Faith Reading Camp

Host a Faith Reading Camp for children at the parish, school, or right at home. Loyola Press makes it easy by providing a camp calendar with suggestions for five days of fun. Each day, wherever your camp is, read a children’s book together, complete activities based on the book, and pray for intentions inspired by the book’s themes. And since camp wouldn’t be complete without snacks, our calendar includes snack time suggestions inspired by the […]

Entering Through Their Door & Knowing the Age Group You Teach: Primary Grades

Welcome to this installment of Entering Through Their Door & Knowing the Age Group You Teach, a series in which we look at developmental stages of our learners. St. Ignatius of Loyola said that, when teaching or speaking to a group, it is always best to “enter through their door, but be sure to leave through your door.” His advice is that we need to take learners where they are and move them to the next […]

Celebrating the Annunciation: Finding Reassurance in Mary

March 25 is the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, when we recall and celebrate the day that the angel announced to Mary that she had been chosen to be the Mother of our Lord (Luke 1:26–38). As I’ve mentioned here before, Marian feasts are ultimately about Jesus, since Mary seeks to draw attention, not to herself, but to her Son, Jesus, who brings us the Good News of rescue, restoration, and reassurance. Mary participates in […]

Helping Young People Understand Feasts and Holy Days of the Liturgical Year

As we prepare to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption (August 15), I thought it would be a good opportunity to take a closer look at what holy days are all about and to help young people understand them. A good way to start is to ask young people where they may have gone on vacation and if anyone did any sightseeing at places such as the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, or an art gallery […]

Five Tips for Working with Little Children

Working with young children can be a challenge, but children can also be fun and even give you insights into our faith when you look through their eyes of innocence and imagination. With that in mind, here are five tips for working with little children in faith formation sessions. Know that logic doesn’t always work. While it is possible to reason with older elementary students, as well as middle and high schoolers, young children have […]

Recording Available of Getting Started-Primary Grades Webinar

The recording of the Webinar I recently offered titled Getting Started as a Catechist – Teaching Children of Primary Age is NOW AVAILABLE! To view it, you can either click here or go to the Webinars Tab up above and click there. Here’s the  Note Taking Handout for this webinar. Have a great weekend!

Countdown to Webinar – Download a Note-Taking Handout

We’re into the final countdown for the free Getting Started Webinar for Catechists of Primary Grade Children (grades 1, 2, and 3). Wednesday, August 17, 2011, 7:00 pm (CDT)   There’s still time to register…just click here. In anticipation of the Webinar, here is a convenient Note Taking Handout that you can download! We cover so much information in these Webinars that some folks have told me they have trouble keeping up and taking notes…this should […]

Advice for Catechists of Primary Age Children

What advice would you give to someone who was about to become a catechist of primary age children (grades 1, 2, and 3)? What works? What doesn’t work? What approaches are most effective? What skills, techniques, and strategies are needed?