This unit focuses on God as Creator. From Genesis, Chapter 1 we learn that God created human beings on the sixth day. And God looked at this creation in the divine image and found it to be good. Thus Christians believe that the human body is a good creation of a loving God. See Family Time for additional background and family activities. English Spanish Chapter 5 |  Chapter 6 |  Chapter 7
		God Creates Me Learning Goals This chapter will help your child • realize that God's love makes everyone special. • deepen an awareness of the special talents God has given to each person. • learn how to praise God with the use of one's talents. • praise God for the gifts of self and of talents. • praise God by celebrating talents. Background Children need to know that regardless of how they look - short or tall, stout or lean; or how they are - clumsy or graceful - God loves them. Whatever physical challenges - an inability to see, walk, talk, smell, feel, or hear - God loves them. About Your Child Since children develop at different rates and have a variety of gifts, it is important to accept and affirm your child's unique pattern of growth. Acquiring skills and developing talents involves hard work, mistakes, and occasional failures. In learning, mistakes can be as important as successes. This chapter helps your child see that all talents are gifts from God. It helps your child realize that whatever his or her talents might be, they can be used to praise God, the Great Gift-giver. Back to top
		God Gives Me Feelings Learning Goals This chapter will help your child • identify many feelings. • understand that God knows how we feel. • learn how Hannah shared her feelings with God and others. • deepen an awareness of the many feelings that God has given us. • praise God by celebrating feelings. Background With perfect confidence, the psalmist strummed his lyre and sang the following words to God: God, you know me! You know when I sit and when I stand. You know my secret thoughts. You know all my ways. (based on Psalm 139:1-3) God knows our ways and feelings. God knows the secret feelings of our heart. About Your Child This chapter offers a wonderful opportunity for you to help your child begin to be comfortable with feelings. Various activities enable your child to better identify and understand personal feelings. You can help with the understanding that God gives us many feelings and that God knows how we feel. Your child will come to understand that no matter what the feeling, God's love is there. As the months pass, you will be able to help your child understand that the way one expresses feelings affects others. Be on the lookout for opportunities to help your child learn to express feelings in healthy ways. Back to top
		God Creates My Senses Learning Goals This chapter will help your child • discover that our five senses are gifts from God. • deepen an appreciation of the five senses. • thank God for each of the senses. • become more aware of the senses. • praise God by celebrating the senses. Background The Catholic Church values and appreciates our senses. During the course of our lives we feel the oil as the Church baptizes and then confirms us. In Baptism we also feel the cool wetness of water. At Mass, we taste the consecrated host and drink of the cup. We hear the sounds of music. We smell beeswax as candles burn, and sometimes incense. Every week we experience a Church that celebrates with symbols, color, flowers, candles, water, vestments, and often an architecture that calls forth reverence. We touch the palms of those seated next to us in church, or we embrace a loved one in the Sign of Peace. About Your Child This chapter introduces your child to the senses as gifts from a gracious God. There is an awareness of how to use senses to discover the world itself. Introduce your child to various ethnic customs. For example, commemorate the way Egyptians celebrate spring by having a picnic breakfast. Fill a basket with hard-cooked eggs, cheese, fruit, and bread. Celebrate the Jewish festival of Sukkoth - a fall harvest celebration - as they do in Israel, by making a vegetable or fruit salad. Celebrate the New Year as they do in Vietnam by tasting sweetened coconut. Back to top