My RE class is different this year from previous years because the program changed from a traditional RE format where the kids are taught in a classroom by a catechist 3 times a month to being homeschooled by their parents. Now I only have my students once a month and my job is to review and evaluate on what they've been learning.
My first review class was on Catholic Parenting and the families had been instructed to do various activities such as having a special dinner to honor your dad or father figure. For this week's activity, they were told to tell their dad what they love about him and share fun memories with them. Each week had a different activity with the goal of drawing the family closer together as a unit and towards God. My students shared their experiences and then we reviewed the importance of prayer, especially before meals. To build on the idea of prayer, I put a number of different objects in a bag and pulled them out one by one, asking if anyone knew what it was, i.e. rosary, bible, candle, holy medal, holy card, holy water, children's devotional...etc. Then I asked what all of these items had in common and what they are used for... a couple of children responded correctly "to pray."
And since our class was right before All Saints Day, I made these saint cards emphasizing virtues:
With the extra time I had, I decided to have a mini All Saints party.
We had a Happy Saints Memory Game that I had printed on sticker paper and adhered to foam squares:
We used Jennifer's Saint Guessing Jar Game which was a huge hit. Here was our set up:
My first review class was on Catholic Parenting and the families had been instructed to do various activities such as having a special dinner to honor your dad or father figure. For this week's activity, they were told to tell their dad what they love about him and share fun memories with them. Each week had a different activity with the goal of drawing the family closer together as a unit and towards God. My students shared their experiences and then we reviewed the importance of prayer, especially before meals. To build on the idea of prayer, I put a number of different objects in a bag and pulled them out one by one, asking if anyone knew what it was, i.e. rosary, bible, candle, holy medal, holy card, holy water, children's devotional...etc. Then I asked what all of these items had in common and what they are used for... a couple of children responded correctly "to pray."
And since our class was right before All Saints Day, I made these saint cards emphasizing virtues:
I made each child a set focusing on girl saints for the girls and boy saints for the boys.
With the extra time I had, I decided to have a mini All Saints party.
We had a Happy Saints Memory Game that I had printed on sticker paper and adhered to foam squares:
We used Jennifer's Saint Guessing Jar Game which was a huge hit. Here was our set up:
Lastly, I sent my students home with a All Saints themed Halloween goodie bag:
Each bag included a Hershey's Chocolate bar with a Shine for Jesus wrapper, a holy card, a rosary, an angel coin and Halloween chocolate kisses.
Happy belated All Saints Day!
Noreen
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I always enjoy reading what you do with your class! Wonderful ideas. When my kiddos were little, we would collect saint cards (laminated) and put them on key rings. This not only kept them nice and neat, but they made nice "church" toys for the real littles ones. Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteHappy All Saint's Day, Noreen! Wow, that is an interesting change in RE. I've never heard of it but I'll bet it's a good idea for many parents to start taking more responsibility. I'm wondering what you are thinking about it and how it's going? I think I told you that my husband and I are teaching 6th grade this year and it's shocking how much the kids don't know and never go to church. On the upside, they are so eager to learn and such sweet little souls that I'm enjoying so much. I feel blessed by them and just pray that we are planting little seeds that will carry keep them close to Christ and His Church! God bless!
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