god is our father, and we are his children

UNIT 1, LESSON 5

Connection to the Catechism of the Catholic Church

ӹ CCC 27

ӹ CCC 45

ӹ CCC 54

ӹ CCC 239

ӹ CCC 355

ӹ CCC 1266

ӹ CCC 2233

ӹ CCC 2577

ӹ CCC 2779-2780

ӹ CCC 2784-2786

ӹ CCC 2800

Vocabulary ӹ Parable

Learning Goals ӹ God is a loving Father who knows and

cares for each of us.

ӹ We are God’s children and are made in His image and likeness.

ӹ When we choose to disobey God, we hurt Him, our families, and ourselves.

ӹ Jesus told parables to show us about God’s love and how to live.

God is Our Father, and We Are His Children

Merciful and gracious is the LORD, slow to anger, abounding in mercy.

PSALM 103:8

My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

JOHN 10:27

BIBLICAL TOUCHSTONES

75

Lesson Plan

Materials ӹ I Am Loved

ӹ The Prodigal Son

ӹ The Story of the Lost Sheep

ӹ The Lost Sheep Squares

ӹ A stuffed sheep or a picture of a sheep

ӹ Crayons, markers, and/or colored pencils

DAY ONE Warm-Up A. Begin by leading your students in the prayer for this lesson.

B. Read aloud to your students Psalm 103:8-14:

Merciful and gracious is the LORD,slow to anger, abounding in mercy.He will not always accuse,and nurses no lasting anger;He has not dealt with us as our sins merit,nor requited us as our wrongs deserve.For as the heavens tower over the earth,so his mercy towers over those who fear him.As far as the east is from the west,so far has he removed our sins from us.As a father has compassion on his children,so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.For he knows how we are formed,remembers that we are dust.

C. Explain to your students that Psalm 103 emphasizes God’s tenderness toward those He loves. God knows that as human beings we are weak and sinful. Yet His love never fails. These characteristics of God’s love for us are very similar to those of a good earthly father. In fact, we can learn a lot about God’s love for us by thinking about how good earthly fathers love their children. (Note: This may be a sensitive subject for some students. Be aware of the family situations of your students and emphasize that our earthly fathers are human beings and sometimes fail to love as they should. This does not mean that God will fail. God is the perfect example of fatherhood.)

Prayer Act of LoveMy God, I love you with my whole heart, with my whole soul, and with my whole strength. And I love my neighbor as myself. Amen.

© SOPHIA INSTITUTE FOR TEACHERS76

LESSON PLAN

D. Tell your students that we know that God our Father loves us more than anything else. Ask them, “How does God our Father show His love for us?” and then “How does your father show his love for you?” Draw a T-chart on the board or on chart paper and label one side “God the Father” and the other side “Earthly Fathers.” Ask your students to list the ways in which their fathers care for them (or the ways in which a good earthly father would care for his children) and then ask for all the ways our Heavenly Father cares for them. Record their answers on the T-chart.

ActivityA. Explain to your students that emperor penguins are a great example from nature about the

importance of fathers. Show your students the following videos about emperor penguins: first, show the video clip from the video series Planet Earth, found at SophiaOnline.org/Penguins; then show the video clip from the PBS program Nature, found at SophiaOnline.org/BabyPenguinsHatch.

B. After showing the video clips, review and discuss with your students what was seen in the videos. Emperor penguin dads are very responsible and take their role to be a good father very seriously. After the female penguin lays her egg, she must return to the ocean to find food and will stay in the ocean for two months. This leaves to the father the responsibility of keeping the egg warm and safe through the freezing Antarctic winter. Emperor penguin fathers will hold the precious egg on the top of their feet and under their brooding pouch, a feathered flap on their belly, for two long months. If the egg is exposed to the freezing winds, the baby will die. During this time the father penguin doesn’t eat anything. What a warm, loving dad!

C. Ask your students the following questions:

ӹ What does the emperor penguin father do that makes him a good dad? He cares for and protects the egg on top of his feet for two months to keep it warm and safe.

ӹ How is your father or someone who cares for you like the emperor penguin father? Accept reasoned answers and discuss with your students all the ways their fathers care for them.

