Preschool to Kindergarten

2006 Creative Festivals Lesson Plan:
Preschool to Kindergarten

THEME:
“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.”  JOEL 2:28

GOALS:

  1. To prepare students for participation in the Creative Arts Festival.
  2. To help students understand the theme well enough to express it in art, poetry, prose, or photography.
  3. To learn more about the Holy Spirit, not just to hear His Name.

OBJECTIVES:

  1. To identify Joel as a prophet who lived a long time ago.
  2. To understand that a prophet speaks what God wants him to say.
  3. To tell what happened at Pentecost in the Early Church.
  4. To learn that the Holy Spirit was given to all people on Pentecost.
  5. To know that we celebrate what happened at Pentecost on the Feast Day of Pentecost in the Orthodox Church.

TIME:            45 Minutes

MATERIALS NEEDED:

  • Icon of Christ
  • Candle or votive for icon corner
  • Icon of Pentecost
  • 12 large pre-cut “tongues of fire” for use in the Activity
  • 1 large “tongue of fire” for each child to color and take home
    Crayons for each child

FOR THE CATECHIST:

This theme is about the Holy Spirit.

The sentence used for this year’s theme comes from the Book of Joel in the Old Testament.  The Prophecy of Joel is read at Vespers on the Feast of Pentecost in the Orthodox Church. Joel 2:23-32.

The Apostle Peter refers to Joel’s prophecy when he speaks to the crowds on that first day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit is given to “all flesh.”  Acts 2:16-18.

The Epistle reading for Divine Liturgy on the Feast of Pentecost is Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11.

Joel’s prophecy is rich in imagery and meaning about the Promise of the Father who will send His Spirit, not just to the few elect of Old Testament prophets and judges, but for ALL of God’s people. 

For this age group, however, you will want to focus on the event of that first Pentecost.  This may or may not be new information to your students.  The Holy Spirit may be hard for many to understand, but give your students the words used by the Church.  In time, as your students mature in their Faith, they will mature in understanding of the Spirit.

You can help your youngsters understand the importance of Joel’s prophecy by talking about keeping promises.  Joel tells us that God will send His Spirit to all people, not just a few.  In Acts 4-6, we read how Jesus commanded the disciples to stay in Jerusalem and to wait for the “Promise of the Father.”  This Promise is the coming of the Holy Spirit.

You will want to use the Sign of the Cross to identify the Holy Spirit and explain how the Spirit came upon the disciples and all the people at that great day of Pentecost.

If your church school is few in number, you may want to combine preschoolers-grades three for the activity where they dramatize what happened at Pentecost.

Although many people like to tell children that Pentecost is the birthday of the Church, you may want to discourage children from drawing birthday cakes as their entries for the Creative Arts Festival.

In all that you do with your students, try to impart something of the wonder, the vision, the glory of what can be experienced in the Church—because of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  Capitalize upon the preschool-K child’s natural sense of wonder and joy in being alive!  None of that is possible without the Holy Spirit!

SUGGESTED READINGS: 

  • Acts Chapters 1 and 2
  • Orthodox Study Bible, “Chrismation,” p. 274.  See also notes for Acts 1-2. 
  • Gospel of John 7:37-52; 8:12.  See notes in Orthodox Study Bible, p. 232; p. 234.
  • “O Heavenly King”

THE LESSON PLAN

OPENING:

Have students stand before the icon and make the Sign of the Cross.  This will be your opening prayer, and it will be the focus of your introductory remarks.

INTRODUCTION:

Refer to the Sign of the Cross, which the children have just made.  You will want to mention that you will be talking a lot about the Holy Spirit.  Tell students that this year’s theme for the Creative Arts Festival is all about the Holy Spirit. 

You might say, “We are going to find out how the Holy Spirit came to the disciples on Pentecost.”  We’re also going to hear about a man named Joel who lived a long time ago and knew that Jesus would send us the Holy Spirit. Today, we will learn what this means.”

(You will most likely need to remind students that the disciples were Jesus’s friends after He rose from the dead.)

CONTENT:

Talk about Joel as a man who lived a long time ago, long before Jesus was born.

Tell students that Joel was a prophet.  This means that he listened to God and was chosen by God to tell other people what God wanted them to know.

When Joel was living, people didn’t always do what God wanted them to do, so Joel had to remind them.  Joel said there would come a time when God would send His Holy Spirit to everybody, not just a few people.  This would happen after Joel died, and after Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead.

