Community Service Class Activities

• The Roman Catholic Church instills an attitude of service to the community in young people. Encourage Catholic elementary school students toward community service with an in-class project. Arrange with a local homeless shelter director to visit a grade school religion class and make a presentation about homelessness in your area. Awaken students to see the homeless as figures out of the gospels for whom Jesus had compassion. Give students a list of items to bring from home for donations to homeless people. Ask students to wrap toothpaste, a toothbrush, a bar of soap, a washcloth, deodorant and a travel sewing kit in a bath towel. Bring the donations to the homeless shelter to give to the needy.
  
  

Catechism Activities

• The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains all of the articles of Catholic faith the church determines its members should know. Use class time in courses across the curriculum to teach selected students the Nicene Creed, the profession of faith recited at Mass. Test the children and ask one child from each class to recite the Profession of Faith at an assembly during the Easter season. Commission a poster with the Nicene Creed made by art students. Frame and hang the poster in a common area.
  
  

Bible Classroom Activities

• The Catholic Church teaches that God inspired human authors to write the texts of the Bible and that the Bible teaches why God created human beings as played out in sacred history. Assign Bible activities across the curriculum to indicate the Bible's relevance in human knowledge. Show grade school students in English class the Bible's wealth of literature. Provide a list of the types of literature, such as poetry, history and wisdom, in the Bible. Ask students to find evidence of poetry with stanzas, rhythm and symbols in Psalms. Divide students into groups to find biblical examples of history from the Hebrew and the Christian scriptures.
  
  

Social Justice Activities

• World geography may bring the idea of world hunger alive. Educate older Catholic grade school students, who will educate other classes about world hunger, by inviting them and teachers to a "banquet" that reflects hunger in the world. Give 15 percent of guests a sack lunch with a sandwich, fruit, chips and a drink, 35 percent a bowl of rice and beans and the remaining 50 percent a couple of tablespoons of rice and a small cup of water. Ask students to explain to their guests that this is how people around the world eat every day, with most people leaving the table hungry or starving, according to Oxfam America. Students become teachers with a bit of effort and commitment to the Catholic vision of social justice.