Noah & the Flood--Woods

Scripture: Genesis 6-9 with an emphasis on Genesis 6:8-8:5 and 9:8-17

Memory Verse for this rotation: “Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”—Psalm 124:8

Concepts to be learned by children:
* God’s power over all creation is amazing.
* God makes and keeps promises.
* God communicates with people.
* God desires for us to be kind, obedient, and faithful.
* God takes care of all creation.

Materials:
• Doughnuts & water for participants (found in the kitchen)
• Memory verse prompts
• Journals (Shepherds have)
• Pencils for journals (Shepherds have)
• Crayons for Journaling
• Large chiffon scarves in rainbow colors
• CD Player
• Music CD “Storms in Africa” by Enya
• Bell or drum to use as a signal
• White Board
• Dry Erase Markers
• Erasers

Objectives:
* Students will review the story of Noah & The Flood
* Students will utilize pantomime and creative moments to interpret the story of Noah
and the Flood.
* Students will participate in a reflection/closing prayer time.

Presenter Preparation:
Prior to Sunday Morning:
1. Read the scripture passage and do the Leader’s Bible Study
2. Read through the lesson plan provided and ask Stacy about any questions you have.
3. Plan your opening and closing prayers, if you decide not to use those provided.
4. Consider the age group you’ll be working with each week and any adjustments you’d like to make to the lesson.

Sunday Morning:
1. Retrieve doughnuts, a pitcher of water, cups, and napkins from the kitchen
2. Be sure the room is set up as you desire
3. Look through supply box to familiarize yourself with its contents
4. Do any other preparations you feel necessary.
5. Know that we are thankful you are teaching!

Procedure:
A. Welcome & Introductions at approximately 9:50 a.m.
1. Have the appropriate number of snacks available for each of the participants prepared before they arrive.
2. Greet the children and introduce yourself, wear a name tag if possible. Shepherds have name tags for the children in their bags. If necessary, ask the shepherd to supply children without tags with a temporary badge.
3. Open with a brief prayer. An example might be: God, we thank you for your son, Jesus, who became like us and lived on the earth. Please help us to learn more about Jesus today. Amen.
4. Give the students their snack

B. Story Review/Telling from the CEV Bible at approximately 9:55 a.m. (This can be done as they enjoy their doughnuts)
During the first few weeks you may want to read the story to familiarize the group with it; with older students, or in later weeks when attendance has been good, you might skip down to the questions below. Throughout this portion, however, you may wish to record on a chart the sequence of events as children review to help with the pantomime later.
1. Read the story
a. PreK through 2nd graders: you may read from the Bible, or use the kid-friendly version below, if you like.
b. Grades 3-6th—go ahead and read the story from the Bible, pausing to allow them to chime in on key words as they follow along. (It is possible to have the children read, but this often leads to other children not listening.)

The people on earth had become so cruel and violent that God regretted making the world and decided to destroy all the creatures living on earth. Noah was the only good person who lived right and obeyed God. Noah had a wife and three sons. Their names were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. His sons also had wives.
God said to Noah, Get some good lumber and build a gigantic boat three stories high with a roof. I’m going to send a flood that will destroy everything that breathes. But I promise that you and your family will be kept safe. I want you to bring on the boat two of every kind of animal and bird and reptile, a male and female of each, and bring enough food for all the people and animals on the boat.

Noah did everything God told him to do. After the ark was built, Noah and his wife; his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and his sons’ wives went into the ark. They took with them two of every animal on earth. Seven days later it started to rain. The sky opened like a window, and rain poured down without stopping for 40 days and nights. The water got deeper and deeper until the ark was floating high above the ground. Even the highest mountain peaks were deep beneath the water. All the people and animals on earth were drowned. Only the people and animals on the ark survived the flood.

After the rain finally stopped it took 150 days for the waters to go down enough for the ark to come to a rest on a mountain. Noah opened the window of the ark and sent out a raven, and it just flew back and forth over the water. Then Noah sent out a dove, but the dove found no place to stand and it returned to the ark. Noah waited seven days, and again sent out the dove. This time the dove came back to him with an olive leaf; so Noah knew that the waters had gone down. Then he waited another seven days and sent out the dove again; and it did not return.

When the waters were dried up, God told Noah, “Go leave the ark. You and the people and the animals with you can go live on the earth, have babies, and fill the earth again with people and animals.

Noah built an altar and offered sacrifices to God. (Noah brought seven pairs of some animals on board the ark, but you don’t need to go into this unless the kids ask where he got the animals for the sacrifices.) And God told Noah, “I am going to make a solemn promise to you and to everyone who lives after you: I promise never again to cover the earth with a flood.”
This promise is called a covenant. As a sign of this covenant, God said, “The rainbow that I have put in the sky will remind you that I will keep this promise forever. “ When we see a rainbow, it reminds us of God’s promise to care for creation and to love and care for us.

