dare_to_do_right_coloring.pdf |
Class started with chocolate-chip cookies, so everybody was happy. We had mail to read -- a letter from Elder Rex D. Pinegar! The children were horrified that seven-year-old Rex had accepted a friend's dare to run across the road in front of a car, but they were relieved that he was not seriously injured. Elder Pinegar taught us that we should not accept any dares except "Dare to Do Right!" We watched a music video and talked about all of the children wearing CTR rings and making good choices. We also liked the picture of President Monson, because the prophet teaches us about ways to choose the right. We learned that Jesus Christ fasted and prayed for forty days and forty nights. The children talked about how hungry and sad they felt when they hadn't eaten for just a few hours and tried to imagine how it would feel not to eat for many days! We learned that Satan tempted Jesus three times at the end of this period of fasting, but Jesus made the right choice. As the children observed, Jesus always makes the right choice, and Satan always wants people to do what is wrong. They especially enjoyed looking at a picture of the temple in Jerusalem, since it does not look very much like our temple. We played a fun board game to review what we had learned. Everybody had fun, although the girls were somewhat annoyed that the boys' team won both times. We had just a few minutes at the end for coloring (click the link below to download the file if you want to color the words again!). The children were excited to tell their families all about how Jesus resisted temptations and how they plan to follow his example.
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It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day, so we took a walk outside before class. After two laps around the building (in which Syler and Mees must have traveled at least twice as far as Sister Combs), we were ready to go inside and have a lesson. We reviewed last week's lesson. With a little prompting, the children remembered what they had learned about Heavenly Father's plan for us to come to Earth and receive a body. They remembered that Jesus was chosen to help us. He would show us how to live and die for us so that we could return to live with Heavenly Father after this life. They also remembered Satan's plan to make us do what is right, and that Satan was cast out. We learned that the right to choose is called agency. We talked about some of the choices we make each day, and all the chances we have to choose the right. We learned about a time when Jesus was in the temple. The children were not very sympathetic to the priests, who became angry as Jesus healed people and more angry when children shouted Hosanna. They said if they saw Jesus, they would celebrate and tell everyone, just like the children in the Bible did. We talked about how we can praise Jesus Christ by following his example and doing what he would have us do. We practiced saying part of Doctrine & Covenants 37:4: Let every man choose for himself. We put this game board between our pictures of Jesus and Satan and put a game piece in the middle. Then we took turns reading scenarios. If the sentence described a good choice, we moved our token one step toward Jesus, but if it was a poor choice, we had to move one step away from him. We took a lot of steps forward and backward, and were very excited to reach our destination! We talked about how we feel happier when we choose the right.
We colored adorable heart animals (near the bottom of the webpage) and decorated them with heart stickers. Having only two students made it easier to share the stickers! Sister Schultz gave each child a cookie as part of her Sharing Time lesson, but the children insisted that they needed more snacks, so they each ate one of Sister Combs's chocolate-chip cookies as well. We reviewed what we had learned last week about our life before we came to the earth. The children remembered that we used to live with Heavenly Father, and we liked it there. We watched a video about the Council in Heaven, where we learned about Heavenly Father's plan for his children. The children were excited to learn that they had been at that big meeting. They were sad to learn about Satan's plan, which was all wrong, and to find out that some people had chosen to follow Satan instead of Jesus Christ. We drew names and talked about whether each person had chosen Jesus or Satan in the War in Heaven. Since we learned that only people who followed Jesus Christ are allowed to have a mortal body and live on the Earth, this was an easy game! The children enjoyed arranging the names of friends and family members and prophets around the picture of Jesus. . .although one of the children felt a little sorry for the sad person who was stuck by himself on the other side of the chalkboard.
We talked about how Satan is still trying to convince us to follow him. If we make good choices, we will be happy, but if we make bad choices, we will be miserable like Satan. The children drew pictures showing how they will choose to follow Jesus Christ at home, at school, and at church. It was Bird Day in CTR 5! The children loved their tiny egg cupcakes, especially the yummy chocolate frosting. We reviewed what CTR means: Choose the Right! We learned that Jesus wants us to follow Him, and we do that by obeying his commandments and making wise choices. We learned about a boy named Warren who lived near a bird refuge. Warren found some children who had killed a bird and wanted to destroy some eggs. He chose the right by preventing the destruction of the eggs and telling his father what had happened, despite the threats from the other children of what they would do to him if he told the truth. Warren's father taught him to be kind to the others, even though they had been mean to him. Our feathered friends helped us with the next part of the lesson. Each bird had a scenario attached to its wing or leg, and the children explained how they would choose the right in each situation. The children loved the birds and wanted to keep the especially interesting ones! We concluded class by coloring pictures of birds and playing with our lesson helpers until our parents arrived.
