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New Curricula in Our Sunday School Classes by Ken Phillips and Elissa Tognozzi
By investing time, money and talent into Christian education programs, St. Augustine's provides a way to nurture our membership in the family of God. Our Sunday School has adopted a lectionary-based curriculum called Living the Good News for our children in Pre-K through Grade 6. The program is learner-centered and offers varied activities so that all children's needs are met whether they learn intellectually or experientially. Living the Good News is a curriculum that invites learning by doing. Children have opportunities to write, draw, act, sing, celebrate and, most of all, figure out together how to take what they find into their everyday world. Children experience scripture and traditions in a fresh way that gives meaning to their daily lives. Most importantly, children develop a more intimate relationship with God.
A curriculum that is lectionary based means that in Sunday School, children will be studying one of the readings of scripture appointed for each week. This scripture is often the gospel, although it can also be one of the lessons or the Psalm. Take-home papers for children prepare the way for continuing the discussion at home. This approach gives the adults and children a common focus. Through common learning experiences, we take steps toward uniting our parish, our households and our community.
In addition, the program for Sixth Graders and Non-confirmed Seventh Graders will integrate another curriculum that focuses on character education. The Children's Enrichment Program has a component called "Habits of the Heart." Activities are geared toward promoting appreciation of diversity, patience, cooperation, empathy and acting on convictions. Students will learn conflict resolution, or the peaceful resolution and negotiation of conflicts.
Our Middle School (confirmed 7th Graders) and High School Sunday school students will explore the world's major religions through "A Survey of Faiths" that will combine scriptural readings, excerpts from scholarly publications, video presentations, guest lecturers and field trips. Last year the students began to think about religious beliefs outside of our own Anglican tradition and came up with quite an impressive list of questions that will help guide our efforts. Although our Survey of Faiths is a two-year course that will include Christian traditions, we will dedicate this year to an exploration of non-Christian beliefs. We will begin with Hinduism, followed by Buddhism, Judaism and Islam. We will end our year with a study of one of the Native American traditions. Our plan is to allocate about 5 weeks for the study of each tradition.
Anyone from St. Augustine's with experience in any of these traditions, or anyone from outside of our parish who regularly practices these other faiths, is most welcomed to visit the Sunday school class to share their insights and experiences. Our course design calls for a visitor who can answer students' questions and share experience in the weeks prior to a field trip. Please, help us to prepare our wonderful Sunday school students for this exciting world tour.
We are still actively searching for teachers for our 2002-03 church year. A teacher training meeting will be held on September 7, 2002 from 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. If you are interested, please contact Elissa Tognozzi.
Copyright © 2002 St. Augustine by-the-Sea
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