Children working in the Atrium 

The boy on the left is doing the "City of Jerusalem" puzzle.  They have to first read the path Jesus took the night of the Last Supper up until his Crucifixion and put the buildings down in that order.  Then they can continue with the walls and the pools.  On the right this child is doing the Preparation of the Chalice.  In Level II they read the words of the priest as they do this work and they take it very seriously.  On the bottom left, my aide who is also a Level I catechist reads the Bible story of the Good Samaritan to a boy who was absent and wanted to know this story.  The girl on the right is working with a puzzle on The Act of Contrition prayer.  Children who have learning problems have great success with these puzzles.

The girl (left) above works with "the Cenacle and the Last Supper" as well as preparing the cruets. 

The boy on the top right is doing the felt work for the Paschal Candle that we did in class that night.  

The boys on the bottom right are working on the "Presentation in the Temple."  I thought it was so nice that the boy reading offered to read the Bible story to the other boy because he was absent and wanted to know it.  You can see that they both are very attentive. 

Meditations of the Lord's Passion

After doing the Bible story of The Last Supper, The Tomb, The City of Jerusalem, and the Reenactment of the Last Supper, we were

ready to do the Meditations of the Lord's Passion.  I always prepare the small tables with the Scripture Booklets of the Passion.  There are eight of them as I now include "The Empty Tomb."  When there are 14 students in the atrium, they pair up and each child reads half the Bible story.  Since we have such small classes this year, my aide and I both help with the reading especially for those who do not wish to read.

 

 I've downloaded photos of the actual buildings where Jesus was taken after he was arrested in the Garden of Olives.  This way the children not only have the buildings from The City of Jerusalem model but also the photos of the City model as Jerusalem was back then.  I've placed palms at the head of the table for the Entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  There is a wooden statue of Jesus carrying the Cross and a Crown of Thorns on the table.  The Scripture booklets also contain the pictures.  A candle is lit when each person reads.  Half the children wanted to wear the head garment from the Reenactment of the Last Supper as it made them feel as though they were there in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus.  A couple of them kept it on the entire class.

I light the candles as they read and help read when they need assistance.  Otherwise they do very well reading.  I've also made the words easier in the Scripture when I noticed children had trouble with certain words.  This has helped a lot as we have children who have English as a second language.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After we finished the Resurrection from the Tomb in the meditations, I decided that this year we celebrate the Resurrection by doing the Liturgy of the Light.      Combining these two presentations worked nicely and

I may do it this way from now on.

We had so little time this year due to starting our year so late. It also ended on a joyful note, otherwise the Meditations themselves are very somber and sad in of themselves.

Liturgy of the Light 

   As each child took turns reading the words of the blessing for the Paschal Candle, they dressed the candle with the symbols as each part has a significant meaning: 

"Christ Yesterday and Today

The Beginning and the End

The Alpha        The Omega

All Time Belongs to Him

And all the Ages

To Him Be Glory and Power

Through Every Age and Forever."

"By His Holy

And Glorious Wounds

May Christ Our Lord

Guard Us and Keep Us. Amen"

 

To begin I read a formal Proclamation of Jesus' rising from the Tomb.  We then processed around the room with the lit Paschal Candle as I sing three times, "Christ be the Light."  The children respond, "Thanks be to God."  Because we are in tight quarters, I didn't light the children's candles until we returned to our seats. We used the felt board to dress the Candle and used the words of this blessing.  The Paschal Candle was blessed by our Pastor for us and so we light all the individual candles of the children with the blessed candle.  We then renewed our Baptismal Vows which I read to them and they responded.  As we had finished the Meditation Scriptures, there was no need to read from the Bible. Then we sang "This Little Light of Mine."  Also, at the end of the class we sang with the CD player, "Christ Be Our Light" and "We are the Light of the World."