Teaching at a Catholic school can mean you have the wonderful opportunity to introduce and talk about some pretty big ideas. I teach at a Catholic school so our students are exploring Lent and Easter. While I love being able to share this time with my students, these are big ideas for such little people. Here are some simple ways for your students to learn about Lent and Easter.
Emergent Readers-
Simple books with simple words are a great way for my students to become “experts” on a concept. We start by reading the words as a class and practice pointing along. Later children are invited to color the book and practice reading to me or each other. With my students I’m working on print concepts so I’m looking for them to be pointing as they say a word. I invite them to go home and share their books with their families. I have both a Ash Wednesday and an Easter Story emergent reader that we use. Click here to grab them.
Crafts and Writing Prompts-
I love pairing crafts with my students writing. Therefore I love doing this Ash Wednesday craft and writing about our Lenten Promises. As my students are so young we focus on what they can give to their daily lives rather than what can they take away. I find they are usually very thoughtful.
Last year, I added Religious directed drawings and my students really responded well to drawing the different parts of the Easter Story. The packet includes multiple paper choices with and without Bible quotes. They are perfect to be done singularly or as a book for parents.
Retelling Activities-
I love to work sequencing in to my students activities as much as possible. We do this through a Easter retelling bracelet, retelling necklace, or a retelling hat. All three have children focus on sequencing the different parts of the Easter story and they help us retell the story at home. The bracelet activities includes a book that corresponds to retelling colors on the bracelet. With the necklace I have the children use colored pasta or cut up straws as necklace filler. All retelling projects are low prep and perfect for a religion or literacy block.
Escape Rooms–
The perfect way to end our Lenten time is with an escape room. It’s a great way to include STEM, religion, literacy, and math skills all in one activity. Escape rooms take about an hour to complete depending on your students speed. I like to split my students up into groups to complete. I do ask each child to complete each page but they can help everyone in their group. My Easter escape room allows children to go through the story and test what they know about the sequence of the Easter Story.
I hope these ideas provide you some activity choices for this Lenten season. Let me know what you do with your students during the Lenten Season?
