Skip to main content

Follow Up - OT - 1 Samuel

Last weekend I taught a class on David and Goliath from 1 Samuel. We talked about how potential energy gets converted into usable energy, and we tried to couple potential energy from a raised marble to do something interesting with the help of a paper rollercoaster. 

We started off trying to make a loop-the-loop, which I was able to get working with my kids the evening before. However the supplies I had in the class included stiff card, which turned out not to be well suited for this, since the rollercoaster only works if it's smooth, whereas the card was prone to having sharp bends and kinks in it. We quickly readjusted the plan to make a simpler rollercoaster with a dip and a raise, with the raised part passing through the head of this picture of Hulk Goliath

The initial version didn't work because the starting point of the marble wasn't high enough. However, the kids had been inspired by singing "Scripture Power" during singing time earlier, and we put that idea to use by grabbing some nearby scriptural texts of sufficient heft, and propping up the rollercoaster with them. That did the trick, and so spiritual potential was indeed used to power the rollercoaster, if not quite in the way I had originally intended!

Our rollercoaster in action. We built it within 20 minutes with a solid team effort (5 kids working on it).

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Lesson Plan - D&C 41-44

This is a short post with details on the lesson plan for this Sunday's LDS primary lesson. The explanations behind this plan are in my previous post . What you'll need to provide for the children: EITHER some small plastic bottles and some scissors OR some glass bottles part-filled with water A slinky A wine glass part-filled with water Here are the parts of the lesson: Begin with an opening prayer. Set the context around Joseph Smith and the Doctrine and Covenants. This week's lesson is set when Joseph and the early saints moved in 1831 to Kirkland, Ohio. Ask the children to read aloud D&C 42: 4-6. Each child could read out one colour from the highlighted excerpt below. Discuss what this means, in particular the purple section about lifting voices like a trump. Say we'll now talk about how a trumpet works. (See  previous post  for additional details.) A trumpet is an instrument which takes your voice (or more technically, vibrations in the air caused by blowing out...

Lesson Plan - D&C 67-70

 After a lengthy hiatus, we're back! This week's lesson is based on the section of the Come Follow Me manual about D&C 67-70 ( link ). We're going to work with D&C 70 , which talks about the early days of the Law of Consecration.  Back in 1831, the church assigned 6 people to starting a set of church businesses. I found a nice article that explained the history in detail ( link ), but in brief, Prophet Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Martin Harris,  Oliver Cowdery, John Whitmer and William W. Phelps were all involved in the "Literary Firm", which was responsible for publishing the Book of Mormon, the church hymn book, and a church newspaper. D&C 70:7 reads 7 Nevertheless, inasmuch as they receive more than is needful for their necessities and their wants, it shall be given into my storehouse I thought that we could structure a lesson that talks about (a) the reasons why a storehouse was set up, to help provide for the needy, and (b) a bit of maths relatin...

Idea Workup - OT - 1 Samuel

In my last post, I discussed some ideas for teaching 1 Samuel . In this post, I'll work up some of these ideas into a potential lesson plan.  Sometimes I get weeks where I toil for ages to find the right angle to teach a lesson from. Last week's lesson was a good example of this, where I really struggled to figure out a theme and a link that I could use. Other times, the right idea just hits you, and this feels like one of those weeks. There's a lot of material in 1 Samuel that could be used for a lesson, and it would be nice to devote more weeks to it. However the David and Goliath story is the dominant story here, and when you're working with young children, then you simply have to teach it. It's the archetype underdog story, which illustrates how the seemingly impossible can be made possible with faith. We want to pass on stories that will inspire the children and give them believe that they can similarly have confidence in themselves and aim high. We haven'...