OUR BIBLE MEMORY STEP PROGRAM

Our Church School’s Bible Memory Step Program was started in 1992 when our Director of Christian Education, Karlene Archambeault, created the program following a suggestion by our long-time fifth grade teacher, the late Anne Norton.  Karlene was studying in the ACE Program (Associate for Christian Education) at Hartford Seminary.  Karlene chose Bible passages important to our faith and helpful to people all their lives, then assigned them to appropriate age and grade levels.  Preschoolers would learn Luke 18:16 (Let the little children come to me…)  Kindergartners would learn The Golden Rule.  In first grade, students would memorize The Lord’s Prayer, and in second grade, The Greatest Commandment.  Students in grade three would learn The 10 Commandments.  The Twenty Third Psalm would be the fourth grade’s passage, and Psalm 100 the fifth's grade’s.  Sixth graders would learn The Beatitudes, and seventh graders the hardest passage of all, John 1.  Children not completing the program by the end of grade seven could continue and finish in grade eight.  Each year our teachers teach the children their passage and it meaning, while reinforcing passages memorized in previous years.  They also evaluate students and decide when a passage has been fully memorized.  Students are allowed to move onto passages designed for future grades if they wish and have memorized all previous passages.  On Children’s Sunday each June, awards are given to those students, regardless of their age or grade, who have memorized the entire list of Bible passages.  Since its inception, 112 students have completed our Bible Memory Step Program.  Check out the plaque on the wall next to Karlene’s office for the full list.