Post date: May 28, 2015 2:22:40 AM

Dear Parents of Kindergarteners and 1st Graders,

Below is the last update for our school year. We hope these have been helpful in discussing our faith and church with your children at home. We thank you for bringing your kids to class throughout the year and we have truly enjoyed getting to know each of them and teach them about our Orthodox faith and Church.

Lesson 29: This lesson focused on Pentecost and how our church started without a building and just people. We talked about how the Holy Spirit came down to the Disciples and they were able to speak in different languages. This is how they were able to teach the world about Jesus and became Apostles. This was a gift from God. Peter, one of the Apostles spoke to the people and told them of God’s love for everyone. He told them about Jesus and how he was crucified and how he rose from the dead. This day that this happened is called Pentecost. On this day 3000 people were baptized as they believed in Jesus. They were baptized by the Apostles. They became Christians and this was the beginning of the Church. We remember all the things that happened on this day and it is the Church’s Birthday. We also pray that we will be filled with the Holy Spirit as well. The kids then started their Final Exam project, a Lord’s Prayer Placemat.

Lesson 30: We talked about the Virgin Mary/Theotokos/Panagia and her Assumption and falling asleep on August 15. We discussed how she prays for us to God and about her life and death. She is our Heavenly Mother. The kids each worked on a coloring sheet that represented certain times in her childhood and life and they took turns taping them to our marker board.

Lesson 31: This past Sunday we had the kids work on finishing their Lord’s Prayer Placemats. This is essentially their final exam project and they will be turned in to Father Nick. After, we had a review session with the kids on various aspects of the Divine Liturgy that we have learned throughout the year and we asked them to describe some of the icons we have talked about. We reviewed the three finger we use to make our cross, what they mean, etc.

We will be reviewing again this Sunday, especially the requirements that the Church School has set for the K-1 Class.

Please take a few moments to review the Curriculum Requirements for K-1 with your children before this Sunday. Also, please review the "Poems to Remember Important Dates" of our faith. They are attached below for your reference.

It has been a pleasure to teach your children this year and we hope they enjoyed their time in class. Have a wonderful and Blessed Summer!!

Maria Hochendoner

Andrea McRae, DVM

Margarita Bekiares

Dr. Karen Kolias