When you pray, how do you imagine God? Do you visualize someone or something? Do you use images to help you pray? Too often we tend to focus on what we are praying for rather than the God to whom we pray. If you ask your students what they imagine when they pray, you may…
Activities
Catholic Thanksgiving Day Lesson Plans on the Eucharist as Thanksgiving
Eucharist means first of all “thanksgiving” (CCC, 1360). I can think of no better lesson to teach to our students this Thanksgiving week than this. There are many images that express the intense mystery that is the Eucharist, but the Eucharist as thanksgiving is the most appropriate for November. A simple connection that you can…
“Tic-Tac-Know” the Review Game
Materials needed: 1) three categories of nine questions each (for example, 9 questions about each person of the Trinity). 2) large whiteboard or chalkboard Number of Teams: 2 or divide them by rows Directions: Draw three tic-tac-toe grids on the board and label them according to your three categories. Number each box 1 to 9….
“Guesstures” the Review Game
Materials needed: 1) cards with two vocabulary words Number of Teams: 2 Directions: 1. One member from a team will be given a card with two vocabulary words. Each word will be given different point values based on difficulty. 2. The team representative will have a specific time limit to act-out the word. 3. Other…
Pictionary Vocabulary the Review Game
Materials needed: 1) a list or cards of vocabulary terms and 2) whiteboard, chalkboard, or smart board and markers/chalk Number of Teams: 2 Directions: Each team will take turns sending one “artist” to draw a picture of a vocabulary word given by the teacher. The artist will be given a time limit to draw the…
“Bluff” the Review Game
Materials needed: 1) a list of questions from the study guide (or from the test) 2) note cards, popsickle sticks, etc. with students’ names Number of teams: 2 Directions: Ask the question to the entire team (make sure there is no talking). Students have the option to stand or sit. The teacher will count the…
ZAP! the Review Game
Materials needed: individual papers slips, note cards, sticks, etc. containing questions or vocabulary words one slip, card, stick, etc. as a wild card with a word such as ZAP! or other word related to the unit’s theme bags, baskets, or buckets to hold questions Number of teams: groups of 3 or 4 Directions: Each student…
Review Games – All Play and No Work?
Is it a waste of time to play review games to prepare for tests? “I pray thee, spare thyself at times: for it becomes a wise man sometimes to relax the big pressure of his attention to work” (Augustine, Music, ii, 15). St. Thomas Aquinas uses this quote from St. Augustine to respond to the…
Teaching the Mysteries of Rosary to Elementary Students
The Challenges of Teaching the Rosary Teaching the Rosary to little ones is no easy task. It is not simply teaching the prayers, but decoding the new vocabulary in the prayers so that children are able to understand them. It is not simply exposing children to the mysteries of the Rosary but enabling children to…
Rosary Journals for Meditation on the Mysteries of the Rosary
One of the ways I taught students to meditate on the mysteries of the rosary, was to have them create a rosary journal for a particular week. We focused on one decade/mystery of the rosary each day (for a total of five mysteries per week). I found this to be especially powerful for the sorrowful…
