Luckily, when I did so, I was HUGELY blessed by the FREE sharing of so many fellow Catholic folks online. In fact, I discovered enough fabulous finds that I was able to easily prepare for our canonization celebration later today as well as for some of our S.K.I.L.L. T.I.M.E.+ lessons for the coming week.
Mind you, "easily" does not mean "quickly".
I admit, I get so excited when doing things like this that I sometimes lose track of time and, um, sleep. So, let me spare you the same predicament by sharing the oodles of awesome Saint Teresa of Calcutta goodies I found online, as well as some I was inspired to jot down.
I hope the following extensive round up will help you pull together your own last-minute lessons and fun! Enjoy.
A Simple Canonization Breakfast
There is no time for shopping and little energy for baking at this late hour, so my plan for the morning is simple:
Decorations
Mother Teresa wore a blue and white sari, so we will decorate our table simply in blue and white with a table cloth and candles.
If I can find my son's blue duct tape, I may "stripe" our candles much like Tracy at A Slice of Smith Life did for her family's early canonization celebration, and, then, share excerpts of The Significance of Mother Teresa's Three Striped Sari with my children since we all enjoy symbolism. If I cannot, I will likely still share the symbolism with my children later in the week.
I have also printed out Jessica's canonization cupcake toppers, free at Shower of Roses, to put into our Canonization Waffles (described below).
Food
A quick peek in our cupboards, freezer, and fridge told me pickings are slim after our week of being quarantined at home, but "treat" foods stocked for Sundays will save the day!
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We have Van's Gluten-Free Waffles, So Delicious Coco Whip, and Chocolate Silk. These, along with the few fresh blueberries we have, some defrosted strawberries and raspberries, maple syrup, and Earth Balance "Butter", will help me turn our "Assumption Day Waffles" of old into Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta fare.
As usual, we will enjoy "faith formation through food" by chatting about how each part of our meal might connect to Saint Mother Teresa. If I know my children they may decide:
- The brown of our Chocolate Silk reminds us of our earthly humanity.
- The blue and white of berries and Coco Whip remind us of multiple things - the heavens, the colors of Mother Teresa's sari, and Mother Mary's colors (which are the colors Mother Teresa purposefully chose for her sari).
- The red of berries call to mind hearts - the daily love and compassion Mother Teresa lived with, hearts for the poor including the poor in spirit), hearts for Jesus...
- The roundness of our waffles may remind us of the earth, and how we are called to live our loves here with love for one another. Or, it may bring to mind the eternal joy of being in Heaven with Jesus (for a circle has no end...)
Over the past two days, the children and I have been enjoying a copy of Living Faith Kids: Meet Mother Teresa which we picked up at church last week. We'll revisit this sweet booklet and also read the Mother Teresa excerpt from our copy of Loyola Kids Book of Heroes.
We will also pray the Mother Teresa's Nazareth Prayer for the Family.
S.K.I.L.L. T.I.M.E. + with Some FREEBIE Links
Each week as a part of our lessons, we focus on S.K.I.L.L. T.I.M.E.+, an acronym I came up with to help remind us to keep literacy and math at the fore of our independent and mentored study time, while adding in other "subjects", too.
Already, I can see our S.K.I.L.L. T.I.M.E.+ efforts shaping up for the coming week with all the Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta ideas I found and what they brought to mind for me.
S - Spell and Write Words
On whiteboards, we'll see how many words we can make with the letter from Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta. We may also use the Can Do Cubes I recently reviewed to spell out "saint", "mother", etc. and see what we can change those words to by adding, taking away, or moving one block at a time.
K - Keep Reading to Yourself
I just ordered a whole bunch of Mother Teresa books from the library just now, so we'll have a plentiful basket for the children to draw from. I also just printed out Holy Heroes inexpensive Mother Teresa coloring book, which the children can enjoy coloring, and, then, reading on their own (or with me) depending on the child.
I may also introduce a simple activity from Sadlier to the kids and as they complete small acts of love they can read the hearts on the sheet and color them in throughout the week.
