Prayer Cards

Since we won't be meeting in the atrium due to the Corona Virus until April 14th, I've decided to make a few prayer cards for the prayer table and maybe work on some other materials.  I just happened to have bought wedding invitations a long time ago for this purpose but never used them.  They were 8-1/2 x 5-1/2 originally but I cut them down to 7-1/2 x 4-1/2.  They have a very pretty shiny silver design for a border.  I decided to color them.  I used "Apple Chancery" font as I'm not very good with calligraphy.  Then I laminated them.  Project complete.

Level I      First Week of Advent

The boy in the photo above, was drawn to the little altar today and he worked for a very long time doing this work.  The other two boys, were creating things as gifts for family and friends for Christmas.  I tell them that everything they make has to be about Jesus in the atrium.  

Last week I presented the two "Prophecies of Light and Names" and read The Annunciation.  Today we read The Visitation and learned how to fill the Cruets.  Usually the class can't wait to work with these materials but every class is different with a different personality.  Pernella, the girl in the forefront can write and so wants to write letters to Jesus to thank Him.  Her thoughts are beautiful.  I started a prayer journal for my Level II classes as they can read and write.  However, I've promised her that I'd bring in a prayer journal for her which I've made and have cut out religious art for them from cards.  They can choose any pictures they want for their prayer journal.   The class is small today as it's close to the holidays.  I have a family of three children and another with a brother and sister.  So when they are absent that is five children.   Today six are present but are out of view.

Level II    Beautiful Advent 

Advent is a great time of year for the children.   So I love to decorate the atrium in purple.  The small table in front of the prayer table is for the Nativity Narratives which I will present to the class.  I always do one or two prophecies before each Bible story. Here you can see The Lion and the Lamb, my favorite prophecy, also called "The Peaceable Kingdom."   We have already finished reading The Annunciation the week before and on this particular week we read The Visitation. 

When we do The Adoration of the Shepherds and Birth of Jesus, the prayer table cover is changed to white for the celebration of the feast of Christmas.   Last week we read The Presentation in the Temple and tonight we did The Magi.  Next week is our last Nativity Narrative and it is the Flight into Egypt.   After that we will be getting ready for the children's First Reconciliation and the prayer table cover will be changed back to green.

Below are some of the many activities that the children choose to do.  There is a variety of art work to choose from as well.    

This girl is creating an altar with all The Articles of the Mass: 

 the crucifix, chalice, purificator, cruets, corporal, lavabo, towel, paten, bookstand, missal, lectionary, and lectern.  

 

 

 

They also learn the articles by working with the small altar as shown below.



 















 
 The girl on the left is working with a prayer puzzle to help her learn.  If the children learn a prayer, they get to choose a prize from a basket.  It's always something religious such as a rosary or medal.   The boy on the right is enjoying seashells from The Gifts of the Kingdom.  There are drawers where I keep Blue Boxes of seashells; Green Boxes of seasonings, tea, plant parts, cocoons, etc. and Red Boxes with a good variety of rocks and geodes.  I've made a rock book that they can look up the rocks to name them.  They love this activity and usually it becomes a group work because they like to share and discuss the many items. 

    The girl (right) is working on an Advent Wreath.

                                                                 

 

 

 

 

This girl (below) enjoys working alone doing a prayer puzzle.   She's working on the Act of Contrition.

This boy (right) is working on the Liturgical Calendar.






Of course, during Advent the children are always 
working with the Nativity Narratives.  They are expected  to read the Scripture as well as work with the materials. 

The Holy Bible

 Introducing the Books of the Bible to the children is challenging at best.   I tell them that Bible means "book of many books" and that there are 73 books in the Bible.  I ask them, "What do you notice about these books?"  They usually respond that they are all different sizes.  Which I then explain means the length of the book.  If it's tall that means there are more pages in the book.  If it is short this means that it's a very small book with fewer pages.  Then someone notices the colors.  I explain that the red books are all the Old Testament which tells the history of the Jews and begins with creation until the Parousia which is when we will see God in heaven in his radiant beauty or as the Bible says, "in His all and all." There are 46 books in the Old Testament.  The green books represent the New Testament and there are only 27 and these tell of Jesus when he lived on earth.

