How to Develop a Culture of Life in Your Home and Classroom

During January, teachers and parents often weave lessons and discussions about the dignity of the human person into their plans and activities.  This truth is important every day of the year, but remembering Martin Luther King Jr., the anniversary of Roe V. Wade, and the March for Life present us with teachable moments that are relevant today.  As I make plans for some of those important discussions in the coming weeks, I am excited to start using The Culture of Life Study Program created by the America Life League. I'm so impressed by the curriculum they have created and grateful to add this new resources to my classroom content.  Go click on over to their website to explore all the things they offer (including both print and digital lessons for purchase and many FREE instant downloads to get you started, like this set of sample lessons.).  If you'd like more info or to hear my humble opinion about some of the resources they offer, read on :).

Disclaimer: American Life League provided me with free lessons and materials in exchange for an honest review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own!  I'm happy to share this solid resource with other educators.

Across Content Areas and Grade Levels:
This program includes lessons for preschoolers through high schoolers, organized into both stand alone mini lessons as well as full units of study.  The cohesive nature of the units would allow a religious ed program, school, or family to develop continual growth of understanding about the culture of life over the education of its students.

The lessons are also supplemented with Scripture, art, hands-on models, literature, and media, providing opportunities for all types of learners to engage with the material.   They cover pro-life topics with both depth and breadth.  Many times kids (and adults) think that pro-life topics are limited to pre-born babies instead of recognizing the dignity of each and every human person.  The Culture of Life Study Program offers materials on babies, the elderly, disabilities, eugenics, diversity, marriage, euthanasia, social justice, and more.  The cross-curricular lessons are intended to tie into literature, science, art... and even foreign language classes!

All of the Units of Study and Mini Lessons are organized, complete, and thorough.  As a teacher, I love that the authors have included not only the recommended steps for an activity or lesson, but also objectives, ideas for reinforcement and evaluation, supply lists, sample discussion questions, color photos of sample student work, opening/closing prayers, etc.  They really have thought of everything related to this curriculum and have organized it into easy to follow lessons, including appendices of handouts/printables.  From the experienced to the novice, I know that any teacher, catechist, youth leader, or parent could comfortably and successfully use these lessons.

Some of the lessons are created as one time activities, like this book study, discussion, and art project about Mother Teresa.  Others are multi-day units covering more content, such as The Beauty of the Developing Human Being for 7th-8th graders.  And other materials, like the sweet Miracle of Life Coloring and Activity Book, could be used time and time again to promote pro-life conversations and formation.

Units of Study:

The Culture of Life Units of Study are setting up a sequence of lessons for the full education of a student.  The units begin with the  Life Primer in elementary, move to Life Foundations in middle school, and offer Life Lens, Life Scope, and Life Quest in high school.

Included in the Life is Precious Unit Study for K-2nd grades is the video Baby Steps, which offers 4-D Ultrasound imagery of babies 8-34 weeks.  Menu options let you watch the babies grow at each week of development, seeing them kick, wiggle, smile, and yawn.  There also is a Guided Tour feature, which gives a five minute narrated week-by-week overview of fetal development.  (You can watch the English narrated version here.)  They also send a Precious One 12 week fetal model for the students to see and touch.  I've written here before about how much I love the Touch of Life Fetal Models.  They continue to be one of my very favorite pro-life resource.

Books and Movies:

Teachers of any kind will tell you that time is at a premium.  Adding in another unit might seem impossible, but these lessons fit well within many different subject areas and even use books and movies that are often already in a classroom curriculum.  Content in the Life Primer Unit (K-2nd) includes popular picture books (like Horton Hears a Who and On the Night You Were Born) to introduce each topic.  Discussion guides are available for chapter books like The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Giver series, and To Kill a Mockingbird, just to name a few.  There are also a whole collection of discussion guides for modern movies, teaching kids to look for culture of life themes in everything they read and watch.  There are lessons for some of my favorite movies including The Blind Side, August Rush, The King's Speech, Bella, The Magic of Ordinary Days, and It's a Wonderful Life.  Those movie discussions would lend themselves perfectly to a youth group or pro-life club.

And so much more...
The exciting thing is that the Culture of Life Studies Program is still in development.  More and more lessons will be added, creating a full K-12 scope and sequence.  I'll be keeping an eye out for the additional curriculum, especially in Life Foundations.  In the meantime, you should go check out the current materials in their store (including many FREE downloads!), the ever-growing topics and ideas on their blog, and consider making a donation to fund the next unit of study.

I hope you are feeling inspired this month (and always!) to weave culture of life conversations and lessons into your classrooms and homes.

