Dr. Pat's Orthodox Super Sunday School Curriculum

Crucifixion

THE CRUCIFIXION

 

Objectives:

  1. Children should be able to say the word “crucifixion” and know that it means to be nailed to a cross.
  2. Children should know the story of Jesus’s crucifixion and be able to tell it.
  3. Children should be able to identify the characters in the icon and their meaning.

 

Possible Lesson Plan:

  1. Open with prayer.

 

  1. Read the story of Jesus’s arrest, trial, crucifixion, and burial in the Beginner’s Bible, pages 437-445, the Children’s Bible Reader, pages 242-255, or the Read with Me Bible, pages 382-397. Supplement with the Golden Children’s Bible, pages 448-455, if desired,  or the Arch book, “The Man Who Carried the Cross for Jesus”. Where was Jesus when He was arrested? What was He doing? What were the disciples doing? How did Judas betray Him? Peter lied about knowing Jesus how many times? Before when? Who was the high priest? The soldiers put what on Jesus? Who condemned Jesus to death? How did He die? Who carried the cross? Why? What are some of the things Jesus said on the cross before He died? Who was crucified with Jesus? What happened when Jesus died? Who took Jesus’s body to his own tomb? Review the story with the icon, identifying the people. What role did each play?

 

3. True/False Questions:

                        True                                                     False

Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.      Jesus was arrested at home.

Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss.                                Judas hit Jesus with a sword.

Peter denied knowing Jesus 3 times.                          Peter denied Jesus 20 times.

The soldiers put a crown of thorns on Jesus.              The soldiers gave Jesus gold.

Pontius Pilate judged Jesus.                                        Moses judged Jesus.

Joseph of Arimathea buried Jesus.                              Pilate buried Jesus.

 

  1. We celebrate the Crucifixion on Holy Friday. We sing on Thursday about the “Wise Thief”. The story is in the Golden Children’s Bible, page 353, or the Arch book “The Thief Who Was Sorry”. Which thief was wise and why? We also sing on Friday about “The Noble Joseph”. Who was the noble Joseph? What did he do? Play these beautiful songs if you want with tape or CD from the bookstore. Do you remember what we do in Church on Holy Friday? (Procession, candles, the tomb.)

 

  1. The Cross is the symbol of the Crucifixion. Practice making the sign of the Cross until each child can do it correctly. Role play the prostrations while singing the song “Before Thy Cross”.

 

  1. Make a time line, written with readers, in pictures with small fry. Draw on it the events of Holy Week from Lazarus Saturday until Pascha, filling in each detail the children remember and jogging their memories if needed. Or make a card for each event and have the children line them up in order.

  1. Make a Holy Week game. Along the lines of chutes and ladders, draw a gameboard. Fill in events of Holy Week along the path, with a penalty (chute) for the bad events (betrayed by Judas, condemned by Pilate, crucified, buried by Joseph of Arimathea, etc.) and a reward (ladder) for the good events (Palm Sunday, washed disciples’ feet, prayed in Garden of Gethsemane, etc.) Have the children choose the most important events from their time line or cards to include on their game board and place them in order. Use dice to play the game; no dice? Tear 6 strips of paper and write a number from 1-6 on each and draw a paper when it’s your turn.

 

  1. Or try a Holy Week booklet. Use pictures of icons to color, or the booklet pages after the icons + a description of each day’s events. Decorate a cover and back of construction paper, and bind with ribbon or yarn.
  2. Time very limited? Color a Holy Week "People Teller" to review all the important people in the drama:Holy Week People Teller