Wednesday, July 24, 2024

August Radiant Roundup: Back-to-School & August Feast Days!

August: The Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Marian Medallion Circle Stickers* (print, color, and add to your new back-to-school folders and notebooks! These fit on 3" circle sticker labels, or you can print on full sheet label stickers and cut out, or just print on your favorite paper and glue/tape on!)
Immaculate Heart of Mary Coloring Pages* 
Immaculate Heart of Mary and Hail Holy Queen Prayer Cards*
Immaculate Heart of Mary Block Carving Print*
Holy Family Hearts Coloring Pages and Prayer Cards* 
St. John Vianney: August 4th
St. John Vianney Mini Study (Google Classroom Ready)

The Transfiguration: August 6th

St. Philomena: August 11th

St. Maximilian Kolbe: August 14th
Teaching about St. Maximilian Kolbe* (Cross curricular literature, writing, spelling, art, religion, and research unit) (4th-6th)

Assumption of Mary: August 15th
Queenship of Mary: August 22nd 

This activity incorporates art, quotes from Scripture and the catechism, a couple short videos, and a set of worksheets to show the differences and similarities between the Ascension and the Assumption.
If you missed out on crowing Mary in May (or just love honoring Our Lady!), making a little Marian shine is a perfect way to celebrate her Assumption and Coronation! You also can crown your own statue of Mary with flowers or a homemade crown, and then pray the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary or sing a Marian Hymn.

St. Bartholomew: August 24th

Our Lady of Częstochowa: August 26th

Back to School

Print.Cut.Pray. Prayer Card ebook* (K-8th) Over 100 prayer cards and mini books
Little Prayer Books (K-8th) Storage solution for prayer cards
Favorite Prayers Printable Mini Book*

Bulletin Board Collection

Dozens of ideas for Catholic bulletin boards with solid Catholic identity! Many of them include free printables to make it as easy as possible for you to replicate!

Saint Feast Day Chalk Boards (photos for display or inspiration)

August Books for Catholic Kids
Click here for a list of great books for Catholic kids for the feast days throughout the month of August.

You can find the links to all the monthly posts here:

August Books for Catholic Kids

August Catholic Kids Book List
Below are a few favorite titles that fit well with devotions and feast days this month! This list contains Amazon Affiliate links, which means if you click through and make a purchase, I earn a small commission at no cost to you. I'd also love to encourage you to shop directly with the publisher or with your local bookshop, or try to request these at your local library! I'm sure I've missed some books that would be great for this month, so feel free to add your own recommendations in the comments! You can find my giant list of Catholic Kid Books by topic here.


Feast Days this Month

8/4- St. John Vianney

8/6- The Transfiguration

8/8- St. Dominic

8/10- St. Lawrence

8/11- St. Clare of Assisi

8/11- St. Philomena

8/14- St. Maximilian Kolbe
 
8/15- Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
8/22- Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

8/15- St. Tarcisius
8/18- St. Helen

8/23- St. Rose of Lima

8/28- St. Moses the Black



Book Lists By Month:
Click on the images below for book lists organized by feast days and devotions for each month:

Saint Feast Day Boards- Growing collection for you to display!

At the start of the last school year, our classrooms received new smartboards. They are incredible and have really enhanced the ways I use technology in my classroom! On either side of the smart board is a 4x4' metal "chalk" board. Intended to extend the panel of the smart board and offer other writing/display opportunities, those boards came with "liquid ink" markers (aka chalk markers). My coworkers and I discovered that we loved the vibrancy of the chalk markers, but that they are a little more finicky to write with, take more time to use, and are much harder to erase than the typical dry erase boards we are used to. 

I decided to think outside the box of regular notes and the ways I used my dry erase boards during lessons. Instead, I decided to use these black chalk panels for more semi-permanent displays. I have long had a goal of better sharing feast days and celebrations without necessarily using instructional time. Creating a display on these boards was an awesome way for all six of my classes to get a little data dump on the saint of the day or special feasts. I also was able to utilize my collection of saint art and holy cards (that I have never utilized to its fullest before) as well as pull books from my library. 


