Grade 1 - Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States

Sunday School Curriculum Grade 1
Always give prizes and gifts for homework or memorization well done
Picnics, activities and crafts are very important to build their love for the church
The Age of Six
A six-year-old child leads a life of continuous experience, thoughts, and exciting treatment.
So, Church Education attempts at helping the child to know how the Lord cares for him/her.
Thus the child will respond through his love to God and his obedience to Him. The servant
should be aware of the fact that the child is curious to know everything about God. Therefore,
tell him that God is our Shepherd and that the Lord always cares for him, his family, his school,
his church, his friends and life inside and outside the church... And here we find that a hymn that
give courage and a story, which is lively, will be important and effective.
We have to note the following:
Do not expect much from the children at this age. Give them support and encourage them
to work in an atmosphere of love.
Give a variety of activities and encourage the activity that is somewhat calm and peaceful.
Bear it in mind that children have a short span of attention, unless they do manual work,
and speak while working.
Make use of the children’s ideas and take what they love into consideration.
Always encourage and support the children.
Avoid changing facts or important dogmatic words when teaching this age. You are
planting the seeds of the faith in them and they probably do not understand the full
meaning of many words but they are learning them. For example, do not change the word
blood and body of Jesus during communion for juice and bread…etc
In conclusion, the students of grade 1 enjoy stories with visual aids and different sounds. They
particularly like stories with animals. The main theme to be conveyed at this age is the love and
care of God for them. They also have a tremendous memory capacity at this age and this is a
good opportunity to memorize as much as possible from the Bible and Psalms or prayers. This is
also the age when respect to the church and behavior during the liturgy needs to be developed.
After all, this can still be considered as a preliminary modified curriculum for grade 1 that
will require your feedback as a servant in order to continue the improvement process. Any
inquiries or comments can be forwarded to ssc@suscopts.org
May the Holy Spirit guide every servant using this curriculum.
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