Religious Study Starts Where School Playground Ends

At Taft Elementary School in the City of Orange, Christian education begins where the playground ends.

On Mondays, a trailer called a “Chapel on Wheels” parks on a side street adjacent to the school’s playground. The trailer is a traveling classroom, moved from school to school in Orange Unified School District for use by fourth- and fifth-grade students whose parents want them to take part in released time for religious study.

On a recent Monday, teacher and program director Carole Johnson sat in the trailer, reviewing her lesson plan for the day. “This is one of our harder sessions,” she told a visitor. “It’s our third session on prayer.”

Behind Johnson, who sat on a stool in the paneled, well-lighted trailer, was a bulletin board with a picture of Jesus praying and a copy of “The Lord’s Prayer.” In front of her, in a semi-circle, stood small steel folding chairs for the students.

“I go over to the school to pick up the students,” Johnson said. “The 40 minutes we have with the students includes the to-and-from walking time.”

At 12:40 p.m., Johnson walked from the trailer and across the grassy playground of the public school. “Hello, Miss Johnson!” yelled one little girl. Johnson waved back and smiled. She stopped at the edge of the pavement, about 50 yards from the Taft school buildings. “This is where the children meet me,” she said. “There are less than 30 students in this (fifth-grade) class, and about half of them take part (in released time). One of the students I teach in this class is a Buddhist.”

A column of 12 fifth-graders filed out of a classroom and headed toward Johnson. Each child carried a paperback copy of the New Testament.

After a brisk walk back to the trailer, the children took their seats. “Praying is a serious business,” Johnson told the students. “It’s a time to ask. God wants us to ask. He wants us to have what is the very best for us, so maybe the answer will be ‘no.’ . . .

“Jesus said, ‘The Father and I are one.’ He knew how to pray.”

Johnson pointed to the chart of “The Lord’s Prayer” and started explaining it line by line. As she came to “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” she said, “this part is a deal. What’s the deal?”

A little girl responded, “If you forgive our sins, then we’ll forgive others.”

Johnson said, “Do you see how important this is? If I’m not forgiving, then God won’t forgive me. It is really important to be forgiving so God will forgive us.”

Religious Song

After completing discussion of the prayer, the children sang a religious song to the tune of “It’s a Small World.”

Teacher and students bowed their heads and recited “The Lord’s Prayer.” At 12:18 p.m., it was time for the walk back across the playground. As the students prepared to leave, Johnson gave them handout sheets about Christmas. “There are many things to color on these,” she said.

Johnson added: “Take these home. This isn’t something to do in your classrooms. Your teacher wouldn’t appreciate that.”

With smiles and goodbys to their part-time teacher, the students filed out, waving as they walked across the playground and returned to the regular classroom.

“The students who didn’t come here and remained behind were studying spelling words,” Johnson said. She said those who were released for religious study would make up the spelling work on their own time.