Saint Jeopardy Games

Saint Jeopardy Games

Each slide show has over 35 Saint trivia questions, set up in Jeopardy (answer, then question style). You can used these as is and play with your students, have a kid click through individually to test their knowledge, or make a copy and customize with Saints of your choice. (Note, these were originally based on the Confirmation Saints from my last couple of classes of students, so they truly are random. And there will be a few repeats between the two games. ;) )

Click here for Set One:

Click here for Set Two:

Holy Role Models: Saintly Friends and Heavenly Heroes

Children’s role models form their value systems and viewpoints of the world. From toddlers to teens, we want to make sure our kids are surrounded by friends that challenge them to be the person God intends them to be, and in return, we hope that our kids model virtue and inspire the best in others.

How can we help young hearts cultivate friendships? Real-life relationships are crucial, but we also can cultivate friendships with the holy men and women who’ve gone before us: the saints. Through both their prayer and example, the saints are the heavenly heroes we want every kid to emulate.

I shared a collection of ideas about helping kids grow in friendship with the Saints in an article for the National Catholic Register. You can read the whole thing here!

Who is the Holy Spirit? Intro or Review (Editable for Google Classroom!)

 

Confirmation season is drawing near in my neck of the woods, so the Holy Spirit has been on my brain quite a bit! Regardless of when the Sacrament of Confirmation takes place in your school or parish, it's never a bad time to help your students grow closer to the Third Person of the Trinity.

Using this Catholic Central video (which is less than five minutes long), I set up some slides to help provide a quick intro to the Holy Spirit (or this could also function as a great review!). I really like using the Catholic Central videos in my classroom because they are short in addition to being both informative and entertaining. The videos make great tools as a quick overview for important material that can then be taught with more depth based on what we are studying.

The accompanying slides are meant to slow down the info and record the content shared within the video. The students could also do their own research (even using their own Bible or Catechism to complete the questions). Simple, but effective!

If you'd like to assign the Google Slides to your students, remember that you have to make a copy in order to edit. This is just a template. That also means that once you make a copy you can edit to your heart's content, making it just right for your students. Not a Google Classroom user? You also can download this as a PowerPoint and share through other classroom sites. And I also have a printable version too if you want to go low-tech (which I try to do as often as possible!).

Click here for the Google Slides version:

Click here for the pdf of the handout with the same questions, or here for an editable version of the handout in Google Docs.

If you are using this activity as part of Confirmation prep, I have lots of other resources you might like!

Gifts of the Holy Spirit Retreat, including Lectio Divina Journal and digital resources:

Tons of Confirmation Saint Graphic Organizers- including printables on the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit:

A Saint Scavenger Hunt (fun for All Saints Day, or in the early days of researching Confirmation Saints). This one is on paper:

And here's a Saint Scavenger Hunt in a digital version with lots of links to help with research:

Come Holy Spirit!

Gifts of the Holy Spirit- At Home Retreat

I know many students this Spring had their Confirmation delayed, but some dioceses are already working on rescheduling Sacraments for this fall! If you are like me, we lost some of our preparation time in the classroom and will likely be unable to spend any time together before the actual Confirmation. I wanted to send something easy but meaningful to the families to help them pray and prepare as the date approaches, especially helping the Confirmands open up their hearts to the Gifts of the Holy Spirit that will be received in the Sacrament.

This family retreat is organized around the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit and shares a set of links to prayers, music, a Bible verse, Lectio Divina journal, videos, and suggested activities for each Gift. I created it with students just before their Confirmation in mind, but it also would be great for students who have been recently Confirmed to get them thinking about allowing the Gifts to be put to use in their lives. Really the activities would work well for any junior high or high school student- which is nice because a lot of resources for Catholic kids I've seen (and created myself!) for the summer are aimed at younger kids. This could almost function like an at home VBS for older kids! ;) All of these ideas are also perfect for a study of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in the classroom when we are back together.

My wording in the retreat schedule is specific to kids who are preparing for their upcoming Confirmation, but I'm also including an editable version so you can add your own dates, specific links or ideas, or change some of the content to be more generalized.

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An important part of the retreat is spending time each week in Scripture reflecting on the seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit. I made this simple Lectio Divina journal to act as an aide to that prayer. If your students or child isn't familiar with Lectio Divina, I'd recommend also these Lectio Divina printables to help.

