The Formation5 is a short, daily email for Catholic parents with saints, Scripture, and prayers to form whole families in the Catholic faith. As parents, we know that raising our kids in the Catholic faith is important. We know we should do something more to help our kids learn the faith. This daily email gives…
Search Results for: lent
Reimagining Virtual Catechesis
So, you are teaching virtually this year. Things are going to be different. It certainly won’t be religious education as normal. It might not be the year we expected. But it could be an amazing year. In response to the pandemic, many schools and parishes have chosen between: In-person classes with social distancing and masks…
What is Gaudete Sunday? 3 Things to Know about the 3rd Sunday of Advent
What is Gaudete Sunday? 3 Things to Know about the 3rd Sunday of Advent The third Sunday of Advent is called Gaudete Sunday. Here are a few things to know about this important day during the Advent season: 1) What does Gaudete mean? “Gaudete” is a Latin word meaning “rejoice.” It comes from the opening…
The Parable of the Good Samaritan Lesson Plan
In this lesson, your students will gain a greater appreciation for the ways in which they can love their neighbors as themselves just as the Samaritan did in Jesus’ Parable of the Good Samaritan. The structure of this lesson is based on the Lectio Divina Lesson Planning model described in the book, Christ in the…
Action Homework Assignments
The following article is an expanded excerpt from chapter 5 of Christ in the Classroom: Lesson Planning for the Heart and Mind, which will help students learn, love, and live their Catholic faith. Think of the final step in your lesson plans as unassigned and ungraded homework. You want your students to freely choose to act…
Planning a Catholic Prayer Service (with a Simple Format and Outline)
The following article is an expanded excerpt from chapter 3 of Christ in the Classroom: Lesson Planning for the Heart and Mind, which describes various ways to use meditation and prayer in class to help students make personal connections to Christ through what they are learning. The goal of planning a prayer service for class is…
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…
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…
Hundreds of Print-or-Play Resources for Religious Educators
Imagine . . . A classroom of kids actively engaged in learning about their faith. They work diligently on assignments. They listen to your presentations. They ask questions and are able to go home and articulate what they learned in class to their parents and friends. Now imagine the opposite . . . Students are…
Divine Mercy Lesson Plan and Activities
Give your students a great spiritual gift this year. Introduce them to the devotion to Divine Mercy with this lesson and activities. The Divine Mercy devotion originated with a polish nun, St. Faustian Kowalski, who had visits from Christ in the 1930s. She wrote down her conversations with Jesus in a diary, which included a…