Today we discussed sin and how sin entered the world. We reviewed that God created the world and everything in it in order to share his love with his creation. After he created the planets, the earth and all of the animals, he formed man. He created man out of the dust of the earth and breathed life into him. I explained that the breath that God breathed into man was the soul. I explained that when every human person is created, we each receive a soul. We each have a body and a soul and when we die, our soul separates from our body and returns to God if we have led a life in union with God.
I read the story of Adam and Eve from a children's Bible and explained the creation of Adam and Eve. After God created man, he created a woman to be a helper to him, and together they were to take care of the earth. God also planted within the Garden a tree of good and evil and a tree of everlasting life, and God instructed Adam to never eat the fruit of these trees lest he should die. Adam and Eve were created for eternal life and were to share their life with God and live with him in the Garden forever. Everything that they needed was provided to them in the Garden of Eden. Their only instruction was to not eat of the fruit of the trees of good and evil or of the tree of everlasting life.
I backtracked a little bit and discussed Angels and in the beginning, God also created Angels. Angels are pure spirit and God revealed his plan of creating man to his angels and there are 9 choirs of angels with Seraphim being the highest choir, and there was one angel who was the brightest and most beautiful of all of the angels in the Seraphim and that was an angel called Lucifer. When God revealed to Lucifer and his angels that God was going to create man and that man would be very special to God, Lucifer became very jealous and did not like God's plan and he turned against God and convinced other angels to turn against God too. Lucifer was very cunning. When this happened, Lucifer and his angels were cast out of heaven and we see his presence in the Garden of Eden through the serpent that tempts Adam and Eve in Genesis. Lucifer's main objective is to convince man to turn away from God so that God's plan may be thwarted. He is still trying to accomplish this plan today.
We see the serpent in the Garden of Eden tempting Eve by tempting her into believing and implying that God was being selfish by asking Adam and Eve to not eat of the trees of good and evil and everlasting life. Through the lies of the serpent Adam and Eve did eat of the tree of good and evil and by doing this, sin entered the world.
Adam and Eve now acquired feelings of fear and shame. When they heard God walking through the Garden of Eden, they hid from him because of their sin and their shame. When God saw that Adam and Eve were afraid, he asked if they had eaten from the tree of good and evil.
I explained to the children that God knew that Adam and Eve had eaten from the tree, and he was asking them if they had eaten from the tree of good and evil to give Adam and Eve the opportunity to tell the truth and reconcile themselves with God (a foreshadowing of the Sacrament of Reconciliation), but because Adam and Eve were now in a sinful state of being, pride filled their souls and they blamed each other for their sin instead of reconciling themselves with God. Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent.
We talked about sin and that we sin when we choose to do things that are not pleasing to God and are actually offensive to God like disobeying our parents, lying, cheating, stealing etc. God created Adam and Eve out of love to be sinless and to be in the image and likeness of God who is love, but when they disobeyed God, they caused sin to enter the world. Because of their sin, God cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden as an act of love. If Adam and Eve had stayed in the Garden of Eden, they probably would have eaten from the tree of everlasting life because of their now weakened nature, and if that had happened Adam and Eve would have been in a permanent state of sin and separated from God forever. God wants us to be sinless so that we can enjoy everlasting life with him, so to protect Adam and Eve, he cast them out of the Garden of Eden and we will see how God will send his only begotten son to win the battle over sin and death for us by his sacrifice on the cross so that we will attain everlasting life with God.
We opened the class with the Hail Mary and closed the class with the Our Father. Please continue to say these prayers with your children through the week.
PAX,
Laura
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Monday, September 15, 2014
September 15th - God Created the World
Today we discussed the existence of God and how he created the world and why he created the world. The children grasped pretty well that God has always existed and will always exist. He has no beginning and no end. It's a pretty hard concept to wrap your brain around, so I was impressed that they had a good understanding of that.
I asked the kids, "Why did God create us?" He didn't need to create us, so why did he? They pretty much agreed that God create us because he wanted to. It is true that God created us because he wanted to in order to share his love. God is all about love. He created the birds of the air and the fish of the sea and all of the stars and planets because he is overwhelmed with love and he wants to share his love with us.
We then discussed the Bible and that the Bible is a collection of books that has been inspired by God and written by the people that God has revealed himself to. We read the creation of the world in the book of Genesis chapter 1.
I passed out a picture of the world with the children, and they wrote on the picture different things that God created like: birds, fish, trees, the water and the land. In addition to this project, I passed out 7 popsicle sticks and had the kids number the sticks 1-7 and then passed out pictures of the things that God created during those seven days.
