Teacher's Manual: Grade Six

Lesson Suggestions for Grade Six

The Sixth Grade Student

Sixth grade students, although capable of intense loyalty to others, usually appear to be self-centered and self-conscious. It is critical to the on-going maturation and development of these students that they maintain communication and warm, affirming relationships with adults who are significant in their lives.

Eleven-year-olds are persons who

· wonder about their personal and sexual identity;

· rely heavily on peer group acceptance for nurturing of

self-esteem;

· can make reasonable choices;

· can analyze situations;

· pursue discovery through experimentation;

· identify with the human person and characteristics of

Jesus (healer, teacher, man of compassion, gentle,

forgiving, kind).

Some suggestions for teaching sixth graders

· support individual students in times of doubt and

questioning;

· answer questions about sexuality comfortably;

· provide opportunities to make choices and accept

responsibility;

· suggest ways to analyze situations critically;

· recognize peer pressure and try to use it positively;

· focus both prayer and principle on the person, Jesus.

Lesson # 20

CHRISTIAN RESPONSE

Lesson Objective

The students will be able to

C-6 demonstrate an appreciation of God's unconditional

love and relate that understanding to their own

treatment of persons with AIDS and other serious

illnesses.

Overview

The lesson begins with a brief reminder of God's unconditional love for us and some student role playing of conversations which show everyday examples of unconditional love. A group of students then present a dramatic reading (or the teacher reads or tells the story) about Jesus' love of the woman taken in adultery. Jesus' love of the woman is related to the unconditional love to be extended to all, including persons with AIDS. The lesson closes with a prayer or a prayer service.

Suggested Teacher

Religion or science teacher

Basic Information and Vocabulary

The teacher should know the story of the woman taken in adultery, John 8:1-11, and should review the content of Lessons # 1, # 4, # 7, # 14, and # 17.

Vocabulary: (* = in Glossary)

*adultery *unconditional love

Suggested Materials

New Testament, John 8:1-11 (Bibles or copies of the passage as needed to facilitate student written/ directed play)

One copy of Handout # 20, "Situations for Role Playing," for each small group of students

Teacher's copy of Pope John Paul 11's Address at Mission Dolores (in Section 4)

Teaching/ Learning Activities

A. Preparation

Begin class in a reflective setting with an appropriate reading, such as Paragraphs # 9-10 from Pope John Paul 11's Address at Mission Dolores (in Section 4).

What is the main point of Pope John Paul in these words?

(That God loves us unconditionally, forgiving and accepting us even when we fail to do the right thing)

If God loves us unconditionally, forgiving and accepting us even when we fail to do the right thing, then how do you think God wishes us to treat others?

(In the same way, reflecting God's unconditional love)

Because God loves us in this way and asks us to love others in the same way, it is important that

we understand unconditional love. Today you will have the opportunity to create conversations that reflect unconditional love and to role play them.

B. Situations for Role Playing

Ask small groups of students to prepare and to role play the conversations as directed in Handout # 20.

C. Presentation

Some people are signs in our lives of God's unconditional love. This means that this love will never change, will never run short even though the persons may change. You have just heard several examples of this during our role playing.

We have learned about unconditional love from Jesus. He gave us many examples of this love in his life and was even willing to die for us.

One story that tells about this unconditional love is the story of the woman taken in adultery. (Although we name this story after the woman taken in adultery, the story obviously includes a man - maybe several men - as well as the woman.) A group of your classmates have prepared a short dramatic form of this story based on John's account in the New Testament. In it Jesus again gives us an example of unconditional love, an example of compassion.

D. Play

The students present the play

(Costumes, props, scenery, etc., may or may not be used.

E. Discussion

Individually or in small groups, the students respond to questions such as these:

1. How did the crowd feel about the woman and her behavior?

2. What was Jesus' reaction to the crowd? to the

woman?

3. If you were the woman, how would you want to be

treated?

4. What can we learn from the way Jesus treated the

woman?

