Welcome First Holy Communion Families. We begin with our Religious Education classes this week. We’ll have two classes a month and much of the work will be done by parents. Our First Reconciliation segment begins with the first class. The children will receive the Sacrament of First Reconciliation in December. We use Blessed FIRST RECONCILIATION and Blessed FIRST COMMUNION by Dynamic Catholic. There are fun, educational videos to accompany the readings for the students on Blessed/ Dynamic Plus. We also use Holy Heroes-Mass Prep to prepare the children to be familiar with the Liturgy of the Word, each week. Both of these resources are free and are excellent. Another well known source for the entire family in MagnifiKid! It is a weekly guide for children 6-12 years of age, that is available by subscription. I have received it for several years and it is a helpful and enjoyable. Their slogan is: “Help Children Pray and Follow Sunday Mass.“
I look forward to beginning my classes, which include art, learning short songs, and readings for the seven-year-old students. We begin with learning about God by reading from the story of “Genesis” in the Bible in Chapter 1; and with “He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands.” Best wishes to all families who are learning in church or at home. Please check back as I post new material weekly. Sincerely, Connie Goldin conniegoldin@gmail.com
Our Art Gallery
“Genesis,” Chapter 1
God Gives Us Light and Forms the Earth and Life
The “Void” and “Chaos” in Genesis.This is made with kids’ acrylic liquid paint, on a pre-fab canvas pallet that was painted black before adding the squeezed-out paint. Dab the dry paint with Mod Podge glue-with small brush or finger-to keep the shine.
The Forming of the Earth-I used Craft Smart liquid acrylic paint for kids. I painted a 12″ x 12″ pre-fab, canvas palette, black. The I poured paint onto the black canvas. The colorful paint dried over several hours and I love the effect of the cracking of the paint. This is an easy craft project. The hard part is waiting for everything to dry.
Chi Rho–I used kids’ liquid acrylic paint and a brush, Mod Podge glue for shine on the Chi Rho, a card board “flower,” and a 12″ x 12″ pre-fab canvas palette for the black background.
Painted Bunting Bird–I looked at a photo of a male Painted Bunting and outlined the bird on the gouache background. I colored the feathers as best as I could replicate them, with Sharpies, Fine Point in colors. I have seen male and female Painted Buntings a couple of times at two nature centers in South Florida. The birds are small and move quickly! The females are a soft green and pale yellow, but are still beautiful. The males are breathtaking to spot!
Green Japanese Beetle–I painted this with gouache paint on watercolor paper. I outlined the beetle with a Faber-Castell “Soft Brush” pen, and smeared green acrylic paint over the black part of the beetle with my finger.
Eagle Ray Fish–I painted a background of watery gouache paint onto watercolor paper, then I outlined a picture of the Eagle Ray using a waterproof black Faber-Castell soft brush pen. Next, I used various-sized tops to bottles and paint tubes to make circles when dipped into liquid black and white acrylic paints.
“In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth
and the earth was without form or shape, with darkness over the abyss and a mighty wind sweeping over the waters
Then God said: Let there be light, and there was light.
God saw that the light was good. God then separated the light from the darkness.
God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” Evening came, and morning followed—the first day.
Then God said: Let there be a dome in the middle of the waters, to separate one body of water from the other.
God made the dome, and it separated the water below the dome from the water above the dome. And so it happened.
God called the dome “sky.” Evening came, and morning followed—the second day.
Then God said: Let the water under the sky be gathered into a single basin, so that the dry land may appear. And so it happened: the water under the sky was gathered into its basin, and the dry land appeared.
God called the dry land “earth,” and the basin of water he called “sea.” God saw that it was good.
Then God said: Let the earth bring forth vegetation: every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it. And so it happened:
the earth brought forth vegetation: every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree that bears fruit with its seed in it. God saw that it was good.
Evening came, and morning followed—the third day.
Then God said: Let there be lights in the dome of the sky, to separate day from night. Let them mark the seasons, the days and the years,
and serve as lights in the dome of the sky, to illuminate the earth. And so it happened:
God made the two great lights, the greater one to govern the day, and the lesser one to govern the night, and the stars.
