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FROM OUR EDITORS—February 21, 2021 – 1st Sunday of Lent

FROM OUR EDITORS—February 21, 2021 – 1st Sunday of Lent

Para la versión en español, haga clic aquí.

Lent is here—and with it, we focus our energies and hearts on the practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

The practice of “giving up” something for Lent isn’t only for children. The Lenten sacrifices of adults can lead to true changes of heart and spiritual growth. As Lent begins, we encourage you to make a firm commitment to keeping the Lenten practices and growing ever closer to Christ. You may find this daily Lenten calendar (English, Spanish) from the USCCB a useful resource.

Read the post “When Is a Chair Not a Chair?” as we celebrate the feast of the Chair of Saint Peter the Apostle on February 22.

Every week in the GROW newsletter, you will find a helpful tip for teaching your Gospel Weeklies lesson, a reflection on the Sunday Gospel, and information about our online resources and seasonal activities. Here are tips for teaching the Gospel Weeklies lessons this week:

Seeds
Lesson Theme: Jesus tells God’s Good News.

As we enter the Lent season, Seeds celebrates the growth of the children, both in size and ability, and in being living members of the Church, God’s family.

If you cannot have an aide to help you with the ‘Watch me grow during Lent” activity on pages 3–4, you can send a little note home to parents asking them to measure their child and fill the “Height” space to complete activity.

Find a coloring page to accompany “Alaina Learns to Pray” here.

Promise
Lesson Theme: Jesus teaches us to be faithful.

Plan ahead to borrow The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn from your school or public library. If your classroom is equipped for it, you may use this video to share the story.

Find a parent note for the “Make a Prayer Box” activity here.

Good News
Lesson Theme: Lent is a time to grow in faith.

Some songs about Noah’s ark are “Noah’s Song,” “The Arky, Arky Song” (Rise and Shine), and “The Animals Went in Two by Two.”

Bring your map of Galilee from the 1/24 lesson or locate Galilee on a classroom map. Use this when you ask the children why Jesus went to Galilee following his time in the desert.

Send the “Faith in Action Lenten Calendar” home with the children to complete the suggested actions and spell the scrambled word each week. Bring your own copy to class each week to remind them.

Venture
Lesson Theme: Lent gives us time to grow.

Remember to switch out the colors in your prayer space to violet for Lent. While it’s the same color as was used during Advent, the Lenten violet represents repentance.

This lesson begins a series of activities that focus on our Old Testament ancestors. This week, it’s Noah. The story of Noah is Sunday’s First Reading.

Visions
Lesson Theme: Lent prepares us to celebrate Easter.

For the activity “Can Your Class Be Convicted of Being a Christian?” (pages 6–7), the students can use pages 49 and 51 of their What the Church Believes and Teaches Catechism manuals as a reference. This is a class activity, so we suggest you set up the classroom as a courtroom, if possible. Challenge the students by asking: How would you prove to someone that you’re a Christian? Work through this activity together.

DON’T FORGET to check out our Unit 3 Overview Webinars. You can find them in English and in Spanish here.

Image credit: Corinne SIMON/CIRIC

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Our Editors


David Dziena
Publisher

David Dziena is the Publisher of Pflaum Publishing Group. He has also served as Executive Editor and […]

Joan McKamey
Project Editor

Joan McKamey, project editor, joined the Gospel Weeklies editorial team in September 2016. […]

Erika De Urquidi
Bilingual Editor

Erika De Urquidi, bilingual editor, joined Bayard, Inc. in July 2018. During her 15 years as a professional translator […]