Grade Five Curriculum

  Theme:

  Through the sacraments, the Church celebrates Christ's saving
  action in our lives.

  Objective:

  To help the child experience and understand the rites of the
  sacraments, and so become a more conscious and active participant
  in the Church's sacramental life.

  Basic Teachings Core Content -

  God is the source of all life.  We participate in God's own
  life particularly through the sacraments.

  The signs and symbols of the sacraments are drawn from creation
  and human culture, given special meaning by the events of the
  Old Covenant, and reach their fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

  A sacrament is a sign by which Jesus shares God's life, grace,
  with us.

  The Church celebrates seven sacraments:
    Sacraments of Christian initiation:
      Baptism,
      Confirmation,
      Eucharist,
    Sacraments of Healing:
      Penance,
      Anointing of the Sick,
    Sacraments at the Service of Communion:
      Holy Orders,
      Matrimony.

  Through the sacraments of Christian Initiation we receive
  the fullness of the Spirit and become members of the Church.

  Baptism is the sacrament by which we begin our life in the Church.
  We are reborn of water and the Spirit and share in the life of
  the risen Lord.  Baptism frees us from original sin and takes
  away all personal sins.

  Confirmation is the sacrament by which we receive in a special
  way the Holy Spirit who empowers us to grow in faith, obliging
  us to be Jesus' witnesses.

  The Eucharist is the sacrament in which the Lord Jesus himself,
  by the power of his word and Spirit, is present under the
  appearances of bread and wine, offered and received.
  By this sacrament, the Church lives and grows.

  At the Eucharistic celebration we gather in community to praise
  and thank the Father, to receive God's Word, and to celebrate
  Jesus' Paschal Mystery, that is, the mystery of his suffering,
  death and resurrection.  Jesus feeds us with his Body and Blood
  making us one with him and with each other.

  The change of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus
  is called "transubstantiation."

  Through the Sacraments of Healing, we are strengthened as
  members of the Church.

  Penance is the sacrament by which we receive God's merciful
  forgiveness for our personal sins and are reconciled with God,
  the Christian community, and ourselves.

  A priest forgives sin in God's name.

  The Anointing of the Sick is the sacrament in which the priest
  anoints with oil the seriously ill or aged so that through the
  power of Jesus they may be forgiven their sins, comforted in
  their suffering, and restored to health in spirit and sometimes
  in body as well.

  We are called to love and serve God.

  The Sacraments at the Service of Communion (that is, the
  commmunity of the Church) are Matrimony and Holy Orders.
  They confer a particular mission, directed towards others.
  They are sacraments of service.

  Matrimony is the sacrament by which a baptized man and a
  baptized woman are united as husband and wife and freely enter
  into a permanent, loving and life-giving covenant of
  fidelity to each other.

  Holy Orders is the sacrament through which the mission entrusted
  by Christ to his apostles continues to be exercised in the
  Church until the end of time.  It is the sacrament of
  apostolic ministry.  It includes three degrees:
  deacon, priest, bishop (diaconate, presbyterate, episcopate).

  Profession of Faith:

  Review the Apostles's Creed

  Words to be taught:

  Absolution, Confession, Contrition, Evangelization, Gloria,
  Minister, Ordination, Original Sin, Paschal Mystery,
  Sacrament, Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick,
  Sacrament of Confirmation, Sacrament of Holy Orders,
  Sacrament of Matrimony, Sign, Transubstantiation,
  Vocation.

  Liturgical symbols and gestures to be taught:

  Give Sacred Scripture a special place in the classroom.
  Encourage a reverent and prayerful attitude in the place of worship.
  Foster the children's participation in the prayer and worship
  of the parish community, in particular in the rites of the
  Sacraments.

  Prayers to be taught:

  Gloria
  Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary

  Prayers to be encouraged:

  Act of Love

  Review Prayers of the Previous Grades:

    Sign of the Cross
    Our Father
    Hail Mary
    Glory to the Father
    Act of Contrition
    Simple responses at Mass
    Morning and evening prayer
    Grace at meals
    Spontaneous prayer
    Prayer before the Blessed Sacrament
    Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary
    Act of Faith
    Stations of the Cross
    Sanctus

END of Grade Five