It feels as though I have not taught my 4th graders for a few weeks now, because of guest speakers and Presidents’ Days, etc. Tonight, that all changes as I get back to the basics with my li’l ones and focus on the Ten Commandments one last time! As you may recall, back in January, we made a DVD of the kids doing mini-presentations on the Ten Commandments. For tonight’s class, I put together the […]
Last night was the successful premiere of the Ten Commandments DVD that my 4th graders filmed over the past few weeks! It opened to an audience of about 8-9 parents who visited my classroom as part of the Open House. The parents enjoyed watching their little stars on the big screen and the kids were tickled to see themselves. All in all, it was very successful. I made a copy of the DVD for each […]
As I mentioned yesterday, I plan to videotape my students doing brief presentations/demonstrations on the Ten Commandments and then showing the video to the parents who attend the Open House later this month. Here are the scripts that I’ve prepared: Ten Commandments Video Scripts These scripts are adaptations of the Ten Commandments Two-Minute Drills that I did with my Confirmation class last year. Some of the adaptations were to make the activities more appropriate for 4th […]
You may have come across some stories this past weekend about the U.S. Bishops hosting a conference on exorcism. In particular, the conference was organized by Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of Springfield, IL…yes, my brother. How he ended up coordinating that event, I don’t know, other than maybe the bishops figured that growing up in a family of 9 children, he and his siblings had a little “devil” in us! 🙂 Seriously, though, I just […]
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 […]
On Monday evening, I had a cozy little group of 7 students, since 3 were rehearsing for the Living Stations. I used this opportunity to continue our exploration of the Ten Commandments, looking at real-life examples of how to live out the spirit of each of the Commandments. It turned out to be a very nice evening except for one thing: the boys (3 of 4) developed a severe case of the Sixth Commandment giggles. […]
I’m pretty excited about this one! I want to do something to reinforce the Ten Commandments as we move in to this last unit on Morality. I also want to place more responsibility on the kids now that they are confirmed, so that they sense a difference between how I taught them before Confirmation and how they are learning now. As a result, I’ve come up with something I call The Ten Commandments Two-Minute Drills! […]
This is a follow-up to my March 19 post – For the Love of God – in which I shared a handout comprised of numerous examples of actions that either violate the first three commandments or represent virtuous acts done in the spirit of these commandments. Here is the student worksheet that I am using tonight which covers the 4th, 5th, and 6th commandments. Likewise, here is the answer key. One example that I feel […]
I’m preparing for my next week’s class when we will be exploring the first 3 Commandments which focus on love of God. I’ve put together a worksheet that I’ll invite them to work on in small groups. The worksheet includes numerous examples of actions that “violate” these 3 Commandments as well as virtuous actions that are done in the spirit of these 3 Commandments. In their small groups, the young people will work together to […]
For this evening’s class, I plan to focus on the Ten Commandments. One of the things that the Confirmation assessment revealed is that many of the young people in my group do not know the Commandments well at all. Here’s my plan: Two Sides to Every Coin – I’ll begin by flipping a coin several times, asking different young people to call out “heads” or “tails.” I’ll use this to illustrate that, just as every coin […]
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