December 2008

Here we are again, at the beginning of the Nativity Fast, and faced with the dilemma of how to be an Orthodox Christian in a secular world. For those of us in smaller church schools, it means deciding how we are to mark the season for our smaller church school. I have several suggestions for those in this situation.
First of all, if you are in a parish which loves to see children put on a Christmas program (called a yolka where I come from), it can still be done. It just takes a little more creativity, and you may need to write it (or adapt it) yourself. Click at the right on “Christmas Play” to see a sample. Because we were small, this one was written to accommodate the ages and skills of the children we had, and I also included some willing adults in the cast. What we discovered was, that it gave children the opportunity to interact with adults they would not normally be in contact with, and people liked it even better when they saw their adult friends up on the stage as well!
The drawback of a play, of course, is that it takes at least some practice, which involves finding good practice times that do not take away from teaching too much. The sample play to the right is simple, and does not require costuming, which does save preparation time.
The other suggestion I have for a special activity is a “retreat” day for children, which includes some parent participation. It also gets other adults involved in your church school program too, and I find that when people are more closely connected to a program, they tend to support it more, and this is a good thing. Look to the right for a sample schedule of this also. Of course, this can be altered to suit your inclinations and situation. We set it up so that during the majority of the day the parents were not there- giving them a perfect time to Christmas shop for the children, a feature which they loved.
I hope that if you are stuck for ideas, or want something new, you will try one of these. We found them successful and popular, and that the demands on the teachers and parents were minimal, since many were involved in the planning and orchestration.

Wishing you a blessed “Little Lent,” and a wonderful Nativity.