Tuesday

Tuesday, December 12th Lesson Plan

Welcome:

Today we began class with finishing our Advent Wreaths! 

Week Two of Advent and Prayer:

Who remembers what we learned about last week?

     Advent! Advent is a time to prepare for the coming of Jesus on Christmas.

Does anyone remember any of the symbols of the Advent Wreath?

       Circle/Evergreen - God’s never-ending love; Candles - light in the darkness

Does anyone remember what the meaning of last week’s candle was?

       Hope! We are waiting for baby Jesus to be born like the Prophets had said.

Second Week of Advent Meaning:

       Peace! Jesus is also called The Prince of Peace, and when he is born he will bring peace to the world. 

       This candle is also called the Bethlehem candle. Mary and Joseph journeyed to Bethlehem from Nazareth for the census. There was a lot of chaos in the world during this time, and so there was hope (like we talked about last class) that Jesus would bring peace with his coming. 

       What does peace mean to you? How do you experience peace?

       This candle reminds us of the blessings our faith and our relationship with God brings into our lives, and how our religion can be a source of peace in difficult times. 

Prayer:

       The second week of Advent we remember the gift of Peace we have in Christ. Peace is a gift that we must be prepared for and must work for. God gives us the gift of peace when we turn to him working together in faith. 

       Through John the Baptist and all the other prophets, God asks us to prepare the way of the Lord, whom the prophet Isaiah calls “the Prince of Peace.” As we light this candle today we look with hope for the day that Christ’s peace will reign in our hearts, in our homes, in our communities, and in our world. As we light this candle, we are reminded to work for that peace of Christ to come and take root in us. 

       Loving God, we thank you for the gift of peace you give us through Jesus. Help us prepare our hearts for the Lord’s coming by working for Christ’s peace to take root in our family. We ask this in the name of the one born in Bethlehem, Jesus our Lord. 

       Amen.

The Perfect Gift of Christmas Activity:

       Who here gets gifts at Christmas? Who gives gifts to others at Christmas too?       

       Pretend you have to find the perfect gift for someone you love, maybe your mom or dad or sibling or friend. You searched and searched and searched until you found a present that you were sure they would be super excited about. It was very expensive, so you had to sell everything you owned, every toy and book and thing in your room to get it. You put the gift in a box and wrap it up in wrapping paper.

       When Christmas came, you handed the gift to that important person. You couldn’t wait for them to open it! 

       Did that person do anything to deserve that gift? Or did they simply receive the wonderful present because you wanted to show how much you loved them? BOTH!

       We have a gift here that God himself sent to us! Each of us are going to unwrap a layer of wrapping paper, make sure to only unwrap ONE layer each. 

       What’s inside? The Nativity! God gave us Jesus for Christmas!

       Just like we talked about earlier, in the same way you gave up everything you owned to give the best gift to someone, God gave up everything to give you the PERFECT gift - His Son, Jesus. Jesus gave up His life for us so we could be with Him in heaven someday and receive the gift of salvation. We might not deserve this perfect gift, but God gave it to us because He loves us more than anything!

Christmas Cards to Donate:

       This week we talked about how God has shared his love for us and how this week of Advent we are thinking about the peace Jesus gives us in our lives. Because of this, we are going to do an activity to share our love that God gave us with others. Advent is about preparing for Jesus’ birth, and as some of you have mentioned, one way we can do that is by helping others. 

       Many people don’t have any family nearby to spend the holiday with. So today, we are going to make holiday cards to donate to some of those people in Wellington! Make sure you write a nice message, only sign with your first name, and decorate!

Have a great rest of your week! 

~ Miss Alexandra

Tuesday, December 5th Lesson Plan

Welcome:

Today we began class with an Advent word search and our weekly prayer.

Intro to Advent Recap and Symbolism of the Advent Wreath:

Who remembers what we learned about last week?

     Advent! Advent is a time to prepare for the coming of Jesus on Christmas.

For those of you who were at Mass on Sunday, who knows what Father called the First Sunday of Advent? (hint: its similar to what we celebrate on Jan 1st)

     Liturgical New Year! In the Church, Advent begins the year, so the first Sunday of Advent is like New Year’s Day. 

Symbolism of the Advent Wreath:

     What is the shape of the wreath? A circle! This is because a circle doesn’t have a start or end, just like God’s love for us. The shape of the wreath represents the Eternity of God, His Kingdom, and everlasting life in Heaven. 

       The wreath is also normally made of evergreen. In the fall and winter, many trees lose all their leaves, and we have to rake them and pick them all up. Evergreen trees, like pine trees and Christmas trees, don’t do this though! They stay green all year long, even in the dark winters. Similarly, God promises us everlasting life in Heaven. These greens also represent how Jesus died for us and was resurrected. 

The candles themselves represent Christ, the Light of the World. We are in darkness as we await the coming of Jesus, but the candles bring hope and light into our lives as we wait for Christmas. The purple candles symbolize peace, prayer, and penance. They are about the good works we do during this time to prepare for the coming of Jesus. The pink candle symbolizes joy as we get closer and closer to Christmas! Each candle represents something different: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.

