Level I: Children at work in the Atrium

Polishing silver, brass, wood or plants

Small Altar Work

is a very popular pastime in the Atrium and is an expression of peace and quiet in this meditative atmosphere.  It prepares them to work with the materials from the Bible Stories they will be hearing this year.  It also makes them become capable to do different activities independently as much as possible.  As the year goes on with "new work" from presentations of the Bible and the Liturgy of the Mass, they silently go from one work to the next meditating on these materials.  There are seven children in this Level I atrium on Sunday for one and a half hours.  Projects the children are working on are Plant Polishing, Altar work, Brass Polishing, The Parable of the Mustard Seed, Chasuble and altar art work below:

Chasuble Art Work

Plant Polishing

Altar Art Materials and below Liturgical Calendar

The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Small Altar work.

Brass Polishing

 

Parable of the Mustard Seed

       Level II:  Children at work in the Atrium

The Priest's gesture and prayer for Washing of the Hands:  The children work in pairs.  One pretends to be the altar server with the hand towel on his arm who brings up to the priest, the bowl and pitcher.  The other boy serves as the priest and reads the words the priest says as the altar server pours the water over his hands with a small silver pitcher.  Then they switch roles and do it again.  It's a nice work they enjoy doing in pairs.

The Good Shepherd:  These two girls are working with the Parable of the Good Shepherd.  One reads the Scripture while the other works with the materials and then they reverse roles.

Large Level II Altar Work:  This is the first work I give the children in the beginning of the year.  I take them first on a tour of the church on the first day of class and point out the tabernacle, altar, Credence Table, Lectionary, Lectern, and the Sanctuary Lamp.  Some children may never have been in our church.  Surprisingly, some have never been to Mass, so this is most important.  Then when returning to the atrium and I do the Little Altar with them which is a miniature model of our altar in Church.  Most of these children have never been to a Level I atrium.  Consequently, they are not independent and have no idea what work they can do.  This is a good start for them so that they now have the tracing work and this altar they build with cutouts and then label each article.  There are charts they can use to find the answers.  This always takes two class periods and so their first day they paste all the materials of the Mass on the large sheet.  The following week they label with the names of those materials.  This helps them begin to feel comfortable in the atrium after I've showed them how to get their supplies and where to sit. There are ten children in this Level II Atrium on Wednesday from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m.  There are two classes on Wednesday and two on Thursday to prepare for Reconciliation and Holy Eucharist.