The Catholic Children's Bible Review

St. Mary's Press

Recently I was given a complimentary copy of The Catholic Children's Bible from St. Mary's Press to review.  It has exactly 2,000 pages of bright and informative pages of highlights woven throughout the books of the bible.  It is P.E.R.F.E.C.T. for children.  Each book is color coded and the text is large for easier reading.  The beginning of the bible has a section titled "The Bible is Like a Bookshelf" where it outlines the books of the Old Testament and the New Testament.  It explains how the books are set up in the bible and compares it to a bookshelf.  The idea is that the different books of the bible are divided up into sections yet are part of the whole bible.  For visual learners, it's a good tool to conceptualize how the bible is organized. For young children who do not know the difference between the Old Testament and New Testament, this is a great visual aid.  It categorized the books into color coded sections such as "Pentateuch", "Historical", "Wisdom", "Books of the Prophets" in the Old Testament.  In the New Testament, they are "Gospels and Acts" and "Letters".

A few pages later, the reader will find an explanation of the Old Testament and then the book description follows.  It's a type of summary of what to expect in that book.  (The same can be found in the New Testament.) The first page of each book begins with an explanation of how the reader can relate to the book.  It helps set up the book and then lists the "Featured Stories" with the page numbers.  I think for young children, this will aid comprehension and help to imprint it in their memories.  On succeeding pages, the reader will find the Featured Story broken down in a relatable way.  It also includes definitions of some words the reader may not be familiar with, a "Understand It!" section, a "Live It!" section and ends with a "Tell It!" section. The featured story uses brightly colored images to tell the story and to break it down into manageable parts. These extra sections are necessary for young readers which is why it's a 2,000 page bible.  The last few pages have a Prayer and Bible Helps section which has beautiful pictures, a Bible Timeline, maps, Catholic practices and prayers, and ends with Bible Passages for Special Times.

For a struggling reader who is reading the bible, it can be intimidating and frustrating.  The Catholic Children's Bible makes it less daunting by featuring the main stories within each book. Even for the youngest of readers, they can look at the pictures to assist in reading comprehension. To be honest, teenagers and adults could learn from this bible too.  If an adult Catholic bible is intimidating, then pick up the children's version.  I would even recommend Catholic Schools have this bible in their classrooms.  Their students will be drawn to colorful pictures and larger text.

I'm going to make a bold statement here.  Every Catholic family should have this bible.  Let's face it.  Many Catholics of my generation are bible illiterate and were poorly catechized.  The Catholic Children's Bible is just what is needed so the younger generation grows up knowing their bible.  This will help in their faith formation and draw them closer to God.  You can find more information about this children's bible and other great resources at St. Mary's Press.  Besides their store, they have a Resource Center with tons of information about the liturgical calendar, assessments, and Catholic news.  Go HERE to check it out for personal or professional use.

Blessings,
Noreen

Our Greatest Evil

I'm reading a book written by Fr. Thaddeus Dajczer called The Gift of Faith.  

Certain quotes seem to leap off the page at me.

Here is one of them.

I used this picture because I felt that she displays a radical not a lukewarm faith in Jesus.

Source

"There can be various kinds of sin.  

There are sins committed and sins of negligence.  

And the sins of negligence are the worst.  

Among these is the sin of abandonment - 

you abandon Christ, leave Him and give Him only a small corner in your heart.

This is your greatest evil.

This compromise and lack of radicalism shows that Christ does not represent the greatest value in your life, that to you He is not everything, that your faith is always lukewarm." 

 By Fr. Thaddeus's Dajczer in his book The Gift of Faith

Blessings,

Noreen

Totally Catholic!

I posted my book review on this new resource called Totally Catholic! A Catechism for Kids and Their Parents and Teachers over at Catholic Bloggers Network.

You can read about it HERE.

Blessings,

Noreen

The Will of God and Our Own Will

"The defense mechanism of rationalization is a fortress so strong and difficult to disarm primarily because it is in the subconscious.  How often do we, every one of us, invent some theory to justify our improper behavior?  We say 'After all I must rest; I cannot take care of that; I have to defend myself.'

You can even be very devoted to a so-called love, to the apostolate, to honorable causes, but at the source of this may lie a hidden and subconscious egoism.

It is egoism that causes our spiritual life to keep on going in constant tension between our will and the will of God.

Adherence to Christ and to His will, means that when His will is not in accordance with our will, we accept His ruining our plans.  We accept His foiling them.  The events in the lives of the saints often show us how God foiled human plans so that the human will could unite with the will of God.

These statements are from Fr. Tadeusz Dajczer book called The Gift of Faith.

They are clanging around in my head for my attention.  

They are speaking very loudly to me.

In fact, they almost jumped off the page at me when I first read them.

Will be pondering and praying on this one.

