Our objectives for the school year are to ensure that each of our Fifth Graders:

In Scripture:

1. Recognize the first five books of the Bible as describing the law governing the daily lives of the Hebrews.
2. Recognize that the terms: the Law, the Torah, and the Pentateuch all refer to the first five books of the Bible.
3. Discuss how God speaks to us through the stories, historical accounts, and laws found in the Pentateuch.
4. Discuss the meaning of God's message in selected Sunday liturgical readings.
5. Identify the following people and describe how God worked through them to teach his people how to live: Moses, Miriam, Aaron, Joshua, Deborah, Samson, Samuel, Saul, David, and Solomon.
6. Give examples of modern day prophets.
7. Share ways they might serve as prophets in today's world.

In Doctrine:

1. Define the term Messiah.
2. Discuss that Christians believe Jesus is the Son of God and the Messiah.
3. Distinguish between Christian and non-Christian.
4. Explain that the purpose of a Christian life is to know, love, and serve God and to live forever with Him in Heaven.
5. Describe how the community of the Church (our families, friends, priests, religious, laity, bishops, pope) is a gift which expresses God's love and care for us.
6. Define the term "revelation" as used by the Catholic Church.
7. Give examples of God's revelation to the people down through the ages.
8. Explain the meaning of "communion of saints."

In Sacraments:

1. Review and discuss the different parts of the Mass.
2. Examine Holy Orders as a Sacrament of service (vocation).
3. List and explain the seasons of the liturgical year (Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and Ordinary Time).

In Community:

1. Discuss the consequences of sin in their own lives and in the life of their community.
2. Share stories that demonstrate how to live their faith at home, work, school, and when socializing.
3. Identify ways that they experience belonging to the Body of Christ.
4. Recite and discuss the meaning of the last seven Commandments.

In Service:

1. Describe gospel passages that show Jesus as a person of service.
2. Develop personal strategies for providing service to their family and their neighbors.
3. Participate in a group service project and discuss its purpose.
4. Define the term stewardship.
5. Discuss the ways in which service can be a career and/or a lifestyle.

In Prayer:

1. Practice meditative prayer.
2. Participate in praying the Litany of the Saints.
3. Describe what prayer means to them and why they pray.
4. Identify places where Jesus prayed and places where they pray.
5. Discuss difficulties and temptations in prayer and strategies to overcome them.

In Spirituality:

1. Identify various saints and describe what they most admire about those saints.
2. Explore how Sacramentals (holy objects such as holy water, palms, candles, ashes, rosary, medals, scapulars, crucifixes, images, statues) focus their attention and help develop their spiritual life.
3. Practice participation in liturgical celebrations.