Our Last Week!

Dear CGS Families,

This is our last week of CGS for the school year.  On Wednesday night, we held a "Pentecost Prayer Service" in all three levels and will do the same on Sunday (5/20) morning. 

We appreciate all the help this year from parents who assisted in the atria.  Your presence makes working with our students so much easier.  THANK YOU!

The registration packet for next year will be mailed on July 2.  We're considering adding a third session of Level I and II to account for our growing numbers.  An online survey will go out in the next few weeks to help us better plan for next year.  Please take the few moments needed to fill it out.

Have a safe and blessed summer!

+ Peace,
  Mark

April 30 and May 2

Level I (3-6 years)
Presentations:
- Baptism I
- Alleluia/Risen Christ prayer cards
- Tour of the sacristy with the older children

The two big things that we're doing in Level I as the year quickly comes to a close are giving the baptism lesson and taking small group "field trips" to the church sacristy.  On the field trip the kids learn how and when to genuflect, along with getting to see and touch the different objects for mass that they've learned about (e.g. chalice, paten, lectionary, etc.). 


Level II (7-9 years)
Presentations:
- Baptism
- Eucharistic Presence
- Genuflecting/Receiving Communion

Notes: Some special presentations are given this week for the students receiving first communion.  Along with that, presentations are given involving the enpty tomb and baptism.

Level III (10-12 years)
Presentations:
- Salvation history in regard to Exodus

Notes: The two level three groups are wrapping up their exploration of Exodus and what it teaches us about salvation history.  This week they'll be focusing on the 10 Commandments and the golden calf idol made by the Israelites.

March 11 and 14

Level I (3-6 years)
Presentations:
- The City of Jerusalem, which outlines Jesus' final days of life, including his Passion
-Parable of the Found Sheep and Psalm 23

The City of Jerusalem will be presented to all the new students.  After the presentation all will have a chance to work with this popular material.   Many of the kids have been spending time with the material for the Last Supper (or Cenacle) and the Empty Tomb.  My favorite response last week was from a child was this:

Me: "So Jesus wasn't in the tomb.  Does he come back?"
Child: "Yes, Santa brings him back on Christmas!"

We definitely have some room for theological growth, but he was only 3 years old!

Level II (7-9 years)
Presentations:
- The Mystery of Faith will be given to this year's first communicants
- The Parables of the Lost Coin, Forgiving Father (Prodigal Son), Found Sheep, and Good Shepherd
- More detailed geography and stories about the passion narratives

Notes: The Parables taught during this time are all part of the First Eucharist process outlined by CGS, so your children are not only learning at home with the study booklet, but also learning the CGS lessons geared towards First Communion.

Level III (10-12 years)
Presentations:
- The stories of Exodus

Notes: Through the first few weeks of Lent the Level III atria will be working with Exodus.  The stories of the time in the desert and the forming of community are all directly related to our Lenten journey.  Each child is making an accordian style booklet with images of the stories that they hear about from Exodus.

Lent: February 22 and 26

Level I (3-6 years)
Presentations:
- The Parable of the Mustard Seed continued
- For Lent we added the works of the "Empty Tomb" and "The Cenacle" (which means Last Supper).  Returning students are working with these and new students will be given the presentations throughout the season.
-Parable of the Found Sheep and Psalm 23

We introduced the children to the lenten season with a short prayer service and discussion of the color purple.  They should all know that purple is a symbol for "preparation" and that we're preparing for Easter.  During Lent we also start a few new works, including the Last Supper, the Empty Tomb, the Parable of the Found Sheep, and the Geography of Jerusalem.  These all help the children understand the story of the Passion.

Level II (7-9 years)
Presentations:
- The Parables of the Lost Coin, Forgiving Father (Prodigal Son), Found Sheep, and Good Shepherd
-A presentation about the Eucharistic presence of Christ that stems from the Good Shepherd parable
- More detailed geography and stories about the passion narratives

Notes: On Ash Wednesday Level II had a prayer service and received ashes.  Reception of ashes does not require a priest, so with our smaller staff of priests and with encouragement from Fr. Pat we had the catechists distribute ashes.

Level III (10-12 years)
Presentations:
-

Notes: Updates coming this Wednesday!