F. Transition

Because of the way Jesus treated the woman, she was changed. It was the experience of Jesus' unconditional love and forgiveness that made it possible for the woman to forgive herself and to start a new way of living. Her family and neighbors probably accepted her after they heard how Jesus treated her.

We have been studying the deadly condition of AIDS. Now that we have studied Jesus' compassion for the woman, this is a good time to reflect on how we as followers of Jesus should treat others - including persons with the AIDS virus.

G. Application

Using the same or different settings as for Questions 14, ask students to respond to the following questions:

In the light of Jesus' compassion, how should

we treat students or other persons with the

AIDS virus?

If a person in your family has the AIDS virus,

how would you feel? How would you want

people to treat your family member?

What can you do to comfort families of persons with AIDS?

Closure

Close with this short prayer or develop its theme into a prayer service:

We give you thanks, our God, for your unconditional love. We are especially grateful that you gave us Jesus to show us what unconditional love means in our day-to-day living. We thank you for others who express some form of unconditional love in our lives - our parents, our teachers, our friends. Finally we ask that you help us to develop that kind of love - forgiving, compassionate, lasting - within our lives. We ask this, our God, through Jesus who models this kind of love for us. Amen.

Handout # 20

Situations for Role Playing

Characters: Father and son

Situation: A boy returns home with his bike. He is unhurt, but the bike is seriously damaged after being hit by a car. The boy's dad had told him not to take his bike to town on this particular day because of holiday traffic.

Direction to students: Create a conversation between the boy and his father that reflects the unconditional love of God for us.

Characters: Two girls who are sisters

Situation: Alice had given Mary her new jacket to wear on her class trip. At some point during the day, the jacket was lost or stolen. Mary is afraid to tell Alice that her jacket is missing.

Direction to students: Create a conversation between the sisters that illustrates the genuine forgiveness that will remind us of the way God loves and forgives us.

Characters: Boy and his teacher

Situation: Mike has always been honest, respectful, and reliable. Mrs. Holmes was supervising the playground and asked Mike to do her a favor. She gave him her school key and asked him to go to her classroom and get her raincoat. When Mike got to the room, he realized that the mathematics tests, scheduled to be given that afternoon, were on Mrs. Holmes' desk. Mike took a copy of the test along with the coat and returned to the playground.

At lunch that day, Mike and two of his friends worked the math problems in advance. The three boys had perfect scores on the test. When Mrs. Holmes called Mike to her desk at the end of the school day and asked him why he looked so nervous, he told her the truth.

Directions to students: Create a conversation between Mike and Mrs. Holmes that illustrates unconditional love and reflects God's unconditional love for us.

Lesson # 21

CHRISTIAN RESPONSE; BASIC INFORMATION; TRANSMISSION AND PREVENTION

Lesson Objectives

Students will be able to

C- 4 understand and appreciate the importance of loving unselfishly and responsibly;

C-12 understand and appreciate that sexual activity and sexual intercourse have meaning and purpose only within a marriage commitment;

B- 6 define homosexuality and related Church teaching;

T-12 identify four ways the AIDS virus is transmitted

and prevented.

Overview

The lesson begins with ideas on how people communicate, reviews the importance of loving unselfishly and responsibly, then bridges to sexual intercourse as an intimate form of communication and love. Chastity is introduced as a virtue that helps persons love unselfishly and responsibly. In simple terms the Church position on sexual intercourse and homosexuality is presented. A Matching Exercise checks basic understanding of the key concepts, and the lesson closes with prayer.

Suggested Teacher

Religion, science, or health teacher

Basic Information and Vocabulary

The teacher should review Lessons # 14 and # 15 as well as the related orientation material. The teacher can also prepare for the lesson by reading "AIDS: Time for a Moral Renaissance" by Cardinal Basil Hume of London (in Section 4).

Some background about chastity for the teacher follows:

Genuine chaste love is not selfish, possessive, or smothering but unselfish, non-possessive and freeing. Chastity presumes that one is faithful to God, to self, and to others.

