Watercolor Bookshelf Printable

Ever since I started writing Katie Reads posts, I've been challenge to read more and to read wider.  I'm so glad for all the book recommendations and conversations that those posts have created, as well as the accountability to make time for reading.

On a lazy summer day a couple months ago, my sister and I broke out her watercolors during nap time, and on a whim I made this cute little bookshelf.   Before I taped it in my new planner, (fyi, The Catholic Planner, which I love!) I scanned it so I could print and use it again... and so I could share it with you!  I've already added the books that I've read in 2017, and plan to keep writing them in.  We'll see how full I can get the shelves, and then I probably will print a new one and keep track of what I read in 2018.  Considering I've been a list maker and book hoarder my whole life, I can't believe it took me this long to start making book lists.

If you'd like to use this watercolor bookshelf for you or your students, I have it available in two sizes below.  This little printable would be a fun addition to your planner or bullet journal, or would work great for a middle schooler's notebooking project.

Click here to print the large (full page) bookshelf:

 Click here to print the small (two per page) watercolor bookshelves:

Happy Reading!

The Seven Sorrows and The Immaculate Heart of Mary

Today is the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of Mary.  This days honors the sacrifices and struggles that Mary endured during her life as she participated in the redemptive mission of Christ.  These seven sorrows remind us again that we can turn to Mary in all things, and she will direct us to her Son.  All of the stories can be found in the Gospels, starting with this one:

"and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted and you yourself a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” ~Luke 2:34-35

Today my students learned a little more about Mary and practiced looking up Scripture references.  We have already been talking about the Immaculate Heart of Mary during our study on St. Maximilian Kolbe and the Miraculous Medal art project we made last week.

I made some resources that you are free to use with your kiddos as well!

I used the notes below and did a Bible Jigsaw activity.  The kids each were assigned one of the Scripture references, and then had to look it up, read it, and summarize it.   They shared that summary with the rest of the class and we decided what the sorrow was in the story.  After they identified it, I gave them the "official" name and they wrote it in their notes.  Then we went on to the next group and the next story until we had found all seven.  This was a great method to review how to find things in the Bible and an effective way to hear all seven stories in a short amount of time (this whole activity took us about 20 minutes).  We will save this info sheet and add it to our Fulton Sheen Notebooking Project in the Mary section.

Click here for a blank version of the Seven Sorrows of Mary Notes that your students can fill in:

Click here for a completed version of the Seven Sorrows of Mary Notes:

I used the base of those notes and made some Immaculate Heart of Mary coloring pages as well.  The kids just got to take home this stained glass one and could color it if they wanted or give it away to someone.  Sometimes it is just good to send them out with good materials so they have the option to keep learning when the school day is over. :)  I also may have enjoyed coloring one myself!

Click here for the Immaculate Heart of Mary Stained Glass Coloring Page:

Click here for the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pray for Us Stained Glass Coloring Page:

 Click here for the Immaculate Heart of Mary Coloring Page:

 Click here for the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pray for Us Coloring Page:

Some other resources you may like:
-Holy Heroes has a free downloadable coloring book with a page for each of the Seven Sorrows of Mary.
-Mod H Mary has some super cool beautiful and free Marian coloring pages. (And this print from her Etsy shop! So gorgeous!)
-Here is a single coloring page with a small picture of each of the Seven Sorrows.
-Peanut Butter and Grace has ideas for celebrating the Feast of the Sorrowful Mother with your kids.
-Catholic Icing has tons of crafts and food ideas for the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

You might also like these matching coloring pages for the Sacred Heart of Jesus:

Year of Mercy Resources- All the ideas, printables, and links in one spot!

(Post updated 12/8/2015 with additional links, in case you were wondering!)

It's here!  The Extraordinary Jubilee began today, and I am more than a little excited for the opportunities this Year of Mercy presents to the Church as a whole, but especially to educators.  Check out this post for all of the ideas relating to mercy that I have created and gathered up.  What a special time we have for the next year, to spend intentionally sharing with our students the merciful love of the Father!