Ask the Right Questions, Get the Right Anwsers

One of our parent catechists suggested an idea for the blog.  She remembers that when she would ask her kids “what did you learn today at catechesis?” they wouldn’t seem to have much of a response.  After taking the catechist training and learning the language specific to CGS, she started asking a different question.  When she asked “what work did you do in the atrium today?” they would tell her all about what they’d done.  Thinking along those lines, here are some good questions and words to use with your children:

·        Did an adult/catechist show you a new work today?

·        What materials did you work with?

·        Which works did you do today?

·        Did you pray today?  What about?

As you can see, we don’t use the words “lesson” or “activity”, but instead talk about materials, works, and prayer.  Maybe these words will trigger better responses from your children.

Here’s what’s been going on:

Level I (3-6 years)
Presentations:
- The Parable of the Mustard Seed continued
- Altar II was presented to some students (Altar II introduces the tabernacle, ciborium, genuflection, bread and wine, and the idea that Jesus is present in the bread and wine.
-Preparation of the Cruets

We’re about to start the “parable of the leaven bread”, which is a huge favorite among the kids.  Once Lent starts we’ll be looking more at the parables and begin talking about baptism.

Level II (7-9 years)
Presentations:
-

Notes:


Level III (10-12 years)
Presentations:
- The Vocation of the Prophets continued
- Wednesday night’s class has been putting together a prayer service to celebrate and remember Clint Hunsche.  This will take place on Wednesday, Feb 8.

Notes: The students on Sunday night have been creating their own materials to reenact stories of the prophets that they’ve been studying.  I’m tentatively promising photos of this in the next post… These presentations on the prophets will continue in Level III for at least another week.

January 29th and February 1st

Level I (3-6 years)
Presentations:
- The Parable of the Mustard Seed
- A few remaining Advent parables (visitation of the magi, the presentation in the temple, etc.) were given to children who missed them in December.
- The Liturgical Calendar was presented to the older children

Sunday Notes: Behaviorally, the last two Sundays have gone much better than the first session after Christmas break.  Much thanks to the assistants who have helped tremendously to keep the children focused and to parents who have picked their children up earlier on weeks they’ve been restless.

Wednesday Notes: Last week the assistants were all catechists in training so we were able to start the session giving four different presentations at the same time.  This was an enormous help, as it let Diane work with the older children on a more advanced lesson.


Level II (7-9 years)
Presentations:
- Liturgical gestures
- Books of the Bible
- The “moral” parables (Lost Coin, Prodigal Son – called “The Forgiving Father” in CGS, etc.)

Notes: At the parent meeting for First Communion, we discussed when our children should memorize the traditional Catholic prayers (Hail Mary, Our Father, Apostle’s Creed, Act of Contrition, etc.).  Usually, this happens during the second grade year, so I encouraged our First Communion parents to work with their children on these prayers at home.  Level II does cover parts of the Hail Mary in the “Visitation” presentation, but it is not explicitly memorized.  The “Lord’s Prayer” or “Our Father” does not appear in CGS until Level III.


Level III (10-12 years)
Presentations:
- The Vocation of the Prophets, specifically Amos

Notes: The students on Wednesday night have been creating their own materials to reenact stories of the prophets that they’ve been studying.  I’m tentatively promising photos of this in the next post…  These presentations on the prophets will continue in Level III for at least another week.

CGS Topics Jan. 15 & 18

Level I (3-6 years)
Presentations:
 - Cruets (mixing of the water and wine)
* The Sunday session was rather difficult this week because a few children refused to follow directions.  We only had one trained catechist, which makes it difficult to give lessons to over 20 children.


Level II (7-9 years)
Presenations:
 - Books of the Bible
 - Mass parts (Julie tells me this was an especially good presentation)
 - Liturgical gestures


*On Sundays our focus right now is the Bible works, consisting of several lessons on the origin of the Bible and it's books, as well as Bible study.  We also attempt to highlight the Kingdom Parables (at Level II we explore them on a deeper level than Level I).  We always leave room for individual choices and many of the children like to explore the works that speak to them.  Some of them have produced their own booklets and stories and take a lot of pride in presenting what they have done to the group when we gather at the end of class.  Last week, a group wrote and illustrated about the crucifixion and going to church. Our focus will shift toward the maxims and moral parables as we get closer to Lent.


Level III (10-12 years)
Presentations:
 - The Voatcion of the Prophets, specifically Isaiah


*The presentations on the prophets will continue in Level III for at least two more weeks, covering multiple prophets incluing Amos, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.