Sunday School
Christ the Teacher
by the hand of Kh Denise Reardon
The function of All Saints childrens’ Church School is to nurture the religious and spiritual development of our children through both formal and informal instruction in the beliefs and practices of Orthodox Christianity.
All Saints church school meets every Sunday, beginning the second weekend in September and ending on the feast of Pentecost. We meet for approximately 45 minutes, immediately following Divine Liturgy. The children’s program serves preschool through high school. In addition, there is an adult church school class, and a nursery for infants and toddlers.
All visitors are invited to join us for coffee, snacks, and Sunday School immediately after Divine Liturgy.
- Nursery age: There is a playroom, for children under 3 years of age, supervised by one or more parents of the children during Sunday School. Also, there is a separate nursery room for children and parents to nap, nurse, or just have a quiet place.
- Preschool: Children join the prescho0l class on their 3rd birthday, and remain in this class until the fall they enter Kindergarten. The focus of this class is adjustment to a classroom setting, Bible stories, Saints lives, and basic liturgical “etiquette”.
- Primary: serves grades K-2. The primary class continues to develop the themes of the preschool class, with strong focus on Bible, the liturgical year, worship, and sacraments.
- Middler: class is for students in grades 3-5. We begin our rotation through cycles of material with this class: Year 1 is Divine Liturgy/Liturgical year/Sacraments; Year 2 Life of Christ; Year 3 Old Testament.
- Junior High: grades 6-8, rotates through Book of Acts (Year 1); Liturgical Year (Year 2). A comprehensive study of the basics of Orthodox theology, worship, church history, and moral teaching is done in Year 3.
- High School: class covers grades 9-11. Curriculum varies year to year but will cover Scripture, Church history, and Patristics, as well as topical lessons on various issues of concern to teens today. The focus for the 2010/2011 school year was a study of the Old Testament.
- Senior independent study: This program for High School seniors was piloted during our 2008-2009 year and met with very positive feedback. Our high school seniors attend adult church school some Sundays, and meet with a mentor for more directed study of topics of interest/concern to the student, as well as discussion of the student(s)’ transition into the life of the church as an adult. Three high school seniors completed this program during the 2010/11 year.
- Adults: Adult Sunday School is led by Father Patrick, and meets in the fellowship hall immediately following coffee and snacks.
Curriculum development
Periodically, the church school director holds meetings of parent/teacher groups to consider curriculum revisions. Our most recent of these was in the summer of 2008, where the following ideas were generated:
- Focus on materials which are visually/graphically interesting
- Make lessons more interactive and less theoretical
- Be vigilant regarding content
In addition, special programs/speakers were suggested for the entire church school. Suggestions for these programs were:
- Music program, with the goal of increasing Liturgical participation of students
- Guest speakers to include missionaries, clergy, iconographers, service workers
- Tithing
- Missions
- Service projects (in or out of classroom)
- Comparative religion/apologetics
- “Detox” – countering anti-Christian messages from the secular culture
Not all of these special programs are done every year. The 2010-2011 year included a unit on iconography and the music program which was so successful in previous years.
Our church school teachers meet 3-4 times during the course of the school year to ensure that we stay on track and to plan for additional special lessons as time allows.
Special events
Each year, we try to do some type of special presentation. This year, on Meatfare Sunday, we performed a play titled “Prelude to Emmaus”, made up of several short skits of the parables from the pre-Lenten Sundays, and tying it in to Pascha.
On our patronal feast of All Saints, we have our year-end festivities. This includes the presentation of gifts to all students, and honoring of our graduates. Our year-end gift program consists of components of a personal prayer corner and library, with recommendations for parents and students regarding the development of a personal habit of prayer and spiritual reading. We also have a display of the students’ work downstairs in the basement, and a short performance of Liturgical music by the students immediately after Liturgy.
Our staff for the 2010/2011 year included:
Director:- Susan Letendre
- Preschool (3 yr olds) - Carolyn Freve, Sarah Kellar
- Preschool/K (4-5 yer olds yr olds) Miriam Warren
- Primary - Laurel Rudolph, Julie Vassilatos
- Middler – Deacon Andrew Kishler (Now Father Andrew)
- Jr High - Josh Mezger, Susan Letendre
- High School - Joseph Letendre
- Jennie Mezger, Elizabeth Betten, Paul Kushiner
We thank you all for your prayers and support.