Chastity is practiced in different forms in marriage, the single state, the priesthood and religious life. In marriage, chastity focuses on the faithful love between the husband and wife. For the single person, chastity refers to virginity practiced as long as the person is in the single state. In religious life, chastity is often called consecrated celibacy; this means virginity as a response to a Gospel invitation or virginity consecrated to Jesus Christ.

Helps to chastity include sound instruction about health, sex, relationships, prayer, counseling, and the celebration of the sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist.

The following selections may be helpful to the teacher:

"Persons by nature are sexual beings, endowed with sexual desires or drives. Some regulation of one's sexual appetite is required by the nature of human life, both personal and social. When self-moderation and self-regulation in sexual life are practiced, the natural virtue of chastity exists."

("Chastity," Catholic Encyclopedia)

"Mere conscious rejection or unconscious repression of sexuality is not chastity, for neither constitutes a moral moderation of sexuality but only warps and frustrates it."

("Chastity," Catholic Encyclopedia)

"Chastity, which includes self-control, not only protects you from AIDS but also helps you to develop who you are right now. Self-discipline is an integral part of the mature personality ... ; the recovery of the virtue of chastity may be one of the most urgent needs of contemporary society."

("A Call to Compassion," Pastoral Letter by California's Bishops)

Vocabulary: (* = Glossary)

Vocabulary: (* = in Glossary)

Suggested Materials

For review, Transparency Master # 15b

Transparency Master # 2 1 a

Matching Exercise - Handout # 2 1 b

Teaching/ Learning Activities

A. Introduction

Ask the students to help name many ways we communicate with each other and make a list on the board (talking, touching, facial expression, etc.) Then proceed with ideas similar to these:

In all of these means, we may not allow other persons to really "know" us. We can easily hide our honest selves. However, when we love someone, we want to reveal our true selves and to be loved and accepted in return. We are not fearful of being known. We choose to spend time with a person we love. We want to know all about a loved one, so we find many ways to communicate.

B. Presentation

Married couples experience and express feelings of love in many ways including words, hugs, and kisses. This is, of course, natural and good. In God's plan, when people committed to marriage want to communicate totally and create new life, they continue to express their love, reaching the fullest expression as they unite their bodies in sexual intercourse. This is a very loving act between a husband and a wife that is an intimate

sexual expression of their love for each other. During this loving act, the man places his penis (the male reproductive organ) in the woman's vagina (the passageway to the uterus or womb). This is a very special moment within marriage.

The act can be used, however, in ways that can be seriously harmful - in terms of morality and in terms of health. First, let us look at the morality - at right and wrong.

The Catholic Church, reflecting the Word of God, teaches that intimate (close) sexual activity is right and good within marriage, but it should occur only within the relationship of marriage. Marriage calls each of the partners to be committed exclusively to each other for life. The Church clearly teaches that intimate sexual activity outside of marriage is seriously wrong.

In other words, it is wrong and harmful if young unmarried persons do not control their feelings of love until they can express them fully within marriage or if a man and woman who are not married to each other use this special expression. Many people have witnessed the havoc that can result to relationships and families.

What might be some of the reasons for the Church's teaching that intimate sexual activity should be reserved for marriage?

(keep the relationship special, provide for resulting children, symbolize a genuine unity, give family stability)

Some people today say it is impossible to respect this expression of special relationship and to keep it within marriage. But God our Creator has said it is possible and gives special help through a virtue called chastity. Chastity can be explained in many ways:

· as a virtue that helps persons to love unselfishly and responsibly;

· as a virtue that helps to control sexual desires;

· as a gift that enables persons to direct their sexual energies in ways that respect the wonder of their bodies and that communicate love unselfishly.

In addition to the issue of morality is the issue of health. There is also the danger of one of the partners contracting the AIDS virus if the other partner has it.

Does anyone recall the ways that children can get the AIDS virus?

Use Transparency Master # 15b to review.

Continue with Transparency Master # 21 a:

Just as a person's blood can carry the AIDS virus, so too can the virus be carried in the semen, the fluid from a man's penis or in the fluid in a woman's vagina. The most common way the AIDS virus is spread among teenagers and adults is through intercourse with more than one partner. The more sexual partners a person may have, the greater are that person's chances of getting the AIDS virus.

