Epiphany

So today was our first class back to religious education tonight. I sure did miss my kiddos, but I wish I had just one more week to RELAX!! The holidays were so hectic and we’re already back in full swing again.

Tonight’s lesson was a little late, but I feel it’s an important one for the kids to know about.  Trying to do it before Christmas would have been too much and it wouldn’t have meant as much.  This way, it’s just a few days late and they should have been at mass on Sunday to hear the sermon.

We did Epiphany tonight.  I did my lesson and we went over key words.  They enjoyed learning about magi, kings, and wisemen….and then all being the same 3 men that brought Jesus gifts.  We did a Three Wise Men coloring page as our first activity after our class discussion.  BTW, that same site has some other great coloring pages!!

Tonight wasn’t loaded with things, as I like to work them back into the routine.  Sometimes at their young age, they can get overwhelmed.  Finally, we did a craft project that I created for them.  We made Epiphany Gift Boxes!!  These were fun to make and the kids had fun putting them together.  These have multiple uses.  They could make a gift for Jesus, or a gift for the priest, or a number of other things.  Actually the best part of class was listening to each one say what they were going to use their boxes for.  There was things like putting cough drops in them, hiding their candy in it, making something for mom and putting it in the box to give to her…..and they went on.

I recommend that you print these on card stock.  That way they’ll be nice and sturdy.  Also, I made the lid to fit over the box, but my kids thought it bothered the sides of the box, so they put the lid inside.  It fit well either way and I was surprised that even on the inside, they could remove it as they wanted.  Directions are included with the printable.

Here’s a preview of what these printable Epiphany gift boxes look like….

Gift box created by Elaine © 2013.  The three wise men © ColoringCrew.

If you’re interested in making this gift box with your kids, just click here to….

As a little bonus today, I have a set of 3 Wisemen memory cards.  It’s a small set, but great for a time filler, perhaps while you’re helping your kids or students assemble the gift box!!  If you use this free printable, please leave a comment and let me know if you and/or the kids enjoyed it.  I love seeing how my projects are used, so just include your link so I can check it out!!  Please click here to vote for my blog….thanks!!

All activities, games, information, etc. on this blog are provided for free. However they are ONLY to be used for classroom and personal use. They may NOT be published on any websites/blogs or other electronic media, distributed in any manner, uploaded to any file sharing service/storage, or sold for profit. If you know someone who would benefit from these materials, please refer them to this blog. Do NOT share the materials that you download with them. Copyright © 2008-Present. All rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. This means that unless it is specified otherwise, all content within this blog and downloads are the private property of Elaine, The Schoolhouse, and Commotion from the Ocean of Life. All materials on this blog and downloads are copyright (© Elaine, © The Schoolhouse, and © Commotion) and misuse or abuse is subject to legal action.

Advent Wreath – A Paper Craft

This week, I did an Advent Wreath paper craft with my class.  We had so much fun doing this.  It was quite a bit of work for them to do, but they loved being busy and seeing their final product.  They just love to take their projects home!!

This is a 4 candle wreath.  I know some households and churches place a white candle in the middle, but we don’t teach it that way.  You could print out an extra candle if it’s your choice to teach it that way in your class or home.

Here’s a sample of how this craft could be completed (click to enlarge)….

COMING SOON!!

There are several ways to decorate this craft.  Some suggestions are to use buttons or fake holly berries or add red glitter to the paper holly berries.  Use fake holly leaves on the wreath instead of the paper ones or add glitter to the veins in the paper holly leaves.  Candles could be colored with crayon, markers, or wrapped in tissue paper.  The flames could be covered in glitter and placed on the candle the week that the candle is lit.  There are also 4 labels to place on the candles for what each one stands for.  There are several possibilities for this paper craft!!

If you’re interested in this craft, just click to…..

The templates, clipart and craft © The Schoolhouse and may not be used in any other manner without permission.

I hope that you and your kids or class enjoy this craft project.  If you do this project at home or in class, please just leave me a comment or use the “contact” button in the right hand column.  I’d love to hear from you and see how your project turns out!!

Please click here to vote for my blog….thanks!!

All activities, games, information, etc. on this blog are provided for free. However they are ONLY to be used for classroom and personal use. They may NOT be published on any websites/blogs or other electronic media, distributed in any manner, uploaded to any file sharing service/storage, or sold for profit. If you know someone who would benefit from these materials, please refer them to this blog. Do NOT share the materials that you download with them. Copyright © 2008-Present. All rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. This means that unless it is specified otherwise, all content within this blog and downloads are the private property of Elaine, The Schoolhouse, and Commotion from the Ocean of Life. All materials on this blog and downloads are copyright (© Elaine and © The Schoolhouse and © Commotion ) and misuse or abuse is subject to legal action.

