K-12 Writing
Activities with a
Spiritual Emphasis
•Pollyanna Barnes, chair
•Rondi Aastrup
•Marcia Daniel
•Roberta Merrow
•Apryl Symonds
Introduction and Purpose
• Spirituality in writing does not entail just prayer
before a class and reading a text. It involves
saturating the whole lesson with spirituality,
setting the spiritual foundation with Biblical
principles and teaching concepts and practices
through them, so that the student understands
their practicality and applicability. The following
are topics and activities that integrate faith and
learning in the writing class, grades K-12.
Additionally, sample lessons are provided to
exemplify this approach to teaching.
Topics and Activities
(in no particular order)
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Poetry of the Bible*
Prose of the Bible
Explore different genres in the Bible
Write a poem that illustrates a principle
from the Bible
• Write a sketch that illustrates a principle
from the Bible
• The Bible as a novel*
– Using The Book of God
• Writing the Bible as a story
• Research
– Culture, history, psychology, religion
• Writing process
• Modernize it
• Do different writing activities with
topics/stories in the Bible
– Make up a song, a rap, a skit, a poem
• Include the Spirit of Prophecy
– How can we make it more interesting, more
applicable and relevant to students? Help
them see the value of EGW
• Bring her words to other elements…what does she
say about historical events…
• Work through Messages to Young People…debate
issues, act out pros and cons of what she’s
saying…correlation between what she says and
what’s happening
• Advertisements…create an ad for
something they’ve read in the Bible or
EGW
• Steps to Christ or Ministry of Healing to
teach essay writing*
• Biblical applications in a writing format to
illustrate the writing process and support
with literature
• Write and illustrate a parable*
• Modern day proverbs…every culture has
them…*
• Writing workshop…create an ad for
someone to come to Christ…
• Write a generic lesson plan that would
work for writing with the focus of applying
Biblical principles or S-of-P
• Come up with ideas as to how we can do
this…one example of that lesson plan on
each level…list various ways that it can be
used in writing across the
curriculum…include goals and preferred
practices…list resources
– Elements of the lesson plan
• High school is more in depth and more independent
• Generic components
– Objectives
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Understand genre
Apply form and principle to their own work
Reflect on principle and apply to own life
Share/publish/present
• Journals/diaries of Bible characters,
Adventist pioneers
• Biographies or autobiographies or
memoirs of Bible characters, Adventist
pioneers
• Write a teen/kid’s devotional
• Participate in the Insight writing contest or
submit to it or the Junior Guide
• Write a children’s book and illustrate it and
share it with elementary kids
• Interview with God…research God’s
character via Bible, then create an
interview of Him from what you’ve learned
• How to use this across the
curriculum…curriculum connections
• Newsletter of a particular Biblical
place/era/group/person
• Write an epistle similar to any one of the
Biblical epistles
• Write their own Adventist Girl story
• Write some Adventist Boy stories
• Write a hymn
• Write a play about…a Biblical story…a
pioneer story…the background of a
hymn…an old testament king…
• Design and carry out a family worship
(beginning to end)
• Write their spiritual memoir
• Keep a prayer journal
• Design and maintain a blog
• Design a website about a Bible character,
an Adventist pioneer
• Create a webquest about a character,
pioneer, spiritual topic
• Create a power point about a Bible
character, pioneer, spiritual topic
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Writing Through the Bible Elementary K-8
Genre’s throughout the Bible
Book of God (see Amazon.com)
Prayer Writing/ Prayer Journals
• Have each group come up with a skit that
demonstrates the joy that comes in putting
Jesus first, Others next, and Yourself last.
• Story of Job
8 Sample Lesson Plans
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Biblical short story
Adventist Pioneer biography
Hebrew poetry
Parable writing
Expository essay using Steps to Christ
Writing through the Proverbs
– 5-day plan with devotional
• Persuasive writing using Ministry of Healing
• Writing prayers
HEALTH/TEMPERANCE – Spirit
of Prophecy
• Main Idea/Supporting details
– Read the quotation/references from a
selection of EGW’s writings on health.
