Thursday, September 29, 2011

September 18th and 24th Classes

First off, I want to apologize for not updating the blog sooner.  I've been a bit preoccupied with preparing for our baby on the way and the school and extracurricular activities of my daughters.  I'm hoping to be able to update the blog on time going forward, but please be prepared to bear with me for the next month or two since I'll have a newborn sometime in the near future.

Our first week of class was a busy one.  We covered chapter 1, God Made All Things, in our textbook.  We discussed how God created the world and all the wonderful things in it, including us.
We made two crafts in class.  The first craft was the sign of the cross prayer magnet.  Please work with your child to teach him or her to make the sign of the cross.  We practiced this prayer several times during circle time.  The second craft we did was the creation wheel.  This neat little craft tells what God created during the first week.

During our circle time we prayed the sign of the cross and listened to a story about creation from the Catholic Children's Treasure Box series.  I also introduced our class mascot, Flat Father Stanley.  Flat Father Stanley will be spending a week with each child in our class.  At the end of the year I will give each child a DVD with the story of Flat Father Stanley's adventures.

During our class on September 24th we covered chapter 2, God Gives Us Light, in our text book.  We discussed what wonderful gifts the sun, moon and stars are.  The children learned that God made these things because he loves us and cares for us.  The children also learned about St. Michael the Archangel who's feast day happens to be today.  I explained to the children that a feast day is a very special day in the church and is sort of like a birthday.

During circle time I read a story to the children entitled God Made the Angels.  The story tells the story of St. Michael the Archangel and the battle between the good angels who said they would love and serve God and the bad angels, or demons, who said they would not serve God.  The story also discussed how God created a guardian angel for each and every one of us.  To tie in with the story we made a guardian angel craft which features the Guardian Angel Prayer.   This lovely little prayer is one you could say with your child each night before bedtime.

I hope you are all having a great week.  If my new baby has not arrived by this Sunday I'll see you at our next class.  If I am not there this Sunday, Miss Kathy will be there in my place.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Welcome!

I'm thrilled that you have taken the time to check out the classroom blog resource I have compiled for your son or daughter's religious education class.  I would like to give you a brief overview of how this blog is set up and how you can use it to enrich your child's faith life.

First and foremost, I have set up this blog as a way of communicating what your child is learning in their religious education class with me each week.  Each  Sunday morning at 9AM I have the pleasure of teaching your child's Kindergarten religious education class.  I will blog about our Catholic Faith Adventures in each class once a week.  It is my hope that an account of the Sunday class will have a synopsis up on the blog by Wednesday at the latest.  In the very near future my family will be welcoming our baby, so please be patient with me if a few weeks go by where the blog isn't updated in a timely manner.

I have also provided a parents page filled with suggestions for enriching your child's faith formation.  Imparting the treasure of our Catholic faith to our children is one of our most important duties as parents.  It is my hope that I will be able to help you in doing so during the current school year.

Along the sidebar of this blog you will find links to various Catholic sites or products or resources.  Some of them are to Catholic storesand others are items that I either use in our classroom or use with my own children at home.  In the case of books, there may be a link to a review I have written on that particular book on my personal blog.