And if you are interested, here are some of the pro-life resources I have on the blog:
Touch of Life Fetal Models & People of Integrity
Favorite Pro-Life Videos
Spiritual Adoption Prayer Coloring Page
Spiritual Adoption Bookmarks and Culture of Life Discussion Guide/Bible Study
Spiritual Adoption Update Postcards

Finding the Seven Sacraments in My Church {scavenger hunt & technology project}

One of my favorite things to do with a class of kids is to take them on a "field trip" to our church.  We are there regularly for Mass, Confession, and Adoration, but there is something special about an unscheduled visit to the quiet church for time in prayer.  I also like to make sure we get in good church tours so that the students are familiar with the structure, decor, and items found in the church.

One way to go about a church tour that is more student directed is a "Sacred Scavenger Hunt."  Instead of the teacher being the expert, the students are able to show what they already know as well as discover new information.  (Hint- call it a Sacred Scavenger Hunt to set the tone- we are still in God's House, we walk, we whisper, etc.)

Because so much of my curriculum focuses on the Sacraments, we go on a Sacred Scavenger Hunt looking for signs and symbols relating to the seven Sacraments.

Here is one recording sheet that lists items the students can try and find, as well as space for them to record other items that relate to each Sacrament:  (Click on image for printable)

Or, you can challenge the students to discover their own connections with this blank record sheet. (Click on image for printable)

We always gather back together and share the symbols each student found.  They are welcome to "borrow" their classmates ideas and record them as well.  I am always amazed at the different things that each child finds, from the sacred vessels for Mass to the images in the stained glass windows.

I make sure as the students are working that I take pictures of all of the items they find. You can see and use some of the images from one of our scavenger hunts in this gallery:

And then, as a cross curricular project between religion and their technology class, the students create a presentation in Google Slides (or you could use Power Point) connecting their knowledge of the Sacraments with their experience in the church.

Click here to view a pdf version of a sample of student work:

And click here for the instructions for the technology project:

How do you incorporate and use technology to strengthen your religion instruction?  I'd love to hear your ideas!

Using Saints to Teach Across the Curriculum- AKA Happy Feast Day, St. Max!

Happy Feast day to St. Maximilian Kolbe!  In addition to being one of my best Saint BFFs, St. Max is also the patron Saint of my 5th grade classroom.  I thought that I would use the occasion of his feast day not only to share some activities that I use to teach kids about his life, but also to encourage all Catholic educators to use the lives of the Saints across their curriculum.  The Saints don't belong just in Religion- this particular unit shows you how you could also teach literature, writing, spelling, and art using the life of St. Max.  Patron Saints deserve to be talked about on more than their feast days- and not because those men and women desired to be famous, but because everything about their lives points back to Christ. 

This will be the fourth year that I have started off our school year with this St. Max Unit.

A little about St. Maximilian Kolbe.
-Polish Franciscan priest
-Completely devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary
-Demonstrated incredible charity and faith
-Intelligent and inventive
-Started a group called the Knight of the Immaculata- goal of sharing the love of Jesus through Mary
-Founded two cities of the Immaculata, a magazine, and radio broadcasts
-Arrested after the Nazi invasion of Poland, imprisoned, then sent to Auschwitz
-Suffered heroically, brought hope and the Sacraments to his fellow prisoners
-Offered his life in place of a husband and father about to be sentenced to death
-Killed by lethal injection after ten days in a starvation chamber
-Patron Saint of the pro-life movement, families, journalists, prisoners, and drug addicts
You can read more about him here.

We read the book Saint Maximilian Kolbe: Mary's Knight by Patricia Edward Jablonski, FSP.   I think this book would be good for 4-6th graders.  (There are many more titles in this Encounter the Saints series, and all of them are great!). As we read it, we worked primarily on the skills sequencing, symbolism, and cause and effect.

We also watched this 20 min. cartoon from My Catholic Family.  It was a little below 5th grade level, but reinforced the facts about his life we were learning as well as the virtues he emulated.  Click on the picture for a link to EWTN.

Here are some of the handouts that I used while reading the book.  Click on the link and you will have the full printable.

 Practicing cause and effect notebooking sheet: This goes along with chapters 1-3 of the book.

A research assignment using various St. Max websites:  We used this to work on non fiction research and reading for information.  Some of the links that I had this kids use were here and here and here and here.

Here are two weeks of spelling/vocab units to match the book:

  Here is the study guide for the test:

 Here was their final test over the books and skills we practiced:

Our final project was to create a graphic novel/comic strip style book about St. Max's life.  As we read, we recorded the who, what, when, where, and why of the significant events in his life.  We then put those events in order and combined them until we had the same number of events as students.  Each student then created one page for the timeline book about his life.
 Here is the rubric used to grade the timeline project:

  Click here for a pdf of the instructions that I used for introducing the timeline project...

