Prayer for the New Pope

O God, eternal shepherd, who govern your 

flock with unfailing care, grant in your 

boundless fatherly love a pastor for your 

Church who will please you by his holiness 

and to us show watchful care. Through our 

Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and 

reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. 

Amen. 

Shared this over at Community of Catholic Bloggers.

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 Lapbook

Yesterday's class was a busy one even though I'd done most of the prep work ahead of time. 

 I went to some of my favorite sources for help:

  

 Regina from A Living Garden, 

Monica from Equipping Catholic Families and 

CeAnne from Sanctus Simplicitus.

I downloaded Regina's Papal Election Playset and used it on our prayer table.  I included a picture of Cardinal Theodore-Adrien Sarr that we will be praying for this Lenten Season and beyond:

Isn't Regina's Papal Election Set perfect for little hands? 

 They stand up because they're attached to toilet paper tubes.

Our Lenten Lapbook was a hit too with the kids.  

The daily prayer cards came from Monica Equipping Catholic Families on the lower right hand corner of the above picture.  I made a pocket out of cardstock to hold the prayers yet make it easy for them to take in and out.

The other source is from CeAnne at Sanctus Simplicitus.  The coloring picture of Jesus on the Cross, Holy Day pictures and explanations plus the beautiful purple Stations of the Cross all came from her blog.  She has so many other ideas too so I highly recommend you visit her blog HERE.

The backcover had additional prayers from Monica at Equipping Catholic Families. 

 I found it in her freebie section.

Here are the daily prayers from Monica displayed before putting them into the Lapbook.

I explained to the parents at pick up, that it's not homework, but I had

 encouraged their children to use this Lenten Lapbook. 

 Recite the prayers, learn about the Holy Days and to pray for our adopted Cardinal!

Thank you Regina, Monica and CeAnne!

Blessings,

Noreen

Adopt a Cardinal...I did!

I read over at Tiffany's Family at the Foot of the Cross blog that there is a website that allows us to click a button and be given a cardinal to pray for during the conclave and papal election.   I thought it was a fabulous idea and will bring it to my class for all of my students to pray for him.   In fact, I will place his picture on our prayer table with Regina's Papal Election Set this weekend. Here is my Cardinal: Congratulations! You have adopted this Cardinal: Théodore-Adrien Sarr, from Senegal, born 28.11.1936. He's been a Cardinal since 24.11.2007 and his function is: Archbishop of Dakar, Senegal May the prayer for your Cardinal be deeply blessed. The team behind Adopt a Cardinal. Thank you Tiffany and Regina! God Bless, Noreen

21st Anniversary

21 years ago today, marks the anniversary of my mom's death. 

 I still cannot believe she's gone.

She didn't see me graduate from college.

She's never met my husband or son.

She's been gone for almost half of my life.

Just amazing.  And I still think of her every day!

Almost 6 months ago, my dad joined her in Heaven.

Even though I'm a grown up and have been for many years,

it's an odd abandoned-like feeling.

I'm not an orphan but in a way, it feels that way.

I love you mom.

I love you dad.

Pray for us!

May God bless my siblings and I as we remember this day.

May Our Blessed Mother hold us tightly as we remember.

Blessings,

Noreen

Lenten Symbol Box

I've been working on teaching my class about the different sacred vessels, vestments and sacramentals that are found inside the Catholic Church. 

 I had reviewed Monica's Catholic Lingo Bingo in a home setting HERE 

and have used it in my classroom.  

Her Lingo Bingo game is ideal for teaching these items that they see each week!

In fact, I encouraged them to challenge their family members to assess their knowledge of the sacred vessels, vestments and sacramentals!

It comes in a downloadable format to be printed at home.  

Then it's time to break out the colored pencils! 

Go check out her website Arma Dei Shoppe for this great resource and more!

While I was searching around looking for a new idea to use in my classroom, I came across this Lenten Symbol Box from Glitter Queen.  She was kind enough to leave the pattern to download for those who'd like to use it.  Thank you Glitter Queen for your idea, pattern and explanation!

The crown of thorns reminds us that Jesus was taken before Pilate who scourged him. Then the soldiers made a crown of thorns and placed it on Jesus’ head. They then dressed him in purple robes and pretended to worship him while they struck him and spit upon him.

The silver coins remind us that Judas Iscariot agreed to betray Jesus to the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver. Then he approached Jesus and gave him a kiss which led to his arrest.

The palm branches remind us that when Jesus came to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover feast, people ran to meet him, with cut branches of palm trees, shouting, 

“Hosanna; Blessed is the King of Israel that comes in the name of the Lord.”

The silver coins remind us that Judas Iscariot agreed to betray Jesus to the chief priests 

for 30 pieces of silver. He betrayed Jesus with a kiss.

I also included on our prayer table the "coins Judas took to betray Jesus" as a reminder to my students that we betray Jesus when we sin, even if we are not given a reward, it's still betrayal.

I printed out the Lenten Symbol box on cardstock and their little fingers struggled a bit 

with the assembly of them :)

I helped them tighten them up before they left for the day.

Our prayer table looked like this:

Yesterday I went to a Parish Leadership Workshop and was given these buttons, pray cards and

bookmarks to give to my class.  

In fact, a priest gave me a huge stack of these bookmarks and I gave them to my DRE to distribute to

all the students.

This was a prayer card for vocations. 

And this button is a plea for non-violence.

With the recent announcement from Pope Benedict XVI and The Feast of the Chair of Peter, 

I thought it would be a good idea to talk to my students about it.

Thanks to Lena from Joyfilled Family who pointed me in the direction of learning more about Pope Benedict

HERE.  It's dated, but there is a nice coloring page and other activities.

It was a good class!  Thank you to Monica for giving me the opportunity to be one of your reviewers and to Glitter Queen for sharing your creativity!

Blessings,

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