Walking in God’s Way
A retreat for Catholic 5th Graders

The 5th Grade Shine Retreat inspires students to listen for God’s voice in order to walk steady in the way and respect others in their daily lives. The following are descriptions of the different sessions included in our 5th Grade Shine Retreat. You can pick sessions from the retreat, have us modify sessions, or create new sessions based on the needs of your group.

Making God my Way (1 hour)
Shine Goal: With all the distractions that students face it is easy to lose track of God’s way. This session will help students to Shine by helping them identify what God’s way is and how they can make God’s way their way.
Activity: Students create a shoeprint and write in it how they can walk in God’s path.
Process: Small Group

Walking Steady in the Way (1.5 hours)
Shine Goal: Students hear many competing voices in life from the media, friends, and family. Not all of these voices lead to God. This session helps students identify what might keep us from walking in God’s way and discover how they can listen for God’s voice.
Activity: Students participate in a minefield activity where they try to choose God’s voice among the competing voices.
Process: Large Group

God Makes us His Way (1 hour)
Shine Goal: Many students are faced with some type of bullying or lack of respect from their peers. This session helps students to see that we are God’s temples and that we need to treat each other with respect and kindness.
Activity: Students receive and decorate a bracelet to remind them they are God’s temples.
Process: Large Group

Living the Way (45 min)
Shine Goal: The challenge for many students is to incorporate their retreat experience into their everyday life. This session helps students practice the ways they will shine in their daily lives.
Activity: Students perform situational skits putting into practice different Christian values from the retreat.
Process: Combination of Large Group and Small Group