An Episcopal Curriculum

The lessons can be completed in approximately 30 - 40 minutes. 

At St. James', our Church School meets during the first half of the service. The students and teachers are dismissed following the opening hymn and they return soon after the passing of the peace. 

Every year follows the same structure:

• Unit 1 - 8 Lessons
• Unit 2 - 6 Lessons
• Unit 3 - 8 Lessons
• Unit 4 - 8 Lessons

This number of lessons fits nicely into our typical program year at St. James'. Our yearly schedule is as follows:

1. Our first class is scheduled the Sunday after Labor Day.
2. No class the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
3. No class on Advent 4 (our annual Pageant) or between December 24 - January 1st.
4. Class returns the first Sunday after January 1st.
5. No class on Palm Sunday.
6. No class on Easter Sunday.
7. No class on Mother's Day.
8. Our final class is scheduled the Sunday before Memorial Day Weekend.

We have outlined a specific list of learning goals to accompany each lesson. Assuming a student completes all years of curriculum from PreK - 8th grade, the documents below represent all of the goals for each student's formal faith formation.

Keep in mind, these are goals. It is highly unlikely that every student will accomplish every learning objective outlined below. Always remember that the ultimate goal of any faith formation journey is for the student to form their own personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  

Primary Age Learning Goals

Elementary Age Learning Goals

Middle School Learning Goals

Below is the schedule of all the lesson topics for a particular grade level throughout all three years of the rotation.

Primary Class Lesson Schedule

Elementary Class Lesson Schedule

Middle School Class Lesson Schedule

The vast majority of the materials were made in-house or available for free online. However, there are several resources that were purchased from Teachers Pay Teachers. When possible, I linked the TPT store so you can purchase your own resource. Once you have purchased the resource, it is obviously available for your church for years to come. If I have linked a shop or resource that no longer exists, my apologies!

The following organizational method has been the most effective way to store the curriculum and supplies. I encourage you to invest in the initial set-up and soon you'll have a perpetual resource that can be prepped with ease! Essentially, your goal is to have the lessons and the printed materials stored together. Since the curriculum runs on a three-year theme rotation, it will make each year's subsequent appearance easier to prep!

As an added bonus, by having the lessons and most of the materials stored together, I am confident that anyone would be able to lead a class at a moment's notice.

Materials:

To store the complete curriculum (3 years of material for 3 classes) you will need:

• (9) 3-inch binders
• (9) sets of dividers (4 tabs each)
• Cover pages for binders
• Many, many packs of plastic binder pockets
• (3) medium size storage totes for larger, non-printable materials. I currently use recycled file storage boxes.

The binders will be labeled for "Shell Year", "Chalice Year", and "Cross Year". Suggestion: purchase a different color binder for each year, rather than each class.

Process:

Inside, you'll place printouts of each of that year's 4 units in the dividers. 

Use the binder pockets to organize printable materials. Place the corresponding printables directly within each lesson's 2 page spread. In the future, you'll never need to look for another file - simply keep a master copy in each pocket and make new copies when needed.

For larger materials, I suggest getting a medium size storage bin for each year (Shell, Chalice, and Cross.) If anything is too large to fit within the binder, I place it in the bin. In 3 years when we rotate back to that year, I know just where to look for materials!

YES! I do not believe in gatekeeping faith formation resources, as long as the author is appropriately compensated. First, I did not create this resource from scratch. It is an adapted version of an already free resource from Virginia Theological Seminary. Second, as a salaried employee of St. James' Episcopal Church, I was compensated for my work completed on behalf of the church. Now, it is my desire that other churches can benefit from this curriculum. 

If your church is enjoying the curriculum, we do invite you to make a small donation to our Education Program. Thank you!