God set them in the dome of the sky, to illuminate the earth,
to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.
Evening came, and morning followed—the fourth day.
Then God said: Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures, and on the earth let birds fly beneath the dome of the sky.
God created the great sea monsters and all kinds of crawling living creatures with which the water teems, and all kinds of winged birds. God saw that it was good,
and God blessed them, saying: Be fertile, multiply, and fill the water of the seas; and let the birds multiply on the earth.
Evening came, and morning followed—the fifth day.
Then God said: Let the earth bring forth every kind of living creature: tame animals, crawling things, and every kind of wild animal. And so it happened:
God made every kind of wild animal, every kind of tame animal, and every kind of thing that crawls on the ground. God saw that it was good.
Then God said: Let us make* human beings in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the tame animals, all the wild animals, and all the creatures that crawl on the earth.
God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
God blessed them and God said to them: Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that crawl on the earth.
God also said: See, I give you every seed-bearing plant on all the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food;
and to all the wild animals, all the birds of the air, and all the living creatures that crawl on the earth, I give all the green plants for food. And so it happened.
God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed—the sixth day.”
Outstanding Accompaniments to “Genesis”
The books below are wonderful to read with your children while they are learning about “Genesis” from reading their children’s Bibles, and from discussions in religious education class.
The first book, Colorful Creatures, is a gorgeous nonfiction book that has outstanding photographs of animals– insects, fish, birds, and reptiles–arranged by color. I wanted to jump for joy when I saw this book. When I showed it to the children in my Sunday School class one year, they had the same exuberant reaction. They actually squealed!
Creation, by Cynthia Rylant, has beautiful simple paintings that illustrate God’s creation of the world. It also includes the story of Adam and Eve. It is a lovely, colorful book.
He’s Got the Whole World in His Handsby Kadir Nelson is a beautiful, loving book that illustrates the simple hymn it is named for. It is joyful and celebrates family–It’s a wonderful book for all ages.
A Book Filled with Joy!
“God Made the World…”
Creation–A Beautiful Book for Young Children
A Poem Project
Encourage your child to write a short poem about “God’s Handprint on the World.”
Here is a sample of a poem written by Elizabeth Skiba on PoetrySoup.com:
“God’s Handprint”
“We see God’s footprints, each and every day
The trees, the mountains, the sea
He made this beautiful world For me
He made the moon, stars, the sun
I love everything that He have [has] done
I am so blessed, happy and free
He made this wonderful world For me
Many of us love what we see
Beautiful flowers, even rain on a stormy day
Fresh scent of the green grass
He gave this beautiful world For us”
Our Art Project–The Whole World Art Project
Paint On Bubble Wrap–Our Beautiful Earth
This is a fun art project showing the beautiful world God has created. It uses painted bubble wrap to make a print on watercolor paper. Little kids can try this, too. Here are the steps:
Use tempera, acrylic, or finger paint to make a big-or small– circle on bubble wrap.
Then paint colors of the earth to depict water, land, and vegetation on the bubble wrap.
Invert a plate or glass, depending on the size you want, on top of it and trace with a Sharpie.
Press your paper on top of the wet paint done on the bubble wrap.
Let dry.
I used a small piece of bubble wrap for four small-sized prints without adding new paint each time.
Here is the process:
A Small Circle of Bubble Wrap and Acrylic Paints
Paint squirted
Cotton Paper Placed On Top of Paint
Ready to Pull Off
Paint Transferred to Cotton Paper
Lots of Paint of Bubble Wrap With Panel Pressed on Top.
A Lovely Darker Print
All from One Glob of Paint on Bubble-Wrap–Prints On Cotton Paper, Note Card Paper, A Canvas Panel and a Pre-Fab Canvas Panel
The Landscape Painting of the Earth—A Torn Paper and Glue Collage. This can be done with kids of all ages. I used “Astrobrights” card stock paper and Mod Podge glue with cardboard for the background. Fun and a little sticky!
Our Materials
I use cardboard from packages I have received to make the background for the torn paper to be glued to. You can use watercolor paper, as well, because it is strong. No scissors needed–Just tear and glue to background.
