March 13–19

Moses 1; Abraham 3

“This Is My Work and My Glory”

Start by reading Moses 1 and Abraham 3. Come, Follow Me for individuals and families can help you understand these chapters, and this outline can give you teaching ideas.

Record Your Impressions

Improving Our Teaching

Children are curious and learn in many ways. Children enjoy learning through new and varied experiences. Use activities that help them move about, use all their senses, and try new things. (See Teaching in the Savior’s Way, 25–26.)

Invite Sharing

To help them share what they are learning at home and at church, you could play a game where children pass a ball to each other, and whoever has the ball shares one thing he or she has learned.

Teach the Doctrine

Younger Children

Moses 1:1–4, 6

I am a child of Heavenly Father.

The prophet Moses’s vision, found in Moses 1, teaches that we are children of God—something that every child needs to know. What do you learn from Moses 1 about Heavenly Father and our relationship with Him? How can you help the children know what it means to be a child of God?

Possible Activities

• Read aloud what God said to Moses: “Thou art my son” (Moses 1:4). Invite a child to the front of the room and ask the children to repeat with you, “(Child’s name), you are a child of God.” Repeat for each child in the class.

• Show several different pictures of children, and ask if they are children of God. Emphasize that everyone is a child of God.

• Sing “I Am a Child of God” with the children (Children’s Songbook, 2). Let them color this week’s activity page, and use it to review the truths this song teaches.

Moses 1:39

Heavenly Father wants me to live with Him again.

How have the truths in Moses 1:39 affected your life? What can you do to instill this understanding in the children?

Possible Activities

• Point out the phrases “this is my work” and “eternal life” in Moses 1:39, and help the children repeat the phrases. Tell the children about the work you do each day and teach them that Heavenly Father’s work is to help us gain eternal life, which means to live with Him again.

• Bring pictures of baby animals and grown animals, and ask the children to match them. Use these pictures to teach that we can become like Heavenly Father.

Abraham 3:22–28

I lived with Heavenly Father before I was born.

Children who know about the premortal life are more likely to make choices based on eternal truths. How can you help the children understand the truths found in Abraham 3:22–28?

Possible Activities

• Use chapter 1 in Old Testament Stories to teach the children about our premortal life (see also the video of this chapter on LDS.org).

• Have the children draw pictures of themselves as a baby. Explain that even though they cannot remember their life before they were born, they lived with Heavenly Father.

• Sing with the children songs about God’s plan for us (such as “I Will Follow God’s Plan,” Children’s Songbook, 164). Draw their attention to eternal truths in the lyrics.

Teach the Doctrine

Older Children

Moses 1:4, 37–39; Abraham 3:22–26

I am a child of God, and He wants to help me return to Him.

School is an important part of a child’s life; it can also be a helpful metaphor for earth life. As you read Moses 1:4, 37–39 and Abraham 3:22–26, how can you help the children understand these verses by comparing them to their school experience? For example, just as we go to school to learn, we come to earth to learn and become like our Heavenly Father.

Possible Activities

• What are the children’s favorite words or phrases from Moses 1:4, 39 and Abraham 3:24–25? What do they learn about Heavenly Father? about themselves?

• Use Abraham 3:25 to discuss how earth life is like a test. Think of situations in which the children might have to choose between right and wrong, and create a written “test” containing these scenarios.

Moses 1:12–26

God can help me resist temptation.

The children you teach are accountable for their choices and can be tempted by Satan. As you read Moses 1:12–26, look for things Moses did to resist Satan. How can you share this account with the children?

Possible Activities

• Summarize the story or have the children read selected verses from Moses’s experience. Then ask them to retell the story in their own words.

• Show the video “I Am a Son of God” (LDS.org). What did Moses do to resist Satan?

• Bring a box of tools labeled with ways we can resist temptation (such as prayer, singing a hymn, reading the scriptures, or serving others). Each child could pick a tool and think of a situation when that tool could help someone resist temptation.

Abraham 3:22–28

I lived with Heavenly Father before I was born.

These verses from the book of Abraham can help the children answer the questions “Where did I come from?” and “Why am I here?” How can you help them find answers?

Possible Activities

• With the children, read verses 22–28, and ask questions like “Who was the ‘one among them that was like unto God’?” and “Why was the earth created?”

• Sing songs about God’s plan for us (such as “I Will Follow God’s Plan,” Children’s Songbook, 164). Invite the children to draw pictures to help them memorize the words.

Encourage Learning at Home

How can you encourage children to share what they are learning with their families? For example, if they completed this week’s activity page, encourage them to share it with their families.

Sharing Time

Singing Time

Use the Children’s Songbook to select a variety of songs that reinforce the doctrines the children are learning this month. Here are some examples of songs:

• “I Am a Child of God,” Children’s Songbook, 2–3

• “I Know My Father Lives,” Children’s Songbook, 5

Share your testimony of the truths taught in the songs. Invite the children to share their testimonies as well.

Sharing by Children

Create opportunities for children to share how they are learning and living the gospel.

Younger Children

• Have the children repeat the phrase “I am a child of God.” Direct them to turn to the child next to them and say, “You are a child of God too.” Invite a few children ahead of time to share times when they have felt Heavenly Father’s love.

• Invite a parent to talk about how he or she feels when a child returns after being away (on a mission, at school, or in other places). Use this example to teach how much Heavenly Father wants us to return to Him.

Older Children

• Invite parents to bring a new baby to Primary and share their feelings about having the baby, who has just come from the premortal life. The children can share why it is important for everyone to know they are God’s children.

• Children could role-play answering a friend who asks, “Who am I?” “Where did I come from?” “Why am I here?” What verses would they use from Moses 1 or Abraham 3?