Learning about Baptism

One of the greatest things about being a second grade teacher at a Catholic school is getting to teach the kids all about the sacraments. For the last month we've been learning all about Baptism. We've learned the vocabulary, the stories and the symbols. We spent a lot of time learning the different parts of the ceremony and what each symbol represents. 

They then learned all about their own baptisms. They researched the day, the time, the presiding priest, the parish and how they reacted when they were anointed with oil and water. They created baptismal collages and presented their own baptisms to their classmates. Below you can see some of the collages they created. The collages had to include the different symbols they'd learned about. 

To finish up our study of baptism our own school priest offered to hold a teddy bear baptism. Having never attended a teddy bear baptism, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. We followed an example found on teacherspayteachers (Teddy Bear Baptism) and had a wonderful time!

Students brought in either a teddy bear or beloved stuffed animal from home. They gave it a baptismal name and created a candle and a baptismal gown. They even picked suitable godparents for their bears. (I am currently godmother to 7 bears, an alligator and a baby doll.)

Finally, we walked over to the church and our priest explained the different steps of baptism. He used the time to have the kids express what they had learned and share their understanding. He talked about the official words used in baptism and even had the kids sprinkle a little holy water on their bears heads from the baptismal font.

I was extremely impressed by my students ability to not only answer Father's questions, but to also explain what they had learned. A teddy bear baptism, although rather unconventional, was an excellent performance assessment for our study on the sacrament of baptism.