Week 441 · about 45 minutes
Ezra 2
Ezra 2 · Memory verse Ezra 2:3
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Ezra 2), the matching word search and answer key (Ezra 2 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a wooden spoon
Hold a wooden spoon. Read Ezra 2 in about four minutes, stopping at Ezra 2:3: “The children of Parosh, two thousand one hundred seventy-two.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Ezra 2?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Ezra 2 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Now these are the children of the province, who went up out of the captivity of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, everyone to his city;” That is not a motto invented for a poster. It is the first sentence a family hears when this page is opened at night.
Keep going a little further. The chapter also says, “The priests: the children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred seventy-three.” Ezra 2 opens with these words: “Now these are the children of the province, who went up out of the captivity of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the…” The line to keep is Ezra 2:3: “The children of Parosh, two thousand one hundred seventy-two.” Carry the word “children” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Ezra 2:3: “The children of Parosh, two thousand one hundred seventy-two.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Ezra 2? Then try this: Read “The children of Parosh, two thousand one hundred seventy-two.” once more. What does it show you about God? You do not have to finish every verse. You can close the book after the memory verse and still have read the Bible together.
Group game
Walk the room as if you are moving through Ezra 2. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Ezra 2:3. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Ezra 2 and write Ezra 2:3 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Ezra 2:3
“The children of Parosh, two thousand one hundred seventy-two.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Ezra 2. Help us remember Ezra 2:3 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.