Advent – Catholic School Chronicle

December 1, 2012January 15, 2014

Advent and Christmas Videos for the Catholic Classroom (and a Bonus Christmas Carol Puzzle)

On today’s #CatholicEdChat, I shared a few YouTube videos that I sometimes use with my students. Here they are in one convenient place for you to use, along with a special word puzzle, Translate that Christmas Carol.

(This post will update as I find more Advent/Christmas videos)

Advent Conspiracy

Advent in 2 Minutes

Bethlehemian Rhapsody

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob of Hallelujah Chorus

Fr. Jim Martin on Good King Wenceslas by The Roches

John Lewis Christmas Advert 2011

Sean Quigley – The Little Drummer Boy

Darth Vader Conducts Christmas Carol Flash Mob

Rudolph (You Don’t Have to Put on the Red Light)

Bonus Word Puzzle: Translate that Christmas Tune

For a fun Christmas/vocabulary activity try having your students translate these verbose Christmas carol titles back into their original form:

Example: Soundless Nocturnal Timespan (answer: Silent Night)

Move Hitherward the Entire Assembly of Those Who Are Loyal in Their Belief
Ornament the Enclosure with Large Sprigs of a Berry-Bearing Evergreen
Vertically-Challenged Adolescent Percussionist
First Person (Singular) Experiencing an Hallucinatory Phenomenon of a Natal Celebration Devoid of Color
Soundless Nocturnal Timespan
Majestic Triplet (First Person Plural)
The Yuletide Occurrence Preceding All Others
Precious Metal Musical Devices
Omnipotent Supreme Being Elicits Respite to Ecstatic Distinguished Males
Caribou Afflicted with Vermillion Olfactory Appendage
Allow Crystalline Formation to Descend
Jovial Yuletide Desired for the Second Person (Singular or Plural)
Commence Auditory Reception, the Celestial Messengers Produce Harmonious Sounds
Village Expectations of a Yuletide Emmisary
Bipedal Travel through a Geographic State of Fantasy During the Season of Mother Nature’s Dormancy
Arrival Occurred at Twelve O’clock During Clement Nocturnal Period
Exclamatory Remark Concerning a Diminutive Municipality of Judea
Ecstatic Experience Directed Toward Global Inhabitants
First Person (Plural) Acoustic Awareness of Extra-Terrestrial Messengers at Great Altitude
Obese Male Personification Consisting of Aggregate Compaction of Individual Water Crystals, with Appellation of Surface Crystalline Deposition of Water Vapor
Tintinnabulation of Vacillating Pendulums in Metallic Resonant Spheres
Improvised Infant Furniture in Remote Location
Imperative Expedition for the Purpose of Proclaiming Upon a Specific Alpine Formation
First Person’s Perplexed Contemplations Upon a Period of Aimless Meandering
Wintertime Festivity Consisting of a Dozen Planetary Sidereal Rotations
My Sole Desire for the Yuletide Season Is Receipt of a Pair of Central Incisors
Are You Detecting the Same Aural Sensations as I Am?
Who’s the Mystery Offspring?
Testimony of Witness to Maternal Parent’s Infidelity with Kris Kringle

For the answers, click here.

November 25, 2011November 25, 2011

The Advent 2011 Project Is Open!

If you’re looking for a way to help your students enter more deeply into Advent this year, the Advent 2011 Project may fit the bill. Coordinated by Catholic school teacher Barb Gilman, the project invites Catholic schools and students to share pictures of Advent wreaths, nativity scenes, and/or Jesse Trees.

I really enjoyed being a part of the project last year, and I plan to expand my participation by getting even more pictures from my students this year. You can see last year’s project here if you need ideas.

The Advent 2011 Project is a great way to connect with other Catholic schools and see how others decorate for Advent.

December 1, 2010November 30, 2010

Poll: How Willing Are You to Make Advent More Meaningful?

Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City and Deacon Greg Kandra of Brooklyn have recently challenged us to not lose sight of the importance of the Advent season. Bishop Wester even went so far as to make it the subject of his first pastoral letter to the people of Salt Lake City. Titled “Waiting in Joyful Hope,” Bishop Wester suggests several ways to celebrate Advent more fully:

“Schools should not decorate for Christmas, but can decorate with simple wreaths and greenery.”
“I encourage each home to display and bless an Advent wreath…”
“I urge you to hold-off on displaying a decorated Christmas tree until the season of Christmas begins.”
“You may want to incorporate a Jesse tree in your family’s observance of the season.”

What do you think? Can we as Catholics be counter-cultural, the way some denominations are counter-cultural? Jehovah’s Witnesses do not participate in Halloween. Seventh Day Adventists rest on Saturday rather than Sunday. Can we reclaim Advent from secular culture? Is it possible for Catholics to resist the pull of our society and wait until Christmas Eve to celebrate, and then to extend that celebration until the Epiphany?

How far would you be willing to go? Take the poll below and/or leave a comment.

[poll id=”4″]

November 15, 2010November 14, 2010

Advent as a Time of Perseverance for Teachers and Students

Winter As always, the latest issue of iCatholic magazine has some excellent articles. I especially liked Bishop Trautman’s article on Advent, featuring this gem for Catholic educators:

“Advent is the beginning of a new liturgical year, so it is full of joyful expectation….Advent tells a student to go back to the books and try again. Advent tells teachers, try once more to reach that student.”

By the middle of November, both students and teachers need to hear a message of perseverance–at least this teacher does. Fortunately, I’ve been hearing it a lot lately. Yesterday’s gospel reading ended with these powerful words from Jesus:

“You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

In the midst of our daily struggles and sufferings, we are called to persevere, keeping hope alive. As the days darken and the cold creeps in, it’s comforting to know that Advent is just around the corner.