"God said, "Let there be light." And there was light. God saw that the light was good. He separated the light from darkness. God called the light day and the darkness night....It was day one. (Gensis 1:3-4)
"God said, "Let there be a huge space between the waters. Let it separate water from water." He separated the water that was under the space from the water that was above it. God called the huge space "sky". It was day two (Genesis 1:6-8)
"God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place. Let dry ground appear. He called the dry ground land. He called the waters oceans. Then God said, Let the land produce plants. Let them bear their own seeds. And let there be trees on the land that bear fruit. It was day three (Genesis 1:9-13)
"God said, "Let there be lights in the huge space of the sky. Let them separate the day from the night. God made two great lights. He made the larger to rule over the day. He made the smaller to rule over the night. He also made the stars. It was day four. (Genesis 1:14-19)
"God said, "Let the waters be filled with living things. Let birds fly above the earth. He created every living and moving thing. It was day five (Genesis 1:20-23)
"God said, "Let the land produce all kinds of living things and creatures. Let there be livestock, and creatures that move on the ground, and wild animals. (Genesis 1:24-25)
"Then God said, "Let us make man in our likeness. Let them rule over the fish in the waters and the birds of the air. God created man in his own likeness. He created them in the image of God." (Genesis 1:26-27)
"By the seventh day, he had finished his work he had been doing. So on the seventh day he rested from all of his work." (Genesis 2:2)
I touched on the fact that God is 3 persons in one and pointed out that in the book of Genesis that God says, "Let US make man in OUR likeness." He is the Father (Creator), the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit (the love that flows between the father and the son), and I used the family as an analogy. The family is one unit and has separate distinct people. A family has a father, and a mother, and children, and even though there are separate and distinct people in a family, the family is still one unit and each member has love for the other members just like the Trinity.
If you have an opportunity through the week, I encourage you to read the first book of Genesis with your children and discuss how God created the world and continue to talk to them about the love that God has for us and that God is all love and all good.
We closed the class with the Our Father and we had a good class, so everyone was rewarded a package of fruit snacks before they were dismissed from the Church. It was a pleasure working with your children, and I hope you enjoy the posts on facebook and the blog. I look forward to any comments.
God Bless and PAX,
Laura
I asked the kids, "Why did God create us?" He didn't need to create us, so why did he? They pretty much agreed that God create us because he wanted to. It is true that God created us because he wanted to in order to share his love. God is all about love. He created the birds of the air and the fish of the sea and all of the stars and planets because he is overwhelmed with love and he wants to share his love with us.
We then discussed the Bible and that the Bible is a collection of books that has been inspired by God and written by the people that God has revealed himself to. We read the creation of the world in the book of Genesis chapter 1.
I passed out a picture of the world with the children, and they wrote on the picture different things that God created like: birds, fish, trees, the water and the land. In addition to this project, I passed out 7 popsicle sticks and had the kids number the sticks 1-7 and then passed out pictures of the things that God created during those seven days.
"God said, "Let there be light." And there was light. God saw that the light was good. He separated the light from darkness. God called the light day and the darkness night....It was day one. (Gensis 1:3-4)
"God said, "Let there be a huge space between the waters. Let it separate water from water." He separated the water that was under the space from the water that was above it. God called the huge space "sky". It was day two (Genesis 1:6-8)
"God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place. Let dry ground appear. He called the dry ground land. He called the waters oceans. Then God said, Let the land produce plants. Let them bear their own seeds. And let there be trees on the land that bear fruit. It was day three (Genesis 1:9-13)
"God said, "Let there be lights in the huge space of the sky. Let them separate the day from the night. God made two great lights. He made the larger to rule over the day. He made the smaller to rule over the night. He also made the stars. It was day four. (Genesis 1:14-19)
"God said, "Let the waters be filled with living things. Let birds fly above the earth. He created every living and moving thing. It was day five (Genesis 1:20-23)
"God said, "Let the land produce all kinds of living things and creatures. Let there be livestock, and creatures that move on the ground, and wild animals. (Genesis 1:24-25)
"Then God said, "Let us make man in our likeness. Let them rule over the fish in the waters and the birds of the air. God created man in his own likeness. He created them in the image of God." (Genesis 1:26-27)
"By the seventh day, he had finished his work he had been doing. So on the seventh day he rested from all of his work." (Genesis 2:2)
I touched on the fact that God is 3 persons in one and pointed out that in the book of Genesis that God says, "Let US make man in OUR likeness." He is the Father (Creator), the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit (the love that flows between the father and the son), and I used the family as an analogy. The family is one unit and has separate distinct people. A family has a father, and a mother, and children, and even though there are separate and distinct people in a family, the family is still one unit and each member has love for the other members just like the Trinity.
If you have an opportunity through the week, I encourage you to read the first book of Genesis with your children and discuss how God created the world and continue to talk to them about the love that God has for us and that God is all love and all good.
We closed the class with the Our Father and we had a good class, so everyone was rewarded a package of fruit snacks before they were dismissed from the Church. It was a pleasure working with your children, and I hope you enjoy the posts on facebook and the blog. I look forward to any comments.