ӹ How is God, our Heavenly Father, like the emperor penguin fathers? How is He greater than the penguins? Accept reasoned answers.

D. Explain to your students that each of us was born into a family. Ideally, we have parents, fathers and mothers, who care for us and love us. They protect us just as the emperor penguin fathers protect their eggs. Depending on your students’ family situations, you may add that sometimes our fathers and mothers and those who care for us let us down and don’t love and protect us as they should. Some people don’t know their fathers or mothers. This, however, does not change the fact that God, our Heavenly Father and Creator, loves us perfectly and unconditionally. He cares for us and protects us all throughout our lives even if others let us down. He wants us to know Him and to know His love for us.

UNIT 1, LESSON 5 77

LESSON PLAN

Formative Assessment A. Have your students turn to I Am Loved (page

44). In the space on the belly of the penguin, have them draw a picture of themselves with their own father or someone who takes care of them. Then, on the lines provided, have them write a sentence telling one thing that is special about their father or the person they drew.

B. When your students have finished their drawing, invite them to the front of the room to show the class their drawing and to share one thing that is special about their father or someone who takes care of them. Then ask them to share one way that God shows them that He loves them.

DAY TWOWarm-UpA. Begin by leading your students in the prayer for this lesson.

B. Explain to your students that God made us to be His children. As children of God, we have a body, like animals, and a soul, like angels. We are created different from animals because we have the ability to love and serve God.

C. Continue to explain that we are all created in the image and likeness of God. This means God gave us minds to think and to make choices. We have been given the freedom to choose between good and bad. God is a loving Father and wants us to be happy. He knows that the only way we can be can be happy is to choose what is good and to say no to sin. The problem is that sometimes doing the wrong thing looks good. Our mothers and fathers love us and teach us the difference between right and wrong, but we have the ability to make choices, and sometimes we choose not to obey.

D. Read each scenario aloud to your students. Ask them to give an action to describe the right choice and then to give an action to describe the wrong choice. Discuss with your students how hard it is to tell the truth, to obey our parents, and to keep peace in our families at home.

ӹ Your mom says it is time to turn off the television.

ӹ Your dad tells you to eat all your vegetables at dinner.

ӹ Your brother tells you he wants a turn to play his video game.

I Am Loved

Directions: Draw on the belly of the penguin a picture of your

dad or someone who takes care of you. Then write

a sentence telling why that person is special.

I drew _____________________________________________

He or she is special because __________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

44


LESSON PLAN

ӹ Your mother tells you it is time to get ready for bed.

ӹ Your dad tells you to pick up your toys and put them away.

E. Explain to your students that when we choose something other than what God wants for us, we hurt our families, ourselves, and God.

ActivityA. Explain to your students that Jesus taught by telling stories that helped people understand

more about God and His kingdom. We call these stories parables. One of the most well-known is the Parable of the Prodigal Son. In this story of a father and a son, God rejoices when the son is sorry for the wrong he has done. The father in the story welcomes his son back home with open arms. This parable teaches us that God will always welcome us back with open arms when we ask for forgiveness.

B. Tell your students the Parable of the Prodigal Son (from Luke 15:11-32) using the paraphrased story below or using your own words.

Once there was a hardworking farmer who had two sons. When his younger son was grown up, he went to his father and said, “Father, I wish to start a life for myself. I don’t want to work in the fields or mend the fences anymore. I want to live in the big city with my friends. Please, give me my share of the family’s money now.” Although it pained him, the father agreed and gave his son his portion of the family’s money. Sadly the father watched his son take the money and leave for another country to enjoy himself.

It wasn’t long before the young man spent all his money on unimportant and selfish things. He wasted everything that his father had given to him. He found himself poor and hungry, and without friends. The only job he could find was feeding the pigs. One day while working in the mud with the pigs, he thought to himself: “Here I am poor and hungry. Even the pigs eat better than I do!” The young man longed to return home, so he decided to go back to his father and beg for a job as a servant in his field.

