Welcome to the third grade page! On this page you will find links to prayers, activities and coloring pages to help your child explore the treasure of our Catholic faith.
Prayers
Prior to receiving First Holy Communion, your child was expected to know the Sign of the Cross, the Hail Mary, the Our Father, the Glory Be and the Act of Contrition. If your child does not know or remember these prayers please help him or her to learn them. Each week in class we will be reciting a decade of the rosary and learning about one of it's mysteries. Knowing the Sign of the Cross, the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory Be are essential for your child to fully participate in this prayer activity. In my own experience as a parent, I have found that children pick up these prayers easily when they are said regularly at home. Saying a single decade of the rosary a day with your child takes only a few minutes and is a great way to teach our children to pray. Perhaps you can work this practice of prayer into your child's daily life.
In addition to knowing the prayers listed above, your child will be responsible for learning the Apostles' Creed and Hail, Holy Queen this year. Will recite the prayer we are learning during class each week. When a new prayer is introduced a copy of it will come home in the take home folder. Please help you child learn to recite this prayer by saying it with them each day. One effective way to teach a child prayers is to have them learn a line at a time (For example: I believe in one God, the father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.) and building on to what they know each day until the prayer is memorized. Using this method, it is possible to learn the prayer in the span of a week or so. This is how my older daughter learns her prayers. My younger daughter (who is in Kindergarten this year) has learned them by listening to me repeat a line and then repeating it after me. This method can take her as little as a day or as long as a month. Another way to teach these prayers is by simply saying them. My youngest daughter has picked up prayers that her sister was learning just by listening to her recite them. Please work with your child and find out which method of memorization works best for him or her and help him or her to learn the prayers.
Activities
Our text book series, We Believe, has an online component for children and their families to explore. For every chapter, there is study guide. Please encourage your child to complete the study guide for the chapter covered in class each week. I will tell you in my weekly blog post which chapter we have covered in class and which one we will be doing next. Please note that I skip around in the book to follow the Liturgical calendar and will not always do chapters in number order.
You can access games on the We Believe site that correspond with the units in our text book. These games can be a fun activity where your child reinforce what he or she is learning in religious education. Children who play these games at home will have an advantage when we play certain games during our class.
While you are at the We Believe site, why not take a look at the Lives of the Saints section? In this section a particular saint is featured with not only a story about the saint, but also an intermediate activity that your child can complete. There is even an archive of saints that have been featured previously. You and your child can explore the lives of the saints together. If you have older children in your family there is even an intermediate activity sheet for them to use that is more challenging than the primary activity sheet. If your third grader is interested in trying the intermediate activity they are welcome to do so.
Interested in living the liturgical year in your domestic church? A wonderful fellow blogger has compiled a craft and activity site called Catholic Icing where you can find crafts and activity ideas that will help your child learn to live his or her faith.
EWTN offers a great place for your child to play games and learn about our faith. You can sign your child up to play online for free at EWTN Kids.
Coloring Pages
A very talented mother has drawn a host of Catholic coloring pages for her children and has graciously made them available to anyone who would like them for free. She has pages for many saints, holy days of obligation and so on her blog. Occasionally you may see some of her coloring pages come home with your child.
St. John the Baptist in Virginia has a lovely collection of free coloring pages on their religious education site. Their coloring pages include the mysteries of the rosary, the stations of the cross, and various saints.
CatholicMom.com has a section that is updated weekly which corresponds to the Gospel at Mass. In this section you will find coloring pages and activities related to the Sunday Gospel readings for each week.
Advent and Lent
Just before Advent and Lent I will alert you of a great free program that is offered by an Apostolate known as Holy Heroes. Holy Heroes is a small family owned and run business that specializes in bringing the faith to children.
Each year they offer an Advent Adventure that includes a daily coloring page, Jesse tree craft, videos, and an audio decade of the joyful mysteries. The program is hosted by children and is well received by many children.
During Lent they offer a Lent Adventure program where children are introduced to the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy, the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary, and several prayers. Three days a week a coloring page to help your child understand the passion of our Lord are made available. The Lent Adventure is a great way to teach your child about Lent.
If your child participates in each of these adventures I think you'll find that he or she will come away with a much better understanding of Advent, Lent and our Catholic faith in general.
Check out the books tab to find recommendations for great books to help your child know our Catholic faith.