God Bless and PAX,
Laura
Sunday, September 14, 2014
First Class September 8th - Our Blessed Mother's Birthday
Today was our first class, and we began the class by getting to know each other while we waited for additional children to register. We talked about what school the kids were going to and how they were liking school. The kids were so cute!
We began the class by reviewing expectations of the class. I discussed that everyone should raise their hand if they want to ask a question or if they have a comment on something. Parents, it's important also that we limit the number of times that the kids ask to use the bathroom. We have a small amount of time with the children and the bathroom is to be used when necessary and not used as a means to wander out of the classroom. I will allow the bathroom to be used in the latter half of the class when necessary. Below is the schedule that we will be following throughout the year:
6:15 - 6:30 Meet in the Church
6:30 - 6:45 Walk, quietly, down to our classroom and settle in quietly
6:45 - 6:50 Opening Prayer (The Hail Mary)
6:50 - 7:10 Topic Presentation/Discussion
7:10 - 7:30 Activity
7:30 - 7:45 Snack (Fruit Snacks and Raisins), Cleanup, Closing Prayer (Hail Mary or Our Father)
I told the kids that today, September 8th, was a very special day because the Church celebrates Mary's birthday on September 8th. I asked the kids when their birthday's were and if they liked celebrating their birthday, and of course all the kids loved celebrating birthday's. One little boy commented on how Mary must really be happy that on her birthday, children are coming together to learn about her son Jesus. We also talked about who Mary was and why she is so important to us. Mary gave us a special gift. She gave us her son Jesus who is the savior of the world, and we discussed Jesus' birthday on December 25th.
I am planning on teaching the children The Our Father and The Hail Mary prayers this year. I discussed with the children that The Our Father was given to us directly from Jesus. We discussed that Jesus had 12 friends (The Apostles) and one of his friends asked Jesus how to pray, and Jesus taught us The Our Father, so this prayer is very special because it was given to us directly from Jesus.
We also discussed the origin of The Hail Mary prayer and how an angel came to visit Mary to ask her if she would accept an invitation by God to be the mother of his only son, and when the angel Gabrielle presented himself to Mary he spoke, "Hail Mary full of Grace.' Mary was full of grace because she was conceived without sin. "The Lord is with thee." Mary was the first tabernacle for Jesus. "Blessed are you among women." Because Mary was created without sin, she is the most blessed creature of God's creations. "Blessed is the fruit of your womb." Jesus is the fruit of her womb. "Holy Mary Mother of God." Because of Mary's fiat (yes), Mary became the mother of God. "Pray for us sinners now and the hour of our death." Mary is always praying and caring for her spiritual children - us.
I encourage you to pray these prayers , and continue to teach your children how to make the sign of the cross, with your children at home. They are very special prayers and later I will be discussing the Rosary with the children and how the Rosary is a very special and powerful prayer. These two prayers, The Our Father and The Hail Mary, encompass the Rosary.
I think we got off to a great start. The kids were great. Oh, and one more thing. I explained to the kids at the end of the class everyone will receive a box of raisins as a snack, and if everyone is following directions and we have a good class, they will b rewarded with a package of fruit snacks. All the kids loved that idea, and I also was told by 2 students that they are allergic to raisins. I'm not sure if this is true. One student confessed that they really weren't allergic but just didn't like raisins. To be on the safe side, if a child tells me they are allergic to raisins, I will not give them any raisins but they still have to earn fruit snacks by following directions and participating in the class.
I look forward to next week and any comments that you may have.
God Bless and PAX,
Laura
We began the class by reviewing expectations of the class. I discussed that everyone should raise their hand if they want to ask a question or if they have a comment on something. Parents, it's important also that we limit the number of times that the kids ask to use the bathroom. We have a small amount of time with the children and the bathroom is to be used when necessary and not used as a means to wander out of the classroom. I will allow the bathroom to be used in the latter half of the class when necessary. Below is the schedule that we will be following throughout the year:
6:15 - 6:30 Meet in the Church
6:30 - 6:45 Walk, quietly, down to our classroom and settle in quietly
6:45 - 6:50 Opening Prayer (The Hail Mary)
6:50 - 7:10 Topic Presentation/Discussion
7:10 - 7:30 Activity
7:30 - 7:45 Snack (Fruit Snacks and Raisins), Cleanup, Closing Prayer (Hail Mary or Our Father)
I told the kids that today, September 8th, was a very special day because the Church celebrates Mary's birthday on September 8th. I asked the kids when their birthday's were and if they liked celebrating their birthday, and of course all the kids loved celebrating birthday's. One little boy commented on how Mary must really be happy that on her birthday, children are coming together to learn about her son Jesus. We also talked about who Mary was and why she is so important to us. Mary gave us a special gift. She gave us her son Jesus who is the savior of the world, and we discussed Jesus' birthday on December 25th.
