teaching sixth grade
Intermediate Grades

Session 3 (10/1/13) – Bible Boot Camp and Intro to the Rosary

For this evening’s session, I have two main things planned: complete the “Bible Basics Learning Stations” that we started last week introduce the Rosary as we begin the Month of the Holy Rosary (PowerPoint presentation) I’ve created a Mysteries of the Rosary Note-Taking Sheet for the young people to use during the PowerPoint presentation. It’s always a good idea to have students doing something so that they don’t think they are passively sitting back and being […]

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Scripture

Martha is a Big Girl and Can Take Care of Herself!

This Sunday’s Gospel of the story of Martha and Mary (Lk 10:38-42) often results in people rallying to support poor Martha who is chided by Jesus for being anxious about many things. Too often, the figures of Martha and Mary are seen as representing the contemplative (Mary) and active (Martha) lives. Folks who are accustomed to handling details concerning hospitality rush to Martha’s aid saying that, if it were not for her and people like […]

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Scripture

Why Does God Refer to Himself as a “Jealous God?”

Not too long ago, there was a TV commercial for a mobile phone that showed a young couple about to enjoy a romantic dinner at a restaurant. As the woman is talking, she sees her date look down toward his lap. “Did you just check the game on your phone?” she asks. He quickly denies it saying, “What am I, like some kind of ‘summoner’ who can just summon footage to his phone like that? C’mon.” […]

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Scripture

Blessed Are the Meek: Redefining Meekness

We don’t use the word meek too often nowadays. For me, the only time I heard this word when I was growing up other than in the Beatitudes (“Blessed are the meek”) was in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy introduces herself to Oz, the great and powerful, as Dorothy, the small and meek. So, naturally, I grew up thinking that to be meek was to be the opposite of powerful: weak and powerless. If […]

teaching sixth grade
Intermediate Grades

“We’re Learning About Jesus in World History!”

Last evening’s session was very enjoyable on a number of levels. First and foremost, I had an opportunity to once again teach an entire class and I think the kids enjoyed getting back to a sense of normalcy after all of the special events they were a part of over the last six weeks. We spent the evening focusing one more time on the Bible. The activity with this Bible worksheet (Session 23 Bible Worksheet […]

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Intermediate Grades

Encountering God in the Bible

After what seemed like an endless string of interruptions (days off, practices for Seder Meal, Lenten and Holy Week prayer services, etc.) in our regular teaching schedule, I finally get to teach a lesson this coming Monday! With only 3 classes left for teaching, I am going to do one more session on the Bible this Monday before sending their Bibles home with them. Here’s my plan: Session 23 – Encountering God in the Bible  Session […]

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Intermediate Grades

6th Grade Psalms

We had a very enjoyable session last evening focusing on the Psalms. In case you missed it, here is what I had planned. The kids enjoyed the opening activity of describing the emotions portrayed in a series of pictures and selecting one that best described how they felt at the moment (they almost all selected the picture that represented being tired except for one very peppy young man who said, “I’m just happy to be […]

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Intermediate Grades

The Psalms: The Sound of Music Returns!

No, I’m not showing the Julie Andrews classic! I’m simply referring to the fact that my session for this evening will include a return to the use of music as a key feature. I’ve done a lot with video this year so I thought it would be a good idea to do something more auditory. For tonight’s session, I’m going to focus on the Psalms. Due to a quirk in the calendar, this is really […]

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Intermediate Grades

7 Parents Showed Up for Open House!

Last evening’s session went exceptionally well and thank goodness, because parents of 7 of my 13 kids showed up for the open house! It was a great pleasure to meet so many of the parents and to have the kids do such a wonderful job of showing them what they learned! They did so by first reviewing the Exodus/Passover story – putting in chronological order the pictures portraying scenes from the Exodus/Passover experience ( Exodus/Passover Review […]

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Intermediate Grades

Exodus/Passover and the Sacraments of Initiation – Update

Here is the latest addition to my lesson for tomorrow evening on the Sacraments of Initiation and how they tie-in to the Exodus/Passover story. I developed a chart that the young people will once again need to manipulate (I will do it as a projection but you can use it as a worksheet) to put the correct words in place to show the connection between the Sacraments of Initiation and the Exodus/Passover experience. The chart, when […]