.. which include photos of St. Max at various ages to help the kids with their drawing.

Here are a few pages from last year to show you what the kids came up with.  You can read this year's version of the book here. (This books has become a class tradition- we have auctioned it off at our school fundraiser before, and last year the current class's version was buried in a time capsule. It means a lot to the students!)

Journaling topics that could be used with St. Max include:
-What do you most admire about St. Max?
-What should St. Max be the patron Saint of?
-Write a letter to St. Max from Francis Gajowniczek.  (the man St. Max saved in Auschwitz)
-Choose two important events from St. Max's life and write about how they help us know him.
-What virtue can St. Max teach us about?
-What does St. Max teach us about loving Mary?

While talking about symbolism in literature, the Miraculous Medal was used as our chief example.  Not only does it symbolize something in the book, but the medal itself contains layers of symbolism.  Read more about it here.  We made this art project of "giant" miraculous medals using tin foil inspired by Catholic Icing.  You can find directions and a printable from Catholic Icing here.  I also offered the kids this printable, which is actually how I made the example below.

We also had some coloring pages throughout the time for early finishers.  Here are a few that I found:
Click here to visit Paper Dali for an awesome coloring page of St. Max as a boy.

and here for one with more of his biography.

and here for a coloring page of the St. Max icon.

I also have a couple of other posts about incorporating St. Maximilian Kolbe into our classroom:

This post has details about the St. Max Family Shrine that spends a week in each of my students' homes throughout the school year:

And this post has details about the lifesized St. Max sculpture in our classroom, a St. Max craft project, and sharing a common patron Saint with our parish CCD program.

Do you have any great ideas for incorporating the Saints across the curriculum?  I'd love to hear about them!

Teaching Faith Using Fairy Tales

Fairy Tales? you might ask.  Aren't those girly, antiquated, and stereotypical?

This past year, I designed a new unit for fables and folk tales, and for the first time, I included fairy tales in the mix.  On one of my long drives, I brainstormed a new way to connect all of these literary styles together as a lesson in finding our faith in all that we do.  I'm not alone in thinking that fairy tales can be a timeless way of teaching children about the battle between good and evil.  Check out these quotes from C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, and Hans Christian Anderson:

"Since it is so likely that children will meet cruel enemies let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage." ~C.S. Lewis

"Every person's life is a fairy tale written by God's fingers." ~Hans Christian Anderson

"Fairy tales, then, are not responsible for producing in children fear, or any of the shapes of fear; fairy tales do not give the child the idea of the evil or the ugly; that is in the child already, because it is in the world already. Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon. Exactly what the fairy tale does is this: it accustoms him for a series of clear pictures to the idea that these limitless terrors had a limit, that these shapeless enemies have enemies in the knights of God, that there is something in the universe more mystical than darkness, and stronger than strong fear.” ~G.K. Chesterton

I wanted this unit to promote independent thinking and offer student choice.  I collected a large stack of books from my classroom and our school library and set out with this overall plan:

• Days 1-2: Introduction, notetaking on genres, class example using book Many Moons.
• Days 3-7: Student and partner choose five books from approved stack, read, and complete a book study on each, recording observations in their unit booklet (printable and key at end of post).  Goal was to complete one book each day, allowing for some students to move a little faster or a little slower.
• Days 8-9: Assessment strategy using two previously unread books and having students record observations independently to demonstrate understanding.
• Day 10 and following: Read aloud of The Tale of Despereaux with class discussion of faith elements within.

 

If you are interested in doing a study like this in your classroom, I'd love to share some more details and ideas with you, as well as a list of some of the books we used.  A free printable of the booklet we used throughout the study as well as my "key" is available at the bottom of the post.

On our first two days of study, we had a class discussion about what makes a work of literature fall into the category of fable, folk tale, or fairy tale.  Here are the basic ideas that we include in our notes:

Folk Tales:

• story passed down by oral tradition from one generation to the next with no known author
• folk tales are often specific to the traditions of a culture at a certain time and place
• Plot-involves challenges and rewards, explains the world, gives a moral or lesson
• Characters- universal (simple) characters, animals, magical
• Setting- often in general, non-specific locations in the past ("the forest" "a castle")
• universal but unique- similar folk tales can be seen in many cultures

Fables:

