Recap 11/13/16: Learning the Colors of the Church Season

Hi everyone!

Great day in the atrium today!

We began learning about the colors of the church "seasons" or year.  Some of the children heard this last year, but it is always good to review.  So, when you take them to Mass on Thanksgiving, and on the Sunday after Thanksgiving (we don't have atrium the weekend after Thanksgiving), ask them to watch and see what color chasuble the priest is wearing.  (Yes, the learned the name of the outer garment the priest wears.)  Do the same whenever we don't have atrium, so they will see that the colors do change, just like the seasons in nature change!

Here is what they learned:

white = "the feast"  (Christmas, Easter, etc.)
purple = "before the feast" and "preparing for the feast" (Advent, Lent)
green = "growing time" and "after the feast"
red = "feast of the Holy Spirit"

We also revisited a favorite song from last year, "The Liturgical Colors Song."  It is a catchy tune; once your child learns it you may hear him/her singing it a lot!

Here are the lyrics to the song:

Purple and green, red and white are the colors of the year.

Purple and green, red and white remind us of the light.

Purple’s for preparation;

White is for celebration;

Green is for the growing time,

Red is for Pentecost.

Purple and green, red and white are the colors of the year.

Purple and green, red and white remind us of the light.

If you would like to hear the tune, check out this Youtube video (or here:)  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXM-VfPqo5g

We will be singing this song every week now, at least until before our Christmas break.

During individual work time, we had a variety of works that help them retain the "purple, green, red and white" concept while helping them work on their small motor skills.  For example, works that encouraged them to use chopsticks to move colored pom poms from one area to the area.  These works were very popular last year!  We will have them out for a couple of weeks.  I usually replace them with "purple" work once we move into Advent.  Again, to reinforce that we are in the "purple season; the season of preparation for the feast."  

Here are some photos from the individual work time today.

Ms. Christy working with the children on placing the color chasubles on the stand.

Junior helper Marlo helping one of the children with the colored pom-pom work

Move children working with other colored pom pom work.  There are only four colors, to reinforce the fact that the four main colors of the church year are purple, green, red and white.

Junior helper Calista showing one of the children how to "spoon" the colored pom poms

'Lots of productive work today during individual work time! In general, notice their intense concentration. It is usually relatively quiet during these times, although we do have days when the children are more talkative, too!

 Next Thursday will be our last session before the one-week break for Thanksgiving.  Then we will be moving on to the lessons of Advent, my favorite time of the year, both in the atrium and at home.