Stations of the Cross Coloring Book

Each year, our Parish has the children lead the Stations of the Cross on the Friday before Holy Week begins.  As RE teachers, our task is to get the K-1 children ready to participate in the event by giving them an understanding of what is happening and teaching them the Stations of the Cross prayer (already one of the required prayers for our 1st graders, but typically the last one they get around to memorizing on their own).

I found a free printable Stations of the Cross coloring book several years ago on the Internet.  Despite my best efforts, I haven't found it again to link to this post today.  However, Catholic Mom does have a nice version that you can access here which is similar.  (BTW, if you see my pictures and know where I can find these, please leave the address in a comment- Thanks).

At the start of class, I wrote the Stations of the Cross prayer on the white board.  Each child was given one of the Stations to color-- we asked them to do their best as these would be on display for the class.  Depending on their age, their "best" varied, but we have kids from age 2 to age 7 that show up for our class, and we figure all of pictures are in fact beautiful in God's eyes!

After each child colored a Station, we glued it onto poster board, and cut it out, and attached a label hand printed on a cardstock flashcard (these were left over from something else--any cardstock would do).

For circle time, we read our class the story of Jesus's last day and his Resurrection.

at the end of class, we posted each station on the wall

We  then placed the stations around the classroom and selected one child to read the first part of the Stations of the Cross prayed.  We moved from Station to Station with the class, with the student that colored the picture holding it in the air as either they read out the narrative of the Station (or a teacher read it if they needed assistance depending on reading level).  Our "reader" read the first part of the stations prayer, the class responed where it starts..."because...".

We completed each Station this way, and were able to keep the children interested the entire time, I think due to their involvement in making and presenting the Stations to their classmates.

After we completed the Stations, we gave each child an entire coloring book with all the Stations to work on until their parents came, and to take home to either keep in a coloring book or make their own stations for the home. 

This was an easy lesson to plan, with a great impact for all younger children.

Parable of the Lost Sheep

Last week, we read aloud the story of the Lost Sheep.  This is the parable Jesus uses to teach about his love for his people...if you get "lost" by turning away from God with Sin, he will come find you and celebrate your return once you are found, just like the Shepard in this parable.

Our introduction/gathering activity was the Lost Sheep coloring page from our book, EZ Bible Stories, (link to follow if I can find this online...I purchased this at Family Bookstore).

In circle time, we read out loud the story from our Beginner's Children's Bible which is easy to read and full of colorful pictures.

We then played the "lost sheep" game.  Prior to class, we made up sheep hats for each child.  In past years, we've made them in class, it is easy and fun to do, but the catch is that the glue takes awhile to dry, so this would work well to do on one day then play the game the next day.  To make the hats, we purchased white foam visors, for $1.00 each, from our local Michael's Craft Store.  We also purchased large googlie eyes from Michaels, and several bags of triple-sized cotton balls from the drug store.  We glued the cotton balls to the visors, using either hot glue gun (me) or white elmer's school glue (my seven year old "helper" daughter).  We also purchased a safari style foam hat from Michael's...I would have loved to have a shepard's hat but wasn't able to find one on short notice.  I've posted both the visors and googlie eyes on my Amazon store if you want to order them online.

To play, one child wore our "shepard" hat and the rest wore their sheep hats.  The shepard had to hide in a corner, while one child was selected to be the lost sheep by giving the child a small item to hold onto (we used a dice).  The sheep went around on all fours making "baa" sounds, while the shepard was then released to find the lost sheep.  He or she would approach each sheep and ask if he or she was the lost sheep, and if yes, the sheep would answer with two "baaas" and for no they would answer with one "baa"  This continues until the lost sheep is found, then we had the lost sheep be the shepard, and the former shepard pass of the dice to pick the next lost sheep once the shepard was back in the corner.  We continued until all the kids had their turn at each role.

For our craft, we completed the origami sheep project featured on DLTK kids.  We used white paper, black small puff balls, white cotton balls, and had them color on the sheep nose with pink (pictured right).  We folded the project as a class together, which worked best with our children.

Baptism of Jesus/First Luminous Mystery

In class this past week, we shared the scripture story of Jesus's Baptism. In seeking out ideas for our lesson plan, I stumbled upon a version of the first luminous mystery to pray with young children.  I ws excited to find another way to incorporate the Rosary into our class.

We started the class with our kids arriving and completing a coloring sheet on Jesus' Baptism.  We used one from one of our coloring books with reproducibles, however, Catholic Mom also has some nice pages for free to print HERE.

Once all the kids arrived, we moved to our circle.  In the center of the circle, I used our green cloth for ordinary time, and topped it with a baptismal candle, mini baptismal font, white cloth and shell.  We asked the kids to identify the items, and guess what we were talking about, which they did with some prompting and clues.

We then told the story of the Baptism of Jesus out of a children's Bible.  We then got out our rosaries, explained what they were, how to hold them, etc. and walked the kids through one decade with the first luminous mystery, as outlined in this Baptism of Jesus Luminous Mystery handout from www.silk.net.

Most of the kids followed along, we added our own commentary in between some of the Hail Marys with the parts of the story included in the handout.  Probably 10 out of our 12 K-1 graders followed along, the other two were squirmy but quiet, I figure they were experiencing the rosary and mystery in their own way. 

Adopt a Family- Sugar-y Sweet Gifts!

After lots of planning, shopping and wrapping, our family was finally ready to drop off our gifts to our adopted Christmas family through our church.

When shopping for presents, we spotted this fun pink candy holiday paper at Target, and decided this would be our gift packaging theme. 

Our family (number 31) has a mom, dad and a five year old girl.  We were tasked with purchasing a small gift for the mother and father, and a clothing item and toy for the child, along with stockings for each family member.

