Sharing With Friends

AIM:   To encourage the Christian Virtue of Sharing in little children. 

When we make new friends, we also like to share our things with them like our toys, colors,our lunch at school and even maybe a pencil.Even though some of us don't like to share our things,as good Christians we should practice good manners and courtesy towards each other.

Teacher: How many of you made new friends last class?
(All hands go up).
Teacher: What do you like to do with your new friends?
(some of them raise their hands to answer and they answer play with their friends, help them with homework and share their things with them).
Teacher:Who is our best friend? that one friend who never fights with us and even talks to us when we are angry or sad?
(All the children shout in a chorus saying JESUS).

Small Story: 

Perry Porcupine had no friends.People were all afraid of him.He was very sad. Fury Fred came by. "Oh, my! what beautiful needles! May I have two? I want to make a sweater."

"Take my needles!" Perry said. "And will you be my friend?"
Furry Fred hopped up to Perry. "Sure! I like you! I'll be your friend."
Like Fury Fred, We need friends.

Song: 

Sharing, if we would all keep sharing, 

Sharing all the things we have, 

Oh what joy, what peace and contentment , 

If we would keep sharing all we have. 

(Repeat above again)

Activity/ Handout: 

Jesus , Our Friend

Jesus Christ was truly God. He was also truly man. He thought with a human mind, acted with a human will and loved with a human heart. 

Jesus, the Son of God, wants to be our FRIEND.

Action song:

**Since Jesus came to me and washed away my sins

(Point to sky, then towards yourself and then act as if your washing some clothes)

I am inwards, outwards,upwards,downwards
(Both thumbs pointing towards chest,towards the front,towards the sky and then towards the floor)

Happy all the time.
(Put two fingers on cheeks and smile)

I am inwards, outwards,upwards,downwards
(Both thumbs pointing towards chest,towards the front,towards the sky and then towards the floor)

Happy all the time.
(Put two fingers on cheeks and smile)

**Since Jesus came to me and washed away my sins
(Point to sky and then act as if your washing some clothes)

I am forwards, backwards, rightwards, leftwards
(Take a step forward then backwards then towards the right and then towards the left)

Happy all the time.
(Put two fingers on cheeks and smile)

I am forwards, backwards, rightwards, leftwards
(Take a step forward then backwards then towards the right and then towards the left)

Happy all the time.
(Put two fingers on cheeks and smile)

**Since Jesus came to me and washed away my sins
(Point to sky and then act as if your washing some clothes)

I am inwards, outwards,upwards,downwards, forwards, backwards, rightwards, leftwards
(Repeat all the actions together)

Happy all the time.
(Put two fingers on cheeks and smile)

(Repeat many times and faster).

Our Father - Prayer

AIM:   To teach children the importance of prayer, what Jesus thought of prayer and to teach the the "Perfect prayer ever taught"

Video obtained from LIVING SCRIPTURES

The Our Father is the PERFECT prayer. It was taught to us by God Himself - Jesus Christ.

Our Father 

When we say Our Father - we call out to Our Father who made us.
He knows us, sees us and understands our  very thoughts.

Who are in Heaven 

When we say Heaven - it does not mean that God lives far away from us - it means God is Perfect - He loves us very much - He abides in Heaven up above - but lives in our hearts especially when we love Him more and more and call out to Him.

Hallowed be Thy Name

No name in the earth, sky or universe is as beautiful, more profound, more powerful than God's Holy Name.
We exalt God's Holiness.

Thy Kingdom Come

God's kingdom is a kingdom of Love, Peace, Joy and Happiness. God's world is pure and we are also waiting for God to come again.

Thy Will be done

In all things we see God's decision or Will in our life.
Mother Mary said "Let it be done unto me according to They Holy Will"  - thereby accepting God's plan in her life.
We too must make this our life's path, our life's mantra - so to speak - Thy will be done.

On Earth as it is in Heaven

We ask God's will to be manifested in our life, our family's life, in every part of the world - the same way it is in God's perfect Heaven


Give us this day our Daily Bread

(Mathew 6: 8 ) Your father knows what you need , even before you ask Him. 

God knows what we need. He knows if we need food, money, more marks, better memory. We ask God in humble supplication to provide us what we need for today. Not tomorrow- not the day after tomorrow.

