Last night we had our second Little Flowers meeting for the year. The girls had SO MUCH fun! You know, this summer as I was trying to decided whether or not to start it, I thought I would be happy with three to four girls, I never expected to end up with a total of ELEVEN (although so far at each meeting we have been missing a few)!
Everything, well almost everything, has fallen into place so nicely.
This month, I ran the meeting slightly different… As the girls arrived, I had them all start right in on their coloring. I figured this would leave us a little more time for the actual craft later on, and give the girls something to do while we waited for everyone.
Since, unfortunately, their books have still not arrived, we were able to use Waltzing Matilda’s lovely coloring page of St. Monica! (Thank you so much Charlotte! Your coloring pages have been such a HUGE blessing!)
Once all the girls arrived, we started the meeting with a few prayers, a review of last months virtue and saint, and then the introduction to the virtue (Hope), and a biography of the saint for this month (St. Monica).
We also went over the assignments from last month, and for each one that the girls finished, a bead went into a jar. Once the jar is full the girls will be awarded a surprise party of some sort.
Next was the lesson. One of the moms taught the lesson for the month on the virtue of hope. I had run across an idea for explaining hope to children on the Little Flowers Yahoo Group:
I wrote the definition of Hope from the Catechism of the Catholic Church at the top of the marker board (mostly for myself, also for the moms). We talked about hope as “wishes” like “hoping for rain.” Then, I drew a big cloud on the right side of the board. I asked each girl to name a special place/outing she would like to go to. Wrote each one with the girl’s name next to it inside the cloud. Then, I drew a line from the left side of the board to the cloud with a little stick person at the left. I asked each girl to tell something she might need to do before going that might be hard to do. Wrote these slanted under the line progressing from left toward the cloud. Then, with each one of those tasks, I asked the girl “So, Sarah, is it easier or harder to pick up all the toys in the house knowing that you are going to go to Disneyland?” Put a little stick person on top of each one’s idea as we talked. I did that for each girl with her task. (They all said it was easier except my daughter who had said “no fighting with brothers!”) Then, I erased their special places and wrote Heaven in the cloud and we talked about how when we have to do something hard we can think about how it is just something we have to do on our way to Heaven.
We then moved on to the craft. This month I actually combined a suggestion from the Wreath 1 Craft Companion for a “Heart with Climbing Ivy” with our notebook page.
I printed out an image of St. Monica, and typed up the quotes for the girls to use or copy. They each got a sheet of cardstock, some yellow construction paper, some cardstock letter punchouts, a red heart, some leaves, and a piece of green chenille. (Here is the link to my notebook page printout.)
Jamie bought juice and brownies for the girls (she was trying to find some Leaf shaped cookies at the store — but there were none to be found) and Marci brought some heart shaped ice cream.
After snack time, us moms were still visiting, and the girls were starting to get quite wild, so I pulled out the Wreath One Memory Cards and got them all calmed down with a game of Saint Concentration! I love that game! 😉
Before ending with a few more prayers, we did manage to get a group shot of the girls that were able to make it this month. I look forward to seeing you all again in a few weeks!
as you did with your son St. Augustine.
Saint Therese, the Little Flower, pray for us!
aw, we are missing all our friends!!
this post makes me sad!!!
r
How lovely Jessica, I’m contemplating starting up a new group in our new location as it was so fun and rewarding for the girls, great job!!
You are making me miss leading Little Flowers. Thank you for sharing all that you are doing.
It was such a great time for all~
Looking forward to next month already!
Blessings~
+JMJ+
I just love their meetings! The kids have so much fun, learn about their faith, and we all get to visit too! It is a highlight for the month, that is for sure!
Again – amazingly beautiful notebook pages!
Oh, I wish my daughter could be in your Little Flowers group! I have been looking for a group, but am probably going to have to start my own. Your group looks lovely!
I love your idea about the books. It is so nice to see how the girls put together the pages. Would you be able to post a link to the papers that you print out to give the girls?? I would love to incorporate this into my meetings.
Thank you,
Karen Carson
PCL Stleo
[email protected]
It's two years later and I'm still following your lead. Thanks for sharing!
Pax Christi – Lena
Hi Jessica,
Thanks for sharing all of the Little Flower ideas. I was so happy to find so many Little Flower things on your site. I am helping lead Wreath 1 for the first time this year as my only daughter just turned five. I love the pages for each month idea. We have decided to do these for our girls' group. Thanks so much!
Btw, I think our sons exchanged ATCs for the Marian ATC swap hosted by Kimberlee. : )
God bless,
Stephanie
Hi Jessica, I've stumbled across your blog through Stephanie and came over to say hello. I love meeting Catholic bloggers! I'm not teaching a Little Flowers group but I am teaching a first grade religious education class and have gone to Lena's blog many times for inspiration. Now I have another great blog to check out!
Blessings,
Noreen
Hi Jessica,
I am preparing for my first year as a Little Flowers GC leader for a group of 2nd graders. I'm very excited about it and just wanted to thank you for taking the time to take pictures and type up all your meeting info. It is a great help and enables me to not feel too intimidated by this new role!
My prayers are with your family. God Bless.
-Lisa from Arizona
Hi I was hoping you could help me. I would like to print up your little flowers notebook pages but scribd says the owner has set this document to private.
You will not be able to read it unless the owner changes it to public on their uploads page, or sends you a direct link. I already subscribe to your emails. Is there anything else I need to do to gain access? Thanks!!!
I'm sorry they are no longer available. I was asked to remove them by the publisher and author of the program. After that I did work with them to create new pages that are available directly from the publisher.
You can find the links to the updated "Little Flowers Crafting Pages" here:
https://showerofrosesblog.com/search/label/Little%20Flowers%20Crafting%20Pages
Thank you so much. Your blog is such an inspiration!
I just discovered your blog. I am so excited to have your inspiration for the Little Flower club!