Here are the details of what we got/made:

 

For the dad, we decorated a simple candy green stocking by gluing on colored buttons to spell out dad.  To stuff the stocking, we filled it with socks, gloves, toothpaste, deodarnt spray and some snacks.

For the mom, we decorated a purple stocking with bright buttons as well.  We filled her stocking with candy shaped soap, a cupcake lotion/bodywash set, socks, hairties, a toothbrush and toothpaste.

For Gissele, our five year old girl, we decorated a pink stocking.  We weren't able to fit her name on the top with buttons, so we used stick on felt sparkly letters and spelled her name on the stocking instead, and added a small piece of felt and a button in a candy shape to tie it in with the other stockings.  We filled her stocking with socks, headbands, a zipper pouch, candy shaped soap, hairties and candy themed jewelry, along with some small toys.

For the gifts, we wrapped them in our candy paper, tied them with green and white curling ribbon, and attached each with a hand made name tag and decorated each package with a candy shaped ornament. 

For Gissele, Maddy picked out a set of horses by Melissa and Doug (the girl had requested horses), along with some pink pajamas with horses on them, and a unicorn plush blanket set....all super cute.

For the Mom, we found some warm holiday pajamas, and for the Dad, we found a nicer package of socks and a nut gift set. 

We also included a card, with similar colors and candy featured on the card as well, along with a gift card to a local grocery store.

We were able to fit everything into one large plastic tub, label it clearly, and sealed it up before dropping it off this evening.

All done!  What task will our family take on next as we prepare our home and hearts for Christmas?

Master of Disguise--Blessed Miguel Pro Juarez, Feast Day November 23

In case you didn't have enough costume changes and dress up opportunities during Halloween and All Saints Day (we went from orange and black free dress at Catholic School, gymnastics leotard, Halloween Kit Kittridge costume on Halloween, to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, to Brownie Girl Scout the following day...my daughter needed her own wardrobe team), November 23 is a Feast Day to one of the original Masters of Disguise, Blessed Miguel Pro Juarez.

This is a fun saint to study at home or in your religious education class.  He was born in Mexico in 1891.  He started his studies to be a priest in 1911, but by 1914, Mexico's government had become Anti-Catholic, and Juarez was forced to flee to the United States.  He eventually made it back to Mexico in 1926, but the government hadn't changed and he was forced to practice his ministry underground.  He is best known for his creative disguises, dressing up as a beggar to sneak out to baptize infants, dressing up as a police officer to minister to those in jail, and dressing up as a businessman when ministering to those in wealthy neighborhoods, to name a few of his clever disguises.

To celebrate his unique lenghts he went to in his ministry, here are two activities to try:

Dress up Relay:  Fill two paper grocery bags up with various types of dress up clothes (hats, scarves, larger dresses, coats, etc.).  Each bag should have an equal amount of items.  Divide the children up into two teams, and have them start on the side of the room opposite to the bags.  On "go" have them walk as quickly as possible, put all the clothing items in the bag on them, and then walk back to the line.  They then take off the clothes and the next person puts them on, walks down and around the bag, and takes off the clothes while the next person puts them on.  The first team to have all team members complete this task wins the game.

Secret Message Craft:  Have the children write a message, such as "Jesus Loves You" with a white crayon on write paper (or you can pre-write these out on white paper for kids not yet able to write).  The kids can then give the message to another student in the class, and then the student can paint over the entire paper with watercolor paints, and the secret message will pop out. 

Liturgical Year Perpetual Calendar- Free Printable

 One of our favorite and easy projects is to have the kids create their own Liturgical Year perpetual calendars. 

I have created an easy printable that the kids color using the correct liturgical colors.  We usually set up our tables with a bunch of the appropriate colored crayons on each table, and have the kids rotate through the various tables. 

Preprint the number of sets of documents as you have children.  Printing on cardstock is preferable for durability.  They should then be pre-cut in half.  Each child will then assemble their own book, and put a hole in the upper right hand side of each half page and put them in order on a binder ring.  They can then post the calendar using the binder ring, and turn the calendar to the next season as the liturgical year progresses.  As we are getting ready to start the new liturgical year, it is an excellent time to introduce this lesson to your kids.

Liturgical Year Perpetual Calendar

Happy New Liturgical Year to you all!

Giving Back- our family's holiday giving plans

Our family has a favorite "pet" charity in our hometown, the Hope House .  Hope House is a small organization, run out of an old rectory on one of our town's Catholic Churches.   It is a simple "business" plan, they take in donations from parishioners and community members, and distribute the items during certain hours, allowing individuals to "shop" for free for what they need.  This includes clothing, household goods, and basic toiletries and food.

My daughter and I started volunteering at the Hope House after driving by it each day and first becoming donors, purchasing items on their "most needed" list on their outside whiteboard.  We eventually started volunteering one Saturday a month, sorting and organizing goods.  This past Friday, we were back at Hope House sorting, and my little girl made it three straight hours sorting out the books and toys...I'm so proud of her.

So this year, for the holidays, we are adopting a family identified by Hope House for Christmas.  We will get to purchase gifts for another father, mother and a five year old girl, and I'm looking forward to letting my daughter be involved heavily in the process to help keep her focus off of only"what I want from Santa."

Through my employer, we also "adopt" the children of parents in one of the Drug Courts, and will be able to provide them with small gifts, and a party with Santa to allow the parents and children some special and happy time together (many of the kids are still in foster or relative care while their parents work on chemical dependency issues).

I'm looking forward to the shopping, wrapping and praying for the recipients of our gifts, and hope that they are able to see the love of Christ through our anonymous actions.

What are you doing this year to "give back" with your kids and set the giving back example?