The children were delighted to eat a multitude of mini muffins! They ate an astonishing quantity of both flavors, but at least one child complained about being hungry again before the end of class! We learned about the prophet in this picture. They thought he might be Nephi or Lehi or Mosiah, but then they realized that he was writing in the Book of Mormon because his name is Mormon. We learned that he was pure and righteous even when the people around him were very wicked. The children were grateful to have his good example, and even more grateful that they have friends and family members who choose the right, so that they don't have to be as lonely as Mormon was. The children loved hearing what President Hinckley did when he was in first grade. They plan to continue keeping their language clean. We talked about how there are lots of books and movies and Internet sites that have things that are bad for us to see or hear. The children discussed what to do if somebody wants to show them something that is or might be inappropriate: say no, leave the room, talk to a parent about it, pray about it. They said that the Holy Ghost can help them know if something is bad for them to see or hear or do, and they can turn off the TV or computer or tablet if they have a bad feeling about what they see. They drew and wrote examples of ways to stay pure and righteous, some of which were very surprising. . .Sister Combs knows a lot more about SpongeBob now than she did before class today! We have a new boy in our class! Ian just moved here from Colorado and settled in very quickly, despite his dismay about it being Fast Sunday, AKA No Treat Sunday. Sister Combs had borrowed an outfit from her friend Caleb and invited the class to try it on, but they all said it was way too small! Five- and six-year-olds are a lot bigger than eight-month-old babies! We talked about all the things the children have learned to do as they have grown bigger. Then we talked about some of the things that they still have to learn. Heavenly Father knows that children need time to learn and grow before they are truly responsible for their actions, so he taught us that the age of accountability is eight years old. We noticed that this is also how old we have to be to be baptized! We talked about what it means to be accountable--we must accept the consequences of our actions, and work hard to make the right choices. We reviewed what CTR stands for: Choose the Right! We are in a CTR class and have CTR rings to help us learn and remember how to choose the right. We learned about the Anti-Nephi-Lehis, a group of Lamanites who converted to the Gospel when taught by Ammon and his brothers. They had been warriors, but made a promise to Heavenly Father that they would never fight or kill anyone again. Emmett eagerly told the class that the Anti-Nephi-Lehis dug a big hole (almost all the way to the planet core!) and buried all of their weapons. When their enemies came to fight, they chose not to break their covenant, and offered no resistance to the attacking Lamanite warriors. We learned that some of these people died for their faith, but their good example inspired some of their attackers to drop their weapons and join the true Church. We learned that it is important to choose the right and keep our promises, no matter what the consequences are.
We talked about how we are responsible for our own behavior. Our parents and teachers are accountable for what they teach us, but we are accountable for whether we keep the commandments or not. We colored a picture of children making good choices. There was a little extra time at the end, so we played Latter-Day Prophet Concentration, which is a little tricky, since some of the presidents of our church looked very similar! Everyone loved Snickerdoodle Sunday! We had a brief discussion about eating healthier snacks in class some of the time, but the children all assured Sister Combs that bringing cookies every week was just fine. We talked about what we use to help us find the way when we travel. The children mentioned maps, road signs, lines and arrows painted on the road, and Siri (you can ask her for directions). None of us would like to go on a road trip without having directions. We compared this to our life on Earth, which is a long trip to return to Heavenly Father. He gave us commandments to help us stay on the right path. The children enjoyed discussing the commandment road signs, and comparing them to signs they see when Mom is driving them places. We talked about which commandments would help us in various difficult situations. We learned about a boy named Julio (who looked a little different in the picture we had in class). His aunt gave him a soccer ball because he was so helpful and kind to her, and told him to remember why she had given it to him. This helped Julio choose the right and be kind to another boy later. The children loved this story, since most of them have played or watched soccer games before.
