Dear Parents,
Thank you for making the commitment to your child's
religious education.
The 1st grade class is the basic foundation to
prepare the children for the 2nd grade class, which
is the class that culminates with First Communion. I am
traditional, conservative, and will not stray from the Catechism of the Catholic
Church. I use a variety of
props, methods, and activities to try to teach that
message.
The class may go by various names -- "Faith
Formation" or "CCD" (for Confraternity of
Christian Doctrine) -- but it is a basic Catholic
catechism class.
Please know that I do NOT present or say anything to your
child that would not pass muster of the Catholic Church.
There are no "secrets" in the class. No
information is withheld from parents. If your child
should say something in class that I suspect you would
want to hear, I will share that with you. ... Over a
hundred years ago, my grandmother taught in one-room
school houses in rural Indiana and rural Saskatchewan. My
values are about the same as hers were, and that's how I
teach and speak to children. ... For 75 minutes each
week, your child will have safe space with basic
old-fashioned values.
Your child will be told this by me:
"I promise you that I will not lie to you about
anything. In this class, you may ask any question, and
Ill answer it the best I can. You may disagree with
me. You must behave and be polite, but you may disagree.
If you have a question that I cannot answer, I shall
direct you to your mom or dad, or to a priest."
I will not lie to your child -- not for any reason.
Children need honesty. I am trying to teach your child
that God exists and that Jesus is our Saviour. If I lie,
even about the trivial, why would a child believe me?
Understanding what is happening at Mass can be difficult
for a child. There is an excellent video at Formed.org. You can find it by signing in at Formed (for
free). It is a 30-minute video. Please watch this video
with your child:
The Mass: A Life-Giving
Prayer
The Archdiocese has specific religious education
goals for 1st graders. You can find a synopsis of those
goals at the class web page, which can be found here:The children will learn five
prayers: Sign of the Cross, The Lord's
Prayer, Hail Mary, Glory Be, and Grace
Before Meals. There are about two dozen words that
the children will learn over the year. They will
learn the Creation Story, the Noah's Ark story, the story
of the Annunciation, the birth of Jesus, and the death
and resurrection of Jesus. They will learn about some
saints (and your help will be needed with this).
I'll be using the textbook, with
supplementation from other sources. At the class web
page, you can see the class calendar, with information
for each class session.
In addition to the textbook, I'll use videos produced by
a company called Adventure Catechism. Each
video lasts about seven minutes, and children enjoy them.
There will be some coloring sheets, a few craft projects,
and planting crocus bulbs at the church. When Advent
starts, each class session will include reading a
childrens version of the Gospel reading from the
previous Sunday. The class will include some art by old
masters, some geography, some history, some Latin, and
some cookies. Each child learns differently, and the
intent is to offer the message in many forms, with the
hope that Jesus' message will reach each child in one way
or another.
Most weeks, your child will have homework, and your help
will be needed. The children need to learn about saints;
this year, they will learn about 24 saints. I have
written short biographies and have found matching
coloring sheets. Your child will come home with
"saints sheets" -- two sheets of paper. There
will be a coloring page and a short biography for you to
read to your child. Each biography can be read to your
child in less than two minutes. Having mom, or dad, or
grandma, or big brother or sister read the story will
mean more for your child than having the story read as
one more little segment of the CCD class. Encourage your
child to color the picture. Talk with your child about
the saint; put your child's saint drawing on your
refrigerator for the week and mention the saint
throughout the week. At the class website, there are
links to videos for the various saints. The videos are
short, less than 10 minutes. Let the saints come alive
for your child.
HINT: If you save those stories and
coloring sheets, by the end of the year, your child will
have his own book of saints. At this link there is a pdf
file with all saints biographies and coloring sheets for
the first-grade year:
First grade saints
You are welcome to email me: alicemariebeard@gmualumni.org
You are welcome to phone me: 301-493-5832
(landline, no text).
During class, in case of an emergency, normally I'll have
a cell phone in my pocket. I shall share that number with
you privately.
A parent is welcome to visit the class at any time,
without notice. However, you must remain quiet, not
interfere with the class in any way, and stand (or sit)
to the side.
By way of introduction, I was born in 1950. Since 1982, I
have lived a mile from de Chantal. I have been married
since 1974. My children are grown; they went to Wyngate
Elementary and did religious education at de Chantal. I
was an at-home mom as my kids grew up. Additionally, and
almost incidentally, I have a J.D. from George Mason U.
and am a member of the D.C. Bar. My undergrad is in
political science, and I did grad school in
journalism. Decades ago, I taught quadratic
equations to people preparing for the GED exam. When my
children were young, I ran Camp Fire groups (like
Scouting) for ten years. I have written a few published
law review articles, and I have done massive amounts of
genealogical research.
What I'll be doing during this school year will be
serving as your child's religious education teacher.
Please know that I prepare for every class session; I
never "wing it." I try to change what we are
doing about every 10 minutes; that is the typical
attention span for these little ones. My intent is to do
what I can, within my abilities, to deliver Jesus'
message to your child.
Please communicate to your child that, yes, what will be
happening at CCD is a real class. It is not play time,
and it is not daycare. I will do my best to teach your
child. At the same time, please understand that, if
your child does not want to be there and balks at being
there, I cannot change that, and I also cannot deal with
it. God has given everyone the gift of free will. I am
not able to force a child to cooperate with the process
of learning.
Sincerely,
Alice Marie Beard
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