In the Desert with Jesus- The first week of Lent

Tomorrow we will reflect on the Gospel from today. I am going to focus on the line, "He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan;". We will discuss the temptations that we face today that might lead us away from God. Since we have already written our Lenten promises in our notebooks, I thought we would make a visual reference to put up in the room. I'm going to have each student draw a picture of one of the modern temptations we discussed and put it next to our picture of Jesus in the desert on the bulletin board.
*I have been reading some articles on the online ministries website from Creighton University. It is a great resource that includes daily meditations and reflections. One thing that struck me was the idea that during Lent we should not only focus on what we are giving up, but what is it that God wants to give us? Something to think about this week.

40/40 – Lenten Activities: Walk the Lenten Path

I can't believe Lent is almost here! I am spending Sunday trying to find some new resources to use this year. I am thinking about starting with the theme "Called by faith to act with generous hearts." A theme I found looking at a website from New Zealand! This is truly a great time to be a teacher, you never know where a Google search might lead you.
I also came across this link:
40/40 – Lenten Activities: Walk the Lenten Path
Lots of great ideas!
I'm going to keep working and will post other thoughts and ideas soon.

Our "Conversations" with God-Bulletin Board idea

This week in Religion I began a lesson by asking the kids to tell me what types of candy they like to receive on Valentine's Day. After writing down several different types on the Smartboard someone mentioned conversation hearts. Next I had the students write down some of the sayings that they remember on the hearts. (Examples- Be Mine, Call Me, Sweetheart) Then I asked the question, "How do we have a conversation with God?" Several students mentioned going to mass, praying, and reading the Bible. We then got out the bibles and looked at various psalms where the message was a positive phrase about our faith and trust in God. We cut out hearts out of different colors that were like those of regular conversation hearts and each student chose a verse from a psalm to write on it. Then the students added some glitter to them before putting them up in the hallway!  Here is an example: