More Ideas for Teachers

Click on the links below for more Vocations Activities

Elementary Level

Celebrate Earth Day annually on April 22
Students can use the Earth Day Activity Sheet to make a collage. They should color the pictures on the worksheet, cut them out, and glue them in any order on a piece of construction paper, leaving space in between the pictures. On the days leading up to Earth Day, read one Scripture passage summary from the Earth Day Scripture Sheet. Then ask students to write a word by the picture for that day that describes something God created for us and our planet. Each Scripture passage has to do with God's call to live good and holy lives.

Outdoor Treasure Hunt
Take your class outside to look for things that God gives us. Remind students not to pick up anything except what they find for clue number 15. Clues for Outdoor Treasure Hunt. Back in the classroom,explain that God creates each person as a special gift to the world. Some of us become moms and dads, some become priests or sisters, and some are single people doing good works. Everything God made AND every person is God’s gift. (Answers to the worksheet: 1. tree, 2. flower, 3. stone, 4. bird, 5. squirrel, 6. seed, 7. mosquito, 8. pine cone, 9. cloud, 10. twig, dried grass or string, 11. acorn, berry, clover, etc., 12. leaf, 13. wind or breeze, 14. mud, 15. litter.)

Talent Game
In this simple game, one student serves as the "master" and calls out a talent, such as soccer or playing the piano and a number (1-5). The first person to raise his or her hand with the correct number of ways to use the talent becomes the new master. Get the Gospel background and more detail by clicking on the link. Talents Game Instructions

Hatville
This worksheet puts students into the imaginary town of Hatville, where everyone must wear a hat that tells something about the person wearing it. Your students draw a line from the clue to the correct hat each person is wearing. For a reproducible copy of the worksheet, click here. Hatville Worksheet

The Priest's New Clothes
In this activity, your students will create a book. Give each student one or two sentences (depending on the size of your class) from the story. Instruct them to paste their sentences at the top or bottom of a sheet of paper, and then to draw a picture to illustrate the page. When all of the pages are put together, read the story out loud to your class.The Priest's New Clothes Story (Word Document)

The Life of Jesus Treasure Hunt
The object of this treasure hunt is to use the clues to get from the city where Jesus was born to the place where the disciples saw him taken into heaven.Treasure Hunt Clues Treasure Map Worksheet

The Perfect Plan
This activity combines spelling and vocabulary with vocational ideas. Students in second through fourth grade can fill in the blanks using the word box to complete a story which introduces the idea that our talents are clues to the vocations for which God created us. The Perfect Plan (fill-in-the-blank story)

Black History Month
February of each year is Black History Month. In this activity, invite your students to draw a church dedicated to one of the Black saints described on the information sheet. This is an opportunity to talk in a social studies class about the richness that various cultures bring to our society. In language arts, you could use the activity to discuss symbolism and how symbols remind us of things. You students will be putting things in their church drawings to symbolize the saints. Saints Information Sheet

Women's History Month
March is Women's History Month. To introduce this writing project, tell your students that there are many famous women in history, such as Betsy Ross, the scientist Marie Curie, Sojourner Truth, and Mother Theresa. Give each student a copy of an award certificate to complete and present to a woman who is special in the student's life. It could be a mom, grandmother, aunt, teacher, coach, neighbor, or anyone who has a positive place in the child's life. Ready-to-use award certificate

Latin American Heritage Month
May is Latin American Heritage Month. Before engaging students in this activity, you may want to give them some background. Latin America includes the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean Islands, Mexico, plus 19 countries and French Guiana in Central and South America. About half of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics now live in Latin America. About 70% of the population in Latin America is Catholic. (Here in the U.S., about 23% of the population is Catholic.) Since so much of the world's Catholic population speaks Spanish, this Spanish Worksheet teaches students some Spanish words relating to religion. Who knows? Maybe there is a future missionary among your students.

Career Club
Form a "Career Club" in your class. It could be comprised of the entire class working in small groups, or just a small group of volunteer students. On a regular basis (probably monthly), club members will put up a bulletin board about a career or Church vocation the group selects. Encourage club members to interview someone actually in the career. The person interviewed may have some great materials to use on the bulletin board and could be quoted on the display, too.

Develop a "special edition" of a class newspaper featuring articles about various careers and Church vocations. Pairs of students or individuals will each interview a person in a particular field and then write an article. Articles may also include information from other sources, such as books or the Internet. Remind students to attribute the information in their report to the source, as real newspaper reporters do. This activity is for fourth grade and up.

For students in first through third grade, use the questions on the career worksheet in any number of ways:

1. Ask the class one question first thing in the morning, and see who can guess the answer first. (That person might get a small reward, such as being first in line to go to lunch.)


2. Form two teams. Ask all of the questions, and see which team answers the most correctly. Anyone can raise his or her hand to answer for the team.


3. Cut out the answers, all of which are careers or vocations. Give one word to each student, and have him or her draw a picture of what that person does in his job. Make a career display using all of the pictures.

Become a Hero
During the final days of the school year, why not give your students the opportunity to imagine becoming a hero someday. Hand out the attached hero worksheet, and ask students to write the name of a hero in the box at the top. They should then write a paragraph by completing the sentence which includes the hero's name. This activity will help students focus on their own best qualities - the very characteristics that can give them clues as to their future vocations.

Junior High Level

Team Building
Your students have may different talents and skills, such as creativity, leadership, and organizational abilities. When groups work together as a team, they can take advantage of everyone's strengths. In this activity, students teams will build projects meeting a list of required objectives. Before students begin, remind them that the goal is to consider everyone's ideas, use what the group thinks best, and successfuly collaborate to accomplish the goals. (This is exactly what collaborative Church leadership is all about.) Click here for the Building Teamwork Worksheet.

Class Honors
As graduation day approaches, use this activity to encourage your students to dream their own dreams, but also to pay attention to how others see them. A good leader, for instance, has to experience inner strength but also inspire confidence in others. In this activity, classmates will see how they perceive each other by voting for the student most likely to achieve each of 36 goals. Give a worksheet/ballot to each student. When everyone is finished, have two students tally the results to report back to the class. Ballot for Class Honors

Earth Day Mural
In celebration of Earth Day (always April 22), have students each make one section of a hallway mural. Use 12x18" or larger paper for each section. Give each student one of the Scripture summaries on the attached Earth Day Scripture Worksheet to copy or glue onto his/her paper. Students will then illustrate the passages, each of which relates to vocations.

Relay Race
This game encourages students to think about vocations and have the fun of a relay race at the same time. Set-up: Write all of the answers from column 2 of the teachers' guide sheet on your chalkboard. Also write the supplemental answers which follow the chart on the guide sheet. Have two fly-swatters or chalkboard erasers on hand. Play: Form two, three, or four teams. As you read a question, the person at the head of the line for each team races to the chalkboard to hit the correct answer with the fly-swatter or eraser. The first one to hit the answer earns a point for the team. Keep score on a corner of the chalkboard. Relay Race Teachers' Guide Sheet (Word document)

Spelling Bee
A spelling bee using vocations vocabulary builds language skills and vocational awareness. The teachers' guide includes the words and sentences using them. Spelling Bee (Word document)

Math Story
Are you a math teacher? These story problems can help you integrate vocations into your curriculum or serve as extra credit. Math Story Problems (Word document)

Black History Month
February is Black History Month--a perfect opportunity to teach that every culture and every person has something to contribute to the Chruch. This worksheet lists twelve famous Black Catholics from throughout Church history anc challenges students to match the names wit hsome notable facts. Black Catholics Matching Challenge (Here are the answers to the worksheet: A. St. Benedict the Moor, B. Daniel Rudd, C. Llewellyn Scott, D. St. Martin de Porres, E. St. Catherine of Alexandria, F. Archbishop Oscar Romero, G. St. Augustine of Hippo, H. Dr. Thomas Wyatt Turner, I. Pierre Toussaint, J. St. Charles Lwanga, K. Sr. Thea Bowman, and L. Dr. Lena Edwards Madison.

Women's History Month
March is Women's History Month. In this activity, your students will focus on famous Catholic women in a variety of professions. The students will begin to see the connection between their talents, the ability to use them in ways pleasing to God, and a world in need. Instructions on the Famound Catholic Women worksheet are self-explanatory.

