DCE Releases Additional Lessons for Curriculum
The OCA Department of Christian Education has released additional lessons at three grade levels in the “Blessed is the Kingdom” series, a school-age curriculum based on themes presented in the popular “Essential Orthodox Christian Beliefs,” assisting parishes and Church School teachers in the formation of Orthodox Christian students. The project’s goal is to provide 32 lessons, at five grade levels: preschool, kindergarten through second grade, third grade through fifth grade, and middle school. Eventually, the Department intends to include lessons for high school as well—all in alignment with the Essential Orthodox Christian Beliefs adult teaching series. The development of this school-age curriculum makes available a parish-wide coordinated educational program.
The series author, Kelly Potteiger, is creating this new series using the successful format of her previous occasional lessons, “All of Creation Rejoices,” and “Let Your Light So Shine,” often used for short series or Vacation Church School themes.
The newly released lessons (15 of 32) are on a variety of themes including the Beatitudes, worship, the liturgical year, the communion of saints, the role of icons and relics, and the Holy Trinity. As in previous lessons, the new series emphasizes scripture and liturgical texts, are written with clear instructions for teachers, and are scripted in order to assist novice teachers. The lessons are created to be highly interactive using questions, activities, and crafts which are especially attractive to young students and enable learning more effectively than paper exercises.
Find all the completed lessons to date
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