PreK-Kindergarten

Focusing on the wonderful world of God’s creation is a great way to touch the religious imagination of young children  The children explore God’s world using the gift of their senses.
They come to understand their responsibility to care for creation.  They meet God in creation, coming to see the gifts of creation as signs of God’s great love. The children learn about Jesus’
birth and life on earth.  They come to understand how Jesus entered into creation in order to bring us God’s saving love.  This age group learn about the Church as a family created by God.  This
family gathers on Sunday to show him love and worship. They are introduced to the concept that God created us to know, love, and serve him.  All creation is called to live by the law of love. 
The children begin to learn that the sacraments are gifts of creation used in a special way in our Catholic faith.  The children also see that God has a plan for creation, and that all people are
called to justice, love, and peace that mark God’s kingdom in its fullness.

First Grade
The first grade children are encouraged to learn about God and to grow in their relationship with the Holy Trinity.  They learn that God made each of us and wants us to come to know and love
him.  God shares with us his creative work by entrusting all creation to our care.  The children are introduced to the Holy Trinity.  They learn that Jesus in both divine and human.  That Jesus used
stories and actions to teach us about God.  They learn that Jesus gave his life that we could have new life forever with God.  The children learn about the Church as the community of God’s
people and they explore signs of the Holy Spirit’s presence in the church.  They explore the rules for living a life of love. It is here that they are first introduced to the concept of sin as turning
away from God. The sacraments are presented as signs and celebrations of God’s loving presence. They come to see that God is forgiving and that He promises us everlasting life.

Second Grade

The focus of this level is Jesus Christ.  The children see how Jesus called us to follow him.  In
Jesus’ actions of feeding and forgiving they come to an awareness of the sacramental life of the
church.  They see that Jesus gave us the sacraments as signs of God’s life and love. The
children learn more about their membership in the Church and come to understand that the
Mass celebrates Jesus’ saving love. They explore more deeply the law of love givin to us
by Jesus and learn more about sin and contrition.   They prepare for and celebrate the
Sacrament of Reconciliation.  They learn that Jesus will come again to bring about the
kingdom and that until then they bring about the knigdom by living the values of justice,
love, and peace.

Third Grade
Third graders are especially open to exploring their faith as members of a community and so
the focus for the year is the Church.  The students learn that God created people to be in
community with him and with one another.  They are introduced to the Church’s mission of
announcing the gospel to the whole world. They learn about Jesus’ mission to invite all people
into God’s kingdom of justice, love, and peace and that they are commissioned to be his
followers.  The students explore the Church as both community and institution. They learn to
look to the Church for moral guidance as they grow in the virtues off faith, hope, and love.
They learn that the Eucharist provides the nourishment we need to live a life of love and service
as they prepare for and celebrate the Sacrament of the Eucharist.  They come to understamd
the Church as a community with roots in the past, and active ministry in the present and hope
for the future coming of God’s kingdom.

Fourth Grade
The focus of the fourth grade year in on Christian morality.  Fourth graders are drawn to
models of living provided by Jesus, the saints and other members of the Christian community.
They learn that creation is good, though flawed. They see that humans are created in God’s
image and called to live responsibily in relationship with all creation.  God invites them into a
loving relationship with Him   They come to understand that they are free to choose how to
respond to God’s love and that the Holy Spirit gives us the gifts to help us choose. Jesus is
the model for us.  He shows us how to live in loving relationship with God and with one
another. They begin to understand that the teachings of the Church are a strong source of
moral guidance.  They are introduced to the concept that sin is more than lawbreaking, it
is a rejection of God’s love.   They see that moral choices made now have consequences
for all eternity and that we are judged by how we love.

Fifth Grade
Focusing on the sacramental experiences of ritual and symbol and the centrality of the
Paschal mystery is a great way to touch the religious imagination of fifth grade students.
The students will explore God’s revelation in Creation   They come to understand the
creative, redemptive, and sanctifying work of the Holy Trinity as celebrated in worship
and the sacraments, especially the Sacraments of Initiation. They encounter Jesus as the
sacrament of the Father through the words he spoke and the signs he worked. They
reflect on the nature of the Church as sacrament, exploring their own place in the
Church's rich sacramental life. They come to understand the Sacraments of Service in
the context of the universal baptismal vocation. They study the morality of  God’s
kingdom as expressed in the Beatitudes and how the life of grace in celebrated in the
Sacraments of Helaing. They focus on an in-depth explaination of the Eucharist and its
implications for our daily lives.

Summary

The Walking by Faith series focuses on seven key content areas:  Creation, God,
Jesus Christ, The Church (guided by the Spirit), Christian Morality, and Sacraments.
  Each of these six areas is the primarly focus of a particular grade level through which
the total catechetical message is presented.  The Walking by Faith series uses the
Catechism of the Catholic Church as its foundation, source, and inspiration.  The structure
of the Catechism’s four “pillars of the church” – doctrine, liturgy and sacramentality,
morality, and prayer – is echoed throughout the series.           

B l e s s e d   B e   G o d