I always start my year in religion with an overview of the Sacraments. Our 5th grade curriculum focuses on all seven of them as a gift to the Church from Christ. We will get into the nitty-gritty of each throughout the year, but I like to begin with a big picture. Because we have been talking quite a bit about symbolism within literature in our St. Maximilian Kolbe unit (more on that soon!), I thought we could make some connections with symbols that we use to represent the Sacraments. Here is how our graphic organizer turned out: Note that these are not necessarily the official "signs" of the Sacrament, just something that draws our mind to make a connection. I know there are many more symbols, but this is what the 5th graders came up with (some with a little help!). The graphic organizer also divides the Sacraments into the categories of Initiation, Service, and Healing, as well as lists a few Bible references connected to the Sacrament. We also now have a matching anchor chart on the wall to use as reference throughout the year. If you would like to use this idea to review/intro the Sacraments there are two printables available below, one filled out, and one with the note taking space left blank. They would make a great addition to a notebooking project! Click here for the graphic organizer that you can fill in yourself: Click here for the filled in version of our notes:
