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GRACE CHURCH SUNDAY SCHOOL 2008-2009
PRE-SCHOOL AND ELEMENTARY GRADES:
10:00 A.M. Sunday Activities for all pre-school and elementary grade children:
Arts & Crafts is offered nearly every Sunday morning during the academic year:
10:00 a.m. Arts and Crafts project at a table on the stage. Many of these projects are designed by our lead arts & crafts teacher to match the Bible stories or lessons in Sunday School.
Singing School (replaces Arts & Crafts 5 weeks in fall and 5 weeks in spring):
10:00 a.m. Gathering in a procession around the Large Hall, and then sitting in a circle to do rhythm exercises.
10:15 a.m. Singing sacred songs in the chapel. (30 min.)
10:45 A.M. Sunday Activites for all pre-school and elementary grade children:
Godly Play (for Pre-school, Kindergarten, and Grade 1 ages). This curriculum is based on the Montessori method of education, and appeals to the children's imaginations. It consists of the presentation of a Bible story and a response from the children using materials provided.
Children's Chapel (for Grades 2-5): This chapel service includes times for singing and both intercessory prayer and centering prayer. (15 min.)
11:00 a.m. Sunday Activities for all pre-school and elementary grade children (35-40 min):
(Godly Play continues for Pre-School, Kindergarten and Grade 1 ages.)
Firelight 1 (Grades 2-3) and Firelight 2 (Grades 4-5). These classes typically take up a Bible story for two to three weeks at a time. Each Sunday a different workshop activity approaches the Bible story from a new perspective, including drama, storytelling, and cooking.
Making a Bible Video (for all children in Grades 2-5). A special Video team of Grace Church teachers helps the students portray a Bible story. Children learn about the characters they portray, and also become theologians as they interpret the stories found in Scripture. The goal this year is to produce one video in the fall and one in the spring. This work is done during regular class times.
11:45 a.m. (approx. time) All pre-school and elementary grade children join their families in the worship service in progress in the church.
MIDDLE SCHOOL AND HIGH SCHOOL GRADES:
10:00 a.m. Sunday Activities for all Middle School and High School Grades:
The Journey to Adulthood is a 6-7 year program of spiritual formation for young people. The curriculum provides a liturgical frame for their experience in our modern culture, celebrates their individuality and their creative potential, and instructs them in skills needed for successful adult participation in church and society. The Journey to Adulthood balances Bible study, prayer, and both serious and playful activities to nurture the whole person during the passage from childhood to adulthood. Leaders model living the faith and remind young people of the ever-present love and mercy of God.
Rite-13 (Grades 6, 7, 8)
This program creates a community of prayer. It also inaugurates a community of learning beginning by acknowledging the gift of gender, celebrates the amazing creative power and potential of the class participants, and creates a safe haven to explore new ideas, new interests and new abilities.
Rite 13 members, parents, and teachers belong to the Charles River Youth Collaborative. This is a work of the Episcopal parishes of Newton and other nearby towns. The Middle School Age youth of about a dozen parishes meet together 5 times per year. This year the theme is Hunger. The activities will begin with a "Hunger Banquet" on Friday Evening, Sept. 26 6-8 p.m. Activities later in the year will include baking pies for Thanksgiving, A visit to a Heifer Project farm, taking a leadership role in a service of Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, and mobilizing congregations for the May 3 Walk for Hunger.
On Good Friday, 4/10/09 at Noon, the Rite-13 Students of Grace Church will lead an interactive version of Stations of the Cross at Grace Church. Middle School Age Students from the Charles River Youth Collaborative will help the Grace Church students plan and lead the service.
J2A (Grades 8-10)
This "Journey to Adulthood" program continues the community of prayer and learning. It blends action and contemplation in teaching young people faithful living. To prepare them for adulthood they learn six basic skills: active listening, negotiation, assertion, research/information management, partnership and leadership. The program also helps them understand and affirm Christian living. At the age of about 16 they are given an opportunity to be confirmed and are acknowledged in the community as equipped for new levels of responsibility. They are recognized as young adults, rather than children, and invited to make a holy pilgrimage. In some past years the destination of the pilgrimage has been to Nightwatch, an overnight program of New York City's Episcopal Cathedral.
During the fall the class will seek to identify an outreach project for the whole congregation. They will make visits to local outreach sites in Newton and Boston. As part of their work the students will help each other to discern their gifts for outreach and ministry. They will reflect on their experiences and choose a project that may be suitable for the whole congregation. This work will be concluded during the Parish Winter Weekend, held at the Barbara C. Harris Camp in New Hampshire. Many adults and children of the congregation attend this event. It is hoped that the week following, at the parish annual meeting, the congregation will formally adopt the outreach project of the J2A class. During Lent, this activity will be organized, and in the spring the members of the congregation will participate in the program.
YAC (Grades 11,12)
"Young Adults in Church": This program encourages older youth to take on adult responsibilities in all aspects of parish life and the community. They are challenged to become good stewards of their time, talent and treasure. Guided by adult advisers, they use the Anglican model of Scripture, reason, and the tradition of the Church to guide a lifelong pilgrimage in their faith.
Email Ed Pease
Assistant for Christian Education
Tel: 508-668-5055
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