Celebrate the Feast of St. Luke with Fun and Games

This week we celebrate St. Luke, the Evangelist and author of one of the Gospels.  He is the patron saint of doctors, physicians and surgeons.  If you want to incorporate St. Luke into your learning week, here are a couple of free fun printable resources for you to use from our collection:

Research and writing fun.

Complete a mini-book on St. Luke which is 8 simple pages allowing children to write or draw the answers to the biographical writing prompts.  Use info from books or prayer cards you have at home or find info quickly on the Internet as well.   If you prefer a notebooking type sheet, you may find our saint biography notebooking sheet helpful.  This sheet can be used with any saint and for various ages as well.


Enjoy MORE symphony fun!

If you enjoyed last week's Syllable Symphony of Fall printable bingo style game to learn about words associated with fall and how to count syllable sounds, then you will love the Syllable Symphony of Saints Game that includes St. Luke in a host of other saints.  This game is fun and easy to play and features saints with names from one to five syllables.

Use Dr. Virtue's medical themed literary discussion cards. 

Part of our Virtue Lesson resources, these little cards help children to explore characters, the plot and other literary elements, morality and virtuous behaviour in any book they choose to read.  Use this in a virtue lesson, reading club or family read-aloud time.  They are fun and simple to use.  Simply print out sheets and cut apart on the lines.  Get what the Doctor ordered from Dr. Virtue's Literary Check-up Discussion Cards in US English or Get Dr. Virtue's Literary Check-up Discussion Cards in UK English.

Phonics fun is helpful and healthy for readers. 

Help young and new readers improve their phonics skills with this game that builds their knowledge and familiarity with consonant blends. We have observed first hand with our own children, the power of scheduled play to create and develop confident and happy readers.

In this game we ask players to help our doctors treat patients by packing their first aide kits for them. Match the content words to the proper Dr. Blend. Practice the S, L, R, and Final blends. 1-4 players, co-operative or competitive play versions available.  Download our Dr. Blends First Aid Kits phonics game now.

We hope that you find these resources a helpful and fun addition to your learning week.

Blessings,

Kalei

Play a Fall Syllable Symphony of Fun

Celebrate fall one sound at a time.

Introduce or review the concept of syllable sounds with children as they learn to say and spell the names of various favorite fall themed things.  Syllable Symphony has a neat twist to it in that it is played like bingo but uses a specific number of musical note graphics to represent the syllable sounds in a specific word. It is simple to make and play.

This fall themed game can even be useful for non-readers as the parent could read the words and the child would only need count the syllable sounds using clapping if necessary. It is fast to complete and several rounds could be played within 15 minutes.  The words used feature words that are one to five syllables. With golden orange playing boards, one can't help get into the seasonal change with the smile.

The Syllable Symphony of Fall game is suitable for eight players and is a six page download including the boards, calling cards, instructions and word key.  You supply the markers including coins, buttons, beans or even macaroni.

Featured words include: fall, leaves, rake, frost, saints, souls, celebration, hibernation, festivity, autumn, harvest, thankful, apple, scarecrow, pumpkin, veterans, migration, equinox, bountiful and more.

If you have made and used any of our other syllable symphony games (like our animal themed game pictured at right), the game boards could be reused in a pinch with the new words and pieces for the fall themed game. 


Hear the call to fall with this Syllable Symphony of Fall game. 

Blessings,
Kalei

Fall Harvest Graphing Fun

Everyone learns math in their own unique way and timing. 

Some of us learn by doing, others by observing, still others by listening, reading and so on. Graphing is a cool way to present information in a visual way. From newspapers to cookbooks, magazines to mail flyers, graphs are everywhere. 

There are many different types of graphs - bar graphs, line graphs, pictographs, area graphs, pie graphs and XY coordinate graphs. Graphing is not only fun but very important for children because it gives them a chance to learn that one thing can represent another. Why is this so important? Simple, in order to create adults who can stand strong in their faith and be independent thinkers for God's glory, they must first start out as children creating and honing these skills of interpreting information. Graphing helps us to be able to assimilate data to make logical conclusions. Plus, using graphs can be fun.

Here are two graphing games that focus on fall harvests.  They are variations to accommodate wee learners as well as elementary aged learners who are learning or practicing using a bar graph.

Happy Harvest Graphing Math Game  Wee + Use simple graphing of fall produce game pieces to teach children how to use a bar graph. Simply print out sheets, cut apart and you are ready to go. Each game requires ten turns to complete play. Graph rows include ten spaces each. Three items are used: an ear of corn, a crow and a pumpkin. Print out one game set per player.  Instructions are included in the game. Matthew 9:13 is highlighted in this game. Autumn Harvest Graphing Math Game  Elem+ Use simple graphing of autumn themed playing pieces to teach children to use a bar graph. Simply print out sheets, cut apart and you are ready to go. Five items are used including a crow, a pumpkin, carrots, an ear of corn and an apple.  Thirty turns are required to complete a game. Print out one game set per player.   Instructions are included in the game.  Matthew 9:13 is highlighted in this game as well as an introduction to St. Isidore, the Farmer.