Example:

Forgive us our trespasses

We all are sinners - sometimes we sin knowingly , sometimes we sin unknowingly.
At all times we need God to love us and forgive us. He is a kind, loving and merciful God.
We prayerfully ask God to forgive us our sins.

As we forgive those who tresspass against us. 

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If we ask God to forgive us and we depend on Hid Mercy , Should we not also forgive our friends / brothers - who have hurt us?
Jesus told his disciples to forgive 70 times 7 - or in other words - any number of times. Just as God does not keep count, we too must not keep count.

Example: Somebody said something that has made me very sad - should I hit him? NO - I must ask God for strength and courage to be the better person - I MUST forgive him and love him.


Do not bring us to the test

God NEVER EVER tempts- it is our need that makes us sin. We ask God to help us in these moments. We ask Him to give us strength to say no.

Example: I have not studied and teacher has given us a surprise test. My friend is busy wrting the answer , but i can see the answer - should I copy? NO - i must ask God to give me strength and courage to NOT copy and be better prepared next time.
Somebody said something that has made me very sad - should I hit him? NO - I must ask God for strength and courage to be the better person.

But deliver us from all Evil

We ask God to protect us from things (bad) that we cannot see.

AMEN 

Image Courtesy Reproduced (with thanks) from
 http://www.catholictradition.org/Children/our-father.htm

Parable of the Rich Fool

AIM:    To enforce the Christian virtue of sharing in children, to remind them that wealth and accumulation of goods is not the ultimate goal but to live a life pleasing to God.

Luke 12: 13-21

Once upon a time there was a rich man who had a very big farm.

He grew lots of crops in his farm.

One year, he had a very good harvest,and his workers gathered lots of grain.

The Rich Man was very happy and thought to himself -"How blessed I am! I am Rich!"

But what shall I do? The harvest was so great that I have no room to store it in my barns.

"Oh, no!! I may have to give some away!" That thought made him pretty sad. He wanted to sell all his crop and get a lot of money .

" I know what I'll do!", thought the Rich man

-I will pull down my old barns...

-...and I will build bigger barns!

I will say to my soul,

"Soul, you have many riches stored up for many years. Take it easy, eat, drink, and be merry!"

But God said to him, "You fool!Tonight you are going to die!What will you do then, with all the things that you stored ?" 

That night he died in his sleep and he had to leave it all behind.

He could not take all those riches with him.

He was foolish – because he made so many plans but God had different plans for him.

Does that sound like us sometimes? How many of us cry and put up a small tantrum for our parents to deal  with , when we don't get things we asked for?  

Do we fight  and complain when I don't get that new toy? or that chocolate with a  toy inside? 

Do I think of how hard my parents work for me? 

We always want more. More toys, More candy, More clothes, more stuff. 

We don’t have to be like this rich man.

There are many people in the world who have very little of the many things we take for granted. 

God loves them too- If God gave me something extra – He wants me to share some of it.

Jesus told us this parable  as a warning not to be greedy.

In the Story if we see the way the man talks he keeps saying, “My Crops, My barns, My Soul” – its all about Me! Me! Me!

Did the farmer get to keep all the extra food he saved up for himself? No.

And that’s why God doesn’t want us to keep too many things for ourselves. He doesn’t want us to be greedy and keep things just for us. He wants us to keep only what we need and then give our extras away so that we can help other people. If we give our extra things or our extra money away to help other people, God will be happy with us.

For example, if I have an extra chocolate – God will not like it – if I hide it and eat all by myself. God will really like it if I shared it with a friend. Particularly, if that friend does not have one.

Likewise, God likes me to share certain things with my friends such as my talents etc.

If I am good in studies, God wants me to use that talent and help my classmate or friend who finds it hard to study!

Jesus is our everything. When we have Jesus, we don’t have to worry about anything.Even if it seems to be less, God will return us back everything so many times more!!

We don't worry about "little things" . Because when we have Jesus, we have everything!

When we have Jesus, we can give what we have generously to others because we know we will never ever have less.. When we have Jesus, He provides all we need. And no one can take Him away from us forever. (Luke 4:33)

The Great Teacher

AIM:  To teach children that they can rely on an All Knowing God, and that Jesus is available t us at all times - whenever we pray. To introduce the concept of Bible Studies, the importance of Parables and an introduction to such life lessons.

There are various phases in a child's life wherein different people hold great importance to them.

