First Grade Prayer Book

Each year I have my first graders write prayers towards the end of the year in their journals.  Five of the prayers are picked to read over the morning announcements.  All the prayers are typed and illustrated in black and white outlines.  Then I make a copy for each student to create a prayer book for all the students.  Then they color it for a keepsake.  

They also color a copy for me as well.  I make a class book with that copy.  It is a favorite in our classroom.  

Adding the Holy Spirit to Art

On one of my sick days I left behind an assignment for my students....to draw a picture of how you can help the Holy Spirit.  My wonderful substitute took it a step further.  She knew of an artist, Brother Mickey McGrath, that created all his artwork with the symbol of the Holy Spirit in it. 

The children's art work turned out amazing.  This is one of my favorites.  The little girl is watering a plant with the Holy Spirit on her head.

  

Thank You Teachers

One of our Religion lessons during Catholic Schools Week was to recognize what makes us a Catholic School.  At the end of the lesson there was a little prayer thanking God for our wonderful teachers.  I thought it would be a nice gesture to make a banner to hang up in the staff lounge.  Each of my students made two teachers or staff members.  We wrote their names underneath them.  The children were very proud of their banner. 

This activity went along great with what I have been trying to instill in my students each day:  Be kind and grateful to everyone around you! 

A Very Busy Two Weeks

There has been so much going on at school the past two weeks.  In addition throw in the flu and cold.  It has been a bit overwhelming. I wanted to share a couple things from Catholic Schools Week.  I was part of the CSW committee with two other teachers and we put together this adorable bulletin board. 

We had each class take a selfie.  It was fun to see all the different ways teachers accomplished this.  

Our service project was to collect new books for the local Children's Hospital.  We had a bake sale to raise money and we purchased books at the book fair and the Scholastic Warehouse Sale.  We collected over 300 books.  Our little cart was stuffed by the end of the week.  

Advent Angel

Advent Angel

This has been a project I have been working on and refining for several years.  I thought I had it down when I was teaching kindergarten however when I moved to first grade the project did not move with me.  I have since tried to regroup and keep the elements I liked and add something new so the kids still have something to look forward too.

Each morning during December my students come to school talking about their Elf on the Shelf.  I wanted to capture that excitement but redirect it in a loving and kinder way.  I stumbled upon the kindness elves on pinterest.  I teach at a Catholic School so I changed the elves into an Advent Angel.  I found this adorable angel of Amazon and ordered it.   

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Each day our Angel appears with an Advent story and story piece and a act of kindness for the day. I use The Christmas Story books as our Advent Story.  There are 24 individual mini books.  I also use the Fisher Price Nativity Set for the Religion Center.   

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It has taken me awhile but I have lined up the mini books with the act of kindness and a story for Shared Reading.   

Days	Stories and Acts of Kindness with Activities	What you will need	The Story of Christmas/and Manger Pieces
1 (M)	Read:  Christmas Angels Give the Angel a name. Activity:  Draw Angels on Index Cards and print Happy Advent.	blank index cards/candy bags/Teacher Name Chart Guardian Angel prayer card	(background) #1  The Holy Land #2 The Prophecy
2	Read: Angels Angels Everywhere Activity:  Do something to make someone happy today. Brainstorm a list of things to do.	Wear Happy Face Sticker to remind us of happiness..	#3 Mary
3	Read:  God Gave Us Angels Activity:  Make a happy note for someone. (Mom, dad, brother or sister)	Blank green and red cards and envelopes	#4  Angel Gabriel
4	Read:  The Joy Of Giving Activity:  Donate an unused toy to the goodwill.	Giant Christmas Bag	#5  Joseph
5	Read:  A Donkey’s Christmas Song Activity:  Smiles brighten up the world….smile today at everyone you see.	Toothbrush and toothpaste	#6  Roman Rule #7  Donkey
6 (M)	Read:  Birds of Bethlehem God wants us to love others and that includes animals…. Activity:  Today let’s make bird feeders and hang them up in the trees in front of school.	Red Pipe Cleaners and Cheerios	#8 The Journey #9 The Star
7	Read:  Humphrey’s First Christmas Activity:  Clean up someone else's mess without waiting for credit or bragging.		#10  The Wise Men
8	Read:  The Pine Tree Parable Activity:  Pray for those who may be sick and homeless.		#11 An Oasis
9	Read:  A Wish to be a Christmas Tree Activity:  Make a Christmas Cards for priests and give candy hugs and kisses	hug and kiss candy	#12 Jerusalem #13 The Faithful Servant
10	Read:  The Message of the Birds Activity:  Draw a picture for your grandparents.	Special paper and envelopes	#14  King Herod # 15  The Search
11(M)	Read:  Thank You Angels Activity:  Make a thank you card for the people who help keep our school clean.	Thank You Cards	#16  The Dream #17  Bethlehem
12	Read:  Christmas Hat Activity:  Set the table for dinner	Christmas Napkins (I buy them the year before and put them in baggies for the kids to take home.)	#18  Inn
13	Read:  This Is The Stable Activity:  Write a note to a classmate for Christmas and say three kind things about him or her.	Christmas Letter Writing form Class names christmas jar	#19  Stable
14	Read:  Room for a Little One Activity: Read a Christmas story with a someone you never read to before.		#20 Manger
15	Read:  Song of the Stars Activity:  Play with someone new on the playground		#21  Good News #22 Heavenly Lights
16 (M)	Read:  J is for Jesus Activity:  Sneak into 1B and candy cane bomb  their desks.	Need some kind of tag for the candy canes mini candy canes	#23  Holy Night
17	Read: The Crippled Lamb Leave behind the baby Jesus for the Stable and remind the boys and girls that Jesus is the reason we are celebrating Christmas.	Baby Jesus Art Project	#24  Baby Jesus

The first graders really looked forward to seeing what the angel had each day.  I really felt that the Advent Angel took the focus away from getting things to giving in our classroom.  My students were looking for opportunities to help other people.

Kindness and Giving that is exactly what I want to teach my students!