The journal is intended to be printed (two sided if possible, but not necessary) and then folded in half with this as the cover. Click here or on the image to open the pdf journal:

There is a page and a Scripture passage for each of the seven Gifts with room to journal using the four steps of Lectio Divina. Hopefully this is something that could be discussed and prayed over with a parent or Confirmation sponsor, or even as a whole family Bible Study.

The retreat is designed to give a few easy to implement ideas surrounding the Gifts of the Holy Spirit each week, helping open the heart of the Confirmand to be ready to receive His Gifts. All the links are free and easily accessible. The include a prayer (usually offered as both the text and a song or video), the Scripture to pray with that is also listed in the Lectio Divina journal, two videos about that Gift of the Holy Spirit (as well as a whole playlist of Confirmation videos), and a couple of activity suggestions that range from conversations with Sponsors, to researching their Confirmation Saints, to readings that deepen their understanding of the effects of the Sacrament of Confirmation.

 Click here for a pdf version of the retreat:

Click here to open up an editable version of the retreat so you can change wording, add links, list specific dates, etc. When you open this version in Google Slides, you will either need to make a copy and then edit your own version in Google Slides or download and edit in PowerPoint. Either way, I then recommend saving as a pdf before sending out to students and families- it usually helps with access and formatting issues.

May the Gifts of the Holy Spirit manifest themselves in our work and in the lives of our students and families. Come, Holy Spirit, Come!

Saint Pennants {Perfect for Catholic Schools Week or Confirmation!}

It's almost Catholic Schools Week, and I am so excited to share this new resource with you to celebrate!

In honor of the patrons that my students chose as their Confirmation Saints, I like to hang up a display/bulletin board as we draw close to their reception of the Sacrament. Last year I made this "polaroid" display. This year I was inspired to play off their love of sports and teams to create these Saint pennants- and my students really seemed impressed (something that's often hard to do with a group of 8th graders!) I also plan on showing them one of my favorite Fr. Mike Schmitz videos, which has a great story about the Saints who help us run our race, the great cloud of witnesses that cheers us on along our journey to Heaven.

The pennants make a great inspirational Saint/Confirmation display, or will be perfect for all Saints day, or you can just pull out a few to decorate your classroom or kids' rooms with their favorite patrons. I taped ours on the wall around our classroom door, but they also look super fun hung from a string like a banner.

If you don't have access to a color printer, look into your local office stores. That's where I had mine printed, and even on cardstock, and it only cost $10!

To create a center for the display on our classroom door, and to remind the kids to be praying for receptivity to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit, I used the "Come Holy Spirit" pennant included in the set as a template and traced it on larger paper.

I added a few extra Saints and made the color scheme a little more cohesive (the students had individually chosen their own colors for their pennants), so this printable has fifty 10" Saint pennants read for you to print and enjoy!

Click here for the printable:

A few other Catholic Schools Week ideas:
We Love Our Catholic School Display

Catholic Schools Week Bulletin Board 2018

Catholic Schools Week Bulletin Board 2016
Catholic Schools Week Bulletin Board 2015
Catholic Schools Week Bulletin Board 2014
Catholic Schools Week Thank You*

***Update!
I can't share the original file because formatting wouldn't transfer, but I just made a similar banner in Google Slides so you can add a Saint that isn't in the collection. Click on the image below and save the file to your own Google Slides. Then edit the Saint name, colors, etc.

And here is a black and white colorable set:

And one more update, here's a cute mini version to make small banners:

Confirmation Saint Graphic Organizers

My students are just a little over a month away from receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation.  I'm feeling the crunch of trying to teach-them-all-the-things, which we all know is impossible- thank goodness we have a lifetime to keep learning about the Mysteries of God!  In an effort to teach two concepts at once as well as help the students apply what they are learning, we are working through a series of tasks relating to their chosen Confirmation Saint.  Every Confirmation class requires the students to choose a Saint and using write a report or do a project about that Saint.  My students had to do the basics late last fall when they made their Saint choices, but I wanted to also help them create a keepsake which also getting to know their Saint a little better.

I had a stack of unused 8"x8" blank books (found mine in the Target dollar aisle, but they can be found on school supply websites too), and we have been creating artifacts to assemble into a Confirmation Saint book.  I'd like to share some of the pages with you today if they would be helpful in your own Confirmation prep and instruction.  My students will also add a cross curricular Math project they are making that results in a Stained Glass window of their Saint, and in Art they are working on creating an icon that will be displayed at their Confirmation Mass.  We'll print a small photo of it to include in their book, and I'll also set up a page where the students can add a photo of themselves and their sponsor, etc. 

