENCE” and tell them a consequence is something that follows a decision or action. (look this up). Invite them to watch and listen to the story at the following site, paying attention to the CONSEQUENCES of the decisions and actions of the characters in the story. Depending on the reading ability of your students, you may need to read the story to them.

Name of Site: The First Rainbow Address of Site: http://www.cyke.com/rainbow.swf Brief description of site: A simple story of the damage competition can bring, and the goodness cooperation brings.

You may ask the students to fill in the worksheet 2F after viewing the story.

3. Discuss the story with the students, and include the following questions in the discussion: • What did you like about the story? • What didn’t you like about the story? • What happened, what was the consequence, when each color tried to be better than every other color? • What happened, what was the consequence, when the colors joined hands and worked together? 4. Remind the students of the story of the Good Samaritan. Ask them to name the consequences of each character’s action: • The robbers: • The priest: • The Levite: • The Samaritan:

Ask the students: “Are some consequences good?” “Are some consequences bad?” “Which of the people in the story do you think heard God’s call to use their talents to make the world a better place?”

5. Take the students back to the story of Sister Dorothy. Ask them, “In the story of Sister Dorothy, what were the choices and actions that led to good consequences? What were the choices and actions that led to bad consequences? Who made the choices? Who did the actions?” The students may see Sister Dorothy’s choice to stay in Brazil as having bad consequences. If they do, remind them that Sister Dorothy was using her gifts to make the world a better place, and because she loved the people she was willing to keep using them even if bad people tried to hurt her. Ask the students if the men who shot Sister Dorothy were using their gifts and talents to make the world a better place. It may be helpful to draw a connection to the story of the rainbow: Sister Dorothy and the people were working together like the rainbow while the ranchers and the men who shot Sister Dorothy were like the colors before they decided to work together: they want to take everything for themselves.

6. Summarize with the students: a. God gives each of us the vocation of using our gifts and talents to make the world a better place. b. We are called to be Christ’s hands as part of the Church, the Body of Christ. c. We are the Church, and we are responsible for each other. d. When we are being our special selves we do make the world a better place: there are good consequences. When we ignore God’s call and don’t use our gifts and talents to make the world a better place, there are bad consequences.

Optional Exercises to reinforce the concepts/Homework: 1. Ask the students to think about things they’ve done that have hurt others. Encourage them to write a prayer to God asking God to forgive them the hurt they have caused. 2. Lead the students in praying the Our Father, pointing out the part of the prayer where we ask God to forgive us the bad consequences of our decisions and actions and where we ask God to help us forgive the bad consequences of other’s decisions and actions. 3. Ask the students to list three actions they have done that had good consequences for them and the people around them. Ask them to list three actions they have done that had bad consequences for them and the people around them.

Assessment/Evaluation: Students should be able to answer: What does the word ‘vocation’ mean? What does God call you to do? What does the word ‘church’ mean? Who makes up the Body of Christ? How does the Church make the world a better place? What does ‘consequence’ mean? Give an example of an action that had a consequence. Who was Sister Dorothy Stang?