– determine the lesson/Main idea/Health tip that
EGW is portraying using Ministry of Healing,
and the Adventist Home,
• Writing/Opinion Essay
– Choose one of the 8 health tips and write an
opinion essay on it. (Do you agree? Why/Why
not?
• Grades 6 – 12 Research a concordance
/bible : find a text to substantiate these
quotations
• Grades 2-5, use the Text bank to correlate
verses with the quotations
• Writing Prompt for health/temperance:
– How does this quotation relate to your personal
life? How can you improve based on what you
have read in this tip?
– Will your salvation be impacted if you do not
eat meat?
– Is it a sin not to be a vegetarian?
– Write an essay on the correlation of excercise
and a healthy body
• Persuasive Essay Prompt:
– Some people are concerned that students are not
as healthy as they should be. They think that
regular exercise and information about good health
habits are essential parts of an education.
Therefore, some people want to require a daily
physical education and health class for all students.
Write a persuasive essay stating whether or not
you agree that all students should be required to
take a daily physical education and health class.
Give reasons why you think as you do.
• Report: Educationally generated report
that relates to the 8 health principles and
publish in a literary forum
• Debate – pros and cons of various health
tips (Caffeine Debate), make a graph,
persuasive essay
• Design an exercise program
• Design an Ad/Flyer promoting a healthy
lifestyle (Use ideas from the 8 health tips)
“Guarding the Avenues of
your Mind?”
– In what areas would you focus on to protect
your mind? (Present in song, skit, poem, art,
audio-visual, powerpoint) J2E 1,2,5,6,7,8,9
• Create a comic strip character and story
about “Guard the Avenues of Your Mind?”
• Prayer*
• Write a prayer of
Thanksgiving/Repentance to God
• Compare David’s Prayer, Hezekiah,
Jehosephat . What were they praying for?
• Discuss the following prayers
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Praise Psalms 9
Trust Psalms 25
Safety Psalms 35
Thanksgiving Psalms 8
• Discuss Story Endings
• Materials: Bible Stories (Volume editions);
• Story endings (Beginning, middle, end)
Create an alternate ending to the following
stories. How do you think it should have
ended? Draw a picture to match your
ending
• Daniel in the Lion’s Den, Three Hebrew
Boys, Writing on the Wall, Samson’s last
hour of strength
• Peter walking on the water
• When bad things happen to Christians, is
God still leading in their lives?
• Yes. “I will not fail you or abandon you”
(Joshua 1:5). “I am with you always, even
unto the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
“Whenever trouble comes your way, let it
be an opportunity for joy. For when faith is
tested, your endurance is fully developed,
you will be strong in character and ready
for anything” (James 1:2, 3).
• Should personal appearance make a
difference in our treatment of others?
• No. In 1 Samuel 16:7 the Lord says that
He does not look at the outward
appearance of a person but at his thoughts
and intentions. Also read Philippians 2:3:
“Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good
impression on others. Be humble, thinking
of others as better than yourself.”
Some Internet Resources
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http://circle.adventist.org/files/jae/jae200163033703.pdf
Using the Word: Studying Biblical references in poetry
http://circle.adventist.org/browse/resource.phtml?leaf=7408
Solo time with God…a teen devotional
http://circle.adventist.org/browse/resource.phtml?leaf=2782
Interview with God…movie, article, power point
http://www.innvista.com/culture/religion/bible/compare/hebrew.htm
Parallelism in Hebrew Poetry
http://www.whiteestate.org/vez/apr07/vez1.html
Ellen White Visionary for Kids, an e-zine for ages 9-14
http://www.whiteestate.org/godsmessenger.html
God’s Messenger, 38 lessons for grades 1-12
http://www.whiteestate.org/vez/vez.html
The White Estate
http://www.aplib.org/
Adventist Pioneer Library
http://www.asdal.org/sdare/arsweb.html
Adventist Historical Resources on the Web
http://circle.adventist.org/browse/resource.phtml?leaf=1198
Circle: Adventist Pioneer Library
http://www.adventistheritage.org/transaction.php?category=4
Adventist Heritage Ministry website