Church Potluck Recipe: Broccoli Casserole

Our church usually has one potluck dinner a month. Coming up with something to take can be nerve racking at times. A couple of months ago it was our new priest’s birthday and we had a potluck lunch given in his honor. I brought Broccoli Casserole and several people asked me for the recipe so I guess it was a hit.



Broccoli Casserole

2 pkg. (10 oz. each) frozen broccoli (thawed and drained very well)
1 stick margarine or butter (divided)
½ lb. Velveeta Cheese (cubed)
1 can of mushroom stems and pieces (drained well)
1/2 tube of Ritz Crackers

Put frozen broccoli in a colander and run warm water over it. Drain thoroughly by smashing it down with a piece of wax paper and patting dry with a paper towel. Meanwhile, in a large sauce pan add ½ stick of margarine and Velveeta Cheese. Melt and fold mushrooms and thoroughly drained broccoli into it. Put mixture in a buttered casserole dish. Melt ½ stick of margarine in a sauce pan. Crumble ½ tube of Ritz Crackers into melted butter. Sprinkle cracker mixture on top. Bake uncovered for 25 minutes at 350 degrees or 35 minutes at 325 degrees.


* I usually double this recipe and it fits in a 2 quart or a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish.

Catholic Family Blogs

I am always amazed by how devoted and creative some Catholic families are in teaching the faith. I have come across a few blogs that dedicate much of their time and effort in incorporating the Catholic faith into their family lives.

Here are a few Catholic family blogs that I really enjoy. Please add more to the list so others can enjoy them as well.


catholicicicing.blogspot.com- Welcome! Embrace your amazing Catholic Culture by "icing" your Catholic Cake with all of these yummy "extras"! This is a place to find Catholic Arts and Crafts, Fun Food, Feast Day Celebration ideas, and much, much more! Once you have a solid foundation for your Catholic Cake, why not add some icing? :-)

familiacatolica-org.blogspot.com- My greatest wish is that this blog find practical ideas to help you celebrate with your families our Catholic faith, following the main festivals of the liturgical calendar. (A Spanish blog that you can easily click on the translate button on the top to read their fantastic posts.)

showerofroses.blogspot.com- Here I will share a few of the blessings I treasure, as well as other thoughts about home educating, mothering and just life in general! Please remember that what you see here is just a little glimpse at our lives, so please say a prayer for us, as we continue to strive for holiness.

familyatthefootofthecross.blogspot.com- We are a Roman Catholic Family and Warriors for Christ. We are imperfect but we begin and end our days at the foot of the cross. We try to put our faith in God first. By first loving Him, we can only hope to love one another more perfectly.

charishedheartsathome.blogspot.com- What you see here is just a little glimpse at our lives, so please say a prayer for us, as we continue to strive for holiness.

Art Caddy

Your students have an art project to do and you need to have the supplies ready and easily accessible. The cheapest and most versatile thing to have is an art caddy.




This colorful plastic caddy features one large and two smaller compartments for toting around all your student's art supplies such as markers, pencils, crayons, scissors, glue sticks, glue, etc. You can even put individual containers in the compartments to have lots of different craft supplies available for the students to use. (You can also use a cleaning caddy as an art caddy. They are relatively the same thing.)

*TIP: Just put what supplies the students need to make the craft in the art caddy and place it in the middle of the table. Avoid putting extra supplies in the art caddy that are not needed to make the craft. Students will probably use them and craft supplies can be limited in some CCD programs. Students will also tend to make a bigger mess when too many craft supplies are available for them to use.

My CCD Craft Storage Mess

Each of us has those dreaded piles of CCD craft supplies scattered around in various locations in the house, taking up much needed space that the family could use. Needless to say, having all those craft supplies spread from one end of the house to the other in obscure locations makes it hard to find what you need when you need it. I therefore took it upon myself to find ONE place to store all my CCD crafts so our house could go back to some resemblance of order and return to our blissful organized days of long ago.