Blessings for a bountiful harvest in your learning this fall!

Kalei





Resources to Celebrate the Month of the Holy Rosary

October is the month dedicated to the Holy Rosary.  Although many people pray the rosary throughout the year, October has a special call to explore the rosary even more than we would usually.  If you do not usually pray the rosary, then October is the time to start - even if only temporarily.  Even if only a decade is prayed daily, it is a start and the door to receive extra graces is now open. 


There are a few different aspects to consider when we think about praying the rosary and more especially when we are teaching children and those new to the faith to pray the rosary. 



What Is the Rosary? 
Need help explaining that the rosary is a meditative devotional method of prayer dedicated to exploring the life of Christ and the role the Blessed Virgin Mary had in it?  Then we have a few resources to help you explain the rosary to your kiddos.

Begin with our very popular Rosary Handout sheet that reveals how God shows His love for us when we pray the rosary.  Not only does this sheet give an overview of the mysteries with words and pictures, but it also gives a bit of history of the rosary and introduces the kiddos to St. Dominic.  This sheet is also good to use as a discussion starter.

A good thing to think about when teaching kiddos about the rosary is to explain that it is a sacramental and that it should be treated with reverence. 

A few months ago I was instructed by my pastor on what constitutes an acceptable, tangible rosary.  It must be in a proper bead form (like Our Lady revealed) with a recognizable crucifix, a proper centerpiece, and it must be treated with reverence.  He spoke to me about how we as human beings many times try to trivialize sacramentals especially in the name of making a profit.  His exact example was once seeing, in Italy, a glass ashtray for sale with the image of Pope John Paul II in the bottom of it.  I got his point right away. 

Children must be taught that the rosary is a tool to prayer, which is speaking with our Lord, and that the rosary should never be confused with toys and other trivial things.  To help explain and further explore sacramentals, you may want to complete our F3 Folder lapbook style lesson on Sacramentals



How Do We Pray the Rosary?
Learning to physically pray the rosary can be a challenge for many Catholics young or old.  Praying the rosary involves knowing the prayers to be prayed and the order in which to pray them during the meditations. 

Young children may need to review what prayer actually is and its real purpose.  To help with this you may want to try some of our Resources to Help Learners Develop a Healthy Prayer Life.  Find our F3 Prayer Activity, a mini-book activity for the Apostles' Creed prayer and a handout to introduce four types of prayer to children:  adoration, contrition, thanksgiving and supplication.

Once children have been introduced to the purpose of prayer then they should be taught the basic prayers of the faith Incorporated into the rosary:  Sign of the Cross, Apostles' Creed, Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, Fatima Prayer, Hail Holy Queen.  Praying prayers daily is a great way to teach children to commit them to memory.  Here are some of our other Resources to Help Children Catholic Learn Prayers.

Once children are comfortable with prayer you can help them learn the order of prayer in the rosary with a simple rosary worksheet that allows them to count, color and interact with the prayer inspired sheet.


What Does the Rosary Mean?
Help children explore the mysteries of the life of Christ as presented in rosary in a true joyful Montessori Spirit, if you are looking to teach about the life of our Lord through joy and play then perhaps our Games to Teach About Blessed Virgin Mary and the Rosary is just what your homeschool, classroom or CCD class is looking needing to solidify your lessons.

Another way to help children learn about the rosary is through the gentle art of coloring.  See our collection of rosary themed coloring pages or Blessed Virgin Mary coloring pages.

If you prefer to use narration or the retelling of events as a way to help focus on learning, then our notebooking sheets about the Blessed Virgin Mary or Our Lady of the Rosary might be quite useful.   If you are looking for notebooking page sets about the events of the life of Christ, then our New Testament Notebooking Sheet sets will help you meet the needs of any aged writer in your home or classroom who wants to think, write or even draw about the mysteries of the rosary.

If using or writing minibooks is what your kids enjoy, then we have you covered there as well with our simple 8 page minibooks that allow children to show what they know about the rosary.  Explore our Mini-books About the Rosary collection now.

Incorporate the Rosary into other areas of your learning including rosary themed daily assignment sheets, Ten Words About Mary and the Rosary copywork and more.  See more rosary themed printable resources now.

I hope this gives you a good starting point for teaching about the rosary in your little homeschool or classroom.

If you have resources to share or are looking for even more rosary themed goodies in Spanish, head on over to Familia Catolica's Rosary Link-up and join Xhonane and her family as they celebrate the month of the rosary.  She always has neat craft ideas too.

Blessings,
Kalei