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St Damian (Oak Forest, Ill.) — 7th-grade CCD
Although this site provided lesson plans and classroom activities during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 academic years for St. Damian's 7th-grade CCD classes, that functionality is no longer updated on a regular basis. However, several resources for use in middle-school religious education classes can be found here. Please see the information below for stories and new resources, which are updated from time to time.

This page was last updated on Oct. 29, 2007. Our seminar notes on establishing an effective youth ministry (middle school) program in conjunction with religious education are online here. Our home page is at http://www.ezek22.net/.


Some links below take you to readings used in church and information from official sources. You can tie these topics in with your classroom lessons.

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Individual Project for Creativity

Middle school students are creative. One of the greatest things we did, to tap into their talents, was to have them rewrite one of the famous stories from the Bible. For example, they could create a new version of David and Goliath or Daniel in the Lions' Den. Some of the stories were imaginative and delightful to read, as students were required to keep the moral of the story the same but set the plot in their local community and in the present time. Several works of adolescent creative output from my students are accessible from the link below, and I would be glad to include any other versions, from different areas, that you might want to email to me.

   Bible Story Individual Project Description

Middle School (6th–8th Grade) Lesson Plans

A few lesson plans were developed in association with our Web site. These include one on praying to Mary and the saints, made especially for a class where all the students went down to the church to pray the Rosary and put a crown on a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This was conducted during October, in conjunction with the celebration of the Blessed Virgin's appearance at Fatima.

   Lesson Plan on Praying to Mary

In addition, a few lesson plans were developed online, and we will update the list below as they become available for publication.

   CCD Lesson Plan on Being Created in God's Image
   CCD Lesson Plan on God's Law of Love

CCD Classroom Activities

One of the things we know about middle school students is that they learn from doing. Their minds are engaged when their bodies are in motion. For this reason, we would often develop little skits (sometimes ad lib plays), art projects (including glitter and glue), and physical activities, where students are doing things other than reading a book or listening to a boring adult give them some advice about the doctrines of the church. More class activities will be added to the list below as they become available for publication.

   Stereotypes, grace and faith, equality
   Scripture, theological virtues plus peace

Ezek22.net Web site

Please visit our new Web site, here.

Thank you for visiting ezek22.net/re.

Paul Katula, site administrator
paul@ezek22.net

By PAUL KATULA (written in Aurora, Ill., Oct. 21, 2006)
The material on this page was written specifically for use by parents and seventh-grade students enrolled in the St Damian (Oak Forest, Ill.) Religious Education (RE) Program (CCD). It is based on the book "Morality: Challenges and Choices" in the "Living Our Faith" series, published by Harcourt Religion Publishers, a division of Harcourt Inc. Copyright 2002. Most lesson plans that refer to readings used at mass are intended as a resource guide for use during the academic year that uses this book and spans liturgical years B and C. It is primarily a tool that students and parents can use to find out what we're teaching seventh graders in the CCD program and how we tie the catechesis into the church's well-tested lectionary. It is not a definitive source for information about Christian beliefs, and any of the lesson plans are subject to change without notice, given the needs of individual catechists. And so, any opinions expressed represent the views of the author only and do not reflect the views of St Damian Catholic Church, the Archdiocese of Chicago, the Roman Catholic Church, or any other organization whatsoever.