First, I gathered ALL my CCD craft supplies. I was amazed how much stuff I had strewn about and stashed in such crazy and weird places that no person in their right mind would store something there (I even found craft supplies tucked away in the bathroom!). It was a amazing endeavor because all was not lost. Every now and then I gave out a delightful little squeal making my son think I had gone completely mad when I found stuff I had been looking for years to make certain crafts. Pleased with my fruitful accomplishment for a job well done, I rewarded myself with a much needed break and had a Diet Coke (yes, I’m on a diet, but who isn’t when they are 50 years old).

After my scavenger hunt I put things in organized piles: construction paper and craft foam sheets, general craft supplies (googly eyes, pipe cleaners, paper plates, crayons, glue, colored pencils, etc.), craft supplies to donate to the parish, samples (I have several samples of crafts to show the students so they will understand what we are making), etc. I even had a pile of games that I do with my students (not file folder games which I keep in a file folder box, but games that go with Bible stories or religious topics such as: various card games, Temple Bowling, Bop It, Ballzerko, etc.). I also have to collect certain objects to make some of the crafts (example: Welch’s Grape Juice plastic containers, toilet paper rolls, glass jars, etc.) and I had a pile for that as well.

I then threw away the bad stuff (dried up paint, markers, glue, etc.) and during my foraging expedition for hidden craft supplies I found a place to store my CCD stuff in one secure location (some place that hubby would not get into and make a total mess of). After careful deliberation and thoughtful examination the selected location turned out to be one end of the closet in the den. I know it isn’t much, but beggars can’t be choosy. My designated CCD craft/game area was only 63 inches high, 23 inches deep and 23 inches wide and I was determined to make the most of it regardless on the limited space I procured.

I wanted to make this little project cheap. How cheap you ask? Cheap is my middle name so I went about looking for what I could use that was already in the house to make my “dream closet” that would be the envy of every CCD teacher on the planet (yeah, right).


So my priorities were simple:


1. My “dream closet” would be cheap.

2. Items would be stored in a fashion that made sense to me regardless of what others think my “dream closet” should be.

3. My “dream closet” was definitely not a waste of time and worthless.

4. Everything would fit in my “dream closet” or hubby will surely get rid of it.

5. I will be able to find things quickly and easily.









I found an empty closet basket organizer thingy in the attic from the dark ages that had 4 wire drawers (3 deep and 1 shallow) and I literally had to shove it inside the small area that was designated to be my “dream closet”. I then put small craft supplies (such as beads, shells, googly eyes, etc.) in ziploc bags to make it easy for me to grab and take to CCD.











I needed something to put all the crazy little bags in so I bought some clear plastic boxes (6 qt. size) at Target for $1.29 each (I wanted to use old shoeboxes but I only had one on hand). I then organized the ziploc bags in the plastic boxes and labeled each box on the lid and front using blank sticky labels that I already had. These little plastic boxes stack nicely in the wire drawers and since each one is labeled I can find what I need easily.







I also labeled each drawer with the contents of each with plastic sleeve name tag thingies left over from hubby’s various conventions and meetings that he goes to. I just removed his name card and used the back of the card to write down what was in each basket and slipped it inside the holder. Each name tag holder has a clip on it to attach to your collar or pocket and I used them to clip to the wire basket.

Drawer #1: Construction Paper, Craft Foam, Contact Paper, Staplers, 3 Hole Puncher

Drawer #2: Craft/Desk Supplies & Samples

Drawer #3: Paper Plates, Cups, Paper Bags, Yarn, Craft Foam shapes, Fiber Fill

Drawer #4: Games, Collectable Craft Objects



In a spare spiral notebook that I found during my frantic craft supply invasion all over the house I wrote a list of all the supplies that I have, how many of each item, and where they are located in my “dream closet”. Yes, hubby said this was over kill, but it is my “dream closet” and I wanted it organized and I wanted to know what I had, how many of the supplies I had, and where they were. Since I’m getting up there in age I sometimes forget where I put things and how many I have (remember the stuff stored in the bathroom and also finding items that had been lost for years?) and I thought this was extremely prudent for me to do so.