God's command to be faithful to one another - given as early as Adam and Eve - not only protects family life; it can also keep the AIDS virus from spreading through the exchange of semen or vaginal fluids that occurs in sexual intercourse. If a couple is faithful to each other, they will eliminate the most common way that the AIDS virus is transmitted.

C. Review

Although sexual intercourse is a wonderful God-given means of communication and expression of love within marriage, we know it can be seriously harmful in two ways. Who can tell us these ways?

(Morally harmful if persons are not married to each other; harmful to health if one of the two persons has the AIDS virus.)

D. Clarification

We have been talking about the ordinary situation in which a man and a woman engage in sexual activity. There is a long word that describes a person who has a sexual orientation toward persons of the opposite sex.

Does anyone know what that word is?

(heterosexual)

There is a word that looks similar to this word - homosexual. Briefly, a homosexual is a person who has a sexual orientation toward persons of the same sex. If the person is a man, sometimes he is called gay; if the person is a woman, sometimes she is termed lesbian.

Earlier we said that God expects a man and a woman not to engage in heterosexual activity outside of marriage. God expects them to live chastely. Although the circumstances are very different, there should be no sexual activity between homosexuals. God requires that they too develop and live the virtue of chastity.

Note to teacher: This section on homosexuality is an important but brief clarification. More will be included in Lesson # 34.

E. Review

We have covered a number of important ideas in this class. Let us see how many ideas you can remember by doing this Matching Exercise. (Handout # 21 b)

Closure

Review by giving correct answers.

(Key for Column 2: # 3, 4, 1, 2, 10, 6, 5, 7, 8, 9)

Close with a prayer to use the gift of human sexuality according to God's plan. One suggestion follows:

Our God, you have created us as good persons. You have made us as total persons - with maleness or femaleness. We thank you for all of your gifts - including your gift of sexuality. We accept this gift which makes us who we are and affects how we relate to each other and to the world around us. We ask that you help us always to be grateful for this gift, to respect our sexuality and that of others, and to use this gift and all your gifts according to your plan. We ask all this through Jesus. Amen.

Download Transparency Master # 21a in Microsoft Word™ Format

Download the Applicable Handout in Microsoft Word™ Format

Lesson # 22

TRANSMISSION AND PREVENTION

Lesson Objectives

Students will be able to

T-10 suggest ways to deal with peer pressure;

T-11 explain basic safety precautions related to emergency procedures;

T-13 discuss Christian response and health hazards related to any experimentation with sex or drugs.

Two sessions are recommended.

Overview

By means of a letter or a guest speaker, the students may have an opportunity to communicate directly with a person living with AIDS. The students will either read a recent letter from a person living with AIDS or personally interview a person living with AIDS regarding the effect of peer pressure in his/ her life, especially peer pressure that led to experimentation with sex or drugs. (An alternate activity involves using the letter provided; it is based on one of the "many faces" of AIDS in a USCC Administrative Board document.) The students then reflect on Jesus' response to both the person and the peer pressure. The ideas learned from this activity may be shared with others. In the second part of the lesson, students learn safety precautions for handling blood during accidents.

Suggested Teacher

Religion, health, or science teacher

Basic Information and Vocabulary:

The teacher should review Lessons # 13, # 16, # 19, and # 21 as well as the related material in the orientation section. The teacher should be familiar with the Universal Precautions described in Section 4, immediately preceding the Glossary.

Suggested Materials

Transparency Master # 2 1 a

Handout of either a recent letter from a person living with AIDS or the following letter, based on a selection from "The Many Faces of AIDS: A Gospel Response":

"When I was young, my friends always pushed me to escape from my mother's house. They (and me too sometimes) thought the house felt like a prison. The best escape came through drugs. They showed me how to do it, always found a supply, and shared their needles. Now after being really sick for about six

months, I have been admitted to a hospital - with no money to pay the bills. They tell me I have AIDS. I don't know how all this has happened to me. Sometimes I don't think I have any control of life. Sometimes I think I gave my friends too much control of my life."