First Week of Advent Meaning:

       Hope! The first week we are excited for when Jesus is going to be born. We know that Jesus is the only Son of God and that he is coming to help up, so we are excited for him to come. The people of Israel had been waiting for Christ to come for many, many years.  

       This candle is also called the Prophet’s candle. Who remembers what a prophet is? A prophet is someone who is called to share God’s word to the people. The prophets had told people that Jesus was coming, and so this candle reminds us of the hope they had as they prepared for his birth. 

Class Advent Wreath and Prayer:

Explanation:

       Our class Advent Wreath is made out of the tracings of each of your hands. We talked about how the circle of greens represents God’s eternal kingdom and love for us, and anybody is welcomed into that kingdom, including all of you. 

       This Sunday was the first week of advent, so we will only “light” the first candle on our wreath. Each week we will also have a special prayer to go along with the meaning, for example this week it will be about Hope. 

Prayer:

       The first week of Advent we remember the gift of hope we have in Christ. The prophets of Israel all spoke of the coming of Christ, of how a savior would be born, a king in the line of David. They spoke of how he would rule the world wisely and bless all nations. As followers of Christ, we wait with hope for his return. As we light this candle, we remember that it was from the manger at Bethlehem that he came and gave light to the world. As we light this candle, we are reminded to be alert and to watch for the light of Christ even in the most unlikely places and people. 

       Loving God, we thank you for the hope you give us. Help us prepare our hearts for the Lord's coming by being open to seeing the light of Christ in others. We ask this in the name of the one born in Bethlehem, Jesus our Lord. 

Amen.

Advent Wreath Craft:

       This week each of you will be making your own Advent Wreaths to take home with you! Since we did not finish these in class, we will wrap them up next week. 

See you all next week!

~ Miss Alexandra

Tuesday, November 28th Lesson

This week we started out class by reviewing for Confession and talking about how our Thanksgivings were. We had a shorter class after returning from the Church, so we introduced what we will be focusing on for the coming few weeks: Advent! 

We reviewed pages 115 - 118 in the textbook and started talking about why Advent is important leading up to Christmas. We also looked ahead to next week when we will be making our own Advent wreaths! If you weren't in class today, don't worry about it, we will review everything we learned at the start of class next Tuesday. 

I look forward to seeing everyone next week! 

~ Miss Alexandra

Recap of Last Week:

Who remembers what we learned about last week?

     We started talking about God's gift to us of His Son, Jesus. We looked at his early life, how he grew up, and the Holy Trinity. 

Before we got to today's activities, we quickly looked at the quiz at the end of Chapter One (pg. 26) together.

     Today we went through the questions quickly as a group and make sure everyone has the correct answers written.

Questions from the Story: 

What is Leprosy? 

     Leprosy is a disease where you get bumps on your skin and it's really contagious, so people who had it were sent away to live alone with the other lepers for the rest of their lives. In the story there were 10 lepers who called out to Jesus for help because they did not want to be away from their friends and families anymore.

Was it okay that the men asked Jesus for help? What would you have done? 

     Of course it was okay! We can always pray to god when we need help with something or even if we need guidance to help make a decision. God gave us the greatest gift, His Son, in order to help us. Jesus healed the 10 men of their leprosy, so they could go back home to their families again. 

What did some of the men not do after they were healed?

     Only one of the men thanked Jesus! The others went to the priest and were healed along the way, but they did not think to turn back and praise Jesus in gratitude.

Why is it important to say thank you to God? How can we show that we appreciate all he’s done for us?

     When someone does something nice for you, do you say thank you to them? Of course! God has given us many wonderful things in our lives, so we should thank him. We can do this by praying, going to church, spreading his word, being kind, and other ways too.

What holiday is coming up next week? Why do you think we read this story today? Why is it important? 

     Thanksgiving is next Thursday! This is a time to reflect on how many amazing things we have in our lives - our faith, families, friends, food, shelter, and so much more - and to be grateful for what we have. We want to be like the man who thanked Jesus, because it is good to have gratitude in our lives, to others and to God. 

What are some things we can be grateful for in our lives? How can we show that we are thankful?

     We can be grateful for our parents, siblings, families, homes, food, faith, friends, pets, and more! We can do nice things for others, tell them how much we appreciate them, be kind to everyone, and help others around us.

Thankful Trees Activity:

For the last part of class today, we shared out favorite Thanksgiving traditions, and I shared with the class about one of my family's - Thankful Trees! Each year we have a mini tree and colorful paper leaves. Each night leading up to Thanksgiving we write something we are grateful for on a leaf together and put it on the tree. By the time of the holiday, we have a full tree to use as a centerpiece for Thanksgiving dinner!

Everyone received a mini "tree" to take home with them, and we wrote our first leaf in class together, talking about how God gave us his only son, Jesus. Each child also received a bag with extra paper leaves and a Thanksgiving prayer to share with their families, giving everyone the opportunity to share in my family's tradition if you wish to!