STAMFORD—It is through baptism that Catholics enter communion with the entire Church. And because it’s such an important sacrament in the life of the Church, one teacher at the Catholic Academy of Stamford makes a point of recognizing it each year.
Each January, Beth Carpanzano’s first grade students complete a baptism project, which she created to coincide with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, celebrated at the beginning of the month. During the project, the students will bring in a picture from their own baptisms, which is then attached to a paper dove. The students decorate the dove and write on it, “I am a child of God!”
According to Carpanzano, CAS first graders ‘shine like Jesus’ in baptism this project connects the religion curriculum—which teaches about the sacraments—with the one sacrament most students have received by first grade.
“It reinforces that God’s life lives in us through the sacraments, and this grace helps us to be like Jesus,” Carpanzano said. “As a symbol of the Holy Spirit, the dove is a reminder of the power of the Holy Trinity to help us be more like Jesus in our daily lives.”
The month of January also includes Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which Carpanzano also includes in this annual baptism project. She asks her students about how they can be a light in the world, like Christ, and then are asked to come up with ways they can be more like Jesus in every aspect of their lives.
“As first graders, my students concluded that doing something that you do not want to do— such as a household chore that parents ask you to do, or a game that friends want to play, but isn’t your first choice to play—is one way to be a peacemaker,” Carpanzano said. “Many wrote about being helpful and kind to others, like Jesus.”
One of Carpanzano’s goals in doing this project is to connect her students’ baptisms with Christ’s, and how he set an example for how they should act as children of God and followers of Christ.
“The students always enjoy being creative and are better able to grasp the concept of baptism with the connections made to real life, both (in) the celebration in the Church of Jesus’ baptism and the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. in society,” she said. “Both call us to remember the importance of our baptism in the way we live our lives as children of God and members of God’s family: the Church.”
Overall, Carpanzano views the baptism project as an extension and reinforcement of her classroom philosophy: Make God smile with your good choices, and shine like Jesus.
“It richly enhances the spiritual and socioemotional development of my first graders,” she said. “This plants an important seed in their hearts about how God’s grace makes us holy and helps us to be like Jesus.”
By Jen Hanley
