At the end of my workshop In Hartford, CT, on Saturday (speaking on leading guided reflections), a priest came up to chat with me. I hesitate to call him an elderly priest because, although he was obviously up there in years, he had such a youthful attitude that it made him seem quite young. Anyway, the priest was telling me how he’s been doing guided reflections in catechesis for many years and that one thing […]
Here’s my lesson plan for Monday, November 8, 2010 Theme: Jesus Sends the Holy Spirit Big Idea: The Holy Spirit guides us to serve others (through works of mercy) in Jesus’ name Engage As kids arrive, have them draw a picture of themselves acting as a GUIDE at some location of their choosing (provide crayons/markers). Invite them to share where they chose to be a GUIDE Explain that we rely on GUIDES to show us […]
The following is from 5th grade catechist, Bob, from Lemont, IL. Enjoy! 🙂 During class last evening, we were gathered around our prayer table practicing our required prayers for 5th grade. I asked the class what other prayer they would like to practice that we have not done as a class yet. One of the students blurted out, “lets practice the prayer we use when we go to confession.” Then another student raised his hand […]
To begin Monday’s session, we did an All Saints Day procession. I talked a little bit about what a procession is, comparing it to a parade and how parades usually celebrate victory and the hoisting of a trophy – such as the Stanley Cup here in Chicago! 🙂 We talked about how the Cross of Jesus is a symbol of victory: God’s victory over sin and death. I had my aide, Daneen, lead the procession, […]
Last night, we had a very nice visit from our Associate Pastor, Fr. Matthew Nemchausky. Fr. Matt dropped in last week and asked if he could arrange for a time to meet the kids so I invited him to visit this week. We planned on perhaps 10-15 mins, however, the kids were so interested in him that the visit lasted a half-hour! I thought it was an excellent experience for the kids and I was […]
Here’s my lesson plan for Monday, November 1, 2010: Theme: Jesus is our Redeemer Big Idea: Through his death and Resurrection, Jesus redeems us – restores our “reputation.” Engage As kids enter, give them a “Do You Know Your Trophies?” worksheet and have them match famous trophies with the correct sport. Go over the answers. Show them a trophy you have and talk about what a trophy symbolizes (victory) Show them a crucifix and explain […]
Although I probably won’t have time to do the following during today’s class (we have some time to look at the Sermon on the Mount but then we’ll be attending the Living Rosary), I thought I ‘d share with you an idea I had for talking about the Beatitudes (which, of course, is the Gospel for All Saints Day, so you may be able to use this quite soon!) The challenge is to help young […]
For this coming Monday’s session (10/25/10), we will be taking the children to the church for the Living Rosary. We will most likely still have time left for class – probably 20-30 minutes. Our schedule calls for us to learn about the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes. To introduce the idea of the Sermon on the Mount, I’m going to talk about examples of great speeches in history. To assist, I put together […]
Last evening’s session went very nicely as we looked at Jesus’ Law of Love (Love one another as I have loved you) and learned about how we are called to imitate Jesus’ love for others. Here’s a summary: We had a nice review of our last session which was 2 weeks ago. I held up a can of Play-Doh and asked, “Anyone remember what we learned?” and one girl said, “That we can shape our […]
I’ve had a few ideas for my next class kind of percolating for a while but haven’t had a chance to sit down and create an actual lesson plan until now. Here’s what I have planned for this Monday (Oct. 18), Session 5: Theme: Jesus’ Law of Love Big Idea: We imitate Jesus’ love Review last session Show can of Play-Doh and ask what we learned last session (God can shape us into holy people; God […]
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