Unit Activity

Invite a member of your parish’s “Respect Life Committee” to a session. In advance, work with the children to create questions to ask this person, such as:

• How is our parish involved in respect life issues?
• What is our parish doing to help end abortion?
• What are some ways fifth graders can help promote a Culture of Life?

Be sure to send a thank-you note to your guest. Also, encourage the children to share with their families what they learned in this session.

Unit Activity

Put the names of all the children in a bowl. Each child draws a name and is to make a “medal” to honor the child whose name he or she draws. This medal should identify some inner quality the child possesses, not for external appearance or physical talent.

You may want to put on the board a sample list of possible “inner qualities,” such as: truthful, kind, humorous, generous, patient, helpful, sensitive, forgiving, loyal, honest, courageous, gentle, and thoughtful.

Unit Activity

Guide the children to work in small groups. Have them create skits to illustrate ways that children their age can express themselves positively. Encourage them to create skits that model good manners. Encourage them to portray scenes at home, school, church, or the community.

Background Article

The Catholic Church teaches that every human being has been created by God in his divine image and is precious to him. This is why the sanctity of human life and the inherent dignity of the human person are the foundation of Catholic social teaching.

We are asked to love and honor the life of every man and woman and to work with perseverance and courage so that our time, marked by all too many signs of death, may at last witness the establishment of a new culture of life, the fruit of the culture of truth and of love.