In the next few days we will provide this information in PDF printable format.  If you have comments and/or things you want to add about the presentation, please feel free to do so at the bottom of this page (click on the plus sign by the Comments.) or contact us. 

 Contact the Parish Education Religious Office (291-7222) for information on how to contact our fellow catechist, Phillip, with questions.  Thank you.

Phillip Sandoval provided the St. Mary's Catechists the following information at his recent presentation:

1. Phillip started with the following premise:
   Every month we retain maybe 60 minutes of information.
   That breaks down to:
   
   • 2 minutes every day.
   
   
   
   • 30 seconds in an hour.
     
     His question to us:  What are you going to fill with the 30 seconds of retained information for the kids in your group?
   
   
   



2. Harcourt considers itself involved in lifelong faith formation with us, it is not just for kids it is for every Catholic at every stage of their development.  It is a community process.  We should encourage the heads of all families to be the lead catechists in their home -- and every member of the family should be considered a catechist in our community.



3. He prefers we not refer to it as CCD because it has connotations that make some adults think that learning about our faith and practices is only for kids and only has to take place at second grade communion, and seventh and eighth grade confirmation and we are good to go.  (In fact, this is the reason we have started to refer to our program as Parish Religious Education.)



4. Phillip encourages us to avoid single theme year long teaching.  The Harcourt Call to Faith Series that we use uses seven main themes throughout the year.  These themes are meant to reflect the basic pillars of the Catholic Church teachings.  Each year the themes are addressed differently, with more detail, more complexity. This is laid out in the front of every teacher's guide.



5. You should try to familiarize yourself with the General Directory of Catechisis or the USCCB version, which is online, the National Directory of Catechesis. )  Phillip recommends the Directory of Catechesis in plain english by Bill Huebsch. 



6. There are three chapters for each of the seven themes.  There are also 18 chapters in the back of the book that cover catechism basics and event-driven themes (Lent, Advent...) 



7. Each Grade level book has music CDs associated with it.  Each chapter has at least one reproducible page.  If it doesn't say it is a reproducible page, it is not to be copied.  Additional materials are online.



8. Each chapter of the books is laid out into five separate parts and each is given a ball park time estimate of how long each part generally takes to complete.



9. Every page of the Childrens' books is perforated for a reason.  Have the children tear out different pages of the book every week and tell them to take it home as homework for their parents and family to do.  Have them put it on the refrigerator at home to be brought back the next week.
   
   This is a link to online unit reviews families may enjoy at home. 
   
   The Harcourt Religion Publications website is: http://www.harcourtreligion.com.  98% of the information there is open to the public.  A small portion of the information specific to catechist lesson planning and resources requires a login to access.  Once you login, you can , tailor and printout your own lesson plan to suit your needs each week.



10. The Website offers games for the kids which St. Marys can use.  Go here to see them.



11. Phillip closed with the story of dealing with a difficult student on a pilgrimage, Johnny.  Johnny was a handful from the start.  And Johnny ended up being the only person in Phillip's group that wanted to take a ten mile hike that Phillip himself did not want to take.  Phillip decided to hike with Johnny.  Phillip ended up teaching Johnny about the tool of the rosary and what it means.  His point was you never know when you will catch someone who is ready to break open the word with you.  Be open to those moments.