Stories from the Field Archives - Page 51 of 61

A Visit From the Associate Pastor

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 […]

Jesus Is Our Redeemer

Joe Paprocki

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 […]

Beatitudes – Don’t Be Fooled

Joe Paprocki

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 […]

The Sermon on the Mount – Beatitudes

Joe Paprocki

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 […]

Yesterday’s Class – Concern About Those Who Are Homeless

Joe Paprocki

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 […]

Jesus’ Law of Love

Joe Paprocki

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 […]

Good Voices & Bad Voices

Joe Paprocki

The most successful part of yesterday’s class was our discussion of which voices we should listen to in order to shape a good conscience and which voices we need to avoid or “erase” in order to avoid temptation. First, I brought in a mini-cassette recorder and passed it around so that each child could say something which they really enjoyed. I played it back and they all got a kick out of listening to themselves […]

God Asks Us to Obey

Joe Paprocki

Here’s my plan for this coming Monday’s session: Monday, October 4, 2010 Theme: God Asks Us to Obey Big Idea: We shape and form our conscience so that we can know right from wrong and be faithful followers of Jesus Engage (15 mins) As kids enter, provide them with a small container of Play-doh and invite them to create a shape Opening prayer ritual Review of last session – show broken popsicle stick and rock […]

Except for Bathroom Breaks…

Joe Paprocki

Except for an excessive number of requests to go the the bathroom, last night’s class was extremely successful! 🙂 Although I had informed the kids on the first class that they needed to go to the bathroom before coming to class, last night at least 5 kids asked to go at separate times! It breaks up the momentum and takes my aide out of the classroom. Other than that, however, the class was extremely successful. […]

Blessed be the LORD, My Rock

Joe Paprocki

For today’s class, we will be focusing on how we can trust in God, who is our “Rock” (drawing from Psalm 144:1). To reinforce the idea, I’m giving each of the students a rock with the words “Blessed be the LORD, my rock” Ps 144:1 Where did I get these from? It so happens that I live near some railroad tracks, so I went over there and picked out a number of gray rocks with […]