Third Grade-December 2nd Class

This week was our first class back after our long break.  We jumped right back into the swing of things and covered two chapters tonight (these chapters were considerably smaller than the normal chapters).  First we learned about the Liturgical, or Church Year.  Students made a color coded Church Year Wheel that names the six seasons of the liturgical year.  We discussed how the Church celebrates all sorts of feast days throughout the year.

Next we moved onto our chapter on Advent since we just entered this season on Sunday.  We discussed ways we can celebrate Advent.  After we completed the chapter, everyone made a flameless Advent wreath.  I think we have some very talented artists in our class.  I saw a lot of beautiful Advent wreaths go home tonight.

We discussed that St. Nicholas' feast day is celebrated on Monday, December 6th.  I told that class that some families celebrate this feast day by leaving their shoes out for St. Nicholas to fill with candy.  Many of the children wanted to know if they could do that.  I told them they needed to ask their parents.  Don't be surprised if some of your children want St. Nicholas to put candy in their shoes.

Our rosary mystery for this week was the first luminous mystery, the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River.  The class listened to a short story about this mystery from the Catholic Bible Stories for Children book.

Everyone was sent home with a Jesus manger craft that can be colored, cut out and glued together.  In our house my daughters perform good deeds to earn pieces of hay (yellow construction paper) that they can use to make a soft bed for baby Jesus.  It's a good way to teach your child to make sacrifices and perform good deeds for others.

Another activity that I sent the children home with is a set of Jesse Tree ornaments.  The ornaments each have a corresponding bible story that should be read prior to coloring in the ornament each day.  The Jesse tree is Jesus' family tree.  I told the children if they wanted to do this activity that they could ask you if they could hang the ornaments on the tree, or possibly make a tree out of construction paper than can be hung on a door.

Last week I put up a special post on the blog about a fun, free Advent activity provided by a company called Holy Heroes.  It's not too late to register for the daily Advent Adventure emails that contain links to videos, coloring pages and activities.  My children are big fans of the Holy Heros adventures and they learn a ton about their faith when they watch the videos.


The homework for this week is to do the chapter six worksheet and the Advent word search.  Next week all of the religious education classes in grades 3-8 will be going to confession.  Please remind your child so he or she isn't caught off guard.

See you all next week!