Blessings,

Noreen

Children's Books about a Pope

I'm always looking for children's books that teach my students about Our Faith 

but they must be available through the library network.

Here are a few books about Pope John Paul II and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

Are there any other good books, to be found at a library, 

about past Popes in a picture book format?

Blessings,

Noreen

Messages of Our Popes, Lost in Peter's Tomb

I saw both of these on Facebook recently and thought they were perfect to share here!

I have no idea where they originated but I agree with them completely!

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Source

Blessed JPII, pray for us!

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I was also very excited to receive in the mail this book from Chris at Campfires and Cleats.  She was giving away two Papal books for her blogoversary and I was the lucky recipient of this one.  My son has already begun reading it and I plan to read it after he's done.  Thank you Chris!

It's the first book of the Adventures with Sister Philomena: Special Agent for the Pope.  The back cover says "the children learn about St. Peter, explore the Vatican Gardens, follow a mischievous white cat, make friends with a Swiss Guard, discover the grandeur of St. Peter's Basilica, and fall upon the mystery of Peter's tomb and relics.  Sounds unique and interesting.  

Blessings,

Noreen

Holy Crocodile! Book Review

Source

Stories of Saints and the Animals Who Helped Them by Caroline Cory. Obviously it's a book geared towards children but even as an adult, I found it interesting.  This book was sent to me by the Catholic Company Reviewer Program.  The stories in Holy Crocodile! originate from ancient legends of saints who were helped by animals to serve God's purpose.   Ms. Cory had first learned of the story of St. Roch and his dog; it so entertained her that she went on an internet search to discover additional stories of animals who helped saints.  Not saints who cared for animals but in all of these stories, the saint was the one in need of help.

In her search, she came up with 19 more unique and entertaining legends to be compiled into her book.  The illustrations are bright and vibrant which are also drawn by Ms. Cory.  She is both author and illustrator of her book.  The majority of the mentioned saints, were new to me such as St. Pachome and St. Cuthbert. One familiar saint is St. Brigid of Ireland who is well known.  However, I had not heard the legend about her and the fox.  The same could be said for St. Clare of Assisi.  I'm familiar with her story but not her special relationship with her cat.  Lots of tid bits of entertaining trivia that will captivate a young child's imagination.  In our day and age of science fiction and fairy tales, this is a wholesome book for young children.  If you're tired of secular books such as Barbie and Flat Stanley,  I think young children will springboard off of these stories and have hours of imaginary role playing fun!  It is not meant to teach your child about the saint but rather to entertain your child on the perspective that God can use all creatures for his own purpose.  If you are looking for a saint biography, this is not the book for you.

My review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. I was given a complimentary copy of Holy Crocodile! for my honest review.  No monetary compensation was given.  Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Holy Crocodile! The Catholic Company is the best resource for all your seasonal needs such as First Communion Gifts as well as ideas and gifts for the special papal Year of Faith.

Blessings,

Noreen

Easter Lesson Plan

I have found so many wonderful ideas and ways to teach about Easter that it 

gets hard to choose at times, what to do!  

This was my last class before Easter and I wanted to impress the importance of the Passion of Jesus and His Resurrection on my students.  

I wanted them to remember His Suffering and Death and His Glorious Resurrection this coming Holy Week.  And not focus so much on Easter eggs and the Easter Bunny. 

I think through our activities, they walked away with a basic understanding.

At least, I pray they did.

Here is our prayer table.  I kept the crown of thorns and purple cloth since we focused on Holy Week as well as Easter.  We will change our cloth when we return in a couple of weeks.

The St. Joseph trading card (which I left in a shape of a bookmark) came from That Resource Site.

I found both books at my local library, they are Legend of the Dogwood by Brenda Gough

& Father and Son:  A Nativity Story

(it talks more the role St. Joseph played in raising Jesus).

I have an active group of first graders who enjoy games so I started them out with a 

Stations of the Cross Scavenger Hunt.

I had 14 items that represented each station partially hidden around the room and

 sent them off to find them.

Here is an example of the one I used from Holly at Three Sided Wheel blog.  I didn't have on hand

all the items she mentioned so I changed a few of them.

You should check out her blog for many great Lenten Activities!

I downloaded a picture of  Michelangelo's Pieta &

the Shroud of Turin.  

My printer was acting up and the pictures turned out discolored :(

I'll be needing a new printer, I think.

Here is a picture of all of my Scavenger Hunt Items:

Once my students found all of the items, we put them back in my green container (Holly has a much cuter labeled container!) And gathered together in a circle.

I used Jennifer from Family in Feast and Feria blog's colored Stations of the Cross printable.

She kindly offers them to her readers for free and so much more to celebrate Lent.

Go check out her blog HERE.  Thank you Jennifer!

Here's a better view.  They're really beautiful!

