“ECC lesson plans are designed to feed teachers, just as much as the children with whom they will share this lesson.”
What is the Episcopal Children’s Curriculum?
The Episcopal Children’s Curriculum (ECC) was one of the best-selling and most widely used Sunday school programs ever created for the Episcopal Church. At its height, thousands of Episcopal parishes used ECC, touching the lives of countless children, families, and teachers. ECC was created by expert educators at the Center for the Ministry of Teaching at Virginia Theological Seminary. Though no longer in print, the entire curriculum is available for free on the CMT website.
Building Faith is publishing a series of articles on the Episcopal Children’s Curriculum; this is the second. The ECC is still a powerful resource for children ages Pre-K to 6th grade. It is also highly flexible and adaptable, allowing a church to use the full program, or select ECC pieces. Using selections may be especially helpful for inserting Episcopal traditions into an existing curriculum. Explore the ECC here.
Navigating the ECC Website
Several years ago, the entire Episcopal Children’s Curriculum was archived on-line, and made available for free. Recently, we re-worked the ECC website to make it more user-friendly. You can now browse through the different age groups, exploring lessons and materials. All the links have been re-titled to help users understand the curriculum and find what they are looking for.
However, with so much information in pdf form, it may take some time to orient yourself. Have patience with the format, and be assured that the content is sound!
Finally, please note that while most of the art and images are included, there is some artwork that is not available, due to copyright. As for the recorded music that was once offered, unfortunately these recordings are not available in any format.
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Tutorial Video – Watch this First
This short video (only 3 minutes) explains how to navigate the ECC website, and describes the basic scope and sequence of the curriculum.
Images of the Website
If you can’t view the video, the images below show portions of the website. Be sure to open the website and click through on your own.
Screen shot of the main page:
At the bottom of the page, you’ll find
three boxes listing age group and year:
When you click a year, you will be taken to a
content page with links to the curriculum materials:
Quick Facts about Episcopal Children’s Curriculum
• Available for three age groups: Pre-K and Kindergarten, Primary (grades 1-3), and Intermediate (grades 4-6).
• Each age group has three full years of curriculum material. Shell year; Chalice year; Cross year.
• ECC is not a lectionary based curriculum. It follows the seasons of the church year, but the lessons are not tied to the lectionary readings.
• Supplemental material (images, puzzles, newspapers, take-home cards) are available, and go along with each lesson.
• ECC lesson plans are designed to feed teachers, just as much as the children with whom they will share this lesson
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