I begin by telling the children about the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible.   That the Jewish people call this The Torah and it is the Jewish Law that they believe Moses handed down to them.  Genesis is the first book which tells of creation.  Exodus is a book that tells how the people escaped the Egyptians after 400 years in slavery.  I tell them about the parting of the Red Sea and give them the background.  Leviticus, the third book, I tell them, teach the Levite priests how to take care of the temple and set everything up according to their laws.  They needed new laws for everything as they had never been free men before.  Numbers, the fourth book, was a census of all the Jewish people who had spread out in many different places.  Deuteronomy, the fifth book, tells them the "Second Law," as Deutero means second.  They needed laws on how to live as good neighbors just as we do.

I then tell them that the next group of books are The Historical Books, which tell the history of the Jewish people when they get out of slavery and how they live their lives back then.  I pick up the smallest book in the group and I tell them that this is the Book of Ruth.  It may be very small but it is very important in this history.  She was the great grandmother of the greatest King of Israel - King David, an ancestor of Jesus Christ.  Then I tell the entire story of Ruth.

Afterward, I give out a Bible to each child and show how Bibles come in all shapes and sizes.  We read the story of Creation as the children take turns.  This will conclude their introduction to the Bible.  On another week I'll talk to them about the History Books and the following week the Wisdom Books.

I usually save the bottom shelf to discuss right before Christmas as we do some of the prophecies right before Christmas and we do all the Nativity Narratives from the New Testament.

In the photo below the boys are doing the Giant Bible Puzzle.  There is one for the Old Testament and a separate one for the New Testament.  These boys have worked on this for three weeks. 

Feast of Pentecost - Last Class of the year

 As this is the last class and Pentecost is still four weeks away, I explain this using the Liturgical Calendar so we get plenty of practice with it.   Since the first Sunday of June will be Ascension Sunday, I read to them from Acts about the Ascension.  Afterwards we begin discussing the Trinity, as the second Sunday of June is Trinity Sunday.  Before they go for the summer I want to be sure that all questions are answered regarding these feasts.  Finally we begin with the Bible story of Pentecost and I tell them what it was like back then for the Apostles.  They were so frightened and locked the doors until a driving loud wind came thru the room and tongues of fire appeared over their heads.  Then I light the candle and begin reading the Scripture.  We discuss how the Apostles received all those gifts that day and they gained great courage and were no longer afraid to go outdoors and teach the people about Jesus.  In fact, they could speak in many languages.  Then I light the Paschal Candle and tell them to listen carefully as I describe each gift because I will ask them to choose which gift they would like to have for themselves if they could have just one. 

  As I light the first candle from the Paschal Candle, I name a gift and ask a child to read the meaning of the gift from the poster.  Then I talk about it more while placing a small card naming the gift in front of the candle.  I light each candle from the Paschal Candle and do the same until all seven gifts are explained.  I just noticed that while taking this photo I left out the 7th Gift - Fear of the Lord "Awe"  (Will correct at a later date).

  Now I ask each child which gift they have chosen.  When they choose their gift, I give them their own red votive candle to hold during the ceremony which is lit from the specific gift candle.  They love this ceremony and take it very seriously when choosing.

    I always give them a little foldout booklet of the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit which I order from Autom every year.  It also gives the definition of each.  This year we made a mobile of a dove out of a paper plate with the 7 Gifts hanging from it to take home.  I also have the Venn Diagram of the Trinity pictured above the prayer table which I give them to color every year.   Another diagram I give out is of a tree showing the roots of the tree as the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, while the Fruits of the Holy Spirit are named on all the branches. 

The Fettuccia - the Story of Creation, the Parable of the Leaven and Calligraphy

The Parable of the Leaven I save until the very end of the year.  We have one more class after this which will be the Pentecost Celebration, a candle ceremony.  The children love making the Leaven Bread and I tell them to take their biscuit home and bake it at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.   Then they can put butter, jelly or icing on it.  When the class is as big as this one is they can only make one biscuit so that everyone has a chance to do this work.  I am so thankful to have a wonderful aide who is supervising the children do this while I take care of the rest of the class.  There are 15 in the class.  Today I let four of the boys go outside and do The Fettuccia - a big favorite while waiting their turn to do The Leaven.  The Fettucia is one of the first presentations I give in Level II.  In Arizona it's too cold and windy in the winter and now that it's Spring, the weather is perfect for it,   Next week it will be the girl's turn.  These are some of the photos I took from today's class and the different work they chose to do. 

