Another early art material for the Atrium consists of a 1/4 sheet of white paper and three colored pencils. Some children come to the Atrium wanting to draw but not yet knowing how to focus their art as prayer. The limited paper and pencils provides an art opportunity for those who truly need it but it also discourages those who are looking for exciting art materials which would become a distraction to prayer. The following illustrations were done early in the year by a kindergarten child who was in his second year in the Atrium. The child had recently been working at the gestures altar on a regular basis. The Second Years have completed their Missals! Throughout the year they have taken time to copy the most essential prayers of the Mass and have illustrated them. After ordering and enjoying these prayers week after week we pray that they are not just written on paper but also have been written more deeply on their hearts. They received their finished Missals on their Second Year Retreat. Please keep them in your prayers as they continue to grow closer to Our Lord and, for some of them, as they prepare to receive Jesus in the Eucharist for the first time this spring!
What a beautiful day of time away for our 2nd grade children! Last Friday the 2nd graders spent the entire day in the Atrium - except for their beautiful Agape meal followed by a bit of time outside - and it was a day filled with many blessings. After spending time pondering the gifts which have helped them to prepare for this day as well as for their continued journey with the Good Shepherd, each child decorated a cross filled with these gifts. While they also spent time with materials and enjoying silence, their work on their crosses took the majority of their morning as they captured this moment in their life of faith in words and images. It was, as always, such an honor and privilege to witness the focus and concentration of these children as they took to this work with such great reverence. Five of our eight second graders will be preparing to receive the Eucharist for the very first time in the next few weeks. Please keep them in your prayers! Each year at The Way of the Shepherd we take a moment at the beginning of Lent to ask God’s blessing on the 2nd Year children who will be taking extra time away to grow even closer to the Good Shepherd over the next few months. Some of these children are also preparing to meet Jesus in a new way as they prepare to receive His Body and Blood for the first time during the Easter Season. On Ash Wednesday as we began this special time of preparation, by inviting all of the 2nd Year children to come forward at the end of Mass, carrying a cross which will accompany them in their time of deeper reflection on God’s many gifts. These crosses, after being blessed, were hung in the Atrium where they will remain until Easter as a reminder to all who spend time in that space to support these children in prayer. On the day of the 2nd Year Retreat these crosses will be decorated with images and words by each child as they synthesize how they have been fed and strengthened in their relationship with God through this time.
In the Level 1 (Children's House) Atrium the children enjoy working with model chasubles and model altar items which point them towards the real items used during the celebration of the Mass. They also begin looking at individual gestures (movements which have meaning) which the priest prays at Mass and some that we pray as well. In Level 2 (E1), the children enjoy returning to many of the materials and truths they have pondered in Level 1. Now, however, they work to engage their reasoning mind particularly through the use of their reading and writing skills. They begin to attune their attention to where we are, currently, in the Liturgical Year by labeling the Sundays of the Liturgical Calendar. They also begin to label the articles at the altar and make a large altar collage with many beautiful items which they also label. As they begin their preparations for their Second Year Retreat (and, for some, their First Eucharist), they begin to synthesize their previous work with the gestures of the Mass, laying out symbols for each gesture in the order that these moments are prayed during the Liturgy, The Level 3 (E2) children broaden their pondering of the Mass by looking at each prayer as a pearl which makes up the one greatest prayer, or pearl necklace, of the Mass. Then they look more closely at each of the four sections of the Mass, placing each of the prayers in their proper order and even copying them to make their own complete Missal of the Mass. We pray that each presentation received and each free choice of work related to the Mass, leads each of the children (and each of us adults who work with them) to a more "full, conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations" (Sacrosanctum concilium, §14). This past week we entered into pondering the liturgical signs which guide us in our worship. "Come and Worship" was the prayer card on the Prayer Table and each group of children pondered what "Worship" means. With the elementary children we also took time to recall some of the gestures of the priest at Mass (including the preparation of the chalice, the epiclesis, and the offering) as well as our personal gestures (including standing, sitting, kneeling, the Sign of Peace, the Sign of the Cross, genuflecting and bowing). There are many ways to worship God, but the highest form of worship occurs within the Liturgy in which we participate in God's Work of transforming creation. In looking back at moments captured in photo this past week the "theme" of worship seemed to be most clearly shown through the way the children enjoyed the Liturgical Year by focusing on the "sign" of color. The Liturgical Colors chasubles lead to the Liturgical Calendar which is one material that is enjoyed at every Atrium Level and always has more to show us about our liturgical year as well as deepen our engagement in it. As such, it epitomizes the "spiral method" of the Atrium and the Montessori method in general.
As we near the end of the year, the E2 children took time out to extend their work with the Complete Missal or Colored Base material. Splitting into groups, each section of the work was set up and checked. Each small group then had the task of finding their portion of the Mass in the Roman Missal. It was interesting to see which sections were easily found and those which took more work to track down. Each group had insights about what they found to be easy and challenging about the extension to this work on the Mass that has been their constant companion for the past year to two years.
While the 2nd graders were few in number this year, they were not lacking in creativity nor in depth when it came to their representations of those materials and truths which have helped them in their preparations for their First Communion. Enjoy!!
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Carolyn Kohlhaas
CGS Catechist and Formation Leader (Levels I, II, and III) Categories
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April 2024
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