Welcome to St. Bartholomew's Church 
Resources for Catechists
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Virtual Tour of Our Church
| Lenten Activities | for Easter |
| Formal Prayers by Grade Level | Faith First - Legacy Edition |
| Catechism of the Church & Social Doctrine of the Church |
| Other Resources | Catholic Educator's Resource Center |
| How to Pray the Rosary | The Eucharist |
| Icebreakers for Students | M&M Tell About Yourself |
| Pass the Compliment | Gifts of the Holy Spirit Guessing Game |
| We're All Connected | The Human Knot |
| Alphabet Review | Hot Potato |
Lenten Activities
You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view these items.
- God's Plan of Salvation - Why did the Son of God become man? What did Jesus do to save us? ... and other questions ... with space to write a letter to Jesus thanking him for his gift of salvation.
- Stations of the Cross (coloring pages suitable for younger grades) - Each page includes a brief description of the station. [this is a 14-page booklet]
- Stations of the Cross (meditation and prayers suitable for older grades) - For each station, students write a prayer reflecting on the event. [this is a 7-page booklet]
- Way of the Cross for Young People: Leader Guide Using the document above, you can lead the students in a meditation on each station. This is suitable for students in 6th-8th grade.
For each station, the children reflect on how Jesus must have felt; and they are invited to pray to make their heart more like His. - Questions about the Triduum - ten questions that can be used for discussing the events of Holy Thursday and Good Friday.
- Thank You Letter to Jesus - A simple thank you letter to Jesus.
- The Empty Tomb - Imagine that you went to the tomb and found it empty. How would you feel? What if you met the angel who told you Jesus is risen?
For Easter
- He Is Risen! - coloring page. Pretend you are Mary Magdalene. What happened that Easter morning?
- Questions about the Resurrection
Formal Prayers by Grade Level
Our Catholic tradition includes many wonderful prayers that children are expected to learn. All children are expected to learn their prayers for each grade level before promotion to the next grade can be considered.
Formal Prayers by Grade Level (1st - 8th)
Faith First - Legacy Edition
We use the Faith First Legacy Edition
texts.
The Catechist & Teachers page offers some helpful information along with online lesson planning - When choosing the editions, select Faith First Legacy Edition.
The Lectionary link is a good resource for Lectionary-based catechesis - which can support those classes that use The Spirit magazines.
Catechism of the Catholic Church & Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
The Holy See provides online versions of the primary catechetical documents:
Other Online Catechist Resources
Catecheticalresources.com has a Teacher Resources page that is organized by grade and subject. Worth checking out!
(Most of the resources requires Adobe's Acrobat Reader)
There is also a search page for resources on the site as well.
Catholic Educator's Resource Center
The Catholic Education Resource Center has developed an impressive collection of online articles, which offer uncompromising support for the Church’s voice in contemporary society . . . I congratulate you on your work and pray that it may help educators and all members of the Church to understand and articulate the vision of life inspired by our faith.
Most Reverend Raymond Roussin, S.M.
Archbishop of Vancouver, B.C.
The Catholic Educator's Resource Center (CERC) is updated regularly with information that can be useful to most classes.
How to Pray the Rosary
Help your students learn how to pray the Rosary - one of the most widely practiced and spiritually engaging devotion.
This pamphlet contains all the prayers, the sequence of the devotion, and a list of all the mysteries (Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful and Glorious)
(Adobe PDF file)
The Eucharist
(these activities are appropriate for students preparing for First Communion as well as older students in order to understand more deeply the gift of the Eucharist)
Jesus Is with Us ... a simple explanation that the Mass follows closely what Jesus did at the Last Supper, as a coloring page.
What Is the Eucharist? ... a coloring page and four questions about the Eucharist
Be in a State of Grace ... a series of questions (along with a coloring page) that addresses the importance of confessing our sins and being in a state of grace before we may receive the Eucharist
Activities when Visiting the Blessed Sacrament (3 pages) ... a series of simple activities, appropriate for younger students, that can be done as a visit to the church ... showing the tabernacle, explaining the real presence, and drawing activities
There are twenty differences between the top and bottom picture. Can you find them all?
