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We’ve reached the last Sunday of our Gospel Weeklies program year! It also happens to be Mother’s Day. Although there have been unexpected challenges in these final few months, we pray that you—catechists, teachers, and parents—and the children in your care have had an overall great year of growing in knowledge of and love for Jesus. Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! May our Mother Mary continue to intercede for you and your families!
If you are still meeting face-to-face, don’t forget to send home the What the Church Believes and Teaches Catechism handbooks. If you are no longer meeting face-to-face, you may wish to leave the handbooks in a parish location where families can pick them up over the coming months. These handbooks can serve as useful reference tools for both children and parents.
We encourage you to use the Post (or Final) Tests to assess student comprehension and the effectiveness of your teaching methods. These are available in both English and Spanish for Good News, Venture, and Visions. If your parish program or school schedule extends beyond this Sunday, be sure to check out our Late Close Lessons online and in our Activity Books.
Here are some notes to help you prepare for this week’s lesson:
Seeds
Lesson Theme: We belong to the Church.
Parents can find and download the Seeds student lesson and Teaching Guide for this week here. Note that parents will need to enter the parish or school customer number. Check your communication from your child’s catechist, teacher, or religion administrator.
Today’s lesson is about being a leader and being a follower. Preschool children love to be first in line. They feel important when they lead in the classroom. They will also enjoy leading others in following Jesus as members of the Church.
Find a story coloring page for “I Am a Follower of Jesus” here.
Find an end-of-year certificate to give to the children here. Note that a parent may sign the certificate if a teacher or catechist is unable to do so.
Promise
Lesson Theme: We belong to the Church.
Parents can find and download the Promise student lesson and Teaching Guide for this week here. Note that parents will need to enter the parish or school customer number. Check your communication from your child’s catechist, teacher, or religion administrator.
Find a story coloring page for “Drew’s Special Day” here.
The children will learn a Short Prayer of Love. Encourage them to pray it often and add to it as suggested in the What the Church Believes and Teaches section of the lesson plan. This prayer also appears on the end-of year certificate.
Find an end-of-year certificate to give to the children here. Note that a parent may sign the certificate if a teacher or catechist is unable to do so.
Good News
Lesson Theme: Jesus is our way to God.
Parents can find and download the Good News student lesson and Teaching Guide for this week here. Note that parents will need to enter the parish or school customer number. Check your communication from your child’s catechist, teacher, or religion administrator.
The Good News children have talked about the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist many times this year. In this lesson, they are introduced to the Sacrament of Confirmation. Together with Baptism and the Eucharist, Confirmation is a Sacrament of Initiation. Although our program year ends before the celebration of Pentecost on 5/31, we anticipate Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit as a helper, guide, advocate, and comforter. The children learn that the Holy Spirit and the Sacrament of Confirmation will help them to follow Jesus’ way to God.
Find an end-of-the year certificate to give to the children here. Note that a parent may sign the certificate if a teacher or catechist is unable to do so.
Venture
Lesson Theme: Jesus reveals God’s presence.
Parents can find and download the Venture student lesson and Teaching Guide for this week here. Note that parents will need to enter the parish or school customer number. Check your communication from your child’s catechist, teacher, or religion administrator.
This week’s story (pages 2–3) is about interdependence. It is a good idea to emphasize Catholic social teaching about us being responsible for each other and the common good. The Our Catholic Faith feature on metaphors in the Bible is important for helping the children to understand the language of the Church so they feel part of it. The pledge to care for Creation on page 8 is a good send-off for this final lesson in which you can introduce ways the children can take for the earth.
Introduce Venture children to “Some Spring and Summer Saints” with this seasonal printable. It is available in both English and Spanish.
Visions
Lesson Theme: We are living stones.
Parents can find and download the Visions student lesson and Teaching Guide for this week here. Note that parents will need to enter the parish or school customer number. Check your communication from your child’s catechist, teacher, or religion administrator.
For the Our Catholic Faith feature on service and ministry (page 5), you may wish to direct the young people to access the parish website to look for parish and community needs and volunteer opportunities in recent bulletins.
Prepare Visions students for Pentecost (5/31) with the “A Great Event” word puzzle (English only).
DON’T FORGET to check out our Unit 4 Overview Webinars. You can find them in English and in Spanish here.
Image credit: Corinne SIMON/CIRIC