2. Questions:
A. Who can tell the first thing that happened in the story? God talked to Noah
and told him to build the ark.
B. How do you think Noah felt about that? Surprised, scared, confused, sad
because the world would be destroyed, etc.
C. What happened next? Noah built the ark to God’s specifications, put the
animals in two by two.
D. Then what? It rained
E. How long? Forty days
F. How long were Noah, his family, and the animals on the ark? They were on
seven days before it rained, then forty days of rain, then, One hundred fifty days later the water started to go down Gen. 7:24, forty days later Noah opened a window Gen 8:6; and sent the raven, seven days later Noah sent out the dove Gen. 8:10, then seven days for the next dove for a total of approximately 251 days.
G. What do you think life was like on the ark? Crowded, smelly, etc.
H. What appeared in the sky? The rainbow
I. What did the rainbow mean? God’s promise that He would never again flood
the earth Gen. 9:9-17

C. Application:
1. Today we’re going to act out the story with pantomime actions. We’ll
explore actions and movements of each part separately and then we can put it all together to tell the whole story start to finish. I will tell you the emotion I want you to show, then when I bang the drum you need to stop and resume normal positions. When I tell the next emotion and bang the drum, you start the next emotion; when I bang it again, you go back to normal.
2. First, let’s think about how our faces and bodies might look if we were Noah and had been told to build an ark. Bang drum and let children show how this emotion. Bang drum. Children back to normal or “neutral”

3. Great, how about when God told him WHY he needed to build the ark; because of the flood. Bang. Let children show this emotion Bang. Children to neutral.
4. Next let’s think about building the ark. God’s instructions were pretty specific, what time of wood to use, how big to make it. What actions could we use to show building? Measuring, sawing, chopping, hammering, etc. Within this room we need to decide where the ark is going to be and we’ll do the actions for building inside that space. Let the children decide where the ark will be. BANG. Let the children do the actions. BANG. Children return to neutral.
5. Animals board the ark two by two. Let’s get into partners and decide on what kind of animal you’d like to be. When you’ve decided with your partner, I want you to practice being that animal. When everyone has practiced separately, we’ll practice as a group going into the ark with our partner. Let students find their partner, choose their animal, practice being it. When they are ready, have them pair up and line up. BANG, children practice going into the ark with their partner. BANG. Children to neutral.
6. Once everyone was on the ark the rain started. We’re going to hand actions to make the sound of the rain. In order to do this there cannot be talking, please silently do what I do and listen to the sounds it makes. Follow me:
a. Start by rubbing your palms together as you see fit go on to:
b. snapping fingers; alternating hands
c. clapping hands—not in steady rhythm
d. patting thighs with alternating hands
e. stomping feet, alternating feet (climax of the storm)
f. pat thighs again with alternating hands
g. clap hands—not in steady rhythm
h. snap fingers; alternating hands
i. rubbing palms to close of rain storm.
7. Great rain storm everyone! After the rain stopped and the land dried up, what came out? The rainbow. Next we’ll create the rainbow. Select a scarf and once you have it, we’ll make movements to make rainbows. What might those movements look like? Swirling, waving, arching overhead; traveling movements like leaping, galloping, turning to get off the ark as they make the rainbow. Once everyone has their scarf BANG drum and let them practice. BANG and return to neutral.
8. Now return your scarves to a safe place, maybe in the corner, or along the wall where you can find it again.
9. We’re going to start from the beginning and act out the story with all the pieces we just did. We will be using some special music in the background while we do the actions; remember that you should not be talking during this since we are pantomiming it.
Younger students: While you act it out I will help you remember what to do by saying the cues out loud.
Older students: To remember what to do next, you can look at the sequence of events chart and I will help you by doing some of the actions with you.
Start CD and utilize the drum to signal when to start the actions. Bang is shown by * below.
Sequence of Events:
1. * Being told about the ark *
2. * Hearing why God was going to destroy the earth *
3. * Building the ark *
4. * Animals into the ark *
5. * Raining…lead them in the hand motions *
6. * Rainbow *
Stop CD
10. Wow! That was so great to see you using your whole body to tell the story.
Thank you! Let’s put the supplies away.

D. Reflection/Closing beginning no later than 10:18 a.m.:
1. Let’s try saying the memory verse together: You may use the prompt cards provided in your box. “Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”—Psalm 124:8 You may repeat as many times as you like, stopping to have the repeat pieces of the verse as you see fit. You may also ask them how God helped Noah and discuss the application of the verse to the story.

OPTIONAL: If time, you may utilize the children’s journals to reflect on what they’ve learned. Journals are carried by the shepherds; they also have pencils. Prompts:
Younger Students: Draw a picture of yourself acting out the story.
Older Students: Draw a picture of yourself acting out the story; add a few sentences or two telling why you liked acting out the part you drew.

4. Close with a prayer. Encourage children to offer petitions, if they’d like. It is helpful that with younger children you give them a prompt to go off of: Example: “Is there any person you’d like to ask God to bless” or “What is something you’re happy God created?” “What animal are you thankful Noah put on the Ark?” Using the last prompt, here is an example of a closing prayer: Lord, thank you for your love and care for the world and everything in it. Help us to be kind and obedient like Noah. We also want to thank you for having Noah save __kids can name the animal they are happy Noah saved ____ Amen.

E. Tidy and Dismissal:
Be sure that they find a responsible person and that everyone has found one such person before you depart. Please take all supplies and put them in the box and return the box to the white cart found in the hallway. If you have any questions, concerns, or need additional supplies, please contact Stacy during the week or put a note in her mailbox, which is located by the office. Thanks!

THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR FAITH WITH OUR YOUNG PEOPLE!