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Title: What Do You See In Church?

Grade level: K-2

Overview: In this activity the students will learn to identify the parts of a church building and many of the liturgical objects used in the celebration of the Mass. When the children have completed the activity they will be able to define the following terms: altar, altar cloth, ambo or lectern, baptismal font, celebrant’s chair, chalice, ciborium, corporal, cruet, paten, pew, purificator, sacristy, sanctuary, and tabernacle.

Objectives: Students will:

1. learn to identify and describe the parts of the church building and a variety of liturgical objects used in the celebration of the Eucharist
2. email riddles to a cooperating class on a regular basis and include directions on where to email the solutions

Suggested Time Allowance: Variable.

Resources/Materials: a computer with internet and e-mail access.

Activities/Procedures:

1. Arrange to have the class tour the parish church and/or school chapel to see the different parts of the church building and to examine the liturgical objects used at Mass. Back in the classroom, define and discuss the parts of a church and the various liturgical objects with the children.

2. Establish an email relationship with a class at the same grade level at another school or parish. You can do this either through direct contact with another parish or school or by posting a request on the Internet. If you wish to make your contact online, you can do so through the Keypals home page at www.teaching.com/keypals/. The service provides an incredibly easy-to-use interface and database to quickly locate and contact a student or a class from around the world.

3. Have your class work together to make up a riddle about some part of the church building or about one of the liturgical objects used in the celebration of the Mass. One example might be, "I can be white, green, or purple, depending on the season of the year. What am I?" (answer: the altar cloth). Another might be, "I am the place where extra hosts are stored after Mass. What am I?"(answer: the tabernacle).

4. Email your riddle to your partner class. In your riddle message do include an email address to which the cooperating class can email their answer back to you, but do not include the answer to your riddle! Ask the other class to email their own riddle to you when they send you the answer to your riddle.

5. This exchange of riddles can go on for as many weeks as the students in both classes express interest in the activity.

Helpful Hints: Depending on the ability level and experience of the students, the teacher, another adult, or an older student may have to handle the typing and emailing for this activity. Also, if the students have access to a software program such as Kid Pix that allows them to make on-screen drawings, they might use it to draw pictures of some of the parts of the church and liturgical objects that they are studying. The class might want to email these pictures to the cooperating class along with their answers to the riddles. Eventually, both riddles and drawings might be posted on the school or parish Web site.

Links:

The following links offer useful background information for the teacher or catechist.

www.nccbuscc.org/comm/glossary.htm
www.archstl.org/links/gloss-lit.htm
www.archstl.org/links/gloss-terms.htm
http://www.catholicliturgy.com/index.cfm/FuseAction/ArticleText/ArticleIndex/45

Assessment: The children will be evaluated on their ability to identify various parts of the church building and a variety of liturgical objects used in the celebration of the Mass when given a verbal description of each. Alternately, the students might be evaluated on the basis of a quiz developed by the teacher or an older student and emailed to them. The quiz would consist of riddles similar to the ones the students will write themselves as part of the activity.

Catechism Correlation: An approved edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church can be found on the Internet at www.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm . Among the paragraphs relating to the items to be found in a Catholic church are #1182 (the altar); #1183 (the tabernacle); #1184 (the bishop’s or priest’s chair and the lectern, or ambo); and #1185 (the baptistry). You can use the Web site’s built-in search engine to find the paragraphs you need.

Created by: Jan Gagen, Director of Religious Education for Saint Mary Nativity Parish in Joliet, Illinois. She has been active in Religious Education for the past fifteen years as catechist, coordinator of primary grades, and director.

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