While the maps help to locate the places in which Jesus lived and show their relation to each other, they do not focus on what happened in each. To help with this aspect of geography there are some extensions offered to the older L2 and the L3 children including booklets, charts, and packets, all of which invite the children back into their Bibles as they look up citations related to the geographical features of Israel.
The L2 children continue to enjoy making maps of the Land of Israel. However, there is even more to discover by looking at additional cities, mountains, and deserts!
After spending a year with the globe and raised surface map, experiencing the terrain and hearing the language for these most important geographical elements, the 4yo children in the Atrium are introduced to the regions of Israel through a Puzzle Map. Nazareth is in the region of Galilee where Jesus spent most of his life including most of his ministry. Judea encompasses both Bethlehem and Jerusalem, a place to which Jesus traveled frequently in his adult years in particular. In between these regions is Samaria, an area often avoided by the Jewish people but one that comes up repeatedly in Jesus' teaching. Finally, across the Jordan River is Perea, described in the Bible as "the wilderness." Jesus spent time in this region listening to and speaking with God in prayer.
Once, when I was presenting the Regions Map to a 5yo, a nearby 4yo leaned over and very quietly and seriously proclaimed, "God really likes tiny things." He then went right back to his work as the 5yo and I continued repeating the names of the regions. The children enjoy making their own map of Israel, using the Regions Puzzle Map as their guide. Often the 5yos return to this work and enjoy utilizing their beginning writing skills by copying the names of the regions and waterways onto their map. While the globe allows us to to see the whole earth at once, it is really too small to allow us to look more closely at the tiny land of Israel. Thus we have another material in the atrium that allows us to feel and explore the hills and valleys, highs and lows of this land in which Jesus lived. Not long after the globe is presented, perhaps even on the same day, we offer to the young child the Raised Surface Map of Israel.
Jesus' coming was announced to Mary in Nazareth (symbolized by a flame for the Holy Spirit). He was born in Bethlehem (shown by a star comet). Jesus died and rose just outside the walls of Jerusalem (represented by a cross). These three cities form the background for some of the most important events in Jesus life and, thus, in our faith. Young children often ask questions about what is real: Do bears wear clothes? Do plants grow? Do cars talk? Does snow fall? Do people live on the moon? Do fish swim in the ocean? As adults we often find their questions endearing...or perhaps overwhelming! Young children are trying to understand the way the world in which we live works. They have only just entered into life and and are growing in their understanding of it each day.
God is the most real of all that exists because He is the creator of all that we encounter around us. However, because we can't exactly see and touch the Trinity it can be hard to know how to show Him as real. (Yes, I know we see and touch Jesus in the Eucharist...but that's also another huge layer of mystery, right?!) While we speak about God and Jesus and listening and speaking with God from the very first day of our entry into the Atrium, it is the geography materials (presented just before Advent) which provide the children with an opportunity to receive the proclamation of the "realness" of Jesus. Jesus really lived on the earth. He lived in a tiny land called "Israel." God could have chosen a great nation, a large country, but He chose a tiny place that we know as Israel. This is where Jesus was born and lived and taught and died and rose. I wonder what that tells us about God. He wanted to be with us and to do so He chose a tiny place, the tiny land of Israel. What a beautiful gift to celebrate Christmas with the children in the Atrium and to enjoy His beautiful Light, a Light for each of us to receive and to share with all those we meet. This year the second grade children looked at many of the Infancy Narratives and pondered what they heard about Jesus by focusing on smallness and greatness. Here are a few fruits of our conversation:
The Annunciation:
What a gift that the great God would come in such a humble, tiny way, and, at the same time, take humble, tiny people and make them so very, very great. May you know the greatness of the Gift we celebrate once more this Christmas. Truly, He is so very good to us.
A group of L1 children gathered at the Prayer Table listing names for Jesus: - My Lord and My God - My Teacher - My Shepherd - Awesome God - Good God - Love of God - Mary's House - God's Strength Catechist: "Why so many names?" - "He's perfect" (5yo) On this eve of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, it is fitting to share how the children delight in our Blessed Mother.
- In recalling the Annunciation with a 4yo the child consistently referred to her as "Mama Mary." - A 3yo placed a statue of Mary next to the Good Shepherd on the Prayer Table saying, "She takes care of the Good Shepherd." - A group of kindergarteners were pondering the Parable of the Hidden Treasure. In the conversation the Treasure was identified as: God, Jesus' sheep, His apostles, and Mary and Joseph. - In asking a group of L1 children about names for Jesus one child replied, "Mary's house." The E1 children (Level 2) were invited to choose an Infancy Narrative and look for how that Scripture fit with the prophecy from Isaiah 9:1, "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light." Here are some of their thoughts... |
Carolyn Kohlhaas
CGS Catechist and Formation Leader (Levels I, II, and III) Categories
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