G RADES 4 TO 9 1 C ONNECTING W ITH F AMILIES o Email is the first - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

H OME S TUDY P ROGRAM G RADES 4 TO 9 1

C ONNECTING W ITH F AMILIES o Email is the first means of reaching families, so please let the office know when an email address changes. o Phone. We call periodically, including when classes are cancelled on short notice. Please insure faith formation has all new/changed phone numbers, including those of emergency contacts. o Text to 716-812-8063. Please introduce yourself so I know with whom I’m texting. o Go to SSPP parish website, choose Faith Formation link at top of the home page, scroll down Faith Formation page. o Link to Faith Formation Web Page: https://sspphamburg.org/faith-formation 2 o What Faith Formation no longer uses: physical mail, which has become too expensive and labor intensive.

T EXTBOOKS GRADES 4 - 8  Finding God by Loyola Press (www.loyolapress.com/f inding-god-2013.htm)  This series is a catechetical approach to teaching  Catechetical = teaching by question and answer  and…  A spiral approach to learning  Spiral = repetition of ideas and information builds knowledge over time. 3

T EXTBOOK GRADE 9  Chosen by Ascension Press (http://shop.ascensionpre ss.com/t/category/study- programs/chosen/confirm ation-preparation)  A media-based course of study, with integrated written materials.  All videos available online.  Also a catechetical, or teaching, approach. 4

F INDING G OD M AIN F INDING G OD S AMPLE S UBJECTS BY G RADE A PPROACH TO A S ESSION  Grade 4: Blessed Are The Poor  Each Unit has 5 Sessions.  Beatitudes & the Ten  Each Session Includes: Commandments  Engage in family prayer  Grade 5: The Bread of Life  Sacraments & Worship  Explore the faith  Grade 6: I Am Who Am  Reflect on God’s calling  The Old Testament  Respond to God’s  Grade 7: This Is My Beloved invitation Son  5 th Session highlights  Jesus Christ the Mass & the  Grade 8: You Are The Chosen Liturgical Year People  Church History 5

F INDING G OD — H OW T HE L OYOLA P ORTAL W ORKS  For each weekly session, complete the  Complete a session in the interactive session review student workbook each week.  Review the Online Study Guide Leave time for enrichment before completing the Interactive Session Review activities and review exercises  Include your name on each http://www.loyolapress.c Interactive Session Review so we om/faith- know whose it is formation/finding-  When the Interactive Session Review is finished, email scores to god/finding-god- faith-formation@sspphamburg.org 2013/parents-and- students/resources/resou rces/ Loyola Press web tech support  Click on grade level 4 thru 8 773-281-1818, ext. 361, or email  Click on the appropriate websupport@loyolapress.com . 6 unit for PDF outline of At- Home-Edition lesson guides

F INDING G OD — S TEP - BY - STEP U SING THE P ORTAL Step #1 Go to Saints Peter and Paul parish website. Step #6 The link for parents and families! https://sspphamburg.org/ (https://www.loyolapress.com/faith- formation/finding-god/finding-god-2013/parents- Step #2 Select Faith Formation link at top of page, and-students). Here parents will find enrichment three in from the right. materials, and can sign up for various Finding God Step #3 Here is the direct link to the Faith E-newsletters, (https://www.loyolapress.com/faith- Formation page, formation/finding-god/finding-god-2013/finding- https://sspphamburg.org/faith-formation god-e-newsletters). Step #4 Scroll down to the Home Study Program Resources section, half way down the Faith Step #8 The assessment is the link in the leftmost Formation page. column of the grade level portal. Take the assessment as the last step of study for each Step #5 Using Grade 6 Home Study as an example, session. click on either the first “Grade 6” or the second link, “Click HERE”, under the Grade 6 line. Either Step #9 Please put student’s name on each link takes students and parents to the grade 6 assessment. study portion of the Loyola portal, (http://www.loyolapress.com/faith- Step #10 Email assessments to faith- formation/finding-god/finding-god-2013/parents- formation@sspphamburg.org and-students/resources/resources/grade-6), which provides study guides and session reviews. 7

C HOSEN — H OW T HE A SCENSION P ORTAL W ORKS  Complete a session in the student workbook each week. Leave time to view streaming videos at http://evangelization.com/  Access to the online videos is via families’ emails, which I will enter into the Ascension portal.  Additional Resources, free and downloadable: http://confirmationstudy.com/confirmation-downloads/ Ascension Press web tech support 800-376-0520, option 2, ext. 415 or email digital@ascensionpress.com or support@ascensionpress.com . 8

F INDING G OD — S CHEDULE OF S ESSIONS BY D ATE FOR G RADES 4 - 8 October 15 1. February 4 14. October 22 2. February 11 15. October 29 3. February 25 16. October 30 4. March 4 17. November 5 5. March 11 November 19 18. 6. November 26 March 18 7. 19. December 3 8. March 25 20. December 10 9. April 1 21. December 17 10. April 8 22. January 7 11. April 15 January 14 23. 12. January 28 April 29 13. 24. 9 May 6 25.

C HOSEN — S CHEDULE OF S ESSIONS BY D ATE FOR G RADE 9 October 15 1. February 4 14. October 22 2. February 11 15. October 29 3. February 25 16. October 30 4. March 4 17. November 5 5. March 11 November 19 18. 6. November 26 March 18 7. 19. December 3 8. March 25 20. December 10 9. April 1 21. December 17 10. April 8 22. January 7 11. April 15 January 14 23. 12. January 28 April 29 13. 24. 10 May 6 25.

H OME S TUDY C OMMUNITY A CTIVITIES  Attend Advent Penance: o Monday December 17 @ 7 pm in the Church.  Christmas Caroling at Creek Bend Heights Senior Apartments & Elderwood Rosewood Saturday Dec 1 @ 10 am  Attend Lenten Penance: o Monday April 8 @ 7 pm in the Church.  Attend mass weekly. Mass reflection sheets are for grades 4 - 9, several sentences about the homily or Gospel for the week. Return folded in collection plate or to Faith Formation office.  Parish-focused community service for grades 6 - 9. 11

F AITH S HARING o Share faith as a community o Express faith through community service to others * o Prayer life and attending Mass * * A note about community service and Mass reflection sheets.

M ORE ON C OMMUNITY S ERVICE Service is a tenet of Catholic Social Teaching and has biblical roots. It’s also a way to meet others,  enjoy new experiences, and form a sense of community. Most of the work done at a parish is done by volunteers! Community service for youth helps families see how a parish works. Service for faith formation is parish-focused. That means it is one of these things: part of a parish  ministry, on the parish campus, or an activity the parish sponsors or organizes. Parish-focused service doesn’t require every activity to take place here at SSPP. Middle school students perform ten hours of service yearly.  There are many ways to find out about community service opportunities. This calendar is only one  way. Watch for emails from Sarah. Read the bulletin – it’s available online, on the parish website, even if you aren’t at mass. Would families like the bulletin emailed to them weekly? Make a regular commitment to a ministry (altar servers, catechist helpers, youth choir, greeters). Please turn in service sheets by the end of the faith formation class year (June 30). Turning them  in as you complete your service is even better. If you would like to use service at SSPP for school, NHS, Scouts, please let us know, we are happy to sign off for you. All service opportunities on this calendar are by sign up to faith-formation@sspphamburg.org  Often activities have limits on the number of participants and some are family (parent/child) 13 opportunities.