Can the Holy Souls Help Teach Your Children Math? YES!!

Many have already begun praying the Novena for the Holy Souls this week.  November 2nd is All Souls Day and kicks off the month that Holy Mother Church dedicates to the Church Suffering or Church Expectant comprised of the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

As part of the communion of saints, we are implored to remember and pray for these Holy Souls who suffer to perfection in purgatory as they await the beatific vision of our Lord in heaven.  With our prayers for them, we can help them to become part of the Church Triumphant more quickly.  For this task, they are grateful and will intercede for us out of love and thanksgiving.

So, how can they help teach our children math?  Easy.  Take on our Holy Souls Prayer Project for the month of November (although you can do this any and every month, if desired) and pray for the Holy Souls daily. 

It is said that each time the prayer for the Holy Souls is earnestly prayed, 1,000 souls will be released from purgatory to join God in heaven.  This project asks children to keep track of how many souls they and their family members have helped throughout the month by using multiples of 1,000. 

Our project pack includes the Prayer for the Holy Souls, a cute charting sheet, and prayer pieces.  It is my favourite prayer project of the year and I hope that you will join me and my family as we dedicate our prayer life to the Holy Souls in November.

Learn more and download our Holy Souls Prayer Project in one complete file now.

Blessings,
Kalei

All Saints Day Resource Run Down

Still looking for resources to help celebrate the fast approaching All Saints' Day (a.k.a. the Solemnity of All Saints and also called All Hallows or Hallowmas?) Let us offer some freebie help and inspiration for fun and learning.

Our Resources for All Saints Day:
 
Saint Biography Cards (Printable Saint Biography Cards that kiddos can fill in and use for references and game play in the future.)

Printable Saint Trading Cards (Printable Saint Trading Cards feature some of our favorite saints of all time.)

Saint Mini-Books (Saint Mini Books. Encourage learners to put their thoughts and creativity to work creating these mini-books that they either illustrate, write or write and illustrate. Each book has eight pages including a title and end page. Print out, fill in, cut apart and staple together. Glue onto our keepsake pages to create a library of your child's work or document their learning.)

My Adventure with the Saints Project (A project to help children develop good character and morals by learning about and studying the lives of the Holy Saints)

Saint Mini-Book Project: All About the Saints (A great learning project for lovers of mini-books and creative learning which focuses on eighteen individual saints.)

Saint Notebooking Pages (Notebooking sets in four different line spacing options with both a picture or a blank space for a drawing. Pages can be used for learners of all ages.)


Games that Feature Different Saints:

Syllable Symphony of Saints (Bingo style game that merges the names of saints and phonics fun.)

Catholic Bingo (Bingo game that requires very little reading but offers lots of fun featuring pictures of different saints along with other basics of the Catholic Faith.)


I know that I have probably missed a few things, but this should give you a start at any rate. :)

Blessings,
Kalei

A Saint Mini-book Project with a Focus on the Doctors of the Church

If I showed you pictures of an astronaut, a dog and a waitress would you be able to name their patron saints?  If I asked you to name any four doctors of the Catholic Church could you do it quickly and without hesitation?   

I hope that you would have answered St. Joseph of Cupertino for astronauts, St. Roch for dogs, and St. Martha for the waitress,  but if you didn't then our All About the Saints Mini-Book Unit Study might be a fun project for you and your family or religious ed. or CCD classroom to complete together.

If you have never completed one of our Mini-Book Unit studies before you will find it to be a fun and engaging project for learners of all ages.  One year I did the study right along with my kiddos.  We had fun and I was surprised at just how creative we can be with only eight little pages per book.

There are five steps to the unit study:

1. Download the unit.   It is a zipped file and you will need to unzip it as it contains many files including the mini-books, instructions, listings of the Doctors of the Church, Keepsake memory pages and unit cover sheet.

2. Print out the individual files.  Instructions are given on the first page of the unit file. Books should be printed on regular paper. Memory pages are designed to be printed double-sided on cardstock but will work single-sided as well. We use cardstock so that when our little books are attached the pages will be sturdy.

3. Assemble the unit pages.  Bind memory pages using a comb binder, 3 ring binder, duo tang, or other binding of choice.

4. Create the mini-books. Have children create books through writing and/or drawing as they learn from resources from your own home, your parish library, the local library, the Internet, text books, videos, etc. about the highlighted saints. 

The printable mini-books in this unit study are prompted and require learners to research and fill in basic information about the featured saint including such things as when and where they lived, their patronage, special symbols, and when we may find their intercession necessary and helpful.
Feel free to let learners take real ownership of their projects by allowing them to make it as fancy as they like using coloured pencils, crayons or other art supplies. A good dictionary and thesaurus are great tools to give them as well as they encourage the use of new vocabulary and accurate spelling.

5. Attach the mini-books. Affix mini-books to the keepsake pages in their proper place. There is a designated spot for each book. In some units you are free to rearrange the order of the keepsake pages to meet your family's needs. Be sure to mark the date in as well as your learner is sure to come back to this finished project over and over.

Learn more about or download our All About the Saints Mini-Book project now.

Enjoy the fun!!

Blessings,

Kalei

Now You Can Celebrate the Saints All Week, Month or Even Year Long. . .

Help children develop good character and morals by learning about and studying the lives of the Holy Saints.

Learning about the saints is an excellent way to learn about God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The resources below can help to enrich your child's understanding of these people who have encountered our Lord in many different ways. In a day and age when singers, stars, and sports people are considered role models by many youth, the study of our Catholic heroes is more important than ever.   

My Adventure with the Saints project is a fun way to get to know some new saints and review the lives of some already familiar ones. By using the letters of the alphabet as a guide, learners must choose at least one saint for each letter of the alphabet and describe their life. The description should contain the following information:

-Name
-When they lived (birth and death if known)
-Where they are noted from
-Symbol that would identify them in a work of art, statue or icon
-Patron saint info
-A portrait of the saint and their symbol(s) - either drawn or pasted in from other sources.

A progress sheet is also included to help children keep track of the tasks they have completed and goals that need to be met to complete the project.  To make it easier to get started, over sized alphabet letters are included in the project so that learners can cut them out and creatively incorporate them into the corresponding page.

Learners will also be asked to complete the 5Ws (and 1 H ) of Sainthood:

Who can become a Saint?

What does it take to become a saint?

When can one be declared a saint?

Where do saints fit in to the Communion of Saints?

Why would one want to become a saint?

How can you become more saint like?

This is a great project that can be used over the course of the year, a month, or however else you may choose to use it. This project could also be undertaken and split among siblings or students in a CCD Religious Education Class.

Find out more or download My Adventure with the Saints Project now.


Here are some samples that my then third grader did years ago.  She had loads of fun being creative while practicing her art and drawing skills, writing skills and developing research skills as well.

 

 

Blessings,

Kalei