These feast day boards were a source of joy for me during the school year and something that I enjoyed creating! I started taking photos and posting them on Instagram (you can see the highlight here) and decided to somehow make them sharable for you! 


Below you'll find all of the most common questions I was asked as I shared these, as well as a folder of all of the photos and a slideshow with the whole collection. Whether you pull these up on your smartboard in your classroom or use them as inspiration for your own chalk art, I'm happy to share them with you!

Here some answers to the most common questions I've received when I post these on Instagram:

  • The boards are magnetic blackboards attached on either side of the smartboard in my classroom. They are about 4'x4'. At the beginning of the year, we discovered that writing on them with the liquid ink chalk markers wasn't super practical for normal classroom notes- they are are more challenging to write on than a dry erase board & marker. They also have to be erased with liquid (I've learned that a squirt bottle of water and microfiber cloths are the best combo).
  • Because they don't erase easily, I decided to use them for a display that would apply to all of my classes and could be left up for a few days. It made the extra work worth it, and also was nice that they would stay looking fresh since they don't erase easily. Making displays to celebrate Saints and feast days just made sense!
  • The chalk markers that I used were a combo of the markers that came with the board and a generic brand. They worked the exact same way as any other liquid chalk marker that I've ever used. I planning on ordering these and these to use for the new school year. (affiliate links)
  • The artwork on display is from things I've been collecting for year and years- prints I've purchased, holy cards I've saved, things I've cut out of calendars, etc. I finally got all of them organized by month in this accordion folder and am so happy that they are actually being displayed now! While I have work from tons of artists on rotation, I have a lot of work from Catholic Paper Goods, Catholic Family Crate, Providential Co., Jordan Avery Art, and Saints Alive. I also print public domain images and photos as needed to feature certain Saints.
  • One of my favorite things about the boards is using them to feature books for the Saints feast days. I've tried to do this in different ways over the years, but never consistently. This year turned that into a habit and it was a great opportunity to get my students to pick up more books about the Saints! You can find my lists of books organized by feast days each month on this page.
  • I displayed the books on two 17" magnetic shelves. Those things were strong! I could load them with books and they didn't move an inch! You can find the shelves that I used here. (affiliate link)


You can click here to access the whole folder. As of right now, there are over 50 photos, but I will continue to add new boards here as long as I make them!

I've also added all of the images to this set of Google Slides- perfect for pulling up on your smart board for display! The slides contain all of the boards I made during the 2023-2024 school year. (I'll probably go back and add new boards, but likely not until the end of the school year ;) )



Friday, July 19, 2024

Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary Bible Margin Stickers (or bookmarks!)


Journaling Bibles are one of my very, very favorite prayer tools. I have several Bibles and use them in different ways- one is marked up with notes, cross references, content from studies. But I also have a journaling Bible that I pray with using art- after reading, I've lettered favorite verses, added watercolor, drawn and painted illustrations, and embellished with stickers and holy cards. My heart is drawn to beauty, and this method of encountering the Scriptures has helped me to dwell with the word of God. 

The Bible I use for artistic Bible journaling is this one (affiliate links), and then I also have another journaling Bible that typically lives at school with me to use during prayer time and visits to the chapel- that one I have slowly been lettering a verse from each chapter in the margins. (It will take me years to get through the whole Bible!). I haven't posted about Bible journaling in quite a while, but I added some links at the end of this post to other info I've shared about my favorite pens, how to add art, and even how you can be creative with a non-journaling Bible if you are interested in going back through the archives!

When I started using my journaling Bible six or seven years ago, I also had an etsy shop. I used some of the art that I had created for my Bible and turned them into printables that could be downloaded and stuck in the margins of a Bible. It's a fun way to still add art and creativity, but with a tool to start the process. Since I've closed my etsy shop, I'm now sharing those resources here for you as freebies to use in your Bible, prayer journal, or planner!