 The above photo shows how I set the materials up before the children get to the atrium.  I keep warm water in the coffee pot.  Two buckets of soapy water and clear water with towels are for clean up after each child's work.  We write their names on the plastic cups in felt tip to take home.

I first review the Kingdom of God and the Mustard Seed, The Pearl of Great Price and the Hidden Treasure.  And tell them that this is another way Jesus told the people what the Kingdom of God was like.  I explain to them what yeast really is - a living organism!  This really gains their attention.  I make one batch without the yeast and one with.  I cover it and at the end of the class they will discover how the yeast actually raises the dough double the size. 

 

 The Fettuccia

        Sometimes the children come late in the year and have missed this work.  So I make sure they come outside with this group and explain the Fettuccia - The Story of Creation to  these latecomers.  (Fettuccia is Italian for ribbon.)

        This boy is placing the symbol which represents the explosion scientists call "The Big Bang" and the Bible verse that goes with creation, "God created the heavens and earth and all things" - Creation.  

        In the photo below the boys have placed the "gaseous globe" which represents earth and the other planets millions of years after creation.  This is when the planets were so hot and there were explosions everywhere.  But then it rains for millions and millions of years, and finally the earth symbol is placed on the blue ribbon representing the earth and other planets cooling down as now the waters recede from the land and there are distinct continents on earth.

       The boy in the photo below is reading aloud the Story of Creation as the others participate by adding the wooden materials which tell the story.

       The blue ribbon then becomes brown, representing earth.  The first plant cell symbol is placed and tens of thousands of years later there are trees, plants and flowers all over the world and those symbols are placed.  We always discuss how we need oxygen from the plants to breath and our symbiotic relationship with growing things.  We discuss how everything has a purpose under heaven.  Finally there are animals - fish, birds and horses.  (All the symbols are cutout and made from wood.)

     Below the boys are now placing the first man and now it is time for Jesus to be born and die on the cross for our Salvation - Redemption.  The two Bible verses are also placed about God creating man in his own image and later when God felt the time was right for man to be born.  Finally Jesus' birth and death on the cross - our Redemption!  A Star, a Risen Christ is placed along with the Bible verse.




Finally, there is a white ribbon which represents present time.  The boys place the white pages which are blank.  This represents our personal history on earth and how we will live out our lives.

Finally the symbol for the Parousia is placed along with the Bible verse where we will see "God in His All and All."  (photo below)

This boy is reeling in the ribbon after everyone is finished.  They all help putting materials away.







We use a small plastic container placed in a wooden cart with wheels.  (shown below)  So it can be dragged along as the children place the materials and put them away.  It's easily stored under one of our tables in the atrium.

There is also art work that goes along with this work on Creation as there is for every Bible Story in the atrium.  Two of the boys decided to make the Creation Book as they came later in the year and didn't know this work.  So here is one of the boys working on it below.

                                         Calligraphy

Four of the children spent their time tracing calligraphy letters from the calligraphy books.  These are presented as the way the Bible was made in ancient times by hand.  

The Seven Sacraments - and The Easter Prayer Table

 The Seven Sacraments - a Level III material (ages 9 - 12)

I had wanted to do this material for a few years now because it bothered me that the children were receiving two sacraments and had no idea that there were others.  I needed to introduce them I felt.  So as I've caught up on making all Level I and II materials, I was very interested in creating this work.  I followed the directions from a CD given to me from our former DRE who had taken Level III training.  I used foam board to make these symbol cards.  I asked my husband to make the stand for me to display them.  Then there are the puzzle pieces you see in the box.  The children need to match the symbol of the sacrament to the words and they fit perfectly in the empty squares naming the sacrament at the top.  (top left)  Notice there are little nobs at the bottom of the symbol pieces to pull them out of the empty square pieces.  Since we had a 1 hour rehearsal for First Communion today, I used the 10 minutes before we started practice in the church to introduce the new material and the last half hour of class when we returned to the atrium to show them how the material works.  The children seem anxious to do this puzzle work.  It's important they understand that in addition to their Baptism, they will be receiving two more sacraments before the end of the year.  It's important that they understand what a sacrament is and that there are seven.

The Easter Prayer Table 

This small Entrance Table, which holds the holy water font, is decorated for each season.  To the left of the Entrance Table we have paper cups that we fill with fresh water for each class as we don't have a water fountain.  The children bless themselves when entering and leaving.  We also have a pitcher and bowl for washing hands in the atrium. All the religious pictures and plaques have been given to us as gifts.