Starting School

Starting School

ALIVE O Term 1
Lesson Title / What am I trying to do? / Why? / Song / Story / Poem / Prayertime / DVD
  1. Starting School
Poster / To explore the children’s experience of ‘Starting School’. / So that the children may begin to feel safe and secure at school and in doing so come to appreciate God’s love for them. / Off To School / The Dickie Birds / Starting School /
  • God bless me…
  • Thank you God.
/
  1. Getting to know you
/ To help the children find their ‘space’ in school.
To help them become aware of themselves as being known by name and being loved by God. / So that they will be able to establish their own identity in a context which is much bigger and more complex than that at home. / I Have a Name / Hairy MacLary / Names /
  • Here I am God
  • Prayer service
(God knows us by name)
Home sheet (1) /
  1. Settling In
/ To help the children to feel more at ease in the school setting. / So that having experienced the feelings of security and care, they will be better able to engage in the activities of the school and, more particularly, in the learning process. Consequently, they will be able to appreciate God’s love and care more fully. /
  • At Home- In School
  • Monday Morning
/ Miriam, Moses and Mum (adapted),
The Birth of Moses,
Exodus 2:1-10 / Settling In /
  • Morning Prayer.
  • God is everywhere…..
  • Thank God for all who mind us.
/
powerpoint
  1. Here We Are
Poster / To develop in the child an awareness of all the adults who contribute to the life of the school. / So that they will get to know these people by name and appreciate their contribution as an expression of God’s love and care for them. / All Joined as One / Sarah’s First Day /
  • Teacher
  • Us
/ Thank you God for people… /
  1. My World In Autumn
/ To explore the children’s experience of the world around them in autumn. / To enhance the children’s awareness of the fruitfulness of autumn and of themselves as being blessed by God through God’s Creation. To offer them an opportunity to give thanks to God. / Autumn / Carol and the Mouse / Making a Nest /
  • Glory Be to the Father
  • Thank you God for…
  • We give thanks to God
/
powerpoint
  1. Me In Autumn
/ To offer the class an opportunity to explore autumn as they experience ‘inside’ themselves. / So that they may begin to recognise the ‘unity’ of God’s nature, expressed in the ‘unity’ of the human and natural worlds, and give thanks. / I’m Harry the Hedgehog / Peter’s Blanket / Making a Nest (cont.) /
  • Grace before meals
  • Grace after meals
/
  1. Celebrating Change
/ To offer all who are involved in the religious education of the young children an opportunity to celebrate, in a Christian context, the home-school-parish relationship. / So that parents, children, teachers, priests and parish sisters, or those involved in parish pastoral work, may have a sense of the enrichment that is taking place, particularly in the children’s lives, but is also echoed in the lives of those adults who interact with them. / Revision of songs done to date / Retell:
  • The Dickie Birds/
  • Miriam, Moses and Mum
The Birth of Moses,
Exodus 2:1-10, / Jesus Growing Up /
  • Prayer Service
  • Thank you God..
/ powerpoint
  1. Halloween
/ To introduce the children to story-telling which is an integral part of our religious heritage. / To encourage children’s natural love for stories. To deepen their appreciation of story-telling as an important form of communication. To link story-telling with our Christian tradition. / Quiet and Still /
  • Granny’s Chair
  • St Vincent de Paul
/ St. …….pray for us
  1. Belonging
/ To lead the children to an awareness of belonging and of its importance for us as human beings. / So that the children will have a sense of connectedness, complementarity, safety, comfort, warmth and security as elements, aspects and expressions of belonging. To establish the basis from which the children will be able to understand and take part in community. / Our Class / The Ugly Duckling / Polly (Paulie) Pillow / God bless us and keep us together.
God bless us and keep us, we pray.
God bless us and keep us together.
God bless us and keep us today.
  1. How Do I Belong
Poster / To lead the children to a sense of their own individuality, to begin to awaken in them a sense that they are created in God’s image, and to foster an awareness of the unity between themselves and others. / So that they will be able to celebrate the fact that they belong. / I am Special/
If I Were a Little Bird / The Bus People / If I Were / Thank you God for
hands to..
feet to….
a voice to….
a heart to…. /
  1. This is Where I Belong
/ To lead the children to an awareness of their home as the primary place where they belong and to an awareness of their family as the primary people with whom they belong. / So that the children will come to appreciate, value and celebrate those whose lives they share, so that the foundations will be laid for a later understanding of the sacraments. /
  • House Song
  • The Family Tree Song
/ The Lost Shell / Hand Game: This is My Little House / Glory Be /
  1. We Belong To God
/ To lead the children to an awareness of God as Creator and as one who sustains all creation. / So that they will be able to relate to God as someone who loves them and cares for them. /
  • Hey! Hey! Hip- Hurray
  • I Went to School One Morning
/ The Happy Hedgehog Band / In God’s Hands / Prayertime
  1. Simeon and Anna
/ To offer the children an opportunity to explore their experience of waiting and to foster in them the capacity to wait. / So that they will:
be able to identify the feelings associated with waiting and cope with their own experiences of waiting;
to begin to recognise some of the ‘waiting’ moments which punctuate their own lives;
focus more specifically on their present experience of waiting for Christmas. / Waiting /
  • Anna (adapted),
Jesus is presented in the temple, Lk 2:22-38,
  • Simeon (adapted), Jesus is presented in the temple, Lk 2:22-38,
  • Anna and Simeon, A Time for Everything, Ecclesiastes 3:1-8,
/ Soon / Prayertime /
powerpoint
  1. Mary and Joseph Wait
Poster / To help the children to recognise that there are all different kinds of waiting: specifically to help them to be aware of the kind of waiting that is hopeful. To introduce children to the story of the journey of Mary ,and Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem. / So that they will reflect on their own experience of waiting for Christmas. / Journey of the Carol / Mary and Joseph go on a Journey(adapted),
The Birth of Jesus Christ,
Mt 1:18-24 /
  • Come and See
  • When
/ Prayertime /
powerpoint
  1. Jesus is Born
/ To introduce the children to the story of the birth of Jesus. / So that they will link their experience of celebrating Christmas with the birth of Jesus. / Mary / The Waiting is Over / Waiting / Prayertime /