Coat of Arms
In English, social studies, or art classes, have your students design a coat of arms, individually or in small groups. In the Middle Ages, knights' armor could get very hot, and some way was needed to tell knights apart. A fabric "coat" with a unique symbol on it was worn over the armor to serve both purposes. You might use Archbishop Dolan's coat of arms as an example to weave the idea of vocations into the project, since things that symbolize who we are can be clues to what God wants us to be in the future. In the Archbishop's coat of arms, the green hat with 10 tassles and a two-barred cross are common to all archbishops' coats. The red crown represents his home diocese of St. Louis (France's King Louis IX) and also symbolizes Christ as king over us and the center of our lives. The scrolls symbolize St. Timothy, and the silver moon represents Mary. The two gold moons honor the Archbishop's parents. The motto means, "Lord, to whom shall we go?" Click here for a downloadable, color picture of Archbishop Dolan's coat of arms

Heroism
What Does It Take to Be a Hero? Use the accompanying worksheet to invite your students to consider what makes a hero. Is it what the person does, or does it go deeper than that? Give an example, such as a person trying to rescue someone from a burning house. Is the person any less of a hero if the rescued person dies even after being pulled from the inferno? Heroism: What Does It Take? - Worksheet.

Celebrate Earth Day each year on April 22

Have students write a parable using something from nature as a symbol of how God wants us to go about making major decisions such as career and lifestyle (ordained, vowed, married, single). The essential elements of a parable are simple. It is a fictional story with a moral (e.g., the parable of the prodigal son, Luke 15:11-32), and it uses everyday events to make an unexpected point (in other words, there is an element of surprise at the end).

Truth in Advertising
Have students develop a commercial to promote Church vocations. The commercial must abide by "truth in advertising." Use the attached advertising student guide sheet.

Where I Want to Be
Give your students the opportunity to think about their future. The attached worksheet asks them where they envision themselves in ten years in variety of areas. If you have time, you might also ask the class to break into pairs and fill out the same sheet for each other. Surprises may await in the students’ self-perceptions and the way others see them. Discernment of our vocations, whether to priesthood, religious life, marriage, or single life as a layperson, involves listening to God, our hearts, and others who know and can advise us. Where I Want to Be Worksheet

National Black Catholic History Month
November is National Black Catholic History Month--a perfect opportunity for teachers to give your students a "Question of the Day" geared toward developing the idea that the Catholic Church is universal, and that people's different cultural and ethnic backgrounds enrich the Church. Click on the link for 30 questions and answers. Black Catholic History Month Questions

Black History Month
February is Black History Month and offers an opportunity to help raise awareness in your classroom that catholic means "universal." Every culture has something to contribute. Every person has something to contribute. The linked worksheet lists twelve famous Black Catholics and challenges students to match the names with some notable facts about each person. Famous Black Catholic Matching Challenge

Women's History Month
Women's History Month is in March. By focusing on famous Catholic women in a variety of professions, your students will begin to see the connection between their talents, the ability to use them in ways pleasing to God, and a world in need. Instructions on the Famous Catholic Women worksheet are self-explanatory.

Another activity, perfect for religion classes during Women's History Month in March, will show students that the Bible is relevant for us today. Students will focus on one of the Biblical figures listed on the Biblical Women worksheet or choose another favorite Bible character (male or female). Their task is to look at what happened to the person in the Biblical account and then correlate it to something they have personally experienced or seen in contemporary news. Student guidelines for writing their essays are at the top of the worksheet.

Pacific American Heritage Month
May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Use the table of questions and answers for a competitive game or to give your students one extra-credit question per day. Asian Month Challenge Questions (Word document)

Art at the Seminary Field Trip
Are you an art teacher looking for a field trip opportunity and a chance to showcase your students' work? If you have ever visited the campus of Saint Francis Seminary, you know that there is much in nature, art, and architechture to captivate the eye. Come with your art students to sketch, paint, or photograph the campus. (In the event of inclement weather, we will move inside.) With permission, we would like to display students' artwork at vocations and seminary events. To plan your field trip, contact Janice Sikora-Tabat in the Vocations Office at jsikora@sfs.edu or (414) 747-6438.

Major Life Choice Story Writing
Writing skills and vocational awareness meld in this activity. Invite your students to read and complete a story, which deals with the struggle of a young person who is thinking about a major life choice. Needless to say, the anticipated reactions he will get from parents, friends, and others are on his mind. Choice Story (Word document)

High School Survey
The new pastoral plan for vocations asks us to focus on young people. Will you and your students help the Vocations Office identify what works for young people...and what doesn't? Where young people get their information? How they see themselves in relation to issues of spirituality? The downloadable survey takes only a few minutes to complete. Please return the completed surveys to the Vocations Office, 3257 S. Lake Drive, St. Francis, WI 53235. Thanks! High School Survey (Word document)