This is the sheet to hand to students
This is the sheet that has all the answers
Icebreakers for Students
[print these icebreaker activities]
M&M Tell-About-Yourself
materials needed: a small bowl of M&M or Skittles candies
This activity is a fun and different way for students to introduce themselves to each other.
Invite the students to take some of the candies from the bowl. Then break the news to them that they have to tell one thing about themselves for each piece of candy they have. Assign a topic to each color. For instance:
- Red: What is your favorite song? Sing (or speak) a line from it.
- Green: If you could be invisible for one day, what would you do and why?
- Brown: Where would you like to travel and why?
- Orange: What are you proud of about yourself?
- Blue: Whom do you admire most?
Pass the Compliment
materials needed: slips of paper
This activity can help students realize the importance of being kind to others.
- Have each person write her or his name on the top of a paper.
- Collect the papers and redistribute them.
- Each person writes something positive about the person whose name appears on the top of the paper, signs it, and folds the paper to conceal what is written.
- Collect the papers and redistribute again. Continue passing the papers until every student has written on each paper.
- Give the papers back to the persons whose name is at the top and give everyone time to read their page.
Ask: How did you feel writing the compliments? How did you feel reading them? How do we normally give compliments? How do we normally treat others?
Gifts of the Holy Spirit Guessing Game
materials needed: notecards and maybe some tape
This activity helps each student understand the meaning of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit - and not just memorize the words.
Appropriate for 6th-8th grade students preparing for Confirmation.
- Write a gift of the Holy Spirit on separate notecards (knowledge, wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, piety, wonder & awe). Make enough for each student - so you may need to create several sets depending on the size of your group.
- Have the students work in pairs.
- Give a notecard to one in each pair telling them not to look at it. (You can have them tape the card to their forehead or just have them hold the notecard above their head)
- Their partner is to describe the characteristics of that particular gift; but they cannot use any form of the word ... for example, they can't say "It's like you know things," for knowledge.
- The one holding the card is to figure out the specific gift on the card based on their partner's descriptions.
- When they get it right, hand out a notecard to the other person in the pair and have them switch roles.
We're All Connected
materials needed: a ball of yarn or string
This activity can be used before or after a class - particularly when the lesson touches on how we are all connected and responsible for taking care of each other.
- Students stand in a circle
- One student holds onto the end of the string/yarn and tosses the ball to another student
- That student holds the string/yarn (they are connected to the first student) and tosses the ball to another student
- Continue until all of the students are holding the string ... it will look like a web.
Point out that everyone in the circle is connected to everyone else. It might be someone from the opposite side of the circle (or even someone from the opposite side of the world), yet we are all connected together as children of God.
Variations to We're All Connected:
A variation on this is for students preparing for Confirmation. When the student catches the yarn/string they are to name a ministry or service project she or he is doing or plans to do. When the web of string is completed it shows visibly how ministry and service weaves people together in community.
The Human Knot
materials needed: nothing
This activity is a good energizer, to give a quick break in the middle of class, or as a celebratory activity at the end of a class.
- Have the students gather in groups of four or five. Each group forms a circle facing inward.
- Each person grabs and holds the hands of two other group members (they should not hold the hands of anyone directly next to them)
- Tell them that they must unravel themselves without letting go of their hands.
- They can step over or under, or whatever is needed - just cannot let go of the group members' hands
The goal is to end up in their inward facing circle again.
Alphabet Review
materials needed: Alphabet Review.pdf
This activity should be introduced at the beginning of a class and reviewed periodically throughout. It is a for students to focus on the different discussions and topics in the class.
- Hand out the Alphabet Review.pdf
- Tell students that as they hear or read a key idea or important concept during the class they are to write it down on the sheet. The first word of the idea should start with a different letter of the alphabet.
- See if you can fill up the sheet - using every letter in the alphabet to capture key ideas from the day's class.
Hot Potato
materials needed: a small, soft ball (like a Nerf ball or koosh ball)
This activity can be used to reinforce the concepts taught in a class.
Have everyone stand up. Explain that the ball must be tossed (gently) around the room to each other.
When you catch the ball you have to say a word or phrase that is something you learned.
Keep the ball moving.
The ball gets tossed until everyone has a chance to give their word or phrase.