This set for the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary is part of a set for each Mystery- matching up the story with an image inspired by Sacred art and a passage from the Gospel. You can find the other sets of Mysteries here:

Here are some ideas for how to use these doodles:
-Print on a sticker sheet (full page mailing labels are an inexpensive way to do this!), cut, and stick directly into your Bible. 
-Print on cardstock, regular paper, or vellum- stick in with a glue stick or a piece of washi tape along one side

Or, if you don't plan to use in a journaling Bible, these make great bookmarks or Scripture memorization/prayer cards! (Perfect to cut apart and give to students!)

There are two pages in the pdf- one page features the watercolor paintings with a handlettered verse from the Gospels for each Mystery, and the other download is blank for you to use just the images or to add lettering yourself.

Click here to download the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary Watercolor Margin Stickers:



Rosary Art inspired by:
Resurrection Stained Glass Window, Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Center Chapel
Ascension of Jesus, Bl. Fra Angelico
Pentecost Stained Glass Window, Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Center Chapel
Death and Assumption of the Virgin, Bl. Fra Angelico
Coronation of the Virgin, Bl. Fra Angelico

“The Rosary is the book of the blind, where souls see and there enact the greatest drama of love the world has ever known; it is the book of the simple, which initiates them into mysteries and knowledge more satisfying than the education of other men; it is the book of the aged, whose eyes close upon the shadow of this world, and open on the substance of the next. The power of the Rosary is beyond description.”  ~Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen


You might like these other posts:



Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary Bible Margin Stickers (or bookmarks!)

Journaling Bibles are one of my very, very favorite prayer tools. I have several Bibles and use them in different ways- one is marked up with notes, cross references, content from studies. But I also have a journaling Bible that I pray with using art- after reading, I've lettered favorite verses, added watercolor, drawn and painted illustrations, and embellished with stickers and holy cards. My heart is drawn to beauty, and this method of encountering the Scriptures has helped me to dwell with the word of God. 

The Bible I use for artistic Bible journaling is this one (affiliate links), and then I also have another journaling Bible that typically lives at school with me to use during prayer time and visits to the chapel- that one I have slowly been lettering a verse from each chapter in the margins. (It will take me years to get through the whole Bible!). I haven't posted about Bible journaling in quite a while, but I added some links at the end of this post to other info I've shared about my favorite pens, how to add art, and even how you can be creative with a non-journaling Bible if you are interested in going back through the archives!

When I started using my journaling Bible six or seven years ago, I also had an etsy shop. I used some of the art that I had created for my Bible and turned them into printables that could be downloaded and stuck in the margins of a Bible. It's a fun way to still add art and creativity, but with a tool to start the process. Since I've closed my etsy shop, I'm now sharing those resources here for you as freebies to use in your Bible, prayer journal, or planner!


This set for the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary is part of a set for each Mystery- matching up the story with an image inspired by Sacred art and a passage from the Gospel. You can find the other sets of Mysteries here:

Here are some ideas for how to use these doodles:
-Print on a sticker sheet (full page mailing labels are an inexpensive way to do this!), cut, and stick directly into your Bible. 
-Print on cardstock, regular paper, or vellum- stick in with a glue stick or a piece of washi tape along one side

Or, if you don't plan to use in a journaling Bible, these make great bookmarks or Scripture memorization/prayer cards! (Perfect to cut apart and give to students!)

There are two pages in the pdf- one page features the watercolor paintings with a handlettered verse from the Gospels for each Mystery, and the other download is blank for you to use just the images or to add lettering yourself.

Click here to download the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary Watercolor Margin Stickers:




Rosary Art inspired by:
Agony in the Garden, Grenadier Guards Chapel, London
The Scourging at the Pillar, Rosary Chapel windows Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Center, Norwood, OH
The Crowning with Thorns, Caravaggio 
Crucifixion and Jesus Meets the Women, Stations of the Cross from Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary RC Church  Buffalo NY

“The Rosary is the book of the blind, where souls see and there enact the greatest drama of love the world has ever known; it is the book of the simple, which initiates them into mysteries and knowledge more satisfying than the education of other men; it is the book of the aged, whose eyes close upon the shadow of this world, and open on the substance of the next. The power of the Rosary is beyond description.”  ~Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen


You might like these other posts: