Christian Nurture and Education for Infants, Children and Youth at Trinity

Thank you for visiting the portion of Trinity’s website dedicated to our programs for infants, children, and youth. We love youngsters and invite them to be part of our life together! We believe that Christian formation begins at birth. From cradle to college, our goal is to provide a safe and nurturing environment where these parishioners can grow in the Christian faith, and learn the tools for living out that faith in this community and the world. To this end, our programs are supported by ample supplies, experienced clergy/lay support, and opportunities for training. Our teachers and mentors are CORI checked and are required to take Safe Church Training. We are blessed with talented teams of teachers who commit to a classroom for the program year.  Many of our teachers have years of experience in the classroom! 

Adults Supporting Children: ASC

Our Church School program from Nursery to Grade 7 is thoughtfully and prayerfully managed by Carol Brady, our Church School Director, who has over 15 years of experience as a lay teacher and youth leader, and as a paid, professional Church School Coordinator and Special Education Assistant in a public school setting.  She is a certified Godly Play Teacher with 10 years of experience.

The Church School is run by the Church School Director jointly with ASC, a volunteer advisory group.  The mission of ASC is: 1) to support Trinity’s mission to children and families; 2) to create connections that enhance Christian formation; and 3) to manifest God’s love across generations. To that end, ASC meets regularly to recruit and support teachers, and to plan and implement educational, liturgical and social events during the church year. For example, ASC sponsors a church-wide picnic at the end of the program year, the Advent Event, the Christmas Pageant, and Lenten and Holy Week Activities. In the spring ASC guides the formal process of recruiting teachers and mentors for the following year.


The text that follows hopefully will answer most of your questions. For more information about Trinity’s Church School program, contact Carol Brady at 978-369-3715 ext. 16 or at .


The heart of our common life together is the Eucharist, whereby Sunday by Sunday, the Body of Christ gathers together around the Lord’s Table for pardon, renewal, solace and strength. All church school and youth programs on Sunday morning begin at 10am, and end in time to go upstairs to participate in Communion (usually about 10:45) For those for whom it is helpful, there is an ample supply of age appropriate materials (crayons, coloring books, activity sheets, etc) on children’s tables at both the Elm Street and Main Street entrances.

Welcome!

2011-2012 Calendar

Classes meet in the classroom and youth spaces in the Undercroft, which is the large space beneath the main Church. In 2011-2012, classes are held every Sunday from September 18, 2011 to June 10, 2012, with the following exceptions:

Sunday, October 9 (Columbus Day weekend)   
Sunday, November 13 (Veterans Day weekend)       
Sunday, January 1 (New Year’s Day)       
Sunday, January 15 (MLK weekend)   
Sunday, February 19 (1st weekend of public school vacation)
Sunday, April 15 (1st weekend of public school vacation)

On these days, Children’s Chapel, an informal worship service suitable for children up to 4th grade, meets during the Church School time in the Undercroft.

For the following major liturgical celebrations, children worship with their families:
Sunday, December 25 (Christmas Day – No Nursery)
Sunday, April 8 (Easter, Nursery available)
Sunday, May 27 (Pentecost, Nursery available)
 

Church School: Infant - 3

Nursery:  We offer nursery care for children from the infant stage through 3 years old from 9am to noon throughout the year. Our clean, light and airy nursery is staffed by a professional childcare provider who coordinates a schedule of welcoming parent volunteers. It includes a bathroom, changing table, kitchen sink, and refrigerator and is full of age appropriate toys and books. For more information about the nursery, click here. To register for nursery care, click here.

Church School: pre K-7th grade (to register, click here)

Preschool-Grade 3: Godly Play

For these ages, Trinity uses an experiential program called Godly Play, which assumes that children have a spiritual life already, but need to learn the vocabulary to express it. Using finely crafted materials, Godly Play employs a Montessori model to teach children the vocabulary of faith and liturgy through careful storytelling and creative play. Trinity currently has 3 Godly Play classrooms—preK/K, Grades 1/2, and Grades 3. Teachers are volunteers who have received or who are in the process of receiving training in Godly Play practices. Each classroom has a teacher and a doorkeeper present.

The preK/K class hears stories written by Sonja Stewart and Jerome Berryman from their book, Young Children in Worship.  These lessons, geared for shorter attention spans, introduce simple, spiritual worship practices as ways for children to ready themselves and be open to the presence of God.  For more information, go to: http://www.childrenandworship.org/home

In the 1st/2nd Grade class, these worship practices and lessons are expanded as the children go deeper into the stories as described in Berryman’s Complete Guides to Godly Play.  For more information on Godly Play as well as a demonstration, click here.

For the first half of the year, Grade 3 uses Joyce Brown’s Learning to Use My Bible, a learning center approach that increases children’s familiarity with the Bible.  The class then returns to the Godly Play curriculum as they hear the stories of specific followers of God, and then use their newly acquired Bible navigation skills to look up the story and wonder ever more deeply.

Grades 4 and 5: Witness

For these ages, Trinity uses a curriculum called Witness, published by Augsburg Fortress, which uses Old and New Testament stories to teach “faith traits” such as compassion, wisdom, thankfulness and stewardship. Children use colorful workbooks to help make the stories and traits come alive. The approach here is somewhat more didactic than Godly Play, and allows for discussion among students and teacher. For more information on this curriculum,  click here.

Grades 6 and 7: We Believe

This is our “Gap-year” class which we offer every other year. The following year, this group will become our next Rite-13 class (see below for more information on our youth programs).  The curriculum, We Believe With Boldness and Freedom: A Survey of the New Testament, employs cooperative learning techniques and the use of multiple intelligences as students in this class contemplate the life and teachings of Jesus, as well as the issues faced after the Ascension as the community of believers grew into the early church. Though the context may be different, how do those issues compare with the issues young people of faith wrestle with today? For more information, go to: http://www.pcusa.org/media/uploads/webelieve/pdfs/newtestament.pdf

Choir

Beginning in 2nd grade, or when the child is comfortable reading, Trinity offers a choir program that emphasizes learning about liturgy and music. The rigorous structure of the Royal School of Church Music Chorister Training Program, with its emphasis on individual achievement, forms the basis of the Junior and Youth choir program. These choirs sing at regular intervals on Sunday mornings; the Youth choir offers 2 evensongs a year, and the Junior choir is featured at the Christmas pageant. For more information, contact Trinity’s Director of Music, Robert Barney at 978-369-3715, x 20 or .

Lectors

Beginning in the 5th grade, young people are invited to help lead worship by reading Scripture lessons during either the 8am or 10am service. Training is provided. For more information, please contact Gaylord Brynolfson at .

Acolytes

Also beginning in 5th grade, young people are invited to help lead worship by serving as acolytes during the 10am service, as well as at special services at Christmas, during Holy Week, and at the Easter Vigil. Acolytes robe with the altar party, help set up the sanctuary area, light and extinguish candles, lead the procession in and out of the church, help the clergy prepare the Eucharist, receive the offerings. With an adult mentor, training is provided by our youth Acolyte Master, who also serves as the acolyte scheduler. For more information contact our Acolyte Mentor, Colby Anderson, at .

Youth Program: 8th – 12th grade (to register, click here)


Junior High and High School: Journey to Adulthood
Journey to Adulthood is a six-year program of Christian formation. It is organized into 3 phases: Rite 13, Pilgrims, and Young Adults in Church (YAC), each with a different set of developmental tasks, each with a different signature liturgy or event, all approached in a Christian context of healthy relationships with adults and other youth. For more information on this curriculum click here.

Trinity sponsored its first pilgrimage June 29-July 9, 2010.  The pilgrimage is the capstone of the middle 2 years of the program and requires of the pilgrims extensive planning and fundraising. Our Pilgrims went to Ireland. At the right is a picture of the group at Maumeen in County Galway, at a hillside site honoring St. Patrick.

Each group—Rite 13ers, Pilgrims, YAC—has their own room. They meet on Sundays from 10-10.45. They also meet for dinner once a month, and engage in other service and social activities “off campus” approximately once a month. Their mentors are faithful adults who have a love of adolescents and wide experience with kids, including professional experience. Each has been trained or is receiving training in the principles and practices of Journey to Adulthood.


Confirmation

Confirmation is the optional, but serious, commitment to living a Christian life defined by the promises found in the Baptismal Covenant (pages 416-417 in the Book of Common Prayer).  Preparation for this commitment takes place in the context of the Journey to Adulthood program (see above). The normative expectation is that this preparation takes place in the 9th or 10th grade year, the second year of the Pilgrim phase of the Journey to Adulthood, with the Rite of Confirmation taking place in the spring every other year. Our next expected Confirmation service will be in the spring of 2012, with preparation beginning in the fall of 2011.  Service activities and a weekend retreat at the Diocesan Camp and Conference Center with one of our Bishops and other candidates from the diocese are expected. Click here for diomassyouth.org Other resources include the Bible, The Book of Common Prayer and materials from My Faith, My Life: A Teen’s Guide to the Episcopal Church.  Contact The Rev. Nick Morris-Kliment with questions at 978-369-3715 x 14, or .

Some nursery notes:


Our nursery care is coordinated by a professional who is employed full time during the week at the highly regarded Infant/Toddler Center in Acton, Massachusetts. Your child will be in good hands.

Though we have back up supplies, we ask that parent/care givers bring all the gear their child needs: bottle, drinks, diaper stuff, necessary food, and so forth. There is a child sized toilet and step stool in the nursery’s bathroom.

In the bathrooms in the parish house there are also step stools; the bathroom closest to the Church also contains a changing table.

Sign in on the room clipboard with first and last name. Put a nametag on your child’s back where he/she is less likely to take it off, and mark your child’s gear with his/her name if it is not already labeled. When you return, be sure to sign your child out and tell a caregiver you are leaving with the child.

We will come and get you if we think your child is inconsolable and we feel the prospects of change are not good.  When you drop your child off, let us know where you think you will be sitting.

Thank you for entrusting your child to us.
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