The graphic organizers I'm sharing are intentionally blank so that you can use them any way that fits the needs of your students.  I'll also share a version that can easily be cut down to 8"x8" if you'd like to try the blank book (or nicer scrapbook) idea, or there are full page versions to use for individual tasks or in a notebook or folder.

First up, here is a basic Saint biography page.  This would be a great intro project once the students have chosen their Saint, but my students will be using this as a review and hopefully sharing genuine and detailed info after all these months of getting to know their Saints ;)  The full page version has an extra section for a quote by or about the Saint, or a Bible verse that describes them.

This project we worked on for St. Valentine's Day.  We discussed that Saints often come in pairs or groups- holiness begets holiness- and therefore they should look for friends and family members themselves who they can walk together in the faith with.  For this task, they had to connect their Saint to another Saint.  It could be (preferably) someone they knew in real life, or a Saint they looked up to and was known to ask for the intercession of.  Honestly, even I was surprised with how many connections we were able to find.  (Out of my 54 students, there was only one we really struggled with, and he has a particularly obscure Saint.)  It was really neat for the kids to see how many of the Saints had an immediate family member that also became a Saint, or for them to read about a group of friends that pursued holiness together. This has been my favorite Confirmation activity we have done so far!  The full page version has an extra box asking the student to connect their own life to the Saints.

This page was a great way to apply knowledge of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.  After doing a typical lesson learning about the Gifts (I'll have a post soon with our notes from that), the students had to apply their new knowledge by writing one way that their Saint showed the manifestation of that Gift of the Holy Spirit in their life.  This one really made them think, but hopefully helped them see how the Holy Spirit worked in their Saint and can work in them.  The full page version includes a short definition of the Gifts in the seven boxes.

I don't have my example page done for this one yet but I wanted to include it with the group. ;) This one has the students show how the Fruits of the Holy Spirit could be seen in the life of their Saint.  After learning about the Fruits (again, printables will be in another post soon), they'll apply what they know by choosing four out of the twelve fruits that their Saint particularly exemplified.  In these four boxes they will create a simple comic strip with a caption about four stories from the Saint's life.  The full page version has a spot for a reflection at the bottom.

There are tons of ways to use these printables, whether individually or as a whole project.  There will probably be a few more added to the collection, so check back for more posts! If you are currently preparing a group of students for Confirmation, please know of my prayers both for you and the Confirmands!

Click on the images below for the printables:


Saint Bio 8X8:

Saint Bio Regular:

Saintly BFFs 8x8:

Saintly BFFs Regular:

Saint & Gifts of HS 8x8:

Saint & Gifts of HS Regular:

Saint & Fruits of HS 8x8:

Gifts of the Holy Spirit Cards:

Gifts of the Holy Spirit Mini Book:

Fruits of the Holy Spirit Foldable:

Saint & Fruits of the HS Regular:

Saint and the Corporal/Spiritual Works of Mercy:

Confirmation Door & Pentecost Self Portraits

"When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together.  And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were.  Then there appeared to them as tongues of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim." ~Acts 2:1-4

We often don't get to celebrate Pentecost during the school year, as it falls fifty days after Easter (this year it is on June 4th). I thought I'd share a quick art idea connecting Pentecost and the Sacrament of Confirmation. With a little review of the Sacraments, you can work Pentecost in any time of year.

As part of our review of the Sacraments of Initiation, my students learn more about the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit.  We read several passages from Scripture, including the account of Pentecost above.  We talk about how the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, has always existed and will always exist.  And we connect that the Holy Spirit that was received by Mary and the Apostles at the first Pentecost after the Resurrection is the very same Holy Spirit that the students will receive at their Confirmation.  We will use this Confirmation Foldable and add it to our Confirmation page in our Fulton Sheen Notebooks.

Then we did a basic art lesson about self portraits (balance, proportions of the face, size of features, looking in a mirror, etc.) and the students each created an image of their own face.  They also used red, orange, and yellow paper to create flames hovering above their heads.

The results were awesome!  I hope that it helps the kids start to internalize the relationship with the Holy Spirit they are invited into, and how it is strengthened by Confirmation.  We displayed the Pentecost Self Portraits on our classroom door (no bulletin board=creativity) with a fiery dove, wind and a "Come Holy Spirit" sign.  This completed our Doors to the Sacraments for Christian Initiation: you can see Baptism here and the Eucharist here.