I am planning on teaching the children The Our Father and The Hail Mary prayers this year. I discussed with the children that The Our Father was given to us directly from Jesus. We discussed that Jesus had 12 friends (The Apostles) and one of his friends asked Jesus how to pray, and Jesus taught us The Our Father, so this prayer is very special because it was given to us directly from Jesus.
We also discussed the origin of The Hail Mary prayer and how an angel came to visit Mary to ask her if she would accept an invitation by God to be the mother of his only son, and when the angel Gabrielle presented himself to Mary he spoke, "Hail Mary full of Grace.' Mary was full of grace because she was conceived without sin. "The Lord is with thee." Mary was the first tabernacle for Jesus. "Blessed are you among women." Because Mary was created without sin, she is the most blessed creature of God's creations. "Blessed is the fruit of your womb." Jesus is the fruit of her womb. "Holy Mary Mother of God." Because of Mary's fiat (yes), Mary became the mother of God. "Pray for us sinners now and the hour of our death." Mary is always praying and caring for her spiritual children - us.
I encourage you to pray these prayers , and continue to teach your children how to make the sign of the cross, with your children at home. They are very special prayers and later I will be discussing the Rosary with the children and how the Rosary is a very special and powerful prayer. These two prayers, The Our Father and The Hail Mary, encompass the Rosary.
I think we got off to a great start. The kids were great. Oh, and one more thing. I explained to the kids at the end of the class everyone will receive a box of raisins as a snack, and if everyone is following directions and we have a good class, they will b rewarded with a package of fruit snacks. All the kids loved that idea, and I also was told by 2 students that they are allergic to raisins. I'm not sure if this is true. One student confessed that they really weren't allergic but just didn't like raisins. To be on the safe side, if a child tells me they are allergic to raisins, I will not give them any raisins but they still have to earn fruit snacks by following directions and participating in the class.
I look forward to next week and any comments that you may have.
God Bless and PAX,
Laura
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Introduction
Hello,
My name is Laura Hafner, and this is my second year teaching First Grade Religion at Our Lady of Charity Parish. I have been married for almost 16 years, and I have two beautiful sons who are 13 and 12. My oldest son is autistic. He was diagnosed with Aspergers in Kindergarten.
Because I have a son who has Aspergers and ADHD and I didn't want to overwhelm a religious Ed teacher, I made the decision with the help of my Parish to home school my boys their religious instruction so that they would be able to receive the Sacrament of First Holy Communion. I learned as much as I could through a great radio station 101.7, and I had a lot of fun and learned a lot teaching my children.
Last August, just before the school year began, I received a call from Ms. McKenzie who was in need of a First Grade Religious Ed teacher and was wondering if I could help out. I was thrilled to help out so I accepted and am now entering my second year teaching.
The challenge that I had last year was a lack of communication with the parents. I met with the children every week, but I really didn't know any of the parents. This year I wanted to change that. In order for your children to grow in the faith, I really need to be able to communicate with you - the parents, so I have created this blog.
The blog will be a tool for both you, as the parents, and me. Please use this blog to see what the children are learning, and I encourage you to make comments. I am interested in what you expect the children to learn, and if there is anything that you would like me to cover, please don't hesitate to post your requests. This is going to be a great year for both you and your children.
God Bless and PAX (Peace)
Laura Hafner
My name is Laura Hafner, and this is my second year teaching First Grade Religion at Our Lady of Charity Parish. I have been married for almost 16 years, and I have two beautiful sons who are 13 and 12. My oldest son is autistic. He was diagnosed with Aspergers in Kindergarten.
Because I have a son who has Aspergers and ADHD and I didn't want to overwhelm a religious Ed teacher, I made the decision with the help of my Parish to home school my boys their religious instruction so that they would be able to receive the Sacrament of First Holy Communion. I learned as much as I could through a great radio station 101.7, and I had a lot of fun and learned a lot teaching my children.
Last August, just before the school year began, I received a call from Ms. McKenzie who was in need of a First Grade Religious Ed teacher and was wondering if I could help out. I was thrilled to help out so I accepted and am now entering my second year teaching.
The challenge that I had last year was a lack of communication with the parents. I met with the children every week, but I really didn't know any of the parents. This year I wanted to change that. In order for your children to grow in the faith, I really need to be able to communicate with you - the parents, so I have created this blog.
The blog will be a tool for both you, as the parents, and me. Please use this blog to see what the children are learning, and I encourage you to make comments. I am interested in what you expect the children to learn, and if there is anything that you would like me to cover, please don't hesitate to post your requests. This is going to be a great year for both you and your children.
God Bless and PAX (Peace)
Laura Hafner
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