Conclave!

As we begin the second week of our Papacy Lapbook, we are focusing on the Conclave.  Timely, don't you think?

Only an hour and a half until
 breakfast, Cardinals!

A friend mentioned she set one of their clocks in their kitchen to Rome time, which I thought was a great idea.  I also posted the Cardinals' daily schedule next to that clock, so we could see what the Cardinals were doing right at that moment.  This, along with our frequent prayers, gives a wonderful sense of connection to the events in the Vatican City.  I think it is the best and most reasonable way to wait for the white smoke.



Our Papacy Lapbook schedule for the week is as follows:

Monday
Finish the last three chapters of Lost in St. Peter's Tomb (A somewhat simple but fun book - we all appreciated the illustrations and I think the author did a good job weaving a story into all the information about St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican)
Where does the Pope live?  mini-book

Tuesday
Read Focus' Illustrated Guide to the Conclave - narrate and discuss
Smoke investigation (this was a lot of fun!)
Selecting a New Pope mini-book
Conclave voting activity at Religious Ed (more below)








Wednesday
Sistine Chapel Investigation (virtual tour, Khan Academy video, and this one too)
Where does the Conclave take place? mini-book
Vocabulary mini-book

Thursday
Finish up mini-books
Picture study of a section from the Sistine Chapel ceiling


More about the Conclave activity I led this afternoon:

Set up:

• Squares of paper, approximately as many as the number of children in the group - number one side sequentially, on the other put ages for the Cardinals, making sure to have at least a couple 80 or over.  (I used numbers instead of names to make it easier for the children to vote)  put all of these in a dish or bag.
• A platter
• A basket or container
• A tally sheet with the sequential numbers from the first step on it for the count
• The prayer used by the Cardinals when the vote, typed up and taped to the platter
• Several copies of the Veni Creator prayer
• Ballots
• A needle threaded with colored thread and knotted securely
• Pencils/crayons/markers
• The room should have a table with three chairs at it, three chairs set to the side, and at least one chair set aside in another part of the room.  

I started by briefly going over what the Conclave is, what it is for, and where it takes place.

Then we talked about who participates, and I had each person draw a number, explaining that this number represented their "name" as a Cardinal.  I also had them check their age (on the back of their number card) to see if they were eligible to participate in the Conclave.

I then assigned people to various roles (you could do this by lot or by assigning, lot would be more accurate, but I had a range of ages and I wanted to make sure I had older kids doing the counting!) - the table was for the Scrutineers, the Infimrarii sat at the three chairs set to the side, and the sick sat in the chair set off by itself.  The Revisers stood behind each of the Scrutineers.

I then ran the children through voting on their ballots, placing them on the platter (and reciting the prayer - although I didn't have each one say it because I was a little pressed for time), putting them in the basket, getting the votes from the sick, counting the ballots and tallying the ballots.

Then we discussed the results and what sort of smoke we would be sending up given our vote.  After this we talked about what would have happened if we did have the 2/3 majority.

It was a great activity and fun and engaging way to present a topic with a lot of details.