Saturday, May 15, 2010

If You Cannot Find It, Make Do: 3-Part Life of Mary Sequencing Cards

Okay, I admit it!  My computer files are in the same shape as the rest of our home right now – in dire need of some purging and organization.  This point was driven home to me the other morning when I spent fruitless time searching for some Life of Mary cards I thought I had downloaded at some prior point, only to realize that not only was I confused (I had actually downloaded some wonderful 3-Part Rosary Cards from The Bookworm), but also that my documents folders are suffering in cluttered disarray.  So, I am adding their organization to my May Focus intent and moving on...

Or trying to move on...You see, I am a Mommy-Educator who gets caught up in ideas and has to bring them to fruition at times so they won't continue to edge out other thoughts (such as, “You have a few minutes, Martianne.  Get purging and organizing!)  So despite the fact that Elaine, from the Creative Kingdom yahoogroup I belong to, made some wonderful Mary Matching cards in response to my question of if anyone else knew of Life of Mary cards online, I still had it in my head that I wanted cards chronicling the events of Mary’s life. Unable find any, during snippets of time here and there this week, I made some. 

Now, I am so excited to use our newly created 3-Part Life of Mary Sequencing Cards with the kids!  And, I am equally excited to be able to share them here, as a small thanks to all the amazing, creative bloggers whose ideas the kids and I have so appreciated benefiting from.

First, the cards themselves.  You'll find images of them throughout this post.  If you click on the images, you should get full-sized ones you can print out.  If you don’t and you want copies  in JEPG or Publisher, simply leave me a request in the comments!  Also, if you find any errors, feel I have left something out or feel I have misconstrued any of Mary's life events, please leave a comment to let me know.  As I explained, I created these cards during small snippets of time - often with kids on my lap - so it is likely there may be something that your careful eyes will catch that my distracted ones did not...

Now, how to use our new cards? 

Of course, first by printing two sets, contact-paper laminating them and, then, cutting them.

Then, for some favorite activities, try out some of the many matching games my kids love:  Concentration, the Slap Game, Go Fish, Who can Find the ~?, etc.  (If you need directions for any of these, just ask!)

Or, how about Card Bingo.  Basically, each child gets a set of 9 (or 16 if they get really good at the game) cards to lay out, face-up, Bingo-grid style.  The caller describes an event or shows a copy of a card.  If the kids have the corresponding card, they turn it over.  When a child has an entire row turned over, that child has Bingo!

And, by printing out an additional copy of each page to use as control cards, you can make a matching-skills file folder game with the cards.

Plus, you can use them as is for sequencing-and-story telling activities – use the cards with clothespins and a line, magnets and the fridge or simply a big area of floor space, to put the cards in order, time-line fashion, retelling the story of Mary’s life.

And, of course, the cards can be used for visual discrimination and picture study activities, including a recent favorite: “I Spy”.  (Need further explanation for these? Just ask!)

Plus, as we hope to do, you can use the cards as inspiration to help the kids each create books of their own artwork depicting Mary’s life.

As for us here at Jammies School, even if we only get to a small portion of these activities this year, we say, "No problem!"  The beauty of the cards (and what made them worth allocating so much time to making them) is that we can use them year after year, every Month of Mary, eventually even using them in the traditional Montessori 3-part cards way once the kids are reading a bit on their own.  With that in mind, I would love to hear about how you use the cards if you print them.  Your ideas are sure to provide inspiration for years of fun and learning to come.  Thank you and enjoy a blessed Month of Mary.

12 comments:

The Sunshine Crew said...

Lovely cards. Thanks for sharing.

Honey said...

Are there cards like this of the New Testament or the Birth of Christ? These are awesome, but we're not Catholic and I'd like to add some more stuff in. Is there ones like that? Hint, hint ;)!!!

By the way...these are REALLY pretty!

Honey

Martianne said...

Thank you, Honey! I do not know any New Testament or Birth of Christ cards like this, but, with your hint tickling me, will make some eventually to add to our collection. In the meantime, if you go to the Bookworm link from the post, you should also be able to access the blog writer's Stations of the Cross cards. And, while Stations are Catholic, they are also quite universal in that they tell the Biblical Easter story.

Lacy @ Catholic Icing said...

These are fabulous! Thanks for sharing the link with me. I'm subscribing to your blog so I don't miss any more of your fabulous stuff! :-)

MamaJunie said...

Very pretty cards. Thank you for sharing! I can't wait to use them, both in my CCD class and at home.

Amanda said...

These are great! Such a neat find.

Honey, if you are still looking-- Here are some Life of Christ cards from Thatresourcesite.com that go along with Child's Bible History (part 2)

http://thatresourcesite.blogspot.com/2010/08/life-of-christ-timeline-for-children.html

The same site also has some Old Testament cards that go along with Child's Bible History (part 1):

http://thatresourcesite.blogspot.com/2011/07/just-completed-our-little-timeline-of.html

Martianne said...

Thx for sharing the links, Amanda! :)

Anonymous said...

These are wonderful! Could you send me the files through my email though?? Thank you and God bless you for bringing up your children in the Faith!! veronicita77@hotmail.com

Martianne said...

So sorry. We had anothe computer die on us. Luckily, this time, I had things remotely backed up. However, I have yet to get up uploaded onto my computer, so it will be a bit before I can access my old files, cinluding these cards. I will get them to you when I can. Don-t be afraid to remind me in a month or so, becasue, well, life happens and Mommy brain is a contual condition for as it does!

Holly said...

thank you so much for making these available!
I really appreciate how you included the art information, it will lend to art study as well.

Martianne said...

Delighted to help out, Holly!

Jae (Pinay Homeschooler) said...

Hi! I discovered your site through random search. Thank you for sharing this. Will definitely use this at home. Thanks again!

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