Were you ever upset with something your created? Did you want to just destroy it and try again?
The 3rd graders have been thinking about this question as we learned the story of the flood, Noah and the ark. God regretted creating the world and wanted to completely destroy it, but there was one good man called Noah. We discussed what the fact that Noah was a righteous man in a time of evil people tell about him- is it a positive attribute of Noah, or maybe it’s negative? We read different commentators who write about this question.
We researched different animals in order to describe the life on the ark. We looked at the different needs of the animals and decided where to place them on the ark. We learned about the rainbow as a symbol of peace and of a covenant between God and human beings, which led us to discuss how God and humans share responsibility for taking care of the earth. The students had beautiful ideas and insights!
Today we started looking at the last story we will explore from Bereshit. To approach this story, the students in teams tried to build the tallest tower from paper cups. Then we discussed the experience and asked ourselves: Why was it important to have a tall tower? Was there a real purpose for the tower? How did the competition between the teams affect the building of the tower? From this experience, we will move on to read about the tower of Babel.
Your blog post provided great conversation with the kids, at home and school. Thank you!