The Holy Door
Click here for info, printables, and ideas for teaching about the Holy Door:

Divine Mercy Ideas:
Click here for a Divine Mercy watercolor art project, including a way to simply explain the symbolism of the colors in the Divine Mercy image:

Click here for pattern and instructions for making a Divine Mercy melty bead craft:

Click here for ideas for several easy and cheap mercy bulletin boards:

Click on the image below for a printable for making a "pop-out" Divine Mercy Chaplet:

Click on the image below for a notebooking activity connecting the Image of Divine Mercy and the Sacrament of Reconciliation:

Click on the image below for a post about making a lapbook connecting the Image of Divine Mercy and the Sacrament of Reconciliation:

Here are a couple of Divine Mercy craft ideas that are simple and cheap that haven't made their way into their own blog posts:

One quick Divine Mercy craft you could make is this cute mini shrine:

It is made with a repurposed Altoid tin and features the Image of Divine Mercy, instructions and the words to the prayers, and a pop-out Divine Mercy Chaplet.  You can also check my original post about making mini shrines.

Another super fast idea is to make these little decade Rosaries/Chaplets.  The heart and the vertical beam of the cross are one long bent pipe cleaner and the horizontal beam of the cross is a short (~2") piece of a pipe cleaner twisted on.  String on ten pony beads, twist together, and you have a chaplet that can easily be used by little fingers- they can even slide the beads as they pray.  These also could be used for good deed beads.  I used blue, white, and red colors to remind us of the symbolism in the Image of Divine Mercy.

The Merciful Love of Jesus:
Click on the images below to take you to posts with these printables:

A Bible Study on the healing ministry of Jesus:

A Bible Study on the Miracles of Jesus:

 Printable Sacred Heart of Jesus coloring pages:

 and prayer cards:

Saints for The Year of Mercy:
Click on this image to find out my list of seven Saints to teach about during the Year of Mercy, and find out more about the Patron we chose- Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati:

Click on either of the images below to see coloring pages featuring four awesome quotes by Pier Giorgio:

The Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy:

Click here for a coloring page and a two different mini books about the Corporal Works of Mercy:

Click here for a coloring page and a two different mini books about the Spiritual Works of Mercy:

Click here for a prayer card with the prayer for the Faithful Departed (a Spiritual Work of Mercy):

Do Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly Printables:
Click here for a "Do Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly" coloring page:

Click here for a "Do Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly" coloring page:

Click here for "Do Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly" classroom door signs:

Click here for a "Do Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly" folder or notebook cover:

Follow my Year of Mercy board on Pinterest for the latest ideas:

Videos for the Year of Mercy:
Click here to follow the list of videos I have been compiling related to the Year of Mercy:

Books to Read:

If you are looking for a book to read (or give to your catechists or teachers) during the Year of Mercy, these are my top three recommendations:

1. The Church of Mercy by Pope Francis- short snippets of homilies or other addresses, grouped into categories.  Easy to read (can be picked up and put down or read in different order), and packed with wisdom on mercy, teaching, evangelizing, and more.
2. The Second Greatest Story Ever Told by Fr. Michael Gaitley- You may know Fr. Gaitley from the great devotional 33 Days to Morning Glory: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat In Preparation for Marian Consecration. He has written a phenomenal book that connects major historical events in the 20th century, Catholic greats like St. John Paul II and St. Maximilian Kolbe, and shows how their stories all interconnect and mean something for us today.  I loved it!
3. Mercy in the City: How to Feed the Hungry, Give Drink to the Thirsty, Visit the Imprisoned, and Keep Your Day Job by Kerry Weber-Great book about how a young single woman actively tried to live out the Corporal Works of Mercy during one Lent.  Interesting, and makes us think about the ways we can be incorporating service and charity in our everyday routines.

Other Places to Check Out:

Check out the official Vatican Year of Mercy website here. See the calendar for the celebration here. Go to the USCCB site to read about the Year of Mercy here. You can watch a video snippet explaining the Year of Mercy logo and prayer here.

Visit Mother of Mercy Activities- the have a CD for purchase with 120 activities, but there are 12 available for free download.  Includes explanation of image of Divine Mercy, life of St. Faustina, how to recite the chaplet, and Divine Mercy coloring page, etc.

A few more Divine Mercy coloring pages can be found here and here.

If you want to do the Divine Mercy Novena, you can find resources here.

Catholic Icing has a ton of ideas for food and crafts celebrating Divine Mercy, including a Divine Mercy novena counter, a tie dye Divine Mercy shirt, Divine Mercy Sundaes, and more.

Divine Mercy for Moms- a website with ideas for living out the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy in family life.

If you want to order affordable Divine Mercy prints and holy cards, I would check out this site.

 Do you have any other ideas or goals for the upcoming Year of Mercy?

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.