Teaching/ Learning Activities

A. Preparation

Elicit a letter from a person living with AIDS, giving the person's major life points and the current situation, (or use the brief letter provided) or invite a carefully selected person living with AIDS - preferably with a Christian value system -who is willing to be a guest speaker.

B. Presentation

Ask the person who is writing or speaking to the class to tell how he or she yielded to peer pressure and began to experiment with sex or drugs.

C. Reflection and Discussion

In small groups, ask the students to reflect upon the question,

What can you learn from this experience?

If Jesus were to meet this person today, how would he respond?

If Jesus had been in this person's place at the time of the peer pressure, how would he have responded?

Discuss some responses to the reflection questions, taking care that two points emerge:

1. Jesus' empathy with the seriously ill person;

2. Jesus' teaching that we can - with God's help - overcome temptation and choose good.

D. Assignment

Then give a wide choice of topics for a related assignment. This will increase students' interest in each other's reports. Some possible assignment ideas follow:

Write a short theme or commercial on Coping with Peer Pressure Today.

Interview others by tape on the topic:

How can I withstand peer pressure in regard to drugs, sex, or other areas?

Interview 3 peers

3 teachers

3 parents

principal or DRE

pastor

Give Scriptural examples of Jesus responding to pressure.

Closure of First Part

In class - as a whole or in small groups - hear students' themes, commercials, Scriptural examples, and overviews of taped interviews. If desired, decide which items would be of interest to others and either publish some that would be appropriate in the school/ parish newspaper or share them in a closed-circuit television broadcast for the upper grades or parent group.

D. Review (To Begin Second Part)

Begin this part with a review of the four ways that the AIDS virus can be transmitted through exchanging body fluids with a person infected with the AIDS virus (as on Transparency Master # 21 a):

• during sexual intercourse with a person infected with the AIDS virus;

• through use of a needle infected with the AIDS virus;

• through birth when the mother has the AIDS virus;

• through a transfusion infected with the AIDS virus

(now very rare).

E. Presentation

In addition to these four ways, one other situation might allow an exchange of blood with a person infected with the AIDS virus. The AIDS virus could possibly be caught when responding to a medical emergency - like a serious accident on the playground or a wreck on the highway - when persons are hurt and bleeding seriously.

Note: Give facts but diffuse fear.

A small number of doctors and nurses have been infected when they handled blood infected with the AIDS virus without proper precautions. That is why some health experts tell us to be very careful with accidents that involve much bleeding. Remember that the AIDS virus can be in people's blood without them knowing it. If ever you, your family, or anyone else should find someone hurt and seriously bleeding - you should be careful.

(Role play) If I have a big cut on my hand and I wipe up a lot of blood of a person who has the AIDS virus, I could get the virus. As much as possible, try to call an adult if a serious accident occurs. If possible, don't handle it yourself

Whoever handles an accident should use rubber gloves to help a seriously bleeding person or to clean up a lot of blood. That's the safest way. The AIDS virus does not live long when washed with a bleach-and-water solution (I part bleach in 10 parts water). A good soap-and-water hand washing will also kill the virus.

F. Practice

Let us pretend that you and your Uncle Joe are home when the electrician comes to replace some wiring. Unfortunately, the electrician falls from a ladder, hits his head, and bleeds seriously. After the injured worker is taken away in an ambulance, your uncle reaches for paper towels to clean up the blood.

Now please move together into pairs. Each of you closest to the windows will become Uncle Joe. The other will now explain to Uncle Joe what would be a safer way to clean up the blood and why he should use the safer way.

G. Summary

To help us check whether our explanations were complete and accurate, let us list on the board some basic safety precautions that anyone should use when an emergency involves a seriously bleeding person:

(Use rubber gloves; try not to get blood in any open cuts. Clean up with 1/10 bleach/water solution. Wash hands with soap and water.)

Closure of Second Part

Take time to copy the basic safety precautions in notes. Then suggest that the students share these with other members of their families.