Today is the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of Mary. This days honors the sacrifices and struggles that Mary endured during her life as she participated in the redemptive mission of Christ. These seven sorrows remind us again that we can turn to Mary in all things, and she will direct us to her Son. All of the stories can be found in the Gospels, starting with this one: "and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted and you yourself a sword will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” ~Luke 2:34-35 Today my students learned a little more about Mary and practiced looking up Scripture references. We have already been talking about the Immaculate Heart of Mary during our study on St. Maximilian Kolbe and the Miraculous Medal art project we made last week. I made some resources that you are free to use with your kiddos as well! I used the notes below and did a Bible Jigsaw activity. The kids each were assigned one of the Scripture references, and then had to look it up, read it, and summarize it. They shared that summary with the rest of the class and we decided what the sorrow was in the story. After they identified it, I gave them the "official" name and they wrote it in their notes. Then we went on to the next group and the next story until we had found all seven. This was a great method to review how to find things in the Bible and an effective way to hear all seven stories in a short amount of time (this whole activity took us about 20 minutes). We will save this info sheet and add it to our Fulton Sheen Notebooking Project in the Mary section. Click here for a blank version of the Seven Sorrows of Mary Notes that your students can fill in: Click here for a completed version of the Seven Sorrows of Mary Notes: I used the base of those notes and made some Immaculate Heart of Mary coloring pages as well. The kids just got to take home this stained glass one and could color it if they wanted or give it away to someone. Sometimes it is just good to send them out with good materials so they have the option to keep learning when the school day is over. :) I also may have enjoyed coloring one myself! Click here for the Immaculate Heart of Mary Stained Glass Coloring Page: Click here for the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pray for Us Stained Glass Coloring Page: Click here for the Immaculate Heart of Mary Coloring Page: Click here for the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pray for Us Coloring Page: Some other resources you may like: -Holy Heroes has a free downloadable coloring book with a page for each of the Seven Sorrows of Mary. -Mod H Mary has some super cool beautiful and free Marian coloring pages. (And this print from her Etsy shop! So gorgeous!) -Here is a single coloring page with a small picture of each of the Seven Sorrows. -Peanut Butter and Grace has ideas for celebrating the Feast of the Sorrowful Mother with your kids. -Catholic Icing has tons of crafts and food ideas for the Immaculate Heart of Mary. You might also like these matching coloring pages for the Sacred Heart of Jesus: