Blue Knights Meeting - Faith

Here are the Nuts and Bolts of the First Meeting

Schedule:
Set Up
Prayer to Begin
Virtue
Shout Verse
Saint Story and Pictures
Craft
Game Time
Prayer to End

Some of the surprises were that we worked on how to pass out materials in a circle.  We went over what someone means when they say "Take one and pass it on". 

We took attendance and I made sure to go over and ask each boy questions as I kept record.  For example: " Taylor? Wow, Taylor, that is a great red shirt you have on.  Hey everybody, look at Taylor's cool red shirt!  Taylor, is red your favorite color? Wow, red it Taylor's favorite color, does anyone else have their favorite color red like Taylor?".  I am hoping that our smaller boys will benefit in learning new names as well as some of our older boys with special challenges.

We are working on The Sign of the Cross the younger boys need work on which shoulder first.  I am not spotlighting individuals to lead prayers yet. The prayer to St. Josephs "Copy Me" format is great, especially as we have mostly nonreaders, but we were outside and I forgot my copy, so we ended up doing Our Father, which some boys mumbled through, so we may be revisiting this prayer as well.

A hit with the boys was a "Check list".  It is suggested to have a posted schedule, and it really worked well.  I gave the boys turns actually checking (or making an "x") in the box next to each activity.  I found though, that I needed to say "mark" the list, as we have a child who will become very disruptive if we said check and the child did not make a check mark.

The shout verse was a hit.  We had to go outside, so that we were not disruptive.  Since we are on a sidewalk next to a street, we do not stay outside long.  Because ambulances are driving my to the hospital, we stop at least twice to say a prayer.  It was so sweet, but it was also a delay, as getting the boys back on track takes time. 

My oldest Knight, I am labeling as my Squire, and he is going to be reading the Saint Stories to the other boys.  I am hoping it encourages the skills of the Squire in reading in front of the group, and is encouraging to the younger boys both to read and to read aloud.

We are using color pencils for the Saint pictures, they show well on the pages and are different for many boys who currently only use crayons at home.  Markers obscure the pictures when darker colors are used, so we will be removing any markers from the pencil holder.

Our craft is tied to the concept of "Armor of God", and for the first meeting they are decorating mini shields that we made in advance at home.  I found some extra printed coloring sheets to go with this theme, but now that I look at them, many of the virtues do not line up.  Probably not gong to make a difference with the pre-readers.

Game time is using our faith to shield us from sin.  We were going to use cotton balls with our mini shields, but improved with plastic jumping  frogs.

We said a Glory Be as the big kids came into the room, and our attention left quickly.