Lesson two - pages 4/5 Children's faces

AIM for the book

To bring to life the story of Jesus by exploring the way we use our senses.

Learning objectives

• To know that names are given for a reason.
• To be able to explain how the Bible says Jesus was given his name.
• To understand that names can keep family traditions alive.

Background

Names often run in families and keep alive family traditions. In the Bible a name and the way in which it is chosen holds significant meaning. A messenger from God tells Zachariah to call his child 'John'. His close family and friends would have expected the baby to receive a more traditional name, familiar within the family. Similarly, Jesus' name was announced by an angel before his birth. During his life he was given other names and titles by those who followed him, to describe the man, what he did and what people believed of him.

Bible references

Matthew 1.21-25
Luke 1.11-13
Luke 1.59-63

Ways of using the picture

• Some of the children will have younger brothers and sisters. Can they talk about how they were given a name?
• Do any of the children have the same name as a mother, father, aunt, uncle or other relative? Why were they given that name?
• Do many of the children have a biblical name? Discuss how some names have a long history and how some are new.

Key words

• Family
• Name
• Angel

Activity one - what's my name?

• You will need
  The picture from this spread in the book.
  Mirrors.
  Art materials.

• Start
  Look at the picture together. Ask your group what they think the children in the picture are called. Discuss why they suggested the names that they did.

• Develop
  Talk about why people are given particular names. (For example, David and Victoria Beckham named their son Brooklyn because that is where they were when they found out Victoria was pregnant.)
  Let the discussion lead into why the children in your group were given their particular names. Remember to include second names, as these are often chosen to remember another member of the family. Is the child's given name different to the one by which they are known? Why is this?

• End
  Give each child a mirror so that they can draw a self-portrait. Under the picture, help them write 'I am called xxxx because...'.

Activity two - family trees

• You will need
  Pictures of trees.
  Relationship words written on cards - mother, father, cousin, brother, sister, gran, uncle and so on.
  Materials so that each child can create a large picture of a tree - paper, pencils, crayons, coloured pens, glue.

• Start
  Look at the picture together. Ask your group what they think the children in the picture are called. Discuss why they suggested the names that they did.

• Develop
  Develop by explaining that people sometimes talk about family trees, because the different members of a family are related or joined together. Create Jesus' family tree with the children, sticking pictures with captions on to a picture of a tree. You will need to include:
  Mary is Jesus' mother.
  Joseph is Jesus' stepfather. (Christians believe that Jesus' father is God.)
  John is Jesus' cousin.
  James is Jesus' half-brother.

• End
  Help the children create their own family trees, drawing pictures of their family members with captions.

Activity three - name survey

• You will need
  Clipboards.
  Paper.
  Pens.
  A way of displaying the gathered data.

• Start
  Start by telling the story of how Jesus was named. Use the following outline:
  Mary was a young girl living in Nazareth.
  She was engaged to a man called Joseph.
  An angel visited her to tell her she was going to be the mother of God's son.
  The angel told her to call the baby Jesus.
  Mary and Joseph travelled to Bethlehem.
  While they were there, the baby was born.
  They called him Jesus, just as the angel had said.

• Develop
  Discuss the ways names are chosen - sometimes to keep family tradition alive, sometimes because of fashion, sometimes because of their meaning.
  Together create a simple questionnaire that can be used in the class to discover why children were given their names. Allow the children to work in pairs for this.

• End
  Create a pictorial graph of the data the children gathered, with the caption 'How we got our names'.

Activity checklist

Activity one - what's my name?

The picture from this spread in the book.
Mirrors.
Art materials.

Activity two - family trees

Pictures of trees.
Relationship words written on cards - mother, father, cousin, brother, sister, gran, uncle and so on.
Materials so that each child can create a large picture of a tree - paper, pencils, crayons, coloured pens, glue.

Activity three - name survey

Clipboards.
Paper.
Pens.
A way of displaying the gathered data.

Web site links

http://www.babynames.com
Although this site is mainly aimed at finding the right name for a baby, it does include a helpful section on biblical names. Each name is provided with a meaning, its origin, alternatives and appropriate nicknames.

Also try http://www.cool-baby-names.com/search-categories-bibilical.htm

Alternatively, try out the links for In Creation, lesson 1

© Mary Hawes