Children of God, that is who we are, gifted for life in the spirit now

Welcome to the UCC in Abington Church School program!

Children are welcome to join their parents in the Sanctuary for the beginning of worship starting at 10:00 every Sunday. After the Childrens Moment (a mini-sermon directed toward the children), the students are dismissed to their classes. Classes meet until 11:15.

Communion

On the first Sunday of every month, the UCC in Abington celebrates Communion. On these Sundays, children will go directly to their classes at 10:00 and will later join the congregation with their teachers to partake in Communion. The UCC in Abington practices Open Communion which means that all believers of all ages are welcome to come to the table. Our teachers review the meaning of Communion with the children every month. Children sit together with their class, however parents are always welcome to have their child(ren) sit with them during Communion.

Sunday School Format

We have a New Model for a New Time for our Church School format. We are using a form of the Workshop Rotation Model or WORM for short, which was developed by Melissa Armstrong and Neil MacQueen at their church in Barrington, Illinois. To find out more about the format, logon to www.rotation.org.

We have five combined classes:
PreK (3 and 4 year olds), Kindergarten & 1^st Grade, 2^nd & 3^rd Grade, 4^th & 5^th Grade, and 6^th, 7^th & 8^th Grade.

There are also five workshops offered each month:
Drama Workshop, Cooking Workshop, Media Workshop, Art & Music Workshop and Bible Skills and Games Workshop. 

Each month there is a new lesson and children participate in one workshop with their class each week. The repetition of hearing the same story in different ways helps to reinforce the concepts and it also helps the children create lasting memories of church school and a great retention of the stories and lessons from the Bible.

In the Drama Workshop, children retell the story using puppets, figures or by dressing up in costumes. Sometimes a script is used.

In the Cooking Workshop, children either taste food related to the lesson (i.e., a lesson which talks about God providing us comfort such as the 23^rd Psalm might have the children talk about and sample comfort foods or they cook/bake/make something (Praying hands pretzels, Flood Punch, etc)

In the Media Workshop, children create newscasts, books, newspapers, magazines, talk shows, etc reporting on the lesson they've learned. Other times a portion of a video may be used to illustrate the lesson.

In the Art & Music Workshop, children learn about different hymns that were written about the lesson. Sometimes they might sing or play musical instruments. The Art portion can range from true art to crafts. Each project is to illustrate the lesson in a fun and meaningful way.

In the Bible Skills & Games Workshop, children learn Bible Skills such as how to find the books in the Bible, how to use a Bible Dictionary, where to find places such as Lake Galilee on a map and where to find certain key stories in the Bible. These skills and the lessons are learned through games such as Bible Bingo, Bible Blocks, Fishing Games and Word Puzzles.

To find out more information or to register your child in our Church School Program, please contact Susan Medeiros at 781-878-0199 x103.

Susan J. Medeiros
Director of Christian Education
United Church of Christ in Abington
P.O. Box 2025
10 Bedford Street
Abington, MA 02351
781-878-0199 x103
suefaith@comcast.net or AbingtonUnited@netscape.net

Photos courtesy of Judy O'Bryan.