Children Discover the Mass: Lessons, Crafts, Cutouts, and More

Rating:
Summary: A Great Resource For Elementary Level RE Teachers
Review: Children who understand what's happening in Mass find the liturgy more meaningful and are happier to participate in worship. If you are looking for ways to connect elementary-age kids with the beauty of the Mass this is a fantastic resource. I'm the director of a small (35 students) RE program and we used this book for the first time in our program this year.

You can use the book as written for pre-schoolers or cover more lessons per class with older students. We combined the Kindergarten through third grade classes and covered the material in five sessions: Introductory Rites, Liturgy of the Word, Liturgy of the Eucharist, Concluding Rites and a lesson we added at the beginning where we showed the children around the church, the sacristy, sacramentary, etc.

The book is laid out in a very understandable way and includes lesson plans with dialogue so even your novice teachers should feel comfortable. Great craft projects that can be run on the copier and don't need much supplies beyond crayons and scissors.

A great value -- we will use it every year!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Teaching Guide!
Review: This year our kindergarten students will learn about the Mass. At the end of our lessons the students will put on their own Mass to demonstrate what they have learned. I have searched for various materials to help support the lessons. "Children Discover the Mass" is exactly what I need. It provides lessons plans complete with dialog and craft ideas. Mary Doerfler Dall has written 28 lessons which cover the five main parts of the Mass: Before We Begin Mass, Introductory Rite, Liturgy of the Word, Liturgy of the Eucharist, and Concluding Rite. Children of all ages can benefit from the lessons in this book. I believe this will be an excellent tool for our Sunday school classes.