Thursday, December 16, 2010

Third Grade-December 16th Cancellation

Tonight's class has been cancelled due to inclement weather. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas.  I'll see you next year!  Our class will meet again on January 6th.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Kindergarten-December 12th Class

This week we covered chapter 8, God Made All People, in our text book.  We discussed how God made all of us and gave us a world filled with wonderful things to enjoy.  We talked about how God loves each and every one of us very much and how we should share God's love with others.

During circle time we discussed Flat Father Stanley's latest adventures.  He's been quite busy lately!  We also read two stories.  The first was the little booklet entitled "The People We See" and the second was a lovely book about the Christmas story called "The First Noel."

When circle time was finished, we worked on a little wreath craft that says "God Made All People."

The homework for this week is to pray the Hail Mary every day, and to complete the coloring page maze worksheet.

Next week we will have a small Christmas party during the second half of our class.  We will be covering chapter 14, Christmas, when we meet next week.

I hope you all have a lovely week.  See you next Sunday!

Friday, December 10, 2010

Third Grade- December 9th Class

This week we covered chapter 18, Celebrating Penance and Reconciliation, in our text book.  We talked about how we choose to love God and that when we sin we are not loving God as we should.  The class listened to the story of the prodigal son from Luke 15:11-32 and learned that God is our loving Father who is always ready to forgive us.  We then moved on to discuss the Sacrament of Reconciliation and it's four parts (contrition, confession, penance and absolution).

Just about all of the students were concerned about going to confession last night.  I explained to them that it gets easier and less nerve wracking to go to confession the more frequently you go.  Our class will go to confession again during Lent.  Hopefully they will feel a little more at ease with this sacrament next time.

For this week's decade of the rosary, the class learned about the second luminous mystery, the Wedding at Cana where Jesus performed his first public miracle.

Homework for this week is to complete the Project Disciple Pages found on pages 160 & 161.  Your child is responsible for the Show What You Know, Reality Check, Saint Stories and Make it Happen sections.

Next week we will be having a small Christmas celebration during the second half of our class.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Kindergarten-December 5th Class

We had a craft filled class this past Sunday.  To start, we made Mary and Joseph stick puppets.  The puppets can be used to talk about Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem where baby Jesus was born.  The children were also given a St. Nicholas coloring page since St. Nicholas' feast day was this past Monday, December 6th.

We covered chapter 13, Advent, in our text book.  We talked about how Advent is a season of waiting and preparing our hearts for Jesus' coming.  We discussed ways that we can share and show others that we care.

During circle time we read the final installment of the story of St. Therese from the Catholic Children's Treasure Box series.  We also read a short booklet about how Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem to be counted in the census. We discussed that baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

We concluded our class with an Advent wreath craft.  The children glued green tissue paper around the wreath to make leaves.  The children worked very hard to make their wreaths look just right.  I think they all came out looking beautiful.  To light the candles on this wreath simply pull the yellow tissue paper flame above the top of the tube.

This week's homework is to complete the Project Disciple activity on page 124 and to pray the Hail Mary every day.  Pretty soon we will start learning the Our Father.

Our next class is Sunday, December 12th.  See you then!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

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!