As the young man walked home, he worried that his father wouldn’t want him back. He was still far off when his father saw him and ran to welcome him with open arms. The father hugged his son and cried tears of joy. The father called to the servants to dress his son in the finest robe and to prepare a great feast to celebrate his return.

When the older son heard about the party his father was planning for his younger brother, who spent all the money, he became angry. He said to his father, “I have worked for you all these years, and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me anything to have a feast with my friends. It’s not fair!” The man smiled and said, “My son, you have always been by my side, and all that is mine is yours. Come, your brother has returned. What was lost has now been found. Let us rejoice.”

UNIT 1, LESSON 5 79

LESSON PLAN

C. Have your students turn to The Prodigal Son (page 45). Using what they have learned from the story of the Prodigal Son, have them answer the questions. Then, have them color the picture.

Formative Assessment Tell your students that Jesus told the Parable of the Prodigal Son to teach us about God’s love for us. Then ask your students the following questions:

ӹ Sometimes we are just like the younger son at the beginning of the story. Remember that the younger son took what his father had given him and wasted it on selfish things. What are some ways in which we can be like the younger son? Accept reasoned answers, such as when we disobey our parents, when we are mean to our siblings or friends, or when we don’t follow rules at school.

ӹ Sometimes we are like the younger son later in the story. Remember that he decided to return home and ask for his father’s forgiveness. What are some times when we need to be more like the younger son and ask for forgiveness? Accept reasoned answers, such as when we have hurt others, done something selfish, or disobeyed our parents or teachers.

ӹ By telling this parable, Jesus wanted to teach us about how much God loves us. We can understand that the father in the story is like God. What are some ways in which the father is like God? Accept reasoned answers, such as that God gives us everything ( just as the father gave his son his share of the family money), God never stops loving us ( just as the father went out to meet his son and hugged him), and that God always forgives us when we seek His forgiveness ( just as the father forgave the younger son).

DAY THREEWarm-Up Note: Prior to today’s lesson, hide a picture of a sheep or a stuffed sheep in the classroom.

A. Begin by leading your students in the prayer for this lesson.

B. Read aloud to your students John 10:27-30:

My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.

4. What did the father say to the older son?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

46

The Prodigal Son

Directions: Answer the questions. Then color the picture of

the Prodigal Son.

1. What did the younger son do?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. How did the father treat his son when he came home?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. How did the older son act?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

45


LESSON PLAN

C. Explain to your students that sheep recognize the voice of their shepherd. When a big flock of sheep is in the field and a shepherd calls to his sheep, only the sheep that belong to him will come. That’s because they recognize his voice.

D. Ask your students if, when they are in a crowd of people and their mom or dad calls their name, they can pick out their parent’s voice amid the noise. Do they recognize that voice, even with all the confusion? After your students agree that, yes, they almost always are able to hear their parents’ voices in a crowd, invite them to share a time when they heard the voice of their parent and it brought them comfort. Then ask them, “Does it make you feel good to know that Mom or Dad is there?”

E. Review with your students that in the previous lesson they learned that Jesus taught by telling stories called parables. Jesus told these stories to help people understand more about God, our Father in Heaven. In today’s lesson, your students will read another parable Jesus told. This one is about a lost sheep. In this parable, the shepherd called for his sheep, but when one did not come, the shepherd knew he had to go find him.

Activity A. Ask your students if they have ever lost anything. Call on students to share and ask them how it

felt and what they did.

B. Next, tell your students that you brought a stuffed sheep from home this morning to help you with today’s lesson. Explain that you were then so busy preparing for the class that you lost the sheep. You looked everywhere, beside your desk, behind the door, but you can’t find the sheep anywhere. Then ask your students to help you find the sheep. When the sheep is found, celebrate, clap, and cheer to show how happy you are.

C. Have your students turn to The Story of the Lost Sheep (page 47), and read aloud the story of the Lost Sheep.

D. When your students have finished reading, ask them the following questions about the story:

ӹ How many sheep did the shepherd have in this story? One hundred.

ӹ What happened to one of his sheep? He was lost.

ӹ What did the shepherd do when he realized the sheep was lost? He went searching for the sheep.

sheep. He was so happy that he had found it.

