Lesson nine - pages 18/19 The woman in the garden

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 Christians believe that Jesus rose from the dead.
• To be able to develop empathy with the women and the disciples who first heard the news that Jesus was risen.
• To understand the Easter story well enough to briefly retell it.

Background

Christians believe that what sets Jesus apart from his Jewish heritage is that he rose from the dead. The Resurrection is the central and distinctive focus in the Christian story. Christians believe that in some mysterious but real way Jesus rose from the dead and was seen by many of his followers before going to heaven. The Bible records Jesus as being buried in a tomb, but, on the third day after the burial, some of his followers visited the tomb and he was revealed to them.

Bible reference

John 20.10-16

Ways of using the picture

• Talk about things that cause the children to be surprised.
• Look carefully at the woman's face in the picture. What do the children think she is feeling?
• Discuss with the children how they recognize people (by their appearance, voice, facial features).

Key words

• Easter
• Jesus
• Angel
• Mary
• Tomb
• Alive
• Resurrection
• Disciple

Activity one - what happened on Easter Sunday morning?

• You will need
  Paper cut into zig-zag books.
  Pictures of the Easter Story for sequencing.
  Clips from films about the life of Jesus such as The Miracle Maker or Jesus, the Man of the Millennium.
  Collage materials.

• Start
  Tell the children the story of Easter and discuss it with them so they are clear about the events.
  Ensure that the children know that this story is found in the New Testament and for Christians it is the most important story ever told.

• Develop
  Show the children short clips of the Resurrection scenes from films about the life of Jesus.
  Ask the children to put pictures or events from the Easter Story into sequence and make it into a zig-zag book.

• End
  The children could make a large collage for display in the hall that shows everyone what the celebration of Easter is all about.
  'We celebrate Easter because Christians believe that on Easter Sunday Jesus rose from death back to life.'

Activity two - the surprise of the disciples

• You will need
  Writing materials.
  Bibles, or Bible storybooks of the Easter story.

• Start
  Discuss who the lady is in the picture.
  What has she seen? At what moment in the story is this? What is she thinking? What is she about to say? What is she feeling? Why?
  Write speech and thought bubbles for Mary.

• Develop
  Ask the children to draw a picture of Mary and surround it with words that describe how they think she was feeling on Easter Sunday before and after seeing Jesus.
  Who else visited the empty tomb and was surprised?
  Be a Bible Detective and find out.

• End
  Ask the children to write about a time when they have been really amazed or ask the children to imagine that they are one of the disciples. They have been to visit Jesus' tomb. Ask them to describe how they feel.

Activity three - faces

• You will need
  Drawing materials.
  Materials to make puppets - either simple paper bag ones, or more complicated ones.

• Start
  Ask the children to complete this sentences: 'If I had seen Jesus on Easter Sunday morning I would have felt ... because ... My face would have changed from ... to ....'

• Develop
  Ask the children to 'make' faces and draw faces to show what their faces would have looked like before and after seeing Jesus.
  Tell the story and ask the children to change their faces to show the expressions that would have been on the faces of the characters in the story. As you tell the story, emphasize the feelings of the characters to make it easier for the children to decide how they would have looked.

• End
  Make two-sided puppets. These puppets could be very simple paper bag puppets or they could be a design technology project involving felt, papier mâché, gloves, socks and so on. The children could decide to make their puppet either Mary or a disciple. On one side of the puppet make the face sad and on the other side surprised, happy and so on.

• Assessment opportunities
  Ask the children to retell the story of Easter Sunday morning using their puppet.

Activity checklist

Activity one - what happened on Easter Sunday morning?

Paper cut into zig-zag books.
Pictures of the Easter story for sequencing.
Clips from films about the life of Jesus such as The Miracle Maker or Jesus, the Man of the Millennium.
Collage materials.

Activity two - the surprise of the disciples

Writing materials.
Bibles, or Bible storybooks of the Easter story.

Activity three - faces

Drawing materials.
Materials to make puppets - either simple paper bag ones, or more complicated ones.

http://sunsite.dk/cgfa/correggi/p-corregg4.htm
http://sunsite.dk/cgfa/angelico/p-angeli13.htm
These sites offer two more traditional alternatives to the famous resurrection scene. These two versions of 'Noli me Tangere' are by Correggio and Fra Angelico.

© Lisa Fenton