Curriculum and Learning Resources

Super Heroes Bible People

Values-based Curriculum for Unitarian Universalist Children
Gaia Brown, Author
Jean States, Illustrator
Reviewed by, Pat Hoertdoerfer
Children, Family and Intergenerational Programs Director
Lifespan Faith Development, UUA
Boston, MA

In a world where so often "might makes right" and at an age when young children are beginning to form the values that will take them through their lives, this curriculum offers a year's worth of super heroes! So author Gaia Brown begins this 19- session curriculum in her letter to the parents of primary children (grades 1-3). The program includes a theme song (by John Simon) which reminds the children that heroes are people "powerful with brains and even stronger in their hearts."

The goals of the Super Heroes curriculum are:

• To introduce children to the stories of people from the Bible who have acted with courage and wisdom in their attempts to lead their lives fully and make the world a better place for others
• To show how the lives of these people confirm the principles which we, as Unitarian Universalists, strive to promote
• To encourage the children to lead their own lives fully and to use their own positive "super powers" as they interact with the world around them, and as they do so, to grow both spiritually and ethically.

Among the biblical people whom the children meet are Moses and Miriam, King David, King Solomon, and the Queen of Sheba, Elijah, Joseph, Queen Esther, and Jesus with his parents, Mary and Joseph. Most of the sessions include a picture from the theme of the day which children bring home. The Super Heroes children can use the picture to talk about their experience of the program and the parents can explore with their child the values and ideas that were shared in the session's story and activities.

Many units begin with the super hero's childhood to enable the child to connect with the real person and to help them realize that people who do heroic deeds often come from humble backgrounds, have shortcomings, and make mistakes. They learn that great things can be accomplished by non-perfect people.

Original stories (with references to Biblical passages) are an integral part of each session and children are often invited to dramatize scenes from the super hero's life-story. They are also intended to be springboards for discussion about issues that children face in their daily lives, such as sibling rivalry, standing up to a bully, or caring for others. Songs, games, and art projects enhance the stories and messages of each session.

A sample session follows - Joseph is Sold into Slavery - to give you a preview of this program. For more information or to purchase the curriculum contact Gaia Brown, 4345 Mountaingate, Reno, NV 89509, (775) 787-7395 or GaiaBrown@aol.com.

Joseph I
Session Eleven
Joseph is Sold Into Slavery

Objectives

The children will gain a feeling for the environment of the Joseph legend.
The children will discuss sibling rivalry and feelings about favoritism and "show offs."
The children will, discuss the moral difference between not doing something wrong vs. not taking a stand against wrong-doing.

Lesson Plan in Brief

1. Sharing circle. (10 min)
2. Story and discussion. Joseph Is Sold into Slavery. (15 min)
3. Enacting story. (20 min)
4. Art project. Coloring Joseph's coat (10 min)
5. Closure.

Materials and Sources

Costume box
Stuffed or toy sheep, goat and/or camel, if you have any
Crepe paper streamers in bright colors
Tape
Bible resources with pictures of the story
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat cassette and tape player (optional)

Preparation

Mark the Joseph story in your children's Bibles or other resources.
Think through the story, including how YOU feel about the issues the children will discuss.
Make copies of the story's picture.

Session Plan

1. Sharing circle. Ask the children how many brothers and sisters they have, and how well they think they get along with each other.

2. Story and discussion. Tell the children they are going to hear a story about some brothers who did not all get along. Most of the brothers were grown ups when the story happened (but grown ups don't always act in grown up and/or kind ways).

While you might want to show the children pictures of what the landscape of Canaan looked like, don't give them a preconception of how other artists have shown Joseph's coat.

Read the story, pausing for the children's responses. When you get to the end, make sure the children understand the words mourn and grief; Jacob could not be sadder than he is. The story will have a happier ending when it is concluded next week, but for now, we have to leave a very unhappy Jacob.

Go back now and discuss some of the issues the story raises. What was Joseph like? Was he a likable person? Did the brothers have reason to dislike Joseph? Did that make it okay for them to do what they did?

If there is someone in the children's lives that they feel is boastful or bratty, how do they respond to that person? (Don't let the conversation get personal!)

What about Reuben? Did he know it was wrong to hurt Joseph? Was he any less wrong for not taking part in the act that hurt Joseph? Did he blow a chance to be a hero? [More subtle issues for older children: did Reuben maybe do as much as he could, given that his opinion was the minority? If he didn't speak up, how could he know for sure others didn't agree with him, that they should not harm Joseph?]