Plus, they are rather "schooly", but, at some point this week, I may offer my children the simple Mother Teresa Reading Warm Up from Teacher Vision or the work packet at Really Learn English (which is meant for ESL students but has some value for my children in portions, too).
I - Illustrate and Write
Angie at Real Life at Home and the Lawrence Family at Catholic Inspired are providing this week's FREE copywork for my children.
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| Credit: Catholic Inspired |
Tara at This Sweet Life of Mine is, too. She has also made reading comprehension, writing, and more a breeze. (I just love the FREE mini-unit pack she has gifted readers of her blog like me.)
We also might try a how-to-draw at dragoart.com. It could be a flashback to five years ago when we did a collective family sketch of Mother Teresa.
Listen to Reading
I have already mentioned the inexpensive Holy Heroes Mother Teresa coloring book I've printed out and the bevy of books I've ordered from our library. We'll also be listening to our Holy Heroes Glory Stories CD Vol 4: St. Teresa of Calcutta & St. Faustina Kowalska if I can find where I laid it (and I hope I can! If not, I may just have to order a new copy since it is on sale this week.)
I may read the story of Mother Teresa I found in lesson plans at Catholic Relief Services, too.
I may read the story of Mother Teresa I found in lesson plans at Catholic Relief Services, too.
Learn and Play with One Another Using Language Arts
Tracy from A Slice of Smith Life shared a ton of ideas for a Canonization of Mother Teresa lapbook. I may borrow some of these for notebooking pages here! I found a wonderful printable lesson plan pack on Mother Teresa and charity at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church's website that has me envisioning a trivia type Q & A game with among other things.
Plus, Learning to Give has a quick True/False quiz that aligns to the reading in the Mother Teresa excerpt from our copy of Loyola Kids Book of Heroes, so when we need to burn some energy inside this week, we may be playing a hallway game where we run to one side of our hallway for "true" and another side for "false".
I also found a skit within a long and varied FREE lesson plan pack download at Ave Maria Press.
T - Think, Read and Write About Math
We will likely make a host of story math problems related to Saint Teresa of Calcutta. Thing such as:
- How long did she live?
- How many years passed between when she became a "Blessed" and when she was canonized?
- How many years was she a nun?
I - Investigate and Problem Solve with Math
I realized this past week that two of my children did not know the math term "capacity", so we may just need to make some Indian foods (lentils and rice) this week as living math making sure to speak about the capacity of our measuring cups.
M - Master Math Skills Together
We have not done much for graphing lately, so I may combine the freebie Small Things with Great Love sheet from The Religion Teacher with a graphing exercise, having the children record small things they can (and do!) do with great love, then sorting those things to make different kinds of graphs.
E - Exercise Math Skills on My Own
The children can extend some of the aforementioned math learning and skill work.
+ Extra Learning and Exploration
Of course, will be chatting about how a person becomes a names saint and about what the miracles approved by the church were during the cause for Mother Teresa's sainthood. American Catholic.org has a lot about all that.
This video may also be enjoyed:
Finally, although I am tempted to stay up and watch the entire canonization live now since the time for it is getting close anyway, I am also aware that this mama has to get at least a few hours of sleep, so I will be watching it with my children later, I hope.
While we watch it, if anyone gets antsy, they can always paint or color any one of the many free Mother Teresa coloring pages and quotes I have found online at:
Waltzing Matilda
Life, Love, & Sacred Art
Brother Francis Online
Look to Him and Be Radiant (and here)
Catholic Kids BulletinPaper Dali
And, there you have it... Me, busy printing, planning, and getting excited for a canonization and a mini S.K.I.L.L. T.I.M.E + unit in the coming week... and short-sleeping myself because of it. So, I better catch some shut-eye now.
I hope some of the ideas here help you quickly find just what you may be looking for to learn about and celebrate the newly sainted Saint Teresa of Calcutta!
Do share other links and ideas in the comments. Thanks!
