“Fire” in a cup was just one of the ways eighth-graders at St. Saint John the Evangelist School in Loveland recently taught kindergarteners about the Holy Spirit, as shown in the accompanying photo of students, from left: Mariah Anton, Shea Lee, Bailey Kraljic and Meagan Heesemann. On Nov. 13, big buddies in Carrie Siedenburg’s class manned four stations for their kinder buddies and explained a different symbol of the Holy Spirit at each: water, a dove, wind and fire.
“Mrs. Siedenburg gave the students the requirements to present a lesson using Scripture and a coloring page (but) they did so much more,” according to Christine Champlin, executive assistant to principal Lois Schmitt.
Stations included puppet shows on Moses and Pentecost, where they made tissue paper “fire” in a cup; a “storm” in a cup using water, shaving cream and food coloring, and distribution of holy water bottles; faux stained glass windows to show the Holy Spirit as a dove; and kites to remind students of the Holy Spirit as wind.
St. John’s has used the Mass buddy system for several years, pairing a middle school student with a kindergartener or first-grader who attend Mass together each Friday, as well as work on projects outside Mass to deepen the students’ sense of community and faith.