Needless to say, the greatest influences in a child's life is the parent themselves. However, about the time a child begins school one of the most important person(s)  in their life invariably becomes their teacher. 

Teachers have an immense capacity and responsibility in these little minds. 

Like Spiderman says " With great Power comes Great responsibility" 

Hence, we as teachers try our best to be extra careful and encouraging to our kids. 

This section of my class began like this: 

( I began writing on the "White Board" . ) 

Teacher: Who does this all the time? 

Kids: TEACHER

Teacher : Good- do you like your teachers? 

Kids: YES!!

Teacher: Can you tell me some of your favourite Teacher's names? 

Teacher: Thats great!! Do you know you have ONE Great Teacher who can teach you every lesson in the world? 

He is Always Right!

Never has the wrong answer and can teach you so beautifully that you will understand verything He teaches immediately? 

He is so Great that he has taught me, your parents, your grandparents and everyone you can ever think of!!!

(Kids look on in awe!!) 

Teacher: Can anyone tell me who This Great Teacher is? 

(Silence) 

Teacher: This teacher did not teach in classrooms but wherever He met anyone who would listen. 

(Silence) 

Teacher: He taught in Temples or in a boat or in mountains and hills .......and He loved Children 

(recognition lights up a few faces. Some hands go up ) 

Kids: JESUS

Teacher: That is right - Jesus is the greatest teacher!!!

Do you know how he taught? He did not use notebooks, pens, Blackboards- so how did He teach? 

He taught us with stories!! Jesus loved to tell stories - His stories are called PARABLES!!

Parables are stories that Jesus told with examples to teach us special lessons. Parables were short and simple but had very good (read deep, moral and spiritual )  lessons behind them. 

We wound up with a short Prayer to The Greatest Teacher ever asking Him to help us Love Him more and more!!

Hello - to new friends.

AIM:   To encourage social development in young children.

Friends.

We all need friends. Children need them even more!!
Especially when they come to a new environment like a Classroom , making friends helps them break the ice and cheer up! It also makes class more interesting & fun!!

One of our first classes was

"Hello to New Friends" 

A friend is someone who accepts you just the way you are, believes in you and encourages you. Someone who is trustworthy, who never forsakes you, who forgives your mistakes, who enjoys being with you, and who makes you laugh.

We started off by introducing ourselves and teaching kids the importance of friends.

Teacher: How many of y ou have friends? 

(Lots of hands go up) 

Teacher: How many of you have Best Friends? 

(Hands go up) 

Teacher: How many of you love making New friends?   

(Hands go up) 

Teacher: So, how do we make a friend? 

(Silence) 

Then the teachers have a little activity with the help of volunteers and basically teach the kids to say "Hello" and introduce themselves. 

We then proceeded to explain to the kids who a friend really is. 

Kids were encouraged to learn the names of other kids in class. 

As an activity we gave them handouts to fill and paste it on their notebooks. 
It was more of a checklist. 

Following this we encouraged kids to think of a Friend - who has all the best qualities and more. 


With a little prodding our young geniuses came up with the Correct Answers on their own: 

JESUS!!

Yes, Jesus can be our Very Best Friends and He Loves to talk to us. 
Prayer is one of the nicest things because the second we say a small "Hello" / "what's up Jesus? " Our Best Friend Jesus is ready and around to talk to us!!!

Action Song: 

Jesus Loves me: 

Jesus Loves me this I know
For the Bible tells me so
Little ones to Him belong
He is great and we are small. 

Yes, Jesus loves me
Yes, Jesus loves me
Yes, Jesus loves me
The Bible tells me so!!!

Action Songs for little ones:)

Children are absolutely adorable!They are always so eager to please - a smile and appreciation goes a long way with these little ones.

Having said that keeping them attentive and interested is a different story.

I have noticed that most 5 year olds get fidgety really soon and we need to keep them constantly engaged.

As teachers, we constantly try and make things as interesting for them as possible. More often than not , i use small props for them to "touch" and "feel" and get the whole class involved in a little "action".
We get rewarded with their million dollar smiles at the end of our exercises.

Some of these exercises than can be universally used irrespective of the Lesson being taught are action songs.

An all time favourite is : "Lord's Army", this Song is an instant hit - with boys and girls alike- i would say the boys love it even more since at this age all of them aspire to be Pilots/ Soldiers etc.

