The Gatekeeper
Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Level II
November 18, 2008 - Level 2, Issue 2 |
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| Dear CGS Level II Parent |
The Level II presentations for this week use the Land and Cities of Israel Booklets and Pin Maps. Read on to learn more.
As you probably know, there are three different Level II groups each week: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Although each catechist has and follows the same general presentation plan, it's important for parents to know that the catechists also work individually with children, inserting presentations here and there that aren't on the "official" schedule. There exists a written record of presentations received by each child, so that the catechist can gauge, on an individual basis, where there is catch-up or reinforcement needed.
Given this, in each newsletter we may cover information on "off-schedule" presentations. The off-schedule item may or may not have been presented to your child in a given week. Regardless, reading about these additional presentations can increase your appreciation of the underlying principles of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. So, for instance, this newsletter contains an article on the Parable of the Mustard Seed.
We hope you enjoy the opportunities for your own reflection on the topics below. And please join me (Lina, editor) in gratitude for Jane Karpinski-Ott who wrote the presentation-based articles this session.
Peace,
The Level II catechist team:
Liza Bloomer, Kathy Murdock on Tuesdays
Jane Karpinski-Ott, Myrna Gomez on Wed.
Barb McHugh on Thursdays
and Lina Hilko (editor) | |
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| The Land of Israel |
This week the children will work with many maps of Israel during the time of Jesus. One map has the outline of Israel. One map identifies the bodies of water and the mountains. One map shows the important cities in Israel.
Why show them this? Why would we be giving a geography lesson in the atrium? It is important for the children to see WHERE Jesus lived to better grasp that He did indeed live among us. Yes, Jesus walked, talked and worked HERE on earth just like all humans. As we go to Mass together each week, there can be the temptation to think of God as "out there." Well, two thousand years ago he might be standing right next to you.
The children will work with an unlabeled map of Israel and place pins to mark the cities, mountains, and bodies of water.
Engage your children's (and your) curiosity about the places Jesus visited during his life on earth. What happened to Him and where? |
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The Parable of the Mustard Seed |
The children in the Wednesday atrium of last session received a presentation of the Parable of the Mustard Seed from Matthew 13:31. Parables are stories that were used by Jesus to explain certain things. A parable is figurative speech that demands an audience to really reflect upon its meaning. In the parable of the Mustard Seed, Jesus is answering a question (that He got all the time) about what the Kingdom of God could be compared to, what was it like? Jesus responds:
"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in the field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches." The children listened to these words and were each given a mustard seed on their finger. A mustard seed is far smaller than a pin head. It was hard for the children to see it!!! They were then shown a picture of a mustard tree, fully grown, that was around 6 feet tall! How could such a small seed grow into something SO big? What makes this happen? Perhaps you can wonder with your children what is in that seed that makes it grow so big.
What does this tell us about the Kingdom of God? |
| Walk the Talk |
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The main goal of these newsletters is to help parents connect with Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, which clearly is very different from the traditional CCD that most of us grew up with. Parents are the first teachers of God's love to their children. So, naturally parents want to know how to support their child's spiritual formation.
Just as there are unique newsletters for each catechesis Level, there is unique advice given to parents by Level. This is because the Levels are not randomly selected. CGS is founded on the educational principles of Maria Montessori. Montessori groupings are consciously created based on children's developmental stages. The children's sensitivities, interests, and abilities differ.
The articles on parental connection and support for Level III are entitled "Continued Conversation," based on one parent's comment that the newsletter, "... will enable us to continue conversations at home." The 9-12 children are at a very conversational stage. Level III works tend to revolve around research, reading and writing. There are few manipulatives. But there is a lot of debate and discussion.
The "stay connected" articles for Level I are entitled "Feed My Sheep." Level I presentations are not very conversational. The 3-6 child is still developing speech and vocabulary. In fact, some Level I presentations have the simple direct aim of naming -- just providing the name of objects or places. Nearly all the work in Level I is manipulative. Materials exist to provide the 3-6 child, who often cannot yet read or write, the means to continue reflecting on the presentations. So, the parent can support their Level I child through activities much more so than through conversation. The "Feed My Sheep" title underscores action over conversation.
What about Level II? It's interesting that Level II is very clearly a transition zone between Level I and Level III. Level II is like an estuary, the area where a freshwater river flows into a saltwater sea. I looked that up in Wikipedia and learned that: "Estuaries are often associated with high levels of biological diversity." That sounds about right. Level II is full of bio-diversity. It has readers and non-readers, writers and non-writers. It has children who are still quite satisfied to work with manipulatives and still crave repetition. And it has children that are ready to "move on." Actually, from the informal conversations I've had with catechists, Level II is viewed as far more challenging than either of the other Levels. Must be the bio-diversity.
So, it may come as no surprise that parents of a Level II child best support the child through a mix of hands-on activity (Level I involvement) and conversational wondering (Level III involvement). Hence the title "Walk the Talk."
I think that's enough for now. In future articles, we'll expand on "Walk the Talk" concepts. | |
Feel free to provide comments about this newsletter to Lina Hilko, the editor, at LHilko@aol.com and/or Sarah Coles, St. Teresa's Director of Religious Education, at SEColes@gmail.com. Thanks! |
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