Books of the Bible – A Craft Project

We didn’t have class this week for the Thanksgiving holiday, so last week in class, we did a lesson on Thanksgiving.  The prior week to that, we did our Bible lesson.  This is always a great lesson with my kids, although they’re too young to remember every book of the Bible.

This year I wanted to do a craft project with them, as I usually don’t have one for this topic.  I decided to make my own.  It turned out so well, that I asked my wonderful talented hubby to do a couple drawings for me so that I can share this project with you all!!

Here’s a sample of how this craft could be completed (click to enlarge)….

For this project, the cross will be decorated.  We used tissue paper and it gave each of them a different effect.  Next, they simply colored the Bible.  For this one, they glittered the bookmark ribbon.  The Bible is then placed over the cross for final assembly.  It’s just a very simple paper craft for my little ones.

**NOTE**  This is for the Catholic version of the Bible!!

If you’re interested in this craft, just click to…..

The cross and Bible  © The Schoolhouse and may not be used in any other manner without permission.

I hope that you and your kids or class enjoy this craft project.  If you work or have older kids and would like a blank Bible for them to write the names of each of the books of the Bible, please just leave me a comment or use the “contact” button in the right hand column.  I’d love to hear from you and see how your project turns out!!

Please click here to vote for my blog….thanks!!

All activities, games, information, etc. on this blog are provided for free. However they are ONLY to be used for classroom and personal use. They may NOT be published on any websites/blogs or other electronic media, distributed in any manner, uploaded to any file sharing service/storage, or sold for profit. If you know someone who would benefit from these materials, please refer them to this blog. Do NOT share the materials that you download with them. Copyright © 2008-Present. All rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. This means that unless it is specified otherwise, all content within this blog and downloads are the private property of Elaine, The Schoolhouse, and Commotion from the Ocean of Life. All materials on this blog and downloads are copyright (© Elaine and © The Schoolhouse and © Commotion ) and misuse or abuse is subject to legal action.

A Lesson of Thanksgiving

This week, our lesson is on Thanksgiving.  Before I get to that, I just wanted to let you know that I do have a blog post about last week’s lesson.  It was on the Bible and I created a craft for it using images that I’d found, but I’ve been waiting for hubby to draw me some so that I could share it.  He’s now completed those drawings for me, so hopefully by this weekend I’ll be able to get it posted….and it will still be dated for last week since that’s when I did it and saved my draft post.

Now, onto this week’s lesson!!  I simply love doing the Thanksgiving lesson.  I teach very little, except to tell them that they should be thankful and why.  I then open the class up to telling me things that they’re thankful for and why.  Sometimes, it turns into a “competition”, but in a good way.  They start to realize all that they have at such a young age and when someone says something, they almost have to match it.  The reason why I like that part of it because they are so young and sometimes don’t realize what they do have for what they’ve been blessed with.  It turns out to be very enlightening!!

Here’s a thumbnail view of 2 of the activities that we’ll do in class….

The first activity is a coloring page with the pilgrims praying.  It has the Bible verse for Colossians 3:17 on it as well.  If you’d like to download this activity, just click to…..

The coloring book image comes from Calvary Baptist Church Online and is © Calvary Kids Pages.

The next activity is a coloring/drawing one.  The page says “I’m thankful for….” and the kids will draw something that they’re thankful for.  Then, I’ll have them write what it is on the line.  There is also one without the line for those that don’t want to have their kids write (or the kids can’t write quite yet).  If you’re interested in this thankful activity, just click to….

Clipart © Laura Strickland at My Cute Graphics and used with permission.

I hope that you enjoy these printables.  I’m sure hoping that my class does, but not too worried as they love busy work!!  I love comments and knowing that you’ve used my free printables at home or in the classroom, so please leave a comment or use the “contact” form in the right-hand column.

Please click here to vote for my blog….thanks!!

All activities, games, information, etc. on this blog are provided for free. However they are ONLY to be used for classroom and personal use. They may NOT be published on any websites/blogs or other electronic media, distributed in any manner, uploaded to any file sharing service/storage, or sold for profit. If you know someone who would benefit from these materials, please refer them to this blog. Do NOT share the materials that you download with them. Copyright © 2008-Present. All rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. This means that unless it is specified otherwise, all content within this blog and downloads are the private property of Elaine, The Schoolhouse, and Commotion from the Ocean of Life. All materials on this blog and downloads are copyright (© Elaine and © The Schoolhouse and © Commotion ) and misuse or abuse is subject to legal action.

Prayer

This week in class, we’ll be learning about prayer.  This is one of my favorite lessons to do with the kids.  They get so wrapped up in it and they just really soak it all up.  We discuss positions that one can pray in and place that one can pray.  I emphisize that we shouldn’t pray to ask for things and that there are many purposes of prayer.  I don’t go into the exact types of prayer because it’s just too advanced for my little ones.

The one main resource that I use is Teach Me About Prayer from Our Sunday Visitor.  We do pages from it and I discuss things on the other pages.  This book is perfect for the little ones to learn to pray and talk to God!!

One of the activities that we’ll do tomorrow is a coloring and writing sheet that I made.  This one is for the Glory Be, as it’s the first prayer that we learn each year.  They will trace the words to the prayer and the words in the coloring image.  Then we’ll say the prayer together and finally, they can color it.

Here’s a thumbnail view of the page…..

Graphic © Elaine and parts are from an internet source.

If you’d like to download this activity, just…..

I hope that you enjoy this printable.  I’m sure that my class will and I’ll be back to share more that we do!!

Please click here to vote for my blog….thanks!!

All activities, games, information, etc. on this blog are provided for free. However they are ONLY to be used for classroom and personal use. They may NOT be published on any websites/blogs or other electronic media, distributed in any manner, uploaded to any file sharing service/storage, or sold for profit. If you know someone who would benefit from these materials, please refer them to this blog. Do NOT share the materials that you download with them. Copyright © 2008-Present. All rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. This means that unless it is specified otherwise, all content within this blog and downloads are the private property of Elaine, The Schoolhouse, and Commotion from the Ocean of Life. All materials on this blog and downloads are copyright (© Elaine and © The Schoolhouse and © Commotion ) and misuse or abuse is subject to legal action.

God Made Me and I Am Special

We’re finally done with creation and it’s 2-week lessons.  Now, we’re moving on to “God made me/I am special”.

This year, I wanted to do something really fun and special for this lesson.  I knew that if I was going to implement something new, I’d have to have it be our craft project.  I searched and I searched and I couldn’t find a thing that I wanted to do.  Finally, I clicked way back in the search results instead of what was right in front of me.  Low and behold, I found it!!  What I found was a handprint poem, but it wasn’t Christian based, so I knew I had to dig further.  Finally, I found it!!

I made a frame and put the Christian handprint poem in it.  I printed it on cardstock and was on my way to class.  I picked out 3 colors of paint to let the kids decide which they wanted to use.  I put a small amount of the paint on paper plates and they placed their hand on it and then on the cardstock inside the frame and above the poem.  For each student, I put the paint on the paper plate to avoid mess!!  I used the vertical one for my class, but have included 2 other horizontal ones and each features a different poem.

Here’s a thumbnail view of the framed poems…..

Poems are by “Unknown” and from an internet source.

If you’d like to download this handprint craft, just…..

I hope that you enjoy this craft project.  If I change anything ever in the future, it’ll be to add their name and date within the frame, however, I simply wrote it on the back so the parents can frame as is.  My class really had fun with this one!!

Please click here to vote for my blog….thanks!!

All activities, games, information, etc. on this blog are provided for free. However they are ONLY to be used for classroom and personal use. They may NOT be published on any websites/blogs or other electronic media, distributed in any manner, uploaded to any file sharing service/storage, or sold for profit. If you know someone who would benefit from these materials, please refer them to this blog. Do NOT share the materials that you download with them. Copyright © 2008-Present. All rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. This means that unless it is specified otherwise, all content within this blog and downloads are the private property of Elaine, The Schoolhouse, and Commotion from the Ocean of Life. All materials on this blog and downloads are copyright (© Elaine and © The Schoolhouse and © Commotion ) and misuse or abuse is subject to legal action.

Sequence The Creation

This was our second week of religious education (CCD).  We’re still working on creation.  This week we did the creation of man and finished off with God resting on the 7th day. 

One of the things that I used this week was this game that I made.  The kids sequence the days of creation.  I used a color version, but I also made a black & white version.  I thought it’d be fun to have the kids color the game board and the tokens to help re-enforce being able to sequence the days of creation.

Here’s a thumbnail view of some of the games…..

Clipart is from a personal source (cd set that I own) and used with permission.

If you’d like to download these games, just…..

I hope that you enjoy these games. My class sure did and they’ll make for good review continuing through the year!!

Please click here to vote for my blog….thanks!!

All activities, games, information, etc. on this blog are provided for free. However they are ONLY to be used for classroom and personal use. They may NOT be published on any websites/blogs or other electronic media, distributed in any manner, uploaded to any file sharing service/storage, or sold for profit. If you know someone who would benefit from these materials, please refer them to this blog. Do NOT share the materials that you download with them. Copyright © 2008-Present. All rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. This means that unless it is specified otherwise, all content within this blog and downloads are the private property of Elaine, The Schoolhouse, and Commotion from the Ocean of Life. All materials on this blog and downloads are copyright (© Elaine and © The Schoolhouse and © Commotion ) and misuse or abuse is subject to legal action.

The Creation Mini-Book

Our first Religious Education (CCD) class was last night.  It was a great class!!  I have 10 kids and 1 of them was absent.  The class is split in half….5 boys and 5 girls!!  Our first lesson was Creation (and I continue it next week with Adam & Eve).