The Lyrics go as follows:

"Lord's Army"

 I may never march in the Infantry,  

(an elaborate march - chest forward, head looking ahead, swinging arms etc.)

Ride in the cavalry,  

 (pretend you're riding a horse)

Shoot the artillery.  
 (pretend you have gun, and point all around)

I may never zoom o'er the enemy,   
(show zooming action of a jet in motion with one hand)

But I'm in the Lord's Army.  
 (point one finger up to God)

I'm in the Lord's Army, yes, sir!  
 (salute)

I'm in the Lord's Army, yes, sir!
 (salute)

I may never march in the Infantry,

Ride in the cavalry,

Shoot the artillery.

I may never zoom o'er the enemy,

But I'm in the Lord's Army, (yes, sir!) 

The "yes, sir" is almost a shout in my class. 

This Action Song fulfills its purpose wonderfully in my class room. :)

My Resources

As Catechists we teach the Catechism as approved by the Catholic Church. 

All material taught by us has to be approved by The Church- most of the material has already been advised to us by our superiors. Additional material - if used - has to be approved by the Catholic Church. 

Below is some of the books i refer to for my Lessons. 

1) The Holy Bible  (NRSV Version)

    2) Kid's Bible (Illustrated) 

3) Picture Book of saints & 

4) More saints for you. 

 5) YouCAT - Youth catechism - 

basically our Catechism explained in a lingo that the younger generation can understand and appreciate.

 6) CCC - or Catechism of the catholic Church - HH Pope John Paul IInd

 7) CCCC - or Compendium of the Catholic Church

8) Word Quest for Standard 1. 

These are Bible Stories for Grade 1. Provided by our Vicariate. 

 9) The Catechism in Pictures - Our whole Catechism explained in lovely , lovely pictures

one of the pages in the book.

The Sign of the Cross

The Sign of the Cross is one of the Most Basic Prayers. 

Yes, I call it a prayer – because I use it often ( and am very sure most of you do) when I need God’s help and don’t have the most eloquent words to express it.  

Example: When I am driving and have just escaped something pretty unfortunate , or when I don’t know how to deal with a particular situation , it’s my quick 911 to God.

The Sign of the Cross is one of the most fundamental signs of us catholics- in it we proclaim our belief in the Holy Trinity - God the Father, God the Son & God the Holy Spirit. 

We also show the world we are Christian. We wear our religion with pride. 

It is important to teach our children the proper way to make the Sign of the Cross, I do it as follows: 

THE SIGN OF THE CROSS: 

First you place your Left Hand on the Chest. 

In the name of the Father…

Start with the your right hand, and touch your head.  

When you touch your head you are also asking God to clean your mind from thoughts He does not want you  to have. Thoughts of sadness, thoughts of Anger, thoughts that “ I am not good enough, or, I am not special, or , I don’t like that boy or girl, “ etc. You also ask Him to clean your minds to listen to His Word better, to open your mind to understand and remember what you learn .

You say Our Father – because God is our Father. He made me. He lives in Heaven up above,  so move your hand to the highest part of your head, your forehead.

…and of the Son…

Next say “and of the Son.”

When you touch your chest you are also asking God to clean your heart from feelings He does not want you  to have. Feelings  of sadness, feelings of Anger, feelings of revenge

Jesus is Love and Love is felt in our hearts – He wants us to love everyone. So we need to ask Jesus to live in our Hearts. With Jesus in your heart, you can love everybody, especially those who make you sad.

…and of the Holy Spirit…

When you touch your shoulders you are also asking God to clean the work of your hands, be it your games, your fun activities, your studies etc.  You ask him to touch your hands when you do good to someone or something. Through your hands the whole will feel God’s love.

The Holy Spirit is God. God the Holy Spirit fills the world with Jesus’s love.

Amen

Amen  means “it is so.”  or "I agree" When you say “Amen” at the end of the Sign of the Cross—or any prayer—you agree with what was just said. This is a way of Praising God.

We distribute this hand-out in Class. Children are to colour these and stick it on their note books.

(For Parents) 

WHY MAKE THE SIGN OF THE CROSS:  

Catholics, worldwide make the Sign of the Cross, millions of times through their livs. 

Why do we make the Sign of the Cross? 

The first, most simple reason is it a Prayer. It is a Prayer we say - when words fail us (example in times of an emergency - and i need a result - quick!!). It is a prayer to God and He knows exactly what we need. 

