Let’s not forget that October is the Month of the Holy Rosary.
I’ve spent some time on previous posts talking about reflective prayer, aka, meditation. The Rosary is a unique form of meditation for Catholics. By focusing on the mysteries – events in the lives of Jesus and Mary – we encounter the Lord in a special way, through the intercession of Mary.
It occurs to me now that praying the Rosary with my 8th graders this month will be a wonderful opportunity to introduce them to another form of reflective prayer.
Any other plans out there for incorporating the Rosary into your lessons this month?
We’re going to start learning the Hail Mary this week, and I’ll review out of our little St. Joseph book about the Rosary. I’m afraid, though, that they won’t even have heard of it and will be bored with a long drawn out explanation. I do tend to go on 😉
Which reminds me, I need to get parent letter ready about this . . . . (I need a secretary, or a wife! LOL)
Our Young Adolescents (grades 6-7-8) all did similar activities learning about the history of the rosary, as well as discussing Mary and her response to God. We took some activities off the Center for Ministry Youth Ministry Access site and adapted them to our needs.
For our closing prayer, we prayed the rosary together with each group taking a Mystery. It went very well.
Ali, I bet the little ones love Mary….good luck helping them learn the Hail Mary…it’s never too early for that!
Claudia, thanks for sharing. I like the fact that you look for resources and adapt them as needed.
No matter what age I teach (and I have taught every age except preschool at one time or another) our closing prayer is one decade of the Rosary. As the students get more familiar, they can take turns leading. I use a commercially available leaflet for the mystery meditation (or I have used one that is online from the Passionists http://www.cptryon.org/prayer/child/rosary/index.html ) As we go through the year, I explain things as they come up. By the end of the year, most of them are bringing their own rosaries to class.
Mallys, thanks for the link!
Mallys,
Thank you for sharing!