*All in Drawer #2

Box #1: Samples & Extra Cut Out Crafts
3 Mother’s Day craft foam heart frames
11 Mosaic Crosses
2 Our Father popsicle frames
7 Our Father prayer printables
4 craft foam fish
19 stained glass cross frames


Box #2: Desk Supplies and Paint Pens
3 boxes crayons
1 box Hi Impact Markers
2 rolls Scotch clear tape
1 box colored pencils
1 box paint pens (12 various colors)
3 large paint writers (gold, red, and green glitter)
4 small glitter containers (red, green, gold, silver)
3 small fabric writers (1 green, 2 glow in the dark)
2 glue gun refills


Box #3: Beads, Tissue Paper Sequins, Jewels, Googly Eyes, Shells
3 bags pony beads (various colors)
40 wooden beads
1 small bag of 3 prong beads
1 bag sequins
1 bag acrylic jewels
Twine
37 medium googly eyes
1 bag small googly eyes
Q-tips
1 small bag sea shells


Box #4: Craft Supplies
2 containers cupcake liners
9 tea light candles
2 rolls crepe paper
7 clothes pens
1 metallic braid
1 thin white ribbon
Balloons
1 bag grass seed


With everything done this is my “dream closet” that cost only $5.16 to create. (If I had more shoeboxes it would have cost me $0.)




I even have room to put shelves above the closet organizer when the need arises for more storage. I also found a shoe holder (canvas with pockets to put shoes in) that I hung on the back of the closet door and I could label each pocket if the craft supplies become larger.


Thinking of how organized I will be I just can’t wait until CCD starts so my students can make some crafts and do some activities so they can learn about our Faith in a fun and educational way.

Religious Classroom Bulletin Boards

Need to do a bulletin board for your religious classroom? Here are several sites to give you some ideas.



Classroom Displays and Bulletin Boards- Pages and pages of Christian bulletin boards

psscentral.com- Christian Themed Bulletin Boards

kidssundayschool.com- Creative Christian bulletin board ideas to brighten up your children's Sunday school classroom.

Bulletin Board Ideas- Scripture & Character boards (scroll down for these)

daniellesplace.com- Bulletin Board Displays For Sunday School

apostolicfaith.org- Just click on Holidays, Seasonal or Themes

dltk-teach.com- Several bulletin boards posted as well as some links

Craft Storage Ideas

My dream closet!


I don’t know about you, but my CCD craft supplies are taking over the house. Hubby says I’m hogging the closets and our guest room doesn’t look like a place anyone in their right mind would like to stay. Craft supplies can be big and bulky and can get out of control especially when you have to collect objects to make some of the crafts (example: Welch’s Grape Juice plastic containers, toilet paper rolls, glass jars, etc.). My parish craft supplies are limited so I provide most of my own for my classroom. I also have several samples of crafts to show the students so they will understand what we are making.

So what can we do? We can’t get rid of our craft supplies.



Crafts Storage Ideas:

familycrafts.about.com- Tips for Storing and Organizing Your Craft Supplies

familycrafts.about.com- Top Craft Supply Storage Ideas

goodhousekeeping.com- Easy Organizing: Craft Supplies
(Just click on the slide show and ideas will pop up beside it on the right side.)

thriftyfun.com- Organizing Craft Supplies In A Small Space

giverslog.com- Organizing Kid’s Art and Crafts Supplies

hubpages.com- Organize Craft Supplies! (pictured is the inside of Martha Stewart’s Craft Armoire)

marthastewart.com- Making a Craft Armoire (you can make this in a spare closet or shelves on a wall)

bhg.com- The Perfect Craft Cabinet (you can make this in a spare closet or shelves on a wall)
*Also known as “My Dream Closet”.

homemadesimple.com- Craft Area Storage Tips

containerstore.com- White elfa Crafts Closet



*Time for me to get busy and clean up my craft mess. I’ll be sure to post what I finally come up with.

Pro Life: Look Who's Growing Dominos (game)

This game is free, however it is only to be used for classroom and personal use. It may not be published on any websites or other electronic media, or distributed in newsletters, bulletins, or any other form or sold for profit. Reproduction or retransmission of any materials, in whole or in part, in any manner, is not permitted. All graphics/images/clipart etc. used on all activities are not my own and are from various internet sources.



Look Who’s Growing Dominos: A fun way to educate young students that babies grow into adults to help promote Pro Life.