3. Enacting the story. Let the children don costumes, having one be Jacob, one Joseph, and the others brothers. More children? They can be the flocks! For Joseph's coat, you might tape bright crepe paper streamers over the shoulders. Parts of the story you might want to enact: Joseph getting his coat; Joseph telling about his dreams (or enact the dreams themselves); the brothers plotting against Joseph, the traders buying Joseph, Reuben finding the well empty and the coat being dipped in blood; the final scene with Jacob.

4. Coloring the splendid coat. Children can color the picture from the curriculum. If you have the Joseph tape, you can play it as they color. Children who don't feel like coloring (or finish early) can look at the Bible resources.

5. Closure. Let the children admire each other's creativity. Reinforce again the idea that there is a difference between actively confronting wrongdoing and just not participating in it.

Joseph is sold into slavery. (Genesis 37: 1-35)

Once upon a time in a far off time, in a land that was called Canaan, there lived a man named Jacob. Jacob lived in the countryside. There were no cities around at all, no stores, no houses. In order to live, people had to raise their own goats and sheep from which they could get milk and cheese and meat. They also used the wool from the sheep for clothing and the skins of goats to make tents in which to sleep at night or escape the sun's heat during the day.

Goats eat a lot, you know. They're like lawnmowers with four legs. You can't just keep them around your tent all the time. You have to go great distances with them, to find grass for them to eat. But Jacob was a lucky man who could keep many flocks of goats and sheep. He had twelve sons to help tend the animals.

Twelve sons! How could Jacob keep them straight? There was Reuben, the oldest, then Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Napthli, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulon, Joseph and Benjamin, the youngest of all. (There was at least one sister, too, but she just doesn't figure in this story.)

Now all these sons and daughters did not have the same mother, because back in the time and place when Jacob lived, men might have more than one wife. And it happened that the two youngest boys, Joseph and Benjamin, were the sons of Jacob's favorite wife, who died when Benjamin was a baby. So Jacob was apt to spoil these two boys, particularly the older one, Joseph. And to show how much he loved Joseph, Jacob gave him a coat, a splendid coat. It is likely what made it special was that it had great sleeves, instead of being a sleeveless tunic, as most people wore back then. But the story has come down to us that it was a coat of many colors, like a rainbow. Close your eyes now, and imagine what you think that coat might have looked like, or what you would like your own special coat to look like. What do you see in your mind when you close your eyes?

Feeling he was his father's favorite, Joseph was something of a brat. Sometimes he boasted. Sometimes he tattled. He just couldn't keep his mouth shut. He was probably old enough to know better. If he were alive today, he would be in high school. And his ten older brothers were already young men. They really didn't like to hear Joseph talk about how wonderful he was.

Worst of all was when Joseph told about his dreams. One fine morning, Joseph said, "Do listen to this dream I had. We were tying up sheaves of grain in the field, [like bundles of cornstalks in the fall] when my sheaf arose and stood up straight, while your sheaves all bowed down before it." Another time he said, "Last night I dreamed that we were all stars, and father was the sun, and the sun and all your stars bowed down to my star." How do you think the brothers felt when Joseph told his dreams? How would you feel?

One day the ten older brothers were far from Jacob's tents, minding the flocks of animals, when Jacob sent Joseph to them with a message. When Joseph was not much more than a spot on the horizon, the brothers saw him coming. How do you think they knew it was Joseph?

The brothers said, "Here comes the dreamer.. Let's kill him and make an end of his boasting!" But the oldest brother, Reuben, suggested, "Let's just throw him down in an old well, and leave him to starve." (Reuben planned to rescue his younger brother from the well later. He couldn't even bear to see Joseph hurt, so he went away for awhile.)

Can you imagine how Joseph felt, running up happily to greet his brothers, only to have them snarl at him, and grab him, and tear his splendid coat off his shoulders, and throw him down in the old well. And the next thing we know, a caravan appeared, men riding camels through the roadless scruffy hills. They were called traders. They would buy things out in the country and then sell these things in the cities. The brothers suddenly decided they had something to sell. What do you think it was?

So for twenty pieces of silver, Joseph was sold. Off he went, walking sadly behind one of the camels, on his way to the land of Egypt, where he would be sold again as a slave.

Imagine Reuben's horror when he returned to find his brother gone for good!
"What are we to tell our father?' he cried.
The other brothers had a plan. They killed one of their goats, and dipped Joseph's coat, his beautiful coat, into the goat's blood. Then they journeyed back to where Jacob's tents were, and standing before their father, they presented him with his favorite son's coat. 'Oh, my Joseph!" cried the father. "He must have been torn to pieces by wild animals!" And the brothers agreed.

Poor, poor Jacob. He tore his clothing and threw himself down on the ground and wept. "As long as l live, I will mourn for my son Joseph. I shall go to my grave in grief."