Investigating and Creating Psalms

Fertile Question Supporting Questions How do understanding the psalms help us with our spiritual journey? What are the different psalms in the bible? What are new creative ways to communicate life experiences, feeling, relationships with God and others? What were the life experiences of the psalmists? What is the relationship between the psalmist and God? How could the psalms be used as a model for personal or communal prayer? Religious Knowledge and Deep Understanding The Pslams of the Old Testament are a model for personal and communal prayer. There are three main forms of Pslams in the Old testament: Pslams of lament (sorrow) of thanksgiving and of praise (Hymns). Skills Identify some like experiences of the psalmist (e.g. awe and wonder, feelings of abandonment, despair and anger, fear of the future, threatened by enemies) as communicated in a variety of Psalms. Explore the relationships between the psalmist and God as revealed in a variety of Psalms (parent/child, protector, trust/doubt, praise, thanksgiving, dependence, humility, loyalty, grandeur of God) Use psalms as a model to create a personal or communal prayer. The psalms of the Old Testament are used as a model for prayer and are written in 3 main forms. Students need to understand who the Psalmists were and what their relationship with God was. Students will also identify some life experiences of the Psalmists and how they communicated these experiences through Psalms. Students will write a personal psalm of praise/sorrow/thanksgiving. The Psalm will be presented in the form of an IMovie and will include: - personal psalm - pictures to match - music which is appropriate Unit Resources Tuning In What do the students already know about Psalms? Elicit prior knowledge on http://sync.in/ so that all students can collaborate at the same time. What are Psalms? Why were Psalms written? What are the Psalms about? Who wrote the Psalms? Sessions 1 and 2 Old Testament look at the structure and sections of the Old Testament and how the bible stories all fit together. http://www.geocities.com/perkinshome/childrensbible.html (scroll down and there is a child friendly description) Cut and paste activity where students will investigate using their computers the order of the 5 books and write a description to accompany each book.

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Assessment

Finding Out Session 3 Discuss the 3 forms of psalms found in the old testament. Investigate a psalm of thanksgiving. http://www.biblestudytools.com/rsv/psalms/118.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKdqsBLssSk Email psalm to students and as a whole class use WORD to highlight key words in the psalm. Highlight words that: 1. Reveal some feelings. 2. Reveal attitudes of the psalmist. 3. Reveals the psalmists relationship with God. Reflect at end of session about the experiences that the Psalmist might have experienced during the time, which the psalm was written. Session 4 Investigate a psalm of sorrow. http://www.biblestudytools.com/rsv/psalms/3.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Atf9_vCH6T0 As a whole class highlight the key words/phrases. Highlight words that: 1. Reveal some feelings. 2. Reveal attitudes of the psalmist. 3. Reveals the psalmists relationship with God. Students use WORDLE to create an image based on the key concepts from this psalm of sorrow. Use these images as a reflection tool at the end of the session. Session 5 Investigate a psalm of praise. http://www.biblestudytools.com/rsv/psalms/95.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7IryEV4F2c Email psalm to students and as a whole class use WORD to highlight key words in the psalm. Highlight words that: 1. Reveal some feelings. 2. Reveal attitudes of the psalmist. 3. Reveals the psalmists relationship with God. Reflect at end of session about the experiences that the Psalmist might have experienced during the time, which the psalm was written. Session 6 Investigate psalms for kids: http://www.essex1.com/pages/paul/Psalms.html Compared to psalm 97: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+97&version=NIV Look at the structure to write a psalm and begin the process as a whole class. Write one collaboratively. Session 7 Students are given the structure of a psalm and re create their own personal psalm. Once this is complete they are then going to create their iMovie.

Sorting Out