Highlighting Virtues with A St. George Resource Round Up (Or What Mama Has the Kids Do When She Is Sick)

Luke's St. George and the Dragon Scene

On Friday, I woke to find my voice gone, my eyes burning, my head aching and my mind realizing that I needed a different plan for the morning than I had gone to bed thinking about. Read-togethers and Endangered Species Fair preparation just would work considering my laryngitis and lousy head cold.  I needed another set of morning activities to engage the kids.

With praise be to our Lord for generous folks on the Internet, I put together a new plan rather quickly: a mini-book on the virtues of St. George.

The inside of Jack's finished mini-book.

 

The flap of Jack's mini-book before he opens it to the inside.

Inside Nina's mini-book with a happy, grateful, loving princess and St. George leading a dragon away with a rope.

Why Saint George when we are nowhere near his feast day?

Well, because, Jack and his big siblings are enamored with knights and castles right now and youtube has an Adventures from the Book of Virtues video with the story of St. George and the Dragon in it.



So, while I did breakfast dishes and some laundry, the children watched that.

Then, I squeaked, "What virtues did St. George show?"

Once the children had shared their ideas, I  gave each child a blank tri-fold mini-book, set out pencils and googled for knight how-to-draws.  The children and I decided that we'd try this one:

Nina's in-progress drawing of St. George.

Once we completed our "St. George"s, Luke asked me to find a dragon how-to-draw.  He chose one here for him and I to do, while Nina chose a sleeping one:



Then, the children asked for a princess how-to-draw.  We chose this one.

Drawings done, each child did basic copy work to write, St. George showed bravery, kindness and faith.

Luke chose to embellish his lettering with dragon-fire and swords.

Nina showed persistence each time she wrote words on Friday.

Then, the children proceeded to add color to their mini-books before setting up for and creating their own St. George and the Dragon drama improv in the hallway.

Jack coloring what he'd asked me to draw for him.

What a blessing it was to have them all so engaged in learning about saints and virtues, while reinforcing writing, drama and creative skills without me having to use my almost-gone voice!

Better still was that, as the day unfolded, each child demonstrated personal virtues of kindness, faith and more, and they also decided to begin their own medieval lapbooks using other how-to-draws that they found online.

What are your go-to resources for teaching about St. George?  Virtues?  And how to you keep your children engaged, learning, practicing skills and enjoying when you're feeling poorly?

 

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