St. Elias Church School - 2011

Our Church School has 80 children registered ranging in age from 4 years old to 17 years old.  We have two sessions of Church School.  The first session follows the 8:30 am Divine Liturgy.  Our second session commences immediately after the reception of Holy Communion during the 10:30 am Divine Liturgy.

In both sessions, we have dedicated and enthusiastic teachers who are constantly creating innovative ways of engaging our children in the curriculum and our holy Orthodox Faith. 

Our curriculum, Promise and Preparation, centers on finding Christ in the Old Testament and was written by Ronnie Long.  Ronnie and his wife, Selina, are our first session teachers.  This session includes all ages and grades in one class.  Dr. Mark Cherry leads a class for Teens, college age students and adults following the first Divine Liturgy.

Teachers for the second session of Church School are:  PreK-1^st - Natalia Smith and Cristina Apostolo; 2^nd – 6^th grade - Sylvia Jabour, Noura Wakim and Nesreen Khoury; and 7^th -12^th grade - Daniel Rigney and Nicholas Oldziey.

During the summer, the formal lessons of Church School are put aside to teach the children the hymnography of the Church.  This past year, Patricia Rudawski, along with Sh. Geri Farman, led classes on the hymns of the church and singing.  Our hope is that this summer singing will begin to prepare our children to sing in the choir, as well as become familiar with the hymns of the services and their meaning.

The second week of August, we have Vacation Bible School at St. Elias.  This year we had over 40 children in attendance.  Our theme was giving thanks and the Divine Liturgy.  During the week the children made Holy Bread for Communion, prayer beads, incense, their own iconostasis and prayer books.  We had a scavenger hunt in the church looking for angels and crosses and mandorlas in the icons and throughout the church building, and they were the choir for a teaching Divine Liturgy offered on the last day of VBS.  We had a great time and are looking forward to VBS 2012.

It is our goal to bring our children to knowledge of God and maturity in the faith through teaching of Holy Scripture, the Liturgical and Sacramental life of the Church, charitable activities and fellowship with each other.