Thursday, June 21, 2012

Beatitudes & Modern Saints

I created this game for a program...that no one showed up to.
It happens sometimes in ministry, and I have learned to not get frustrated about it.
Besides, I have a game ready made for another opportunity, and something new to stash on the soon-to-be labeled Saint shelf in my new classroom.

The topic for the night was the Beatitudes.  I decided to make a game that followed the same rules of Old Maid while giving info about the Beatitudes.  I also wanted to tie in some modern day Saints.  Most Catholic kids can tell you about St. Francis, St. Peter, and St. Patrick.  But do they know St. Edith Stein, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, and St. Gianna Molla?  I looked up info on Saints that lived sometime in the past hundred years or so.  I then tried to match each of them to a particular Beatitude that they particularly exemplified... and it was very difficult.  I think that I could have used any of these Saints as a model for any of the Beatitudes, which makes sense.  The Beatitudes were Jesus' New Law.  These men and women were living out lives of heroic virtue, so it makes perfect sense that they would be examples of everything found in Matthew 5.  I actually found out that Blessed John Paul the Great referred to Blessed Pier Giorgio as "A Man of the Eight Beatitudes."

The game includes a set of directions and a standard sheet for the back of the cards.  A full deck of 53 cards is needed for the game.  There are pairs of 26 different cards based on the Scripture of the Beatitudes, the Saints, biographies of their lives, and virtues/vices that correspond with the Beatitudes.  There is also one "Beatitude Bad Attitude" Card- which is the equivalent of the Old Maid card.

Click on the picture of the eight Saints below for a link to download the game. Have fun playing and learning about the Beatitudes and these awesome Saints!


***Update: The printable game has been edited to reflect JP2 and Mother Teresa's canonizations :)

45 comments:

  1. This is awesome! Thanks for bringing our material on saints into modern times.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you so much for sharing this!! I came across this by doing a Google search because the school theme in our diocese this coming school year it the Beatitudes. I was hoping to highlight a saint each month who exemplifies each of them. I am so happy that you chose modern day saints. You have saved me a lot of time and given me a great jumping off point. And also a reason to give my blog another try.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Julie! I am glad that you can use this game. God Bless your work with teaching the Beatitudes this year! :)

      Delete
  4. Thank you so much for sharing your resources! :) I am so glad I found your blog!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you so much for sharing these wonderful resources! By any chance, have you updated the Beatitudes / Modern Day Saints to show Pope John Paul II as Saint instead of Blessed? Just thought I would check before I printed up the game cards. Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Just found your site and thank you for the great resource. I plan to use it with our 6th graders. Do you recommend any other good sites, like yours, for teaching Catholic Catechism to middle schoolers? jeandonny2000 at hotmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mary-Anne, here are a few sites that I turn to:

      Sadlier.com (resources that match our religion text, free printables)
      catholicicing.com (More primary activities, but still might give you some ideas)
      catholicinspired.com (Crafts, food, etc, especially for Saints)
      paperdali.blogspot.com (Saints & Liturgical Paper Dolls/coloring pages)
      catholicblogger1.blogspot.com (The Catholic Toolbox)
      catechist.com (Catechist Magazine)

      Hope that helps!

      Delete
  7. I so wish I had found this to prepare before today since my children are not going to let me prepare it now and it is the perfect game for today's reading and feast day!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry you didn't find it sooner! Make it now and tuck it away for another time :)

      Delete
  8. Thank you for sharing your talent and gifts. I am very excited about teaching next week using your All Hallow's Eve book as a take home resource and this great game for some fun fellowship time. May God continue to bless your work

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your feedback! I'm so glad this is an activity that was helpful to you!

      Delete
  9. This is great! Thanks so much!

    ReplyDelete
  10. its sad no one showed up but if it makes you feel better, you helped me figure out what to write on my religion report!

    ReplyDelete
  11. You have become my go to resource when I want to bring some fun to religious education.

    ReplyDelete
  12. thank you so much i hve been crazed and my students will benefit grately from this as part of their curriculum is the beattitudes
    Crystal

    ReplyDelete
  13. thank you so much i hve been crazed and my students will benefit grately from this as part of their curriculum is the beattitudes
    Crystal

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hey Katie! I can't seem to get any of your Google Drive links to work

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Emma! I know! You aren't the first one to comment this afternoon. Something is wrong and I can't figure out what it is yet. If there is an activity that you need the printables for asap, feel free to email me at katherine (dot) bogner (at) gmail (dot) com and I will send them directly to you. Otherwise, please check back soon and hopefully we will be up and running. Sorry for the inconvenience!

      Delete
    2. Emma, everything seems to be up and running now. Let me know if you have any more trouble. Thanks!

      Delete
  15. Thank you so much for sharing your awesome teaching tools!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are welcome, Alma! Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  16. I love your ideas! I've been using them in my class. I'm planning to use the beatitudes and modern saints game soon and wondered if you would have time to update Mother Teresa to a saint. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  17. You have an incredible website and gift at presenting our faith in such a beautiful, accessible way. I have been using many other things from your website over the years but just discovered this. Many, many thanks. May God reward your efforts!

    ReplyDelete
  18. This is so fabulous! Love your blog and the handy resources here. Thank you! :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. This game looks amazing! I can't wait to play it with our youth group. Thank you for all the time you put into this! I know what it's like to prepare and plan and then have no group show. It happens to all of us sometimes. I love the way you decided to share it with the world and bless others with your creativity and time. God bless you!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Thank you so much for sharing this resource! I plan to use it this week when grandparents visit my fourth grade classroom. The fruits of your labor will be many!

    ReplyDelete
  21. My grade 5 child next lesson is Beatitudes. Im so glad ive come across your site. this will help her a lot as they will have an activity of searching people or groups who live out the beatitudes. Godbless you.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thank you for all of your great ideas! I am a Lutheran teaching at a Catholic school! A lot of things are the same but I don't know a lot about the Saints. I have used a lot of your ideas and projects to help me teach the different aspects of the Catholic religion. Thank you for your fun and creative ideas!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Emily! I'm so glad that my site has been helpful! We do have so much in common to share, but I'm happy that I can help with some of the uniquely Catholic things ;)

      Delete
  23. excellent I am so happy to find a lot of ideas God bless you

    ReplyDelete
  24. Thank you so much for creating this! My 3rd/4th grade Catechism class will be playing this tomorrow!

    ReplyDelete