1 Corinthians: Sharing and Caring

I Corinthians 13: 5 -- Sharing and Caring

Scripture reference: "Love... does not seek its own.”

Objectives:

1. Even the youngest student should be able to recite the verse and say in his own words what it means.

2. The students should be able to tell the Stone Soup story and how it pertains to the lesson.

3. Each student should be able to list one thing he will share with someone (brother, sister, friend) this week.

Possible Lesson Plan:

1. Open with prayer.

2. Introduce the Scripture verse and have the children repeat until all know it. If you have time, read the whole chapter; it's beautiful and will at least sound familiar in the future even if the students are too young as yet to understand it all.

3. Ask if they understand what it means. Allow for discussion if students are old enough.

4. Tell the story of the Stone Soup. Have a big pot in the center of the class circle or table and give each student an item mentioned in the story for the soup. As that item is added to the pot, have the student holding the item actually put it in the pot and give the pot a stir. Ideally, use real vegetables, but the paper vegetables are also fine. If you are a budding chef, you could make a pot of soup from the "recipe" the night before and a pot containing only stones and let the students taste each!

5. Review the story from last year about St. Nicholas – how he shared with the family with the three daughters.

6. Have each student decide on a specific course of action for the following week -- a toy he will share with someone, a chore he will "share" with his mother or father, etc.

7. Do the sharing and caring mobile -- the teacher can write in the children's ideas. Have the pieces cut out in advance for younger children -- larger size from colored tagboard or construction paper and smaller in plain white. If this is too hard, have each student color one flower petal and put them all together to make a beautiful flower – made by sharing!

Too much craft for such little hands? Try this one, after telling the story of the Stone Soup. Just print the soup pot and the vegetables on cardstock and cut them out. Children can color the pot and then staple or tape the pot to a piece of construction paper, leaving it open at the top. Children can "make" their own stone soup with their own paper vegetables.