It is a public acknowledgement to the world that we are Christ's disciples. We tell the world we belong to Jesus.

We use it to protect our entire selves, our entire being. When we Sign ourselves with the Cross - the Devil is scared and stays away from us!. Our body has been protected by a very simple Cross. The Cross that gave us Victory over death and hell. 

When we are faced with a moment of temptation like  - anger building up etc. - all it takes is the Sign of the Cross (taken with faith) 

Whn taken with faith - the Sign of the Cross is very powerful and can protect us from many evils. 

Take faith- Be proud of being Catholic!!

Take the Sign of the Cross!

Amen!

My Class Schedule

Given only 60 minutes namely 10:00 am to 11:00am every Friday , its imperative that we teachers have a Schedule to follow.

While we dont stick to it like the Army does, its good to have an outline to better moderate and help us prepare our Lesson Plans.

My Schedule goes something Like this:

1) Preparatory work - Arrange the class for kids. 

We normally make the kids sit on their chairs along the walls of the class. I arrange the tables in the centre. 

This way I have all the kids attention since they are not busy fidgetting with their bags, bottles etc. 

The rough Class diagram is as above. Chairs to the sides , Tables in the centre. The day I do decide to give them any activity they need to be doing on desks , i skip this step. 

2) Welcome- Greet students and welcome them to class. 2 minutes

3) Prayer – We begin the class with a prayer. 2 minutes

4) Review- Reminder of last week’s lesson and Morning Mass, the Sermon. 2 -5 minutes

5) Lesson & Home-work  – We cover the day’s lesson . Co-teachers helpcorrect the homework at this time. 30minutes

6) Attendance & Hand-out distribution- Fill out the Attendance Sheet, during this time , co-teachers distribute hand-outs to student according to Attendance Registry.  . 5 minutes

7) Closing Prayer & Action Song- We generally sing an action song , followed by a Closing prayer.

My first day as Class teacher

A new Catechism  year begins. 
The Catechism Ministry of St. Therese Church are as usual ...all ready to go....

We are excited to see new faces, the whole ministry has been on about new children joining us for a few months now. Over the past few days most have been sending out e-mails , reading new ones, re-reading them---all to make sure our little ones are A-Okay on their first day at Catechism. 

Prior to this, behind the scenes our very efficient Admin team have accepted Admissions , done all the leg work and sorted out all the kids in 5 different sections for Grade 1 alone. 

Parents full of trust and smiles bring their 5 year olds to my class.What joy , what fun ....and among them.....what fear!!!

But we have been expecting this....and so we start with a fun action song. 

I taught my kids 2 action songs 

a) If you're happy and you know it -

(that was a real ice breaker - finally i saw some smiles!!!) 

followed by Introductions. We (my co-teachers and I ) told the kids how much we would love to see them at every class and every Friday Mass. 

5 year olds are very hard to keep occupied, so as soon as we saw shuffling feet and signs of restlessness, we broke out into another Action Song 

b) I'm in the Lord's Army

(ALL absolutely all my kids LOVE this action song. The boys love this the most!!)

I explain to the kids that they are part of an elite group- Jesus's very own personal army. 


I love to hear my Kids talk - they are always encouraged to talk - we ask them about Jesus . 


Me: Do you'll know who Jesus is? 

Kids : YES!!!!!

Me: Well, really !! That's good. Who is He? 

Kids: He is Our God!!!

Me: Awesome....who is God? 

Kids: He made us!!!

Me: That's  so true- I have the most amazing Kids in my Class . 

(We, the teachers applaud them - and my kids are beaming) 

Me: So does anyone here know the Our Father

(Lots of hands went up) 

Me: Wow..what about the Sign of the Cross

(Again, amy more hands up) 

Me: Thats brilliant - Shall we try it now ? 

(And my faithful little volunteers, with a little help from the teachers - stand up. We taught them the Sign of the Cross very briefly because by then an hour was almost up and we had take their attendance plus hand them over little handouts) 

Most of my class have a good idea of what is required of them in Grade 1. We will have to brush them up more. 

The Next Class will be the Sign of the Cross and Jesus the greatest Teacher. 


Portion for Next Class: 

Prayer - Sign of the Cross

Bible Reading - Luke 4: 42-44 - Jesus the Great Teacher.