Children's Sunday School

Jessie McCrory, Coordinator

St John's Children's Sunday School is staffed by seven very dedicated teachers, and one Sunday School Coordinator. We serve children from 3 years old to 8th grade during the 10:30 am service. Sunday School starts at 10:30 with the rooms open to receive students as early as 10:15 am.

We use the David C. Cook Sunday School Curriculum as a basis for our teaching. Classes are grouped by age or grade level. Our youngest students attend a class for 3, 4 and 5 year olds. First and second graders attend a separate class; and third, fourth and fifth graders attend a third. We also provide a junior youth group for sixth, seventh and eighth graders. This is a bridge between the discussion and service-oriented Youth Group activities and our more classroom-oriented Sunday School classes. Once a month we gather in one large group for whole group lesson, prayer and craft. This keeps our program cohesive.

In Sunday School, we focus on prayer, Bible stories and their lessons, and applying lessons from the Bible in our lives. We teach through a mix of storytelling, read aloud, games, crafts, and discussion. Each session opens and closes with a prayer. Approximately one hour after the start of classes, teachers will be paged over the intercom system to walk their students back to the church to participate in the Eucharist with their families.

We have several special activities that we do throughout the year as well. Sunday School starts in late August when regular school starts. For the last few years, we have held an All Saints party at the end of October. The Sunday before Advent, we have an Advent Fair, where all the children can make several Christmas or Advent-related crafts. Each year we also produce a Christmas Pagent. On towards Spring, we do another whole group performance for the church, and the topics have ranged from Old Testament stories to the historical setting of the Bible to overcoming modern temptations. At the end of the school year, we throw a Sunday School picnic with outdoor games, hot dogs and fun. Over the summer, we have a continuing program in which all the children work together and continue to learn about how the Bible works in their lives through craft, song and storytelling. All of these varied activities mark the passage of the year and provide us with lasting memories of our time together and the lessons we learn.

Sunday School Schedule