I tried out a new "game" with 6th grade today. (It was inspired from the Shakespeare PD opportunity at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre I attended a few weekends ago.)
Here's how it went down...
We were learning about sacramentals, which, to be fair, can be confusing to understand due to the fact that the term is very broad and pretty much all-encompassing. (For some background info, check out this slide presentation.) Objects or actions - these bring us closer to God by helping us experience His love/grace in the world around us. (We also watched part of this video - it gives some various examples, quotes, etc.)
So, once we established what sacramentals are, it was time to provide some examples on their own. I named a Sacrament (e.g. Baptism) or celebration (e.g. Mass) of our faith. One at a time, I called students up to become a sacramental for that particular Sacrament/celebration. For Mass, students became the tabernacle, holy water font, stained glass windows, statues of Saints, the bread & wine, people genuflecting, and more. The students slowly filled in the "scene" until they were all part of it. (Looking back, I should have just had about 5 students at a time and then moved on to another Sacrament/celebration because it was hard to keep them all focused and silent on the identifying of sacramentals, but it worked.)
For my 6th graders, it is essential to involve movement and hands-on activities in the classroom, so this was definitely worth the shot. We'll see if it pays off tomorrow when I ask them what a sacramental is...
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