Introduce the game by discussing how babies grow after they are born. Example: What happens to babies after they are born? Do they stay the same size? Do they become bigger? How big do they grow? What do children become when they get older? What do they look like? What do you call someone who is all grown up? Etc.




4 pages of dominos



Look Who’s Growing Dominos Game- Shuffle/mix up dominos and place them all face down on the table in one pile.

For a two player game, each player should draw 4 dominos at random, for a game with more players; each player should draw 3 dominos. Do not let the other players see your dominos.

The youngest player should go first by laying any domino on the table. In the typical game you'd lay a double (one with the same image in both squares, but this is optional in the easy version -- I find it a tough rule to explain to the little ones and usually results in my having to look at their cards).

Player two tries to lay a domino on the table with an image that matches either end of the domino. If you cannot go, pick a domino from the pile and miss your turn. The next player may try to match the first domino image or try to match the end of the second domino image. Only one domino may be played per turn. Should the last domino be drawn with no play possible, the player passes and tries again on his/her next turn.

Play continues until one player has used all his dominos or until no one can play. The player with no dominos or with the least number of remaining dominos wins.

Silent Monks Singing Halleluia

CCD Registration Form

Before a student can attend CCD, the parents must fill out a registration form. The form differs from parish to parish, but most are relatively the same. Each year a new registration form needs be filled out by the parent to keep it up to date.

*NOTE- Having a registration form for each student (one form per child) makes is easier for the DRE and the office to keep records for each child.



Each registration form is usually on one or two pages and may consist of:


General Information- Student’s name, sex, birth date, age, address where they live and who they live with, parent’s name and address, religion, phone numbers (cell, home, work, emergency, etc.), e-mail, etc.


Medical- Any medical information that the program should be aware of (food allergies, taking medication, medical needs, etc.)


Child’s Physician- Name of physician and contact information.


Special Needs- Does the student have special needs? (Physical, Learning Disability, etc.)


Sacraments Received- Chart of the sacraments received: (Baptized, First Penance/Reconciliation, First Communion, Confirmation). The chart should include: Sacrament, Year, Church, City/State, Copy of Certificate Attached. Having this in a chart makes it easier for the DRE to see what the child has completed and what needs to be done.





Choice of Day/Time Preference of CCD- Class assignments are usually made on a first-come, first-placed basis in regards to the first choice of sessions. When to register for CCD classes depends upon the parish. Catechists, aides, and volunteers may have the opportunity to register their children during a pre-registration period in the spring. Following pre-registration, those families with children currently enrolled in the program may receive an application for registration. All completed applications usually need to be hand delivered or mailed to the Religious Education Office and include payment in full before they can be accepted.


Fee- If the parish has a fee for CCD, full payment is usually required before the child is accepted and assigned a class. The fee can be $15 - $75 for one child and can reach up to $150. Additional children from one family are charged a lesser fee usually according to how many children they have. Sacramental classes are sometimes an added expense and charge an extra $25 to $50, sometimes more. Catechists usually can register early and their children can sometimes go free. In some parishes by registering early, families can receive a discount. Financial Aid may be offered for those families that can demonstrate a true need. Decisions regarding financial aid are typically made by the DRE in consultation with the priest.


Concerns of Parent(s)- medical, educational, etc.


Emergency Medical Release Statement - Parents are sometimes required to sign an emergency medical release statement: As a parent and/or guardian, I do herewith authorize the treatment by a qualified and licensed medical doctor of the following minor in the event of a medical emergency which, in the opinion of the attending physician, may endanger his or her life, cause disfigurement, physical impairment or undue discomfort if delayed. This authority is granted only after a reasonable effort has been made to reach me.


Picture/Name Permission- Parents can choose whether or not they give the religious education program permission to take pictures and use the name of their child.


CCD Program Parent/Student Handbook- Before your child can attend CCD the CCD Program Parent/Student Handbook must be read, signed, and dated by the parent(s) and the child.


Signature of Parent(s) and Date- By signing this it verifies that I understand the information in the registration form and that the above information that I provided is correct.



*What else could be in the CCD Registration Form? Please leave a comment and add to the list.

Poll

CCD is over for most and I was wondering:


What seemed to be the most difficult problem in your CCD classroom this past year?

Please vote on the poll above this post.