Unit : Holy Trinity
4th Grade Lesson 4: Making Good Choices/Safe Environment
Alive in Christ book
Chapter 6: Making Good Choices pp. 107-116
Objectives
Catholic Faith Words
*Define free will as the God-given ability to choose between good and evil
*Recall that God gives us grace, the 10 Commandments, and the Church to
help us make good choices
*Understand that knowing God’s laws and strengthening our conscience will
help us make good decisions
*Identify conscience as the God-given ability that helps us judge whether
actions are morally good or wrong
Free will, grace, conscience
Bible Verses
Psalm 119:66
Isaiah 11:1-4a (p. 107)
Luke 10:30-37
Welcome
Chapter 5 Review p. 106
Invite
Prayer Space
Let Us Pray p. 107
Scripture reflection
What Do You Wonder?
Discover
Pp. 108-11
Choices and consequences, Freedom and Responsibility
Game: Temptation and Conscience
Live
Chapter 6 Activity Master: Word Puzzle
Songs: “Choices”, “Open My Eyes”
People of Faith
Saint Charles Langa p. 113
Going Forth
Prayer of Reflection p. 114
Activity: Game: Temptation and Conscience – making the right
choice
 Children take turns making decisions, after being ‘tempted’ and then
hearing their conscience’s response
 A child is selected to make the first few choices – they stand at the front
 Two other children get to stand, one behind each shoulder of the child
making the choice. One of these children will play the role of temptation,
the other will play the role of conscience. (You can have temptation wear
some horns, and have conscience wear a halo if you have the props for
this.)
 The teacher describes a situation to the child making a choice – should be
appropriate to a 4th grade level – could be an opportunity to steal or return
something dropped unknowingly by another child, be mean or nice to
someone excluded at the playground, etc.
 First, temptation talks and tries to tempt the child to make a bad
choice…they should make it sound tempting to do the wrong thing
 Second, conscience talks and says why it would be wrong to do what they
are being tempted to do, and how God would want them to act and why
 This might go back and forth once or twice
 Note: The teachers may need to demonstrate the first time to give the kids
an idea about how temptation and conscience might sound for one
example…
 Lastly, the child tells the class what their choice will be and why
 Repeat this as many times as you like with the children performing
different roles – you will need a situation or choice for each instance – plan
for a lot as they like this game…everyone will want a chance to be each of
the three roles in the game…make sure everyone gets to play at least
once
Summing Up
 What is our conscience? – The Holy Spirit that helps us to make good
decisions.
 What can we do to make sure we form a good conscience?
 What are the steps we should follow when we have a hard choice to make?