• folk literature often with animals as characters that teaches a moral or lesson
• fables often show quick right vs. wrong situations that are rewarded and punished
• Plot- explains the world, explains origins, contains moral
• Characters- animals with human characteristics, tricksters
• Setting- general and happened a long time ago
• tricksters are often specific animals in a culture- spider, wolf, rabbit, fox

Fairy Tales:

• folk literature often using royalty and magical people as characters where good wins over evil
• fairy tales often show a simple, common, or underappreciated character being rewarded and contains a strong sense of good vs. evil
• Plot- often involves impossible task achieved through virtue or self sacrifice, and sometimes help from a magical source
• Characters- royalty, magical characters,  common people
• Setting- often in a magical kingdom long ago
• often contains- "once upon a time," "happily ever after," patterns of 3s and 7s, lesson/moral

After discussion those three genres, we had a class discussion about finding our faith in everything that we read (and everywhere else as well!).  This unit was taught towards the end of the school year, so we had a year of experiences and discussions to relate back to.  Here were the notes that we took about looking for our faith in what we read:

Finding Faith

• you should strive to find Christ & your faith in all things, including what you read and watch
• look for good vs. evil, reward of virtue, morality
• Plot- look for patterns of 3s, 7s, 40s (and other holy numbers),  make connections to Bible Stories, connections to Sacraments, and look for messages pointing to a greater truth outside of the story
• Characters- look for people who remind you of people from the Bible, Saints, and Christ
• Setting- folk tales are often not specific about setting, so you can connect it to any time and place

After completing our notes and discussion, I read aloud the book Many Moons and we found ways to connect this story both to a genre and to our faith. Using that as an example, the kids then chose a partner and were given the task of reading five fables/fairy tales/folk tales over the next five days.  I didn't have any set requirements, but encouraged them to try some from varying genres, monitored the difficulty level of the books and encouraged them to go a little easier/more challenging, and also kept an eye on the length of the books that they were choosing to make it fair.  Groups with a super short book, for example, might then have to read a couple of short stories from a folk tale collection and verbally compare them for me before going on to their next book study.  Again, we did this unit at the end of the year, so they were pretty clear on my expectations for quality work.

When the kids did their book studies, they had the following pages in the unit booklets to record their observations in:

And here were some of the books that they were able to pick from:

Saint George and the Dragon
Thumbeline
Many Moons
The Snow Queen
Seven Simeons: A Russian Tale
Dear Mili
Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters : An African Tale
The Little Match Girl
The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks 

And a few more:

The Knee-high Man and Other Tales
Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears: A West African Tale
The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses
The Cow-Tail Switch: And Other West African Stories
When Birds Could Talk And Bats Could Sing
How the Stars Fell into the Sky: A Navajo Legend (Sandpiper Houghton Mifflin Books)
The Fables of Aesop

And I let them use these modern spinoffs as well:

The Way Home: A Princess Story
Because I Love You

Here is a snap of some student work so you can see how they recorded their observations:

After completing their five books with their partners, we used these two books as assessments.  I have used both The Squire and the Scrolland The Princess and the Kiss for kids' retreats at church (A Princess Celebration and Armor of God Retreat), but had not used them specifically in the classroom.  As could be expected, the boys thought that the Princess one was a little too girly for their liking, but they survived. :)  To gauge their understanding of our unit, we used their Reading/Writing notebooks to record observations from the book as I read it outloud.  They could ask me to pause or reread something, but we did not discuss this book until after they had turned in their observations.

 I could have made a printable for this activity, but their notebooks worked just as well.  The split each page into four sections: evidence of genre, evidence of faith, summary, and opinion/connection.  The two evidence sections could be recorded in list form, and the other two had to be in a paragraph.  Here are a few examples of student work:

And finally, during the end of the unit and then continuing after, I used The Tale of Despereaux as a read-a-loud, and the kids loved it. There is so much symbolism to talk about, and the simplicity of the beauty of the story is easy to enjoy.  I also like how the book tells the story of several different characters and then brings all of the narratives together, which is a good structure to model with kids (as it can often be difficult to follow for lower readers).

How can you not be intrigued by the opening page?

We were easily able to find lots of evidence, symbolism, and themes that connected to our faith in the story of Despereaux.  It was a book that the kids enjoyed and was a nice wrap up to our unit.

I think that a unit like this could be taught in many different ways with different levels of kids.  Here are the printables that I used in my classroom.  If you teach a similar unit, especially if you are at a Catholic/Christian School, I'd love to hear how you teach it, what books you recommend, and how you use it to lead the kids to knowing Christ. Chime in down in the comments!


Click on the image below for the printable that you can use with your own students:

And click here for a scan of my "key" which contains the notes that we took about the genres as well as instructions that I gave the kids for their book studies.