Last evening’s session featuring Learning Stations on the Sacraments of Initiation was a great success! The kids were highly engaged in an activity that invited them to explore the rich symbols of the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. I have a complete summary with more pictures coming up below but I might add here that the only real drawback I experienced was a lack of time (is that any surprise for a catechist?) to be able to process the activity which I’ll do next week instead.
I’m eager to hear your thoughts, questions, and suggestions, especially if you plan to adapt it to your own setting/situation. So, without further ado, here’s my summary:
Learning Stations (Sacraments of Initiation) Summary
P.S. Special thanks to my friend and colleague Carol and her crew for laminating my posters and attaching them to those little cardboard gizmos so they could stand up!
December 7, 2010 at 4:15 pm
Good Afternoon Joe,
What a wonderful job you did with the three Sacraments! I have third grade this year and would love to do this with them. I’m going to have to
find someone who could help me ( especially with the candle ).
Thank you for sharing all of your tips and ideas. This year
I’m excited that you are teaching fourth grade. There are so many ideas that
are similar with my third grade book in the same series.
Thanks Joe,
Kate
December 7, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Kate, thanks for your thoughts. Good luck doing this with your 3rd graders. Let me know how it goes.
December 12, 2010 at 10:03 pm
Joe, these learning stations look great. I’ve seen elementary classrooms that are built for these types of learning activities and the students love it. They really look forward to doing centers and love the idea of having fun while learning at the same time. Your pictures show this!
December 12, 2010 at 11:55 pm
Thanks, Jared. The kids did indeed jump right into it and remained engaged throughout. I look forward to processing it this week to see what they retained!
December 12, 2010 at 10:05 pm
Here’s a comment from Janis:
Thank you so much for sharing!!! I LOVE this workshop idea and I have
begun the process of gathering my items. You are the BEST for sharing
this with us. I had already decided that I would do one sacrament an
evening. I plan to use this workshop with grade 7 in January. We use
the RCL book series and we teach Jesus and the New Testament from
Sept. to Dec. and Church and Sacraments from Jan. to April.
I have over 100 students in grade 7. I will call them into our parish
hall by class to do the stations of the sacraments — one sacrament
each evening. It did seem like all three sacraments were too much for
one class session. Much gratitude for all your wonderful ideas! Janis
Pataky, Associate Director, Grades 7-12
December 12, 2010 at 10:06 pm
Thanks, Janis. I wish you well with your 100 7th graders!
December 12, 2010 at 10:08 pm
Here’s a comment from Karen,
I really like you ideas for your class and have been passing them along to my catechists. I have ordered your book, The Catechist Toolbox, for their Christmas gift this year and your ideas were mentioned several times in a methods course I recently completed for some of our catechists.
One thing I would add to this lesson is that in addition to kings being anointed in scripture so are priest and prophets and when we are anointed at Baptism and Confirmation, we are anointed priest, prophet and king in Jesus Christ. Perhaps when you do your follow up you could mention this. I am trying to think up symbols for prophet and priest, but am coming up blank. Possibly a scroll for prophet and a picture of someone in service to others for priest. The recent youtube video of the choir breaking into the Hallelujah Chorus in the middle of a shopping mall is a great example of prophet, but I am not sure the kids would get it without the catechists making the connection for them.
God bless you for this great ministry you do,
Karen Conroy, DRE, St. James, Sewickley, PA
December 12, 2010 at 10:11 pm
Karen, Great thoughts about the threefold ministry of Jesus: priest, prophet, and king…thanks for sharing. Also, thanks for getting my book for your catechists as a Christmas present! I’m so glad I can be a resource for you and your team!
January 18, 2011 at 9:26 pm
I am so glad I found your blog. I teach 3rd grade, and our next chapter is Celebrating the Sacraments. Thanks for the inspiration!
January 18, 2011 at 10:48 pm
Nice to meet you Angie!
February 13, 2011 at 11:15 am
Hi Joe,
We did your Learning Stations activity today, it was FUN and the students from 4th thru 7th (total of 8 students) loved it. Mind you, we had one Sacrament student who participated and he loved it, too!! Not sure if I can post pictures here, but I did take a few shots. More power to you, Joe!
I wasn’t able to attend your webinar due to time difference. By the time you have it’s wee hours in the morning here in England, eveyone’s snoring!!
I am looking forward to your recorded webinar. For now I have distributed by e-mail the pdf files of the Roman Missal Changes you have posted. We really appreciate this!!
Gos bless you always, Joe!
Sincerely,
Carina (Volunteer RE Coord.)
February 13, 2011 at 5:54 pm
Carina, thanks for your comment…how nice to hear from Great Britain! I’m so glad that your activities went well…glad I can be a resource for you! The webinar recordings will be ready very soon…stay tuned!