Hail Mary

This is my 4th year teaching 5th grade CCD at our church. I love it. I love that one hour a week I have with those kids. They are so incredibly awesome, and I try to make lessons as much fun as possible.
One of the highlights of the year is making rosaries. The first time I taught this lesson, I used instructions for making a keychain rosary with plastic cord and pony beads. It was ok.
The next time, I had a wonderful co-teacher who was also a fellow beader/jewelry maker. She put together a wonderful kit that the kids really enjoyed making. Sadly, she moved away, and I'm on my own.
I was determined to find my kids a great project that would be easy enough for the kids who may have trouble, and could be done in an hour with only me to assist all 10-15 kids.
I ended up with plastic/glass bead rosary strung on beading wire, with lovely centers and crucifixes.
This is one that one of my boys made at home. The Hail Mary beads are actually 6mm glow-in-the-dark beads! I thought that was pretty cool, and so did the kids. I had many colors available for the Our Father beads: 8mm plastic beads. The centers are St. Benedict medals. I was pleased to find them, since our church is St. Benedict's. I ordered 2 different types of crosses. My boys thought these fancier ones were better. Also, the other type had jump rings with HUGE splits. When I made a sample, the wire kept slipping through the split.
I ordered the glow beads, centers and crosses from Catholic Parts. They had really nice pieces, and great prices. I will definitely be using them again. The wire and colored beads I picked up at Michael's.