Faith and Life: Grade 8: Our Life in the Church (Teacher’s Manual)

This book presents the history of the Church--its founding by Christ, its birth in the Holy Spirit, the marks of the one, true Church, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, the saints, and the role of the religious and laity up to the present. It also covers the structure of the Church Jesus planned, the role of the Magisterium, the clergy, the religious and the laity, and our own vocations. This book will help the students to know and love the Church as Christ's Body and the Magisterium as the sure voice of Jesus, so that they may be strengthened through their lives in the Church to face the confusion and secularism of modern-day society.

Sequence:

Unit 1: The Church. Christ's plan for the Church's structure and its necessary attributes; the Church's teaching authority. The early Church: martyrs, Fathers, saints, and Mary.

Unit 2: The Christian in the World. Religious and laity, Holy Orders, Marriage and family life; call to holiness.

Unit 3: The Last Things. Death, Judgment, the end of the world.

Teacher's Manuals provide catechists with complete lesson plans and resources to present lessons in dynamic and interesting ways. Teacher's Manuals include:

• Lesson Overviews
• "Chalk Talks'' for blackboard use to help teacher visually explain key concepts in the lesson
• Easy-to-follow directions for classroom activities for each lesson
• Complete lesson plans with options for five-day or one-day presentations
• Prayer experiences for each lesson
• Copy masters for materials and activities to enrich lessons are provided for unlimited duplication
• Practical suggestions for using art, photographs, music and questions as teaching tools
• References to supporting materials and resources

Revised and updated Teacher's Manuals: The new teacher’s manuals feature daily lesson plans in a wrap-around format. In a large (9"x12") page layout, the new manuals facilitate speedy references and are perfectly coordinated with the textbooks, outlining an entire school year of plans for lessons, games, songs, and activities.

About the Faith and Life Series: The Faith and Life religion series has been hailed as a breakthrough in the field of religious education. It is a comprehensive Catholic program that combines beautiful classical and original artwork with a solid doctrinal and scriptural presentation in an easy to read and stimulating format praised by teachers, students, and parents everywhere. Throughout the series, every aspect of Christian life is addressed: What we believe (the Creed), what we do (the Commandments), the means to our end (Sacrametns and Liturgy), and what we hope for (Prayer and Scripture).

The Faith and Life Series features:

• Clear, comprehensive and exciting presentation of the Catholic Faith, tailored to the different grade levels, with a foundational emphasis on Scripture and Vatican II
• Quotations from Scripture, the liturgy, church documents and the saints highlight important points in each lesson
• Inspirational classical and original artwork and photographs connect the lessons to the life of Christ and of the Christian
• Questions and answers at the end of the chapters help review vital material and aid retention
• Helpful summary sections include: Prayers and Devotions, Liturgical and Seasonal Life of the Church, Words to Know
• Follows guidelines laid out by the General Catechetical Directory, Pope John Paul II’s Catechesi Tradendae, and the U.S. National Catholic Directory.

Newly Revised!: While much of the text, including the use of traditional language and themes, remains unchanged, it is hoped that the revised edition will be easier to use for both students and teachers. The great works of art that appear in the original edition are maintained in the revised edition. Keeping in mind the popularity of the original edition of the Faith and Life textbooks, Ignatius Press has made only minor alterations to the revised student texts. The majority of the revisions within the student texts appear in the question and answer segments of the book. Each question and answer set is now related directly to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Second Edition) and tied specifically to the material covered in each chapter. Further, the questions and answers are now more age appropriate to each grade level.

Other changes in the new edition of the student texts include:

• The setting of key terms in boldface to allow students and teachers easy access to important terminology within the text
• Grammatical refinements in some portions of the texts
• More direct quotations from Holy Scripture (from the Ignatius Revised Standard Version)