What we did was I announced a station and read what it was.  Then I asked one student to find the symbol in the box and try to explain it's purpose.

They each were able to look at the picture and handle the symbol.

This was a very hands on meaningful way for the children to learn the Way of the Cross.

Then just a couple of days ago, I found this super cute Resurrection craft from Jen at Enter Under My Roof blog.  I didn't have the needed felt so we created ours from cardstock.  Not quite as cute as Jen's but it did turn out nicely.  Here is my sample:

(it doesn't show clearly in the picture but I lightly shaded the tomb with a grey colored pencil.)

The tomb opens up to reveal a stained glass announcement of 

"He is Risen!"

I pre-cut many different rectangular colored shapes for my students to pick and choose from.
The idea is to make it look like stained glass.
Jen's stands out really good with the felt, but this worked cute.

 Jen has a great step by step explanation on how to make her craft out of felt.

You can see it HERE.  Thank you Jen!

I also found a really nice coloring page of St. Joseph at Sanctus Simplicitus.

Thank you CeAnne!

I sent home a bag of Easter Symbols as a small gift to my students.

But this is long enough, so I'll make that post in a day or two.

Thank you to Holly, Jen, CeAnne and That Resource Site for sharing all of your talents and creativity with the rest of us!  I often wish that I could learn how to create my own activities and share them with others, but I don't have the skill set to do so.  And yet there are so many wonderful sharing Catholic bloggers out there that I don't have to re-invent the wheel!

I've shared this post at Jennifer's Lenten Link Up at Catholic Inspired.

Blessings,

Noreen

Campfire and Cleats Giveaway

Chris from Campfires and Cleats is hosting a giveaway for her blogoversary! 

 Head on over their for a chance to win one of these books:

GO HERE TO ENTER

It ends this Sunday, March 17th so hurry on over there to enter.

Thank you Chris for hosting your giveaway! 

Blessings,

Noreen

More Lenten Books

I found a few more great books for Lent and Easter that can be found at a local library 

or within the library network.

I've seen so many great books for children on other blogs 

but can only find a portion of them in the library.  

I type up the list and send home with my students so they have faith book choices during Lent.

I don't like to recommend a book and then they'd have to buy it.

So it must be found in the library system.

I also heard of this one below.  I just checked it out so will be previewing it before it makes my parent letter. The cover page would definitely grab the attention of my students!  

Want to check out the content though :)

I posted other good Lenten books HERE.

I've linked up this post at Jennifer's What Are You Doing This Lent Linkup.

Happy Lenten Reading,

Noreen

Lenten Books for Young Children

I've been looking around the internet for faith focused Easter books to use in my class and here is what I've come up with so far:

The Very First Easter by Paul Maier
Jesus by Gennadii Spirin
Love One Another by Lauren Thompson
The Bird's Gift: A Ukrainian Easter Story by Eric Kimmel
Family Easter Treasury by Michael Hague
Easter Eggs for Anya by Virgina Kroll
He Is Risen by Elizabeth Winthrop
Easter by Fiona French
Petook: An Easter Story by Caryll Houselander
Jesus by Demi
The Easter Story by Brian Wildsmith
Through the Eyes of John by Chad Daybell
The Tale of the Three Trees by Angela Elwell Hunt
The Way of the Cross by Inos Biffi

If you know of any additional titles that would be appropriate for first graders, please let me know!

My doggie is included in the picture collage because as I am trying to work on my pc, he is interrupting to go outside, in the 16 degree weather, to show off his bone to our neighbor's dog.  He's a goofball!

Blessings,
Noreen

The Adventures of Father Ignatius Giveaway For All

Have you heard of Fr. Ignatius? 

He is the wonderful fictional creation of Victor SE Mourabarak from Time For Reflections and 

Community of Catholic Bloggers.

The Adventures of Father Ignatius is a selection of short stories in the life of our lovable priest dispensing his well-intended wisdom and teaching us to love one another as Our Lord commanded.

Also in the series of Father Ignatius short stories are 

Golden Drops

Golden Droplets 

God’s Humble Servant

Father Ignatius Teaches

Theodore Luxton-Joyce

Victor has entertained his readers and blogger fans for the last few years in his posts about       

Fr. Ignatius.  

I believe in his book called Visions is where Fr. Ignatius came to life in the literary world.

Victor's writing is thoughtful, humorous and engaging.  You'll leave his work chuckling and inspired.

He is now offering a downloadable version of The Adventures of Father Ignatius 

and his short stories for free.

Go to his website HERE.

Thank you Victor for sharing your hilarious imagination with the rest of us!

Blessings,

Noreen

Happy Mail

Today I received these two books that I've won from CeAnne's recent giveaway over at

Sanctus Simplicitus.  I can't wait to read/pray them both.

Thank you CeAnne!

Blessings,
Noreen