Sunday School

What Each STUDENT Should Know

An Orthodox Christian should be well-informed about the rich content of the Orthodox Tradition. Being able to name, to retell, to identify, to list, and more are dimensions of what it means “to know” one’s faith. A Church school program should be able to transmit these concepts to its students. But “knowing the Faith” also involves being able to appreciate its content, to consider how it influences one’s life, to participate in it, and to respond to its call of commitment to faith in Jesus Christ and His Church. For example, what is the benefit of reciting the Lord’s Prayer in a classroom setting, and a teacher’s assessment that the student has memorized it, without praying the Lord’s Prayer at home and reflecting on the words themselves? The real curriculum for learning the Orthodox Faith is the life of the Church as experienced in a dynamic, faith-filled parish. Our education in faith is a lifelong journey. No Church school curriculum can include or teach everything. Any series of published textbooks is merely the first step of learning. Even in the best series, the authors, editors, and publishers make choices about what they believe most valuable for learners to achieve in a certain timeframe.

By the end of the Kindergarten grade, the students are expected to:

• Make the sign of the cross
• Venerate an icon
• Recite a simple food prayer
• Know their class Patron Saint
• Deliver the Pascha greeting and response (Christ Is Risen, Truly He is Risen)
• Recite the Lord’s Prayer.

We follow the same routine each Sunday which includes:

• Opening prayer, the Trisigion Prayer, including individual prayer requests from our students
• Hymn of St. Spyridon
• Recognizing our Heavenly Helper of the Day
• Celebrating the Saint of the Day and anyone celebrating their Feast Day that week
• Lesson of the day
• Art, craft, or play activity that corresponds with our lesson
• Closing prayer
• Dismissal with question of the day and treat