PDF A Parade of Easter Lessons - Homeschool Learning Network

A Parade of Easter Lessons

Easter, the celebration of Christ's Resurrection from the dead, is the most important Christian holy day of the year. The season's deep cultural, historical, and religious roots offer the perfect opportunity to incorporate lessons about this most holy season into your standard curriculum. Help your children learn to better appreciate the history, traditions, symbols, and meaning of Easter-with this veritable parade of cross-curricular activities!

This year, most Christians will celebrate Easter on March 31-the first Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Orthodox Christians, however, who date Easter using the Julian Calendar rather than the Gregorian Calendar, will celebrate Easter on May 5.

No study of Easter-the day on which Scripture tells us Christ rose from the dead-is complete, of course, without an understanding of the entire season of Lent, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. Although now most commonly known as a time of repentance and penance, in the early days of Christianity, Lent was a period when Christians prepared to rededicate themselves to their faith and converts prepared to be baptized into their new faith. Because those baptisms typically took place on the vigil of Easter, the 40 days preceding Easter were set aside as a time for fasting, self-examination, and reflection. The 40 days of Lent represent the 40 days Jesus is reported to have spent in the wilderness preparing for his ministry. Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, gets its name from the practice of sprinkling ashes over those about to enter their own time of preparation.

Holy Week, the last week of Lent, begins with Palm Sunday. On Palm Sunday, the distribution of palms recalls Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem. On that day, in stark counterpoint to their behavior on his final day, crowds greeted him with palmsa symbol of triumph-and adulation.

Thursday of Holy Week marks the observance of the Last Supper, which was actually the disciples' Passover meal. According to Jewish law, Passover began at sundown on Thursday. That same night, according to the accounts of the apostles, Jesus was betrayed by Judas, tried by the Sanhedrin, and sentenced to death by Pilate. On Friday morning, Jesus was crucified. No one is sure why the day has become known as Good Friday, although the term may have evolved from the words God's Friday. On Saturday, according to Scripture, Jesus' body rested in the tomb. On Sunday, He rose from the dead. In the early days of Christianity, the faithful observed Holy Week by traveling to Jerusalem to reenact Jesus' passion, death, and Resurrection.

Although Easter is, of course, a Christian holy day, many of the traditions and symbols associated with the season reflect, not only the influences of Judaism, but also those of ancient pagan religions. According to the Venerable Bede, an eighth century monk, the word Easter actually is derived from Eostre, a pagan Goddess of Spring, whose festival was held at the vernal equinox.

Two of the most familiar symbols of Easter, the Easter bunny and the Easter egg, also have their origins in early pagan celebrations of spring, in which the egg and the hare were believed to symbolize fertility and new life. Most likely, those pagan elements were introduced into the Christian celebration of Easter in an effort to assimilate pagan beliefs into Christian rites to make it easier to convert pagans to Christianity. The tradition of Easter baskets probably represents the ancient practice of offering seedlings to the gods to ensure a good growing season, as well as the nest German children later created to receive the eggs they believed were brought by the Easter bunny.

For most families today, the Easter celebration incorporates both secular and religious elements. It's important that children understand the relationship between the two. Today's lessons are designed, therefore, to help your children more fully appreciate the historical, cultural, and religious importance of Easter.

Learn More! General Resources about Easter

Online Resources

? Easter abcteach provides a variety of cross-curricular Easter activities for young children in math, language arts, art, and more.

? Easter in Cyberspace The informational resources at this site relate to religious, rather than secular, Easter traditions.

? Eggs Find everything you ever wanted to know about eggs at this site containing egg facts, activities, recipes, experiments, games, and more.

? Happy Easter Kids Domain provides links to Easter games, activities, poems, stories, graphics, and more for young children.

? Easter Games and Party Ideas Graphic and audio intensive, this site contains Easter word searches and scrambles, mazes, and links to lots more Easter-related learning activities for kids.

? Happy Easter Twin Groves Middle School in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, provides links to information about Easter history, symbols, traditions, and activities for kids.

Books

? Carlson, Melody and Jack Stockman. Benjamin's Box. Zondervan Publishing House. ISBN: 0310700442 (Ages 4-8) A young boy follows Jesus through Jerusalem.

? Maier, Paul and Frank Ordaz. The Very First Easter. Concordia Publishing House. ISBN: 0570070538 (Ages 4-8) A father and son discuss Luke's version of Christ's passion and Resurrection.

? Egeberg, Gary. Stations for Teens. St. Mary's Press, 2000. ISBN: 0884895122 Meditations on the 14 Stations of the Cross and 12 Scripture stories offer an opportunity for teens to reflect on Jesus' passion and Resurrection.

LESSON 1: The Story of Easter

Concepts: Your children will learn about the story of Easter.

Lesson: Help your young children understand the religious importance of Easter by reading aloud to them passages from the four gospels at The Easter Story. Talk to your children about the words of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and discuss with them the meaning of those words. Then invite your children to retell the story in their own words as they write and create an Easter Story Book.

Additional Resources:

? The Story of Easter

LESSON 2: Following in Jesus' Footsteps

Concepts: Your children will learn about the passion, death, and Resurrection of Jesus.

Lesson: Your children probably have heard the story of Jesus' suffering, death, and Resurrection many times; but have they really been able to understand those events in their cultural and historic context? Invite your children to view Christ's death and Resurrection from a new perspective by participating in The Interactive Passion History.

Then print the Map of Jerusalem at the Time of Jesus and ask your children to reflect on what they learned as they trace the route described in the story. (To print the map, you may need to save it first to your computer's photo editing program.)

Extension: Encourage your children to read the Interactive Passion History Bible References and compare the Biblical version of the story with the online version.

LESSON 3: Easter History

Concepts: Your children will learn about the history, traditions, and symbols of Easter.

Lesson: Easter is the Christian holiday that celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Many of the holiday's traditions, however, have developed from elements of ancient pagan festivals, the Jewish observance of Passover, and other cultural influences. Encourage your children to explore the development of various Easter traditions at Hoppy Easter. Then ask them to complete the Easter History online scavenger hunt. Check answers with the Answer Sheet

Additional Resources:

? Easter Traditions and Origins ? How Easter Works ? Symbols for Easter ? Easter Symbols and Food ? The Easter Bunny

LESSON 4: Easter as an Algorithm

Concepts: Your children will learn about algorithms.

Lesson: Easter is a movable holiday; its date changes each year. The rule for when Easter is held, however, is completely inflexible. How can that be? Easter Sunday always is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox-which usually falls on March 21. The mathematical formula for determining the date Easter will fall on is even more complicated.

Ask your children to study the algorithm, or step-by-step formula, for determining The Date of Easter. Have them use that formula to find the date that Easter will fall on in another year in the future. (They can check their answer at Dates of Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday.) Then encourage your children to learn more about algorithms by exploring Algorithms and Ice Cream for All and solving the problem presented.

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