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In March 2020, Trinity St. Paul’s, along with all other Episcopal churches, had to adjust to the new realities of COVID-19, social distancing, and bringing our worship and church communities online. Sunday School, which was creatively taught and led at Trinity St. Paul’s by Dawn Ward and Debbie-Ann Simpson, had to be suspended in March of last year.
When I came on board as your Deacon in Formation in late October, I took on the challenge of reviving Sunday School. With help from Miss Dawn, Miss Debbie-Ann, and Deacon Hyacinth, we launched an Advent program. The first step was to create activity bags for each student that included coloring pages, stories, activities, and a few chocolates and clementines. Parents came to Trinity St. Paul’s to pick up the bags.
We then launched a weekly lesson ZOOM. While meeting on ZOOM will never be the same as meeting in person, we have been able to celebrate St. Nicholas Day, review Bible stories, and have discussions. We have been meeting each Sunday at 1:00 p.m., since the first week of December 2020.
In the weeks that have followed, we have continued with a live stream of an outdoor Epiphany pageant, Godly Play stories, discussions, and related art lessons. Godly Play is an especially helpful curriculum for online learning. It is a story-telling, scripture-based curriculum that is based on Montessori teaching methods. I am very close with Ann Post, the director of Christian education, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Riverside, Conn. Many weeks, we have her tell the story, other weeks we find other Godly Play storytellers and videos.
This week, I will be mailing Lenten kits to every student. These will include activities for each week, along with a coloring page and a Lenten calendar. We will soon incorporate music, too.
My hope is to launch a separate ZOOM gathering for our early teen, and teen age, Sunday School attendees. I have been gathering materials and will soon have more information.
If you would like your child to participate in Trinity St. Paul’s ZOOM Sunday School, please contact the church office. We can provide the meeting ID and password.
Peace,
Jean Marie Angelo, Church School Director
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