The first day of school is a great day for you to get to know the students and for them to get to know each other. You also want to introduce them to the class and the items in it as quickly as possible. There are so many printable templates available online to help you…
The Religion Teacher Blog
Between-the-Bells Evangelization
The way you interact with students in between the bells is just as important if not more important than the lessons you teach during class. Those moments before and after class when you get to speak with students on a personal level have the potential to be transformative experiences for them. When you deliberately talk…
May Crowning Activities, Worksheets, and Crafts
May is the month of Mary and one of the most popular activities to venerate the Mother of God during this month is to participate in a May crowning ceremony. I put together this collection of activities ideas from around the web to prepare your students for a May crowning or to organize your own…
Holy Week Lesson Plan & Worksheets
You can use this lesson plan during Holy Week to teach about the Triduum. Holy Week Lesson Objectives SWBAT list the events that occur during Holy Week and the Triduum. SWBAT live as Jesus showed us to live in the Holy Thursday and Good Friday Gospel readings. SWF admiration for Jesus because of the sacrifices…
12 Ways to Encounter Christ in Class
Every Day, Every Class, Every Student, an Encounter with Christ That is the vision we aspire to at The Religion Teacher. So much of what religious educators do, however, focuses almost entirely on education and not encounter. As a result, Christ becomes just another idea to learn like everything else in school. As catechists and…
The Lord’s Prayer Lesson Plan
Use this lesson plan to teach about the meaning of each part of the Lord’s Prayer (the Our Father). Students will learn the meaning of the prayer and apply it to their lives so that praying it becomes more meaningful and not mindless and memorized. This lesson plan format is based on the Lectio Divina…
A Class Litany of the Saints
The Litany of the Saints is a perfect prayer for All Saints Day or to supplement any lesson you teach about the lives of the saints. You can certainly use the official Litany of the Saints (found below), or try this variation on this wonderful intercessory prayer for Catholic schools and parish religious education programs….
A Prayer Service After a Tragedy
How do we teach after a tragedy? What is the best way to pray for the victims of a tragedy? People respond in so many different ways. Our students may not know how to respond especially if the tragedy affected them personally or affected their community. Our goal in the wake of a tragedy is…
Image and Likeness of God Activity
“God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27 We read in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis that God created human beings in his image and likeness. If we know who God is and what God is like, then…
Lectio Divina Lesson Planning
This concept was so effective for religious educators who started using it in class, that I expanded it into an entire book on lesson planning: Christ in the Classroom: Lesson Planning for the Heart and Mind. How do we help our students know, love, and serve God? How do we teach both the head AND…