I made this mini-book for my class to do.  It’s a simple one to start the year off.  Each page has a coloring image.  There’s also a verse (from NAS) that they can read or if they’re too small, can be read together as a class.  I also did word tracing for each day of creation. 

Here’s a thumbnail view of some of the minibook…..

Clipart is from WPClipart.com and is used with permission.

If you’d like to download this desk set, just…..

I hope that you enjoy this mini-book.  My class sure did!!  I plan to make more mini-books in the future as well.  What else would you like to see??

Please click here to vote for my blog….thanks!!

All activities, games, information, etc. on this blog are provided for free. However they are ONLY to be used for classroom and personal use. They may NOT be published on any websites/blogs or other electronic media, distributed in any manner, uploaded to any file sharing service/storage, or sold for profit. If you know someone who would benefit from these materials, please refer them to this blog. Do NOT share the materials that you download with them. Copyright © 2008-Present. All rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. This means that unless it is specified otherwise, all content within this blog and downloads are the private property of Elaine, The Schoolhouse, and Commotion from the Ocean of Life. All materials on this blog and downloads are copyright (© Elaine and © The Schoolhouse and © Commotion ) and misuse or abuse is subject to legal action.

Noah’s Ark Chore Chart

Every year, my kids like helping out with duties in our religious education classroom.  I usually just simply rotate them between the couple of chores that they can do for me.  I don’t have many, but they love doing them!!  This year, I decided that instead of me just trying to keep track on paper, I’d create a chore chart.

There’s actually 2 chore charts in this set.  The first is the one that I used that has actual chores on it.  The duties include pass out papers, collect papers, bathroom monitors (boy and girl), box collector (our supply boxes), and line leader.  The second chart is blank.  The chores can actually be typed in and then printed, or it can be printed as is and the duties can be written in.

What I plan to do with mine is now that it’s printed and laminated, I’ll use a Vis-a-Vis marker to write their names on the animal with the chore.  A dry erase marker could be used as well, but I prefer the Vis-a-Vis on laminate and it’s easy to remove to change names.  Also, if you don’t want to write on the animals, the names could be written below the chore.

Here’s a thumbnail view of the charts…..

Clipart and Background © MelsBrushes and Miss Pickle’s Design Studio at MyGrafico with permission.

If you’d like to download this set of charts, just…..

I hope that you’ll be able to use one or both of these charts in your home or classroom.  I’m really looking forward to using mine this year and seeing the kids get excited about seeing their name on it.  If you have any issues printing these charts out, please don’t hesitate to let me know.  You can either leave a comment or submit it by clicking the “contact me” button in the right hand column.

Please click here to vote for my blog….thanks!!

All activities, games, information, etc. on this blog are provided for free. However they are ONLY to be used for classroom and personal use. They may NOT be published on any websites/blogs or other electronic media, distributed in any manner, uploaded to any file sharing service/storage, or sold for profit. If you know someone who would benefit from these materials, please refer them to this blog. Do NOT share the materials that you download with them. Copyright © 2008-Present. All rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. This means that unless it is specified otherwise, all content within this blog and downloads are the private property of Elaine, The Schoolhouse, and Commotion from the Ocean of Life. All materials on this blog and downloads are copyright (© Elaine and © The Schoolhouse and © Commotion ) and misuse or abuse is subject to legal action.

The Schoolhouse

Our school room is nothing special.  In fact, it’s our everything room!!

The Schoolhouse is not only our homeschool room, but it’s also our guest room and my office.  The closet also serves as storage for my religion class items that I purchase myself and hubby’s wardrobe.  There’s a futon that our guests sleep on when they come visit.  It also serves as a relaxing spot for reading or other light work.  At each end of the futon are a set of drawers.  Those hold all our craft supplies and many of our paper products. 

There’s also 2 desks in there.  And yes, they match!!  There’s one for Miss K and one for me.  We have all our needs in each of our desks.  We have a large armoire that stores all our supplies.  It has all our paper, pens, tape, and lots of other materials.  The the narrowest wall, we have a small bookcase that holds all our school books.  She has one shelf and I have another.  It holds my teacher’s editions and photography books.  Her books, tablets, and binders are there as well.  Above the bookcase is our white board.  On top of the bookcase is all our dry erase markers, erasers, and stuff like that. 

Since it’s such a small room, we like to keep it tidy.  We can’t stand it when it gets dirty and cluttered.  There’s just not enough room in there for mess!!

That’s it!!  I’m sorry I don’t have any photos, but things are crazy busy as you all can imagine.  That’s the total sum of our school room.  It’s our little Schoolhouse and we love it!!

I’ve linked this post up to the “NOT Back to School” Blog Hop and can’t wait to check out with other high school homeschoolers have in their rooms!!

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