Also emphasize that God had promised His people that He would send them this Holy Spirit.  God kept His promise!  It happened on Pentecost.  (You might need to have children talk about keeping promises.  Children remember what adults have promised them.  And woe to the adult who breaks his promise!)

Begin talking about what happened on Pentecost.

Set the scene by reminding students that after Jesus rose from the dead, He stayed on earth for 40 days.  Then Jesus was getting ready to go to heaven.  Our Church says Jesus ascended into heaven.  But before He ascended to heaven, Jesus promised that God would send the Holy Spirit.  And God kept His promise!

Tell the story about Pentecost.  (You might gather your students around you in comfortable seating on the floor.)

Peter and the other disciples were sitting together when suddenly there was the sound of a big, noisy wind.  Then there were tongues of fire over each of the disciples!  And all the people could understand one another, even if they were from different countries and spoke different languages.  Peter was amazed, but the other people were even more amazed and they thought people had too much to drink.  Peter told them, no, it wasn’t that at all.  It was the middle of the day.   Peter remembered that there was a man named Joel who had spoken about how God would send the Holy Spirit.  Peter told the people about Joel.  Peter told them, “What Joel the Prophet said a long time ago has come true.”

God remembered His promise to His people.  God sent His Holy Spirit to them so they wouldn’t be lonely.  Now we have the Holy Spirit in our Church, too.

Say to your students (and perhaps one or two students will provide examples):

  • The Holy Spirit helps people do all kinds of things that will make God happy. 
  • The Holy Spirit helps people to know about Jesus Christ.
  • The Holy Spirit wants us to become Christians.

Find out whether any student has seen a baptism.  Very briefly explain that the baby is put in water three times “In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  Then you might explain that after being baptized, we are anointed with a special oil.  (You might need to explain that the priest uses a brush filled with oil and puts it on the baby’s forehead and hands and other parts of the body.)  That means that we can become part of the Orthodox Church and receive Holy Communion.  If we didn’t have the Holy Spirit, we couldn’t do any of that.

ACTIVITY:

Your students can act out what happened at Pentecost.  (If your church school is few in number, you might do this activity with the older children, as well.)

Arrange some students, ideally 12 of them, sitting in a line to represent the disciples. 

Have as many others stand behind the “disciples.”  These students will hold “red tongues of fire” and be ready to place them over the heads of the “disciples” at the appointed time. Make a point of saying that there were twelve disciples at that first Pentecost (especially if you have fewer than twelve children in line).

Tell everyone else that you need their help. Ask everyone to make a sound like “shhhhhhhhhh.”   Keep the sound going as you signal the children with the “tongues of fire” to place them over the heads of the “disciples.”  Keep this “shhhhh” sound going for a minute or so.  Ask the students to tell you what they have just done.  Help them to verbalize that they have pretended to be the disciples on the first Pentecost when the Holy Spirit like the sound “of a rushing mighty wind” came upon the disciples and ”filled the whole house where they were sitting.” Acts 2:2.

Tell students that you will read to them now from the Bible where we hear about what happened at Pentecost.  Acts 2:1-4

(For older students, you might also say that this happened 50 days after Easter and that Pentecost comes from a word meaning fifty.)

Then ask students to tell in their own words what happened when The Holy Spirit came down on the disciples.  Afterward, emphasize that we remember what happened and celebrate it in Church on Pentecost.  You might explain some of your parish’s local customs in celebrating this Feast, e.g., using green-colored vestments; strewing bundles of greenery around the church or the church floor, etc.

OPTIONAL ACTIVITY:

Depending on the number of students in your preschool class, you might want each student to color a picture of the “tongue of fire” that appeared and “sat upon each of them.” (Acts 2:3). Provide them with the prepared sheets, red crayons, and scissors.

You might also use the tongues that they have colored as the props for the dramatization activity of what happened on Pentecost, as described above.

If your parish has scheduled for your students to begin work on their entries for the Creative Arts Festival, provide a stretching activity, bathroom break, etc. before beginning the work.

CLOSING:

Gather students around the icon corner to make the sign of the Cross.  You might want to speak louder when you come to “and of the Holy Spirit,” in order to emphasize to students that we call upon the Holy Spirit each time we make the Sign of the Cross—the same Spirit that came to us on Pentecost.

ADDITIONAL FILES:

  • "Tongues of Fire" Handout - Suitable for printing one copy for each student to color and cut out.
  • "Tongues of Fire" Pack - Collection of various printing options: single design sheets, pre-colored designs, and multiple designs per page to conserve paper.