Our PLACE (Peace, Love and Christian Education)
Our PLACE, our program for 1st – 4th graders, is offered most Sunday mornings of the school year during the 9:30 a.m service. This innovative and popular program teaches children major stories of the Bible through repetition and rotations, using three different classroom settings. (We’ve got great classrooms – see below.) We repeat the story over the course of a three-week rotation. Each year we choose a theme we’d like to explore, and then select Bible stories that support that theme. This year’s theme is “An Encountering of Faith.” The Bible stories we will be teaching are St. Alban, Ruth and Naomi, Jonah, Advent Through the Eyes of the Wise Men, the Prodigal Son, Walking on Water, Easter Through the Eyes of the Women, and Doubting Thomas.
We present these stories in a stimulating and inviting way. In Thou Art, Show Me Cinema and St. Alban’s Playhouse, the children learn through a variety of mediums, namely storytelling, music, art, classic movies, and drama. It works because we know that students learn best through repetition … and by presenting the story each week in a different workshop with a different teacher and medium, the students don’t get bored. To the parents and teachers, it’s multi-dimensional learning. To the kids, it’s a fun way to learn God’s word.
If you would like further information, please feel free to contact Debbie Fisher at dfisher@stalbansmaine.org
The Classrooms at Our Place
Show Me Cinema: St. Alban’s own cinema with seats from an old-time movie theater where children enjoy a film based on the rotation’s theme (includes popcorn!)
St. Alban’s Playhouse: A drama room with stage and dressing area and plenty of imaginative costumes and props where the class puts on a play based on the rotation’s theme.
Thou Art: A real art gallery where children interpret the Bible story through different artistic media such as painting, mosaics, pottery and sculpture.