He carried the sheep home on his shoulders.

When he came home, the shepherd had a

party with his friends. They were so happy the

lost sheep had been found!

After the story, Jesus told the people that God

is like the shepherd and we are like the sheep.

All of Heaven is happy when one lost person

is found. God loves us and will always come to

fi nd us and bring us home.

48

The Story of the Lost Sheep

Directions: Read the story of the

Lost Sheep.

Jesus told a story to the people.

Once upon a time, there was a shepherd who

had one hundred sheep. Every day he took

the sheep out to eat the grass in the fi eld.

One day, he saw that one sheep was lost. The

shepherd called the lost sheep. But the sheep

did not come. So the shepherd left the other

ninety-nine sheep to fi nd the one that was lost.

The shepherd looked everywhere. He looked

in the valley. He looked in the fi elds. He looked

in the mountains. Finally, the shepherd found

the lost sheep. The shepherd hugged the lost

47

UNIT 1, LESSON 5 81

LESSON PLAN

ӹ How did the shepherd respond when he found the lost sheep? With loving care and compassion. He lifted the sheep onto his shoulders and carried it back home.

ӹ How did we respond when we found the stuffed sheep? We were very happy, and we clapped and cheered.

ӹ Jesus said we are like the lost sheep. Even though we may not be physically lost, what do you think it might mean to say that we are “lost”? We are lost when we are separated from God through sin.

ӹ How is God our Father like the Good Shepherd? God cares for us and protects us and will always search for us and bring us home.

ӹ What does this story tell us about God our Father’s love for us? We are his precious children, and He will always love us.

AssessmentHave your students turn to The Lost Sheep Squares (page 49). Help your students write a sentence to answer the question in each square and draw a picture illustrating their answer.

What did the shepherd do when he found his sheep?

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

What does this story tell us about God our Father’s love for us?

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

50

The Lost Sheep Squares

Directions: Answer each question. Then draw a picture of

each answer.

How many sheep does the shepherd have in this story?

_____________________________________________

What happened to one of his sheep?

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

49


I Am Loved




I drew _____________________________________________


______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

44

UNIT 1, LESSON 5 83

Answer KeyStudents may say their answers aloud or write them down.

1. He took his father’s money and spent it.

2. He hugged him, and put fine clothes on him, held a feast for him, and forgave him.

3. He complained to his father angrily.

The Prodigal Son


the Prodigal Son.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

45


Answer Key4. “My son, you

have always been by my side, and all that is mine is yours. Come, your brother has returned. What was lost has now been found. Let us rejoice.”


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

46

UNIT 1, LESSON 5 85



Lost Sheep.


Once upon a time, there was a shepherd who

had one hundred sheep. Every day he took

the sheep out to eat the grass in the fi eld.

One day, he saw that one sheep was lost. The


did not come. So the shepherd left the other

ninety-nine sheep to fi nd the one that was lost.


in the valley. He looked in the fi elds. He looked



47











fi nd us and bring us home.

48

UNIT 1, LESSON 5 87

Answer KeyStudents may say their answers aloud or write them down.

1. 100.

2. It got lost.



each answer.


_____________________________________________


_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

49


Answer Key3. He put it on his

shoulders and carried it home.

4. God loves us and will always come to find us and bring us home.


_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________


_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

50

UNIT 1, LESSON 5 89

Notes___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________


I Am Loved




I drew _____________________________________________


______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

UniT 1, Lesson 544

The Prodigal Son


the Prodigal son.


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

UniT 1, Lesson 5 45


_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

UniT 1, Lesson 546



Lost sheep.


once upon a time, there was a shepherd who

had one hundred sheep. every day he took

the sheep out to eat the grass in the field.

one day, he saw that one sheep was lost. The


did not come. so the shepherd left the other

ninety-nine sheep to find the one that was lost.


in the valley. He looked in the fields. He looked



UniT 1, Lesson 5 47










find us and bring us home.

UniT 1, Lesson 548



each answer.


_____________________________________________


_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

UniT 1, Lesson 5 49


_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________


_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

UniT 1, Lesson 550

god is our father, and we are his children

Documents