We finished by coloring our own copies of the commandment signs from the lesson. Some of the children decided to use the same colors as the cardstock on the big signs from the lesson, but most chose their own color palette. It was a surprisingly quick, fun day. All four children were excited to start class with The Other Sister Combs's famous chocolate-chip cookies! We all agreed that three hours of church makes people very hungry. We heard a story about a prince who was kidnapped and asked to do a lot of bad things. He refused to lie, steal, use bad language, or do any of the other wrong things that his captors demanded. Finally, they asked him why, and he explained that he was the son of a king and needed to behave like royalty. Sister Combs suggested that there was a son of a king in the room, and all the children looked at each other incredulously. We then discussed that Heavenly Father is a king, and we are all his children, which makes us princes and princesses. The children thought this was hilarious!!! We talked about how Heavenly Father trusts us to make good choices. We learned about the Council in Heaven that took place before the Earth was formed. We talked about Heavenly Father's plan for us to come to the Earth and learn how to choose between right and wrong. Heavenly Father would provide someone to help us return to him: Jesus Christ. We also learned that Satan did not want to follow this plan, but wanted to force everyone to make the right choice all the time. We learned that he and his followers were cast out because they would not agree to the plan. We also learned that we all made the right choice, and we know this because we are on the Earth and have bodies! Sister Combs was excited to reuse one of the funniest visual aids from last year: Because we are all princes and princesses, we ended by decorating paper crowns. Much to everyone's surprise, the girls very quickly finished coloring and putting a few stickers on theirs, while the boys spent much longer creating fancy patterns with the star stickers and many colors of crayons. Usually the art projects are the other way around!
It was a great day to be a CTR! Since it was our first week as a class, we started by becoming better acquainted: we wrote our names and drew a few things that we liked. Most of the children drew one or more animals, but we also learned about preferences for Legos, green grass, and PINK! We talked about how people notice what things we like, but also how we behave. We try to be known as a person who is loving and honest as well as someone who loves cheetahs. The children looked at a CTR shield and discussed what it means: Choose the Right! We talked about people who are good examples of choosing the right. Everyone's first answer was Jesus! The children also thought of their parents, older siblings, and teachers at school and at church. We learned that one important choice that Jesus Christ made was to be baptized. We learned that it is a commandment for everyone to be baptized, and that we can choose to be baptized when we are eight years old. Every child in the class has a sibling who has been baptized or who will be soon, so we enjoyed comparing notes about their experiences. We learned that when we are baptized, we promise Heavenly Father to keep the commandments, and we take the name of Jesus Christ upon us. We talked about doing things that Jesus would do and trying to be like him. We learned how to sing "Choose the Right Way" and enjoyed holding up pictures to help us remember the words. Then we colored the pictures that went with the song, so that we can share the song and the lesson with our families later. Each child also received a CTR ring, except the one who says he never wears rings. We had a little time at the end to play a fun Primary matching game, and learned that Preston and Bennett are really good at matching games!
Everyone in the class (except Sister Combs) had been to the ward Harvest Carnival and was really excited about it! We talked about costumes and activities and candy while enjoying chocolate cookies topped with frosting and candy corn, which had been made by The Other Sister Combs and decorated by our little friends Abby and Ben. We love sugar!
The children objected when Sister Combs tried to put socks on her hands. For some reason, they didn't like the scarf on her arm or the hat on her knees, either. Several of the children helped Sister Combs to correct her mistakes! We talked about how it is foolish to wear clothes on the wrong parts of the body, and that it was a little silly to wear winter accessories inside a climate-controlled building, anyway. This led to a discussion of other things that were wise or foolish. We had sung "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man" during Singing Time, so the children were all warmed up and performed it very enthusiastically in class. We discussed that this story contains sound building advice, but Jesus told it to explain how we should live. If we have a solid foundation of correct principles and wise choices, we will be safe and happy, but poor choices lead to sadness. We put a happy wise face and a sad foolish face on the board, then took turns choosing scenarios and deciding which face went with the behavior indicated. It was a lot of fun to use magnets, and we had a good discussion about the consequences of bad choices. We learned about B.H. Roberts, who made a foolish choice that led to him walking across the plains barefoot. We learned that sometimes just one bad choice has long-lasting, serious consequences. We also learned that his good choice to study hard in school and read the Bible every day led to him becoming a great Church scholar and a very respected author. We colored a very dramatic picture of the homes built by the Wise Man and the Foolish Man. Some of the children drew rainbows, to indicate that the storm was ending, while others colored the clouds and the sky very dark gray. We want to be like the wise man, able to weather any physical or spiritual storm that comes our way! |
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