Catechist Training Master 1 - Pflaum Home

How Do Children at Each Pflaum
Gospel Weeklies Level Learn?
Child Development Levels
Seeds
● eager learners
● egocentric
● physically vigorous/tire quickly
● strong imaginations/interact with senses
● need parental involvement
Seeds presents the stories of Jesus in creative and
engaging ways that enable preschoolers to share in the
faith of the Christian community and to experience
Jesus’ love in their everyday lives.
Promise
● hands-on learners
● full of wonder/energy/noisy
● share family faith
● abstract thinking
Promise helps catechists present the Gospel stories in
a loving atmosphere and use hands-on ways to involve
the children in those stories.
Good News
● concrete thinkers and learners
● storytellers
● first Eucharist
Good News for Children helps second- and thirdgraders
hear and retell the Gospel stories and use their
senses to learn about their world.
Venture
● industrious data-gatherers
● concrete thinkers
● sense of moral reasoning
● developing historical sense
● enjoy doing projects together/time and space
● able to use symbols
Catechist Training Master 3
Venture works with the abilities of middle-graders,
who still think concretely but love to work together on
elaborate projects.
Visions
● emotional and social development
● maturing physically
● new thnking capacity
● wanting to belong to groups and make personal
friends
Visions leads junior-high students to stretch their
developing abstract thinking skills and to apply them to
going beyond the literal level of scripture stories.
What thinking ability do the children at the age-level
I teach possess?
What are the moral reasoning abilities of the
children I teach?
How do the children I teach relate to one another
and to others at their level of social development?
What spiritual or faith development level can I
expect of the young people I teach?
Use this discussion aid with the appropriate levels of the Resource Manuals, Chapter 1. Read through the
information on this page and work in groups that include catechists or parents from each of the five edition levels
if possible. Have each person review the appropriate chapter in the Manual, make notes, and then report on and
discuss what can be expected of a child at each age in terms of religion.
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