Woman at the Well

Arts & Craft Workshop 

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Make sand covered flower vases

Lesson Objectives: 

• After completing this lesson, the students should be able to: ·
• Retell the story in their own words ·
• Recite the memory verse and reference (with growing confidence as the rotation continues) · State the book of the Bible where today’s story is located ·
• Be able to explain:  what Jesus meant by “living water” and, who the Samaritans were at the time of Jesus

Supplies provided: ·

• Table cloths to cover tables ·
• Basic Supplies – pencils, markers, crayons, tape, glue, glue sticks, staplers, scissors and hole punches ·
• Clear glass bottles, with labels removed ·
• Tacky glue,
• paint brushes,
• small paper cups ·
• Colored sand (order from Oriental Trading Company or Discount School Supplies) ·
• Several empty boxes to collect excess sand (the extra sand can be reused to create rainbow colored vases or tossed) ·
• Paper plates (to help carry project home)

Teacher Preparation Needed: 

Before class, the teacher will need to: ·

• Read the background information and the Bible story. 
• Determine if you are going to read the story from the Good News Bible or from the Children’s Bible in 365 Stories.
• Review the reflective questions and make sure you understand both the questions and possible answers.
• Cover the tables to facilitate easy clean up.
• Make a sample of the project so that you can be sure you understand the process and can explain the project directions to the class
• Mix 1t water to about 3T glue in enough cups for 1 per student
• Set out glass bottles, paint brushes and glue cups on tables
• Set up “Sand Stations” – separate locations where the sand will be applied to the bottles over a box.  This could be outside on the grass if the weather is clear or on the covered sidewalk.  Either you or a Shepherd should supervise this area closely.

Presentation

Opening - Welcome and Lesson Introduction:

Gather the students. Welcome the students and introduce yourself.  Have the students wear their nametags so that you can call them.  The nametags are located in the tote box and the shepherds are responsible for handing them out.

Introduction:  Today we will hear the story of the Woman at the Well, which is found in the Gospel of John in the New Testament.  In this story, Jesus talks about “Living Water”. To remind us of this story we will make sand covered vases to remind us of Jesus’ promise to “quench our thirst” with his water of everlasting life.

Memory Verse: Jesus and the Samaritan Woman – Jesus answered, “Whoever drinks this water will get thirsty again but whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.  John 4:13-14

Review the memory verse for this rotation using one of the tips in your folder.

Dig - Main Content and Reflection:

Bible Passage/Story: John 4:5-30, The Children’s Bible in 365 Stories, Story # 285
If this is the first week of the rotation, read the background information to the class so the students can familiarize themselves with an overview of the entire story.  After covering the background information, continue on with the part of the story assigned to this rotation.
If this is the 3rd or 4th week of the rotation, some of the students have heard the story 2 or 3 times already.  They should be able to retell the story in their own words.  You may want to choose a different way to present the story in the last 2 weeks of the rotation.  Consider using one of the story telling ideas found in your curriculum folder.

Art Project: 

• Each student will pick a bottle and coat the outside with thinned tacky glue using a paint brush.
• Once the bottle is covered in glue, the students will move to the “sand station”.
• Each student can pick up to 3 colors of sand and gently sprinkle the sand over the glue.  The sand colors can be separate or overlapped.
• Set the bottles aside on paper plates to dry as much as possible before time to go home.  · Toss glue cups when done. · Have the students clean their own paint brushes.

Reflection Questions:

• Why were the disciples surprised that Jesus was talking to the women in this story (verse 27)?  (At that time, Jews were not friendly with Samaritans.  They didn’t usually speak to each other and certainly would not share cups..)
• Why do you think the woman was surprised that Jesus was talking to her? (both for the reasons above plus she didn’t feel she was worthy to talk to Jesus because of the way she lived her life.)
• What did Jesus mean by “life-giving” water (verse 10)? (The word of God.)

Journaling: Ask the students to journal about something they found meaningful, surprising or interesting in today’s class or pose one of the reflective questions as a journaling topic.
Many students have difficulty getting started and some of the younger children have difficulty writing. If this is the case, you may want to suggest that they copy down the memory verse (have it written on the white board or on a flip chart) or draw a picture of today’s story.  You could also write one or two partial sentences on the board for the students to copy down and complete.

Closing:

End with a prayer.

A lesson originally posted by member NMOFF, from: Sunnyvale Pres,
Sunnyvale CA

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.