Unit 3: Lesson 3
SAMPLE LESSON:
Building Christian Character on the Mayflower plus Virtual Field Study to Plymouth, Massachusetts
Hit Next Button to Move On
Get Ready to Learn!
Print out the note sheets and activity sheets that are attached to this lesson so you can write the information down and keep it in your notebook to have a record of your learning.
For this lesson, you will need the note sheet, a pencil, and some notebook paper OR the ability to create a document on your computer to save to your digital notebook.
You will want to listen to each slide, then record the information onto your note sheet. I have underlined the important words for you to fill in.
Downloads
Activity
Before you begin, download all of the activity sheets for this lesson:
1. Note Sheet
2. Vocabulary
3. The Principle of Christian Character
Message from Mrs. Stauffer
Message from Mrs. Stauffer
In this lesson, you will learn how God used the hard things on the voyage to build the Christian character of the Pilgrims.
This is the last of three lessons in this unit. Each lesson should take you between 30 and 45 minutes to complete. A test on this unit follows this lesson.
Several enrichment activities are included to broaden your understanding and make learning fun. I hope you take time to complete all of them.
Review Question 1
It’s Time to Review What We Have Learned!
Question 1/2
The food they took with them was mostly dried and salty. They had no fresh fruit, vegetables, or meat. Which of the following foods would not have been on the Mayflower?
- a. Prunes
- b. Cheese
- c. Tomatoes
- d. Dried Ox Tongue
- e. Cabbages and Onions
Review Question 2
Question 2/2
The people suffered from seasickness, cold, and illness. Which list best describes the conditions on board the Mayflower?
Note Sheet Instructions
Prepare Your Notes
Take out the student note sheet that you printed out in the beginning of this lesson or be prepared to take notes on notebook paper or your device. Younger students can follow along with the presentation and write the underlined items into the blanks on their note sheet.
If you keep it in your notebook along with the other papers that you complete in future lessons, you will have a great record of what you learned about in the Pilgrim story.
Download the note sheet if you have not already done so.
Download Note Sheet
Vocabulary
Download and print the vocabulary sheet for your notebook if you haven’t already.
Download Vocabulary| Christian Love and Brotherly Care | Caring for others as you would care for yourself, because Christ first cared for you |
| Faith and Trust in God | Acting on what you believe God will do because you know that He loves you and will take care of you. Never forgetting that God is in control. |
| Perseverance | Not giving up, no matter how hard it gets |
| Providence | The care God places over me because He sees the past, present, and future |
| Unity | Working together as one group for the success of everyone. Bound together by shared faith or ideas. |
The Conditions on the Mayflower
Because the season was late in the fall, they encountered many storms, which battered the ship about. The food they took with them was mostly dried and salty. They had no fresh fruit, vegetables, or meat.
God Is Always Working
1. God’s Providence on the Trip
a. sweet wine smell
b. main beam cracked
c. John Howland was saved
d. no Pilgrims died
e. Oceanus was born
f. profane sailor died
God Works All Things for Good
2. Trials Build Character
Romans 8:28 – “God causes all things to work together for good for those that love God and are called according to His purposes.”
James 1:2-4 – “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
Principle of Christian Character
Christian character is the good fruit in our life that grows from having a real, committed relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ. It is the result of God changing us to become more like Him in our actions, our responses, and the way we think.
What are some Christian character traits? A good place to start is with the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Some other qualities of a Christian are humbleness, honesty and truthfulness, contentment, generosity, courage, forgiveness toward others, compassion, diligence, perseverance, and obedience. God is so amazing and so infinite; the list of His attributes goes on and on.
A Pilgrim Worship Song
The Pilgrims loved to sing together!
Pilgrim Riddles
The Pilgrims loved to create and solve riddles to pass the time!
Can you find the answers to these two Pilgrim riddles?
Click to Reveal answers
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What is higher than a house yet seems smaller than a mouse?
Click to reveal answers
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What is full all day and empty at night?
Reasoning Activity
3. God knew what the Pilgrims would need as they established the new colony. He was working in their lives to build the character that would start a nation. On your note sheet, make a list of the character traits of the Pilgrims you think of, then compare your list to mine.
Character Traits of the Pilgrims
What character traits of the Pilgrims did you come up with? Here is what I wrote down:
Unity
Christian love and brotherly care
Perseverance
Faith and trust in God
Writing Activity
Make a personal connection
1. Copy James 1:2-4 and Romans 8:28 onto a sheet of paper or into a Word document.
2. Make a connection to your own life. Write about a time when you went through something that was hard or unpleasant, but God used it to teach you a lesson or build Christian character in your life. It may have been a time when you were disciplined or had to complete a hard assignment or maybe complete a hard job for your parents. Explain how God used it for your good.
Lesson Quiz
Unit 3 Lesson 2 Quiz
Now it is time to show what you have learned!
Quiz Question 1
Question 1/2
Which of the statements below was NOT an example of God’s providence on the voyage?
Quiz Question 2
Question 2/2
God used the difficult voyage in the lives of the Pilgrims. Because of the hardships they endured:
William Bradford Says...
“After many difficulties and boisterous storms, by God’s providence, by break of day we espied land which we deemed to be Cape Cod. The appearance of land much comforted us, especially seeing so goodly a land and wooded to the brink of the sea. It caused us to rejoice together and praise God that had given us once again to see land.”
Virtual Field Study to Plymouth, Massachusetts
“Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your ancestors.” – Proverbs 22:28
Additional Resources
If you enjoyed learning about the Christian character of the Pilgrims in this lesson, you may also enjoy reading these books:
The Landing of the Pilgrims by James Daugherty
Those Billington Boys: A Pilgrim Story by Janice Glover
Mayflower 1620: A New Look at a Pilgrim Voyage by Plimoth Plantation
– This completes the Sample Lesson-