How to Teach First Graders About Saints

Saints are often honored with statues.

Saints are Christians who demonstrate exceptional understanding of the love of Christ and who live their lives with complete devotion to God. The Catholic Church honors saints as ideal role models, especially when it comes to demonstrating love and virtue. Part of a thorough first grade education for young Catholics includes learning about the saints. Whether your first grade students are familiar with the saints or don't know what a saint even is, you have the responsibility and the honor of endowing your students with the knowledge of what it means to be a saint.

Things You'll Need

• Book
• Art supplies

Instructions

1. Discuss the different ways we show honor and recognition to the saints. Many saints are honored not only on All Saints Day, but also in pictures displayed in Catholic churches and classrooms, with statues or simply with the sharing of that saint's story. Ask your students if they know of any buildings or streets that are named after a saint. Discuss other ways you can show honor to the saints.

2. Study the life of one saint each week. Allow your students to take turns to choose which saint your class will study. Briefly share the life story of the saint you're studying and discuss the impact that particular saint had on the world and on the people in his or her life.

3. Discuss several ways your students can become more saintlike. Remind your students that being a saint means more than having your picture on the wall. Being a saint means you live your life daily for God and make choices that bring honor and glory to Him. Sometimes being a saint isn't glamorous; instead, it means doing what needs to be done even in difficult situations. For example, maybe your students could help their mothers wash the dinner dishes without being asked, rake leaves in an elderly neighbor's lawn or help their siblings clean up a messy bedroom.

4. Draw pictures of the saint you're studying and hang the pictures in your classroom for the week. Compare the different pictures your students drew and discuss them. Maybe one student imagined a saint very differently than another student. Ask your students why they drew their saint the way that they did.

References

• Catholic Online: Resources for Teaching Your Child about the Saints
• "Teach Me about Saints: Discussions and Activities for Young Children (I Am Special)"; Paul S. Plum; 2003.
• Catholic Education Resource Center: What is a Saint?