September 30th Class

We had another great class this week.  The children are an absolute joy to have in class.  Our class is a great group of kids who are eager to contribute to our discussions.

We covered two chapters in our book this week, chapters 2 and 3.  In chapter 2 the children learned that God gave us the gift of light.  We discussed the different sources of light we have, including Jesus, and that God gave us this gift because he loves us.  In chapter 3 we discussed God's gift of water.  We talked about how every living thing needs water to live.  We talked about the places we find water and the ways we can use and enjoy it.  We also learned about how we can properly care for this vital gift from God.

Since the feast of the Guardian Angels is on October 2nd, we did a Guardian Angel craft where the children decorated and pasted their angels on to a sheet that has the Guardian Angel prayer.  We talked about how God gave each of us a guardian angel to watch over us.  Help your child to learn the Guardian Angel prayer.  I suggested to them that they can pray this prayer at the start or end of every day.

During our circle/prayer time.  The children listened to a story about St. Michael the Archangel from the Catholic Children's Treasure Box Series #18.  The story told us about how God made all the angels and it described the battle between the good and bad angels and how St. Michael lead the good angels.  The children were told that St. Michael the Archangel's feast day was just this past Saturday.  Some of the children are still getting the hang of making the Sign of the Cross.  This week we began saying the Hail Mary during prayer time.  Please work on this prayer with your child daily.  I was very excited to discover that some of the children already know this prayer and a few of them are working on it at home.  I will send home a copy of the Hail Mary when our class meets again on October 14th.

Hail Mary full of grace

the Lord is with thee

Blessed are thou among women

And blessed is the fruit of they womb, Jesus

Holy Mary, Mother of God

Pray for us sinners

now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Flat Father Stanley has begun his adventures for the year.  I'm looking forward to hearing about his latest adventure during our next class.  

I hope you all have a safe and relaxing Columbus Day weekend.

Welcome to a new school year!

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 weekly.  It is my hope that an account of the Sunday class will have a synopsis up on the blog by Wednesday at the latest.  However, it's possible that some weeks the blog may not updated in a timely manner.  Life with a baby and two school aged kids can be unpredictable at times!  I will do my best to keep up with weekly class updates.

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. 

Are You Ready for Advent?

Advent is a great time to help your child grow in his or her faith.  In our home we do a lot of things during this season to help our children prepare for Christmas.  One of our family's favorite Advent resources is Holy Heroes Advent Adventure.  It's a free program that includes a Jesse Tree, coloring pages, cross word and word search puzzles and fun and informative videos that will teach your child a lot about our Catholic faith.    My children have done the Advent Adventure the past two years and are already looking forward to doing it again this year.  You can sign up to get the Advent Adventure Emails which will provide links to the daily videos.

New Mass Translation

In just two short weeks it will be the first Sunday in Advent and the new translation of the Roman Missal will go into effect.  The publisher of our religious education text book is offering a free download of the the new responses.  You can access this resource here.

To help prepare your child for the new changes Catholic Icing has come up with a free Mass booklet that you can also download.  This is a great way to help your children learn the new responses.

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.

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.

Third Grade-March 31st Class

This week our class covered chapter 22, We Continue the Work of Jesus, in our text book.  The children learned that Jesus Brings God's life and love to all people.  They learned that Jesus shared his mission with his disciples, and asked his Apostles to carry it on.  Ways in which the Church works for Justice and peace were also discussed.  And the children learned that we, as disciples of Jesus, are called to live out the gospel just as Jesus did.

This weeks' Rosary Mystery was the Third Glorious Mystery, the Descent of the Holy Spirit.  The children listened to a bible story that explained this mystery.  I wonder if any of the students pointed out to Mrs. Stefanelli that the Pentecost is the birthday of the Catholic Church.

This week's homework is the Project Disciple portion of the chapter on pages 192 and 193.

I was not in class this week as I had a concert to attend for my older daughter.  Mrs. Stefanelli was kind enough to substitute for me.  Thank you, Mrs. Stefanelli.  I appreciate your help.

I hope all of you have a great week.  I will see you next Thursday!