You and your child may wish to explore the way your family does things together.

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1 Your child has now completed the first two lessons of the RCL Benziger Family Life Grade 1 program dealing with God s gift of family. I d like to share some of the concepts and ideas we studied. You may wish to reinforce them at home. What Families Do We talked about how all families are different in some ways. We also learned that all families are alike in some ways. One way in which all families are alike is that all families do things together: fun things as well as work-related things. The Bible tells us about Jesus and his family, which the Church calls the Holy Family. The children learned that it is always good to pray for our families. You and your child may wish to explore the way your family does things together. Families Love and Help Lesson 2 tells other ways that families are alike. No matter how big or small families are, where they live, or what language they speak, they show love. They show their love by caring and helping and being fair. And that God loves all families. You may wish to speak to your child about the appropriate ways that your family shows love to others. I hope that you and your child will enjoy talking about all these new ideas.

2 Your first-grader has now completed lessons 3 and 4 of the RCL Benziger Family Life program dealing with God s gift of self. I d like to share some of the concepts and ideas we studied. You may wish to reinforce them at home. Child of God In Lesson 3 the children talked about appreciating themselves as very worthy people made by God and loved by God, just as they are. Because God made each person to be loving and gave each person special gifts and abilities, children have a lot to share with others. Perhaps you and your child can talk about what makes each member of your family special. I Have Feelings In Lesson 4 we talked about feelings, at the level of a first-grade child, using a story of a mother and father telling their son they were going to have a baby. You child learned several facts about feelings: That there are many kinds of feelings and that it is possible to have more than one feeling at the same time. It is important to learn how to handle feelings and to be able to share feelings appropriately. Finally, God loves us, no matter how we feel. You may wish to talk with your child about your own feelings and how you deal with your feelings appropriately. I hope you will encourage your child to share some of the new ideas with you at home.

3 Your first-grader has now completed lessons 5 and 6 of the RCL Benziger Family Life program dealing with God s gift of life. We have been exploring the following concepts and ideas. I Grow and Learn No matter what one s age, growing and learning are part of daily living. Our learning comes through our five senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. The students discovered that they learn through their senses. They accomplished some skill building activities as well. You may wish to review with your child the five senses and how we use those senses to be aware of the world around us. I Care for Myself Lesson 6 reflects the growing world of your first-grade child. We talked about ways of keeping ourselves healthy and safe. The body is a gift from God that needs to be cared for. Your child learned that this involves good nutrition, exercise, sleep and cleanliness. Personal care also means the avoidance of people and things that are harmful. The lesson ended with stressing the importance of rules in helping to keep us safe. This would be a good time to speak with your child about your family s health and safety rules and to practice saying no to people or things that might be harmful. I encourage you ask your child to share some of his or her new ideas with you.

4 Your first-grader has now completed lessons 7 and 8 of the RCL Benziger Family Life program dealing with God s gift of love. The following concepts and ideas were covered. They are intended to reinforce the values you have shared with your child around the theme of human sexuality and the virtue of chastity. I Care for Others Your child discovered that loving is more than just a feeling; it is doing things for others. Here is how we expanded on this concept: There are ways to show love even to those whom one cannot see. They can still show love even when one does not feel very loving. Jesus told us to love God and to love everyone; learning to show love takes practice. You may wish to explore with your child the many ways that family members care for each others and for others outside of the family. Love Grows Lesson 8 continues the story of the family expecting a baby. The little boy learned an important fact about family life: As a family grows, love expands to include everybody. Therefore, love grows as it is shared. We talked about specific ways each member of a family shares love. The lesson concluded with an understanding that our Church Family also shares love. The Sacrament of Baptism is one of the ways someone is welcomed into the Catholic Church. You may wish to speak with your child about the appropriate ways you show love for people in your family and to people not in your family. I hope you will encourage your child to share some of these new ideas with you at home.

5 Your first-grader has now completed lessons 9 and 10 of the RCL Benziger Family Life program dealing with God s gift of community. The following concepts and ideas were covered. You may wish to reinforce them at home. Other Families Lesson 9 broadened the concept of family. People who care for one another are like families. The children learned that they have many families, such as their neighborhood, parish and school. We should treat these families as we treat our home families with loving service. Jesus said this about serving others: When one helps other people, it s like helping him. Catholics have a special way of celebrating being a family: this celebration is called the Mass. You may wish to speak with your child about what it means to belong to these various communities and how they are all different. Relationships Lesson 10 was about building good relationships inside and outside of the family. Sometimes it is hard to show love, so children need to learn peacemaking skills by practicing them. We learned that saying the words I m sorry and I forgive you give everyone a fresh start. The Church, too, offers a fresh start through the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. You may wish to practice with your child saying I m sorry and I forgive you, and talk about when we need to say those words. We hope that you and your child have enjoyed sharing the new and important ideas found in Grade 1 of the Family Life program. I hope that it has assisted in the growth of a healthy family life for you and your child.