May 1, 2010

Congratulations to all for completing another great year at Saint Ignatius Parish CFF. We finished up the year with summary presentations on New Testament, Old Testament, Gospels, Pentateuch, Interpretations, Meanings to you. Everyone did very well with their presentations and power point descriptions. Here are a few photos:

Our year end party was a lot of fun too. Your two teams, answering questions from the Game Day power point, were lively and seemed to answer most of the questions and bonus points correctly. Team A got more bonus questions than Team B, but in any case, I think everyone scored good prizes in the end.

Finally, everyone answered a few year end questions, privately reflecting on our class, the knowledge you gained, and meanings to you. Thank you to everyone for working so diligently with your faith and church in 6th grade CFF.

Sincerely,

Tom Maher

April 16, 2010

Last Sunday we worked on our review of all of the chapters in Blest Are We. I was very impressed that everyone was able to quickly put together a summary of the chapter and give an oral presentation.

Everyone received a vocabulary sheet to fill out, listing all of the Blest Are We vocab words. Please bring your work on Sunday.

We are going to do the same oral style presentions for our Bible review this week. I suggest for everyone to take a few minutes and review in advance.

• Read the summary pages in your bibles (first page of each book)
• Read the "introduction" outlines for each book at: http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/index.shtml.
• Read & reveiw the small hand size bible outline book you received

Here is an outline of what you and a partner will be presenting:

a) discuss the major events of the following time periods and parts of the bible

b) comment on what was written, the authors intent and audiance, how our church interprets, what is the meaning to you.

- you will be assigned one or more of the following:

1. Genesis, creation, significant events & patriarchs (Genesis)
2. Joseph, Brothers, Family, Egypt (Genesis-Exodus)
3. Egypt, Moses, Red Sea to Jordon River (Exodus-Levi-Numbers-Deut)
4. Promised land, Judges, Kings-Prophets Exile (Joshua-Judges-Kings-Chron--Proph)
5. New Testament, Jesus, Gospels, Acts, Letters

I look forward to seeing everyone on Sunday.

Tom

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Sunday March 28, 2010

Last Sunday we studied Acts and Letters. We did our famous W's on the white boards...who what where why when whom, from the title page of each of these in the New Testament. If you missed class please go to your bibles and read these pages, starting 1584, 1636, 1661 and so on.

We spent some time going over Acts, including...(titles in our bibles) new apostle, peter's message, apostles persecuted, stephen, Saul-Paul, Peter, Philippi, Thessalinica, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, Jerusalem, arrested, Rome, Malta, Rome.

I had some maps and we watched some videos about Corinth. Many of you caught on quick that we were watching home movies from people on vacation in Greece. In any case, they were tracing Paul's journey like us. We read briefly from some of the Letters, and found frequent referrals to "Friends"...."this is what I mean my friends"....."and now I want to remind you my friends"...."so then my dear friends."

We also looked at an outline on letter writing formats. Everyone seemed to know this already....introductions, body, closing. Paul's outlines go like this....

Opening - referrals to sender-receiver and a blessing

Thanks - thanksgiving statement & introduce theme

Body - message of the letter, details of the theme

Closing - includes his personal greetings, prayers, hymn, praise

Its not so easy to pick these out from letters in the bible. But like our project of finding "quotes" in John, if you look close, you may find phrases like: (Romans page 1636)

"..I write to all of you in Rome......may God our Father ...give you grace and peace." ......" First, I   thank my God...for all of you...". " ....if someone has done you wrong....." " I urge you my friends..."...." so then my friends"...."let us give glory to God"....

You dont need to spend much time on this and dont go looking to hard. Next time you are in church, and you hear " a letter from Paul to the Corinthians" , maybe you will hear something that sounds like an opening, body and closing.

Today, Palm Sunday, we did not have class and Easter Sunday is the same, no CFF classes. Wow, nothing to do? Ok, you know me better than that. Here are some things you could take a look at in preparation for our next meetings:

Vocabulary - review ALL of the vocab words (highlighted in yellow) on the Hear and Believe pages in Blest are We. In your bibles, begin to thumb through Old and New Testament to refresh your memories on the major themes we have talked about.

(I will post some new videos later in the week) Happy Easter Week..

Tom

Monday, March 15, 2010

Everyone was busy Sunday working on the Gospel of John. We studied a short outline that described how to look for the 2nd level meaning to what you are reading. For example, vine, tree, branch, fruit, light, and bread are words that are intended to have greater meaning than just what is written.

The class assignment involved scanning through numerous chapters in John and looking for quotes that would have a greater meaning or something that you think is significant to the topic. I think everyone caught on quickly. If you did not finish in class you may bring your completed work next Sunday. I will email a copy of your work back to you for reference.

The topics listed in your Bible, in John are: (abbreviated) :

Word of life, John the Baptist, 1st disciples, Wedding at Cana, Jesus at temple, Feeds 5000, Walks on water, Bread of life, is He the Messiah, Shepherd, Weeps, Entry to Jerusalem, Wash feet, Predict betray, Real vine, Peter denies, Jesus before Pilate, Crucified, Death, Pierced, Empty tomb, Jesus appears.

Remember, you are looking for "quotes" of just a few words, that you believe are significant.

This coming Sunday we are working on The Acts of the Apostles and Letters. You should be glancing through these parts of the Bible in advance. READ "Study It" Pauls Journey page1607, Paul put to test page 1629.

I look forward to seeing everyone on Sunday. Here are few new videos for you to watch.

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March 1, 2010

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March 1, 2010

We have been working with the New Testament for a few weeks now. Early in February we compared the Gospel writer's styles, length, audience, and similarites. The last two weeks we also have been reviewing a list of New Testament writings.

You are familiar with most of these from prior CFF classes and from the readings in Mass. Keep working on these as you should be able to easily recognize and give a brief comment on each of these Gospel stories. (See attached page here)

Later in the month there will be a family reconciliation day, Saturday March 27 at 10:00 am. All of the 6th grade should attend. We will do some preparation studies in class.

We completed the Hear and Believe readings for chapters 17, 18, 19, 20 and will do the Unit 5 review questions this week. We did the online games but as you know, the results were not so good. Maybe we will try again.

Many of you have been asking for some video updates. Ok, here they are! Keep up with your home bible Gospel readings. You're are getting familiar with Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

See you on Sunday!