By Mary Kizior
You have decided that this year you would like to focus on pro-life education, but where do you start? Use September to set the pro-life tone for the year. Take this month to make sure your students remember terms like “pro-life” and “culture of life.” Brush up your high school student’s memory of specific pro-life topics, like euthanasia, in a one-day review session.
Back to school!
Decorate your classroom with fun ideas from Pinterest. Bulletin boards are a great way to share pro-life quotes or feature pro-life heroes for your students. Make the culture of life come alive for the students in your classroom with these creative bulletin board ideas on our Pinterest page.
September 5: Saint Teresa of Calcutta
Mother Teresa is a powerful pro-life saint. As her feast day draws near, take some time to learn about her life with this lesson for kindergarten through 2nd grade: Do Small Things with Great Love: Saint Teresa of Calcutta (now available as a printed lesson) or Serving the Poorest of the Poor: St. Teresa of Calcutta for 5th-6th grade students.
September 8: Nativity of Our Lady
No pro-life lesson plan would be complete without a tribute to Mary the mother of God. Because of her yes to God, the Blessed Mother plays a key role in salvation history. This month, we honor Mary at her birth, remembering that she was born without the stain of original sin. Celebrate with a birthday party for Our Lady and learn about her parents, Saints Joachim and Anne, who trusted God in their infertility. For a more in-depth lesson on Our Lady, check out our lesson entitled Honoring the Blessed Mother for 3rd and 4th grade students. In this lesson filled with Marian-themed stories, discussions, and activities, students learn about why we honor Mary and what we can do to ask for her intercession in building a culture of life.
September 10: Grandparents Day
Grandparents Day, which falls on the Sunday after Labor Day, was established in 1979 as a national holiday to honor the elderly and aging citizens in our communities and provides a way for children to grow in respect for their elders. The idea for a national holiday honoring grandparents started when Marian McQuade discovered that many of the people in nursing homes are lonely or only get remembered once a year at Christmas. As a mother of 15 children and grandmother to 40 grandchildren, she understood the importance of children connecting with their grandparents and learning about their family history. On Grandparents Day, schoolchildren are encouraged to visit their grandparents or other lonely elderly persons and spend the day with them.
September 14: The Exaltation of the Holy Cross
For the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, use our Dream of the Rood 3-day unit study with your high school students. “Dream of the Rood” is a medieval poem that tells the story of Christ’s death on the cross as an epic battle over sin and death. In our unit study, students learn about Christ’s life-giving death on the cross and why suffering is an important part of the Christian life.
Looking ahead to October . . .
October is Respect Life Month. Get ahead by ordering a copy of Life Is Precious to teach your children or students in your class about the sacredness of all babies.
Mary Kizior is a content developer for American Life League’s Culture of Life Studies Program, which stresses the culture of life as an integral part of every academic discipline. CLSP is dedicated to helping students become effective communicators of the pro-life message. Sign up for our e-mail newsletter to see how we can help you foster a culture of life at home and in school.