catholic leadership & service: a call to action (Grs. 3 - 5)

Catholic Curriculum Corporation

Our Purpose

The Catholic Curriculum Corporation is a consortium of seventeen Catholic school boards across central and western Ontario. As an important partner in Catholic education, we recognize that Catholic education exists to provide a holistic formation of people as living witnesses of faith. We demonstrate our mission when we engage with, and support, our member boards in sustained, substantive school improvement and student growth that is reflective of a Catholic professional learning community.

Our Mission

Our mission is to build and sustain the Catholic capacity of educators through the development and provision of high quality Catholic curriculum, resources, support and professional development.

Our Vision

Faith Through Learning – A Distinctive Catholic Curriculum

Message from the Executive Director

On behalf of the Catholic Curriculum Corporation, I would like to thank Christina Roti, project lead, and the team of contributors from the Toronto, Brant Haldimand Norfolk and York Catholic District School Boards for their expertise and dedicated efforts in producing this resource. Thanks are also extended to Grant McMurray for his guidance as Curriculum Manager.

This resource puts Catholic leadership and service-learning at the forefront of our teaching in Catholic schools. The Religious Education policy document stresses the importance of Living a Moral Life and Living in Solidarity. These strands help students discern their vocation through responsible participation in society. Through formation of conscience and discerning their contribution in the world, students come to know what this responsible participation entails.

Once again, I offer sincere thanks to those who have supported our teachers with this resource. I wish continued success to all who use this resource while sharing and celebrating our Catholic mission in education.

Michael Bator,

Executive Director

Resource Specifics

Our Catholic faith calls us to live out the Gospel values in our daily lives. Through interactions with others, we come to know how to live morally and in solidarity with our fellow Christians. The purpose of this resource is to put Catholic leadership and service learning at the forefront of our teaching in Catholic schools. The Religious Education document stresses the importance of Living a Moral Life and Living in Solidarity. The focus of these strands is to help students discern their vocation through responsible participation in society. Through the formation of conscience and determining their contribution to the world, students will come to know what this responsible participation entails. Scripture invites us to hear God's call, for God knows us intimately.

"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." - Jeremiah 1:5-6

This resource focuses on the core teachings from these two strands. It will help students build their skills and take action on issues such as poverty, mental illness stigma, sustainability goals, and climate change. Our goal was to create a series of lessons and accompanying action projects that spotlight a different social justice issue that extends these Religious Education expectations into other curriculum areas such as Science, Language, Social Studies, Mathematics, the Arts, and Health & Physical Education curricula. Students will engage in experiential learning through call-to-action projects. Students will become active and engaged citizens who will seek to create transformative social change.

Teachers of grades 3-5 will find fully designed units with three-part lesson plans (minds-on, action, and consolidation) that include overall and specific curriculum expectations, guiding questions, big ideas, learning goals, success criteria, and ideas for extensions. Lessons include a variety of engaging learning experiences suitable for the online or in-person classroom. Lessons range in length depending on how many subjects are integrated, but teachers are encouraged to take more time with the lessons if necessary.

Please Note:

*Accommodations: Units have been written with differentiation in mind. Various activities and demonstrations of learning were purposefully selected to meet the multiple needs of students. This program can be adapted for all learners using Read & Write (Google extension) or another similar application. Differentiation of the content, process and product is recommended once teachers know their students and their needs.

The educator team who wrote and reviewed this course has taken considerable time to gather, review, and curate resources that are accessible, age-appropriate and relevant to the content and skills within these units. Every effort has been made to honour copyright, abide by the terms and conditions of various sites, and ensure the content is appropriate for a Catholic school community/classroom. Despite our best efforts and our careful vetting, we recognize that online content can also evolve or change in ways that are not always predictable. Should a student, parent or educator come upon any questionable or problematic content or link, please notify the Catholic Curriculum Corporation.

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