Sunday, September 13, 2015 SESSION PLAN Age 8/3 rd Grade Pflaum Gospel Weeklies: Good News We Gather Together Early Start Lesson 1 First Day of PSR Provided for you: We Gather Together Lesson All About Me sheet (sample on following pages) We Gather at Eucharist coloring sheet Construction paper for desk nametags Additional Activities: (Please note: All supplies for the additional activities need to be requested in advance using the online Catechist Communication Form) Poster board for classroom rules Supplies for extra ice breakers Liturgical Color: Green LITURGICAL YEAR / FEAST DAYS CATHOLIC TRADITION WEEKLY READINGS 24 th Sunday in Ordinary Time Link to Sunday Connection and Readings: http://www.loyolapress.com/sundayconnection.htm SAINTS 9/12 The Most Holy Name of Mary 9/14 Exhaltation of the Holy Cross Learn more about the Saints: http://www.americancatholic.org/features /Saints/byname.asp Session Notes: Please note that our first session is only a Meet and Greet for the FIRST 15 MINUTES. After the parents leave, you will be getting to know the children while exploring the Early Start Session We Gather Together. Materials/Supplies listed in the lesson will automatically be provided for you. If they are not already in your blue bin, these will be the ones listed in the Provided for you section above. However, you are always welcome to request materials for other options found in this session plan or other resources.. Please read the Pflaum Early Start Lesson 1 prior to class. Link: http://www.pflaumweeklies.com/onlinelessons/july_15/gn2.pdf Modifications to Printed Session: o Instead of nametags the children wear, we will be making desk nameplates. The children can write their own names and decorate as they want. o Please remember that each bin will have basic prayer table materials that are shared by both 9:00 and 10:45. Feel free to add your own items week to week. o In addition to the Name Game icebreaker, we have other icebreaker ideas listed at the end of this plan. Please make sure to request any materials if needed. A LOOK AHEAD 9/20 Pflaum 25 th Sunday in OT 9/27 Pflaum 26 th Sunday in OT
PSR BEGINS Sept. 13, 2015 First Day Session Plan 3 rd Grade GENERAL OVERVIEW: The day begins with a fifteen minute period for the parents to meet you. The children and their parents come to the classroom together. During this time please check that the parent contact information is correct and visit with them for a brief time. An announcement will be made at 9:15 / 11:00 kindly requesting that the parents leave the classrooms so the class can begin. 8:45am 9:00am / 10:30am 10:45am: Catechist check-in Before going to your classroom, check your mailbox. This is a file folder container located at the Coordinator s table in the hallway. If you have not already picked up your materials, they will be in your mailbox folder. The following will be in your mailbox: o Class roster - This will be a computer generated sheet with general parent information and any special information for each child. o Parent Contact Info - Please make sure you verify the parent s email address and the cell phone number they can be reached at during PSR! Please also confirm any allergies or special needs and any emergency procedures if needed. o Attendance Sheet Please place a check mark next to the child s name if they are present and an A to mark child absent. These attendance sheets MUST be returned to your mailbox each week, preferably before class ends. Coordinate with your other teacher/aide so you can take your own children to meet their teachers. Use the help of a teen if needed. 9:00am 9:15am / 10:45am 11:00am: Parents come with their children to the PSR classes When families come to visit: o Confirm that the child is on your roster. If a child is not on your roster, please have them come to my table. It may be an oversight, or may be a child who has not been placed yet due to their late registration. People who registered after August 1st will not begin until September 20 th. Please direct any parents who have not registered their children to me. Please do not make any promises on placing their child in your class. Kindly let them know that you cannot make any decisions on placement. Remind parents that there is no carpool. o On Sundays, students can be dropped off at the back entrances of Blessed Trinity or walk in through the front 2 entrances at the main doors or near the chapel. However, parents will need to pick up their child in the classroom at the end of the session. The horseshoe at the front entrance of Blessed Trinity is closed to car traffic on Sundays.
Remind parents that our catechists make every effort to arrive 10-15 minutes before class. However, if a catechist is not present when they arrive to class, ask the parent to wait with their child until a teacher arrives. Please remind them that class will finish this week and every week at 10:15am / 12:00pm. Children will work on the All About Me sheets and nametag cards as a gathering activity. Please keep in mind that some children may just be dropped off the parents may be visiting other teachers. If possible, please try to make contact with the parents at the end of the session. 9:15am 10:15am / 11:00am 12:00pm - Get to know students and review session plan: We Meet Jesus in the Gospels Review All About Me sheets. Make sure students make nametag card for their desk. Play an Ice breaker game in the session plan or from suggestions attached. Review Classroom Rules o Come up with a set class rules that you all agree upon. You are welcome to write them on poster board and have the students sign off on them. Prayer table: o It is important to have a prayer table present to the children at each class. Basic prayer table supplies will be included in your blue bin. These will be shared between both sessions. Feel free to add any of your own personal items or items that students may want to share. Opening Prayer: Follow session plan for opening prayer and to begin class session. Review the sign of the Cross. See attached information for review Listening to Gospel: Gospel Acclamation and Gospel Story: Bible will be in your blue bin Building Christian Community: o We Gather at Eucharist Coloring Page Talk about the illustration. Ask the children to share what they remember about their First Communion Celebration. Most of your students will have just made their First Communion this past May Fire drill o The evacuation route is posted in each class. This would be a great time to get this done for the year. Each class will conduct their own fire drill. This is also a great opportunity to get the children familiar with different locations in the building, ie..bathrooms, chapel, entrances and exits. If you don t get to this today, please make sure you do it next week. Closing Prayer
Teaching the Sign of the Cross Do you remember being taught how to make the Sign of the Cross? You ve probably been doing it so long that it s become second nature. It is important to teach our children the proper way to make the Sign of the Cross. Here's how catechist Amy Swager uses the teaching of the movements as an opportunity to impart some of the deeper truths of our faith. In the name of the Father Start with the right hand because Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, as we say in the Apostles Creed. To sit to the right of the most important person at a gathering is a great honor. Jesus has that seat in Heaven. Then say In the name of the Father and touch your forehead. God is our Father. He is the Father of everything. His throne is in heaven, so move your hand to the highest point on your forehead. and of the Son Next say and of the Son. Who is the Son? The Son of God is Jesus. When you say this part, touch your chest in the middle, right where your heart is. You love Jesus and you put him in your heart. With Jesus in your heart, you reach out to others with love. and of the Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit is God. Through the Holy Spirit we are touched by God the Father and God the Son. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit fill the world with love. The Holy Spirit moves around us and in us and through us. Sometimes the Holy Spirit is so powerful that we can feel the love. When you pray and of the Holy Spirit, touch your hand to your left shoulder and sweep right across to your right. This is a way of showing how the Holy Spirit flows around, in, and through you. Amen Amen is a Hebrew word that means it is so. When you say Amen at the end of the Sign of the Cross or any prayer you proclaim your belief and faith in God. This is a way to praise God, to tell him that you know he is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Many people bring the palms of their hands together in a position of praying when they say Amen.
ICEBREAKER IDEAS Snowball Students write on a piece of paper three things about themselves. Then they crumple the paper up into a 'snowball' and have a one-minute snowball fight. At the end of the minute, everyone grabs the closest snowball and has to try to find the person who wrote it. They then introduce that person to the rest of the group, sharing the three facts. You are welcome to play this game outside. Circle of Friends Form two large concentric circles, one inside the other and have the people in the inside circle face the people in the outside circle. Give them a topic to talk about such as their favorite music group or silliest thing they ever did. After one minute, ask the circles to move two places to the right, allowing them to meet new people as the circle continues to move very slowly.