and much, much, more!

check in again for a look back at 2010, and more to come as we move into 2011.

We began our morning with free time to play, or draw, and waiting for any last minute arrivals.  After about 5-10 minutes I gathered the children in a circle on the floor. There were 7 children, between the ages of 3-10.  I planned to read two stories to the group, the first one taken from “My Very First Bible”  (Dorling Kindersley Ltd. pub), of  Jesus feeding the 5000, or the “Loaves and Fishes” as it is called in this children’s Bible.  First I brought out a basket and a packet of cookie/biscuits, and put three of the cookies into the basket.  I handed the basket to one of the children, then asked the rest,

“What if I told you that these snacks were for this person, and only him, and the rest of you would not get any?  How would you feel?”

They gave various responses, boiling down to “jealous, mad, not fair.”  Then I asked the group what they would expect me to do differently.  They would have expected me to give everyone the same amount, or the same choice of what to eat.  Next I asked what we could do with the number of cookies we had in the basket if there were not enough to go around.  They quickly thought of breaking what we had into pieces and sharing.

After this brief discussion we read the story of the “Loaves and Fishes” and talked about the little boy sharing what he had, even when it did not seem to be enough for everyone.  The kids had a number of good ideas as to what the story showed and taught us.  We followed this story with a minute of silence.

Next I introduced another story, “Tico and the Golden Wings” by Leo Lionni.  The children listened to the story of a wingless bird, Tico, who wished for golden wings, then had the wish granted.  As a result, Tico’s friends assumed that he felt superior to them, and left him.  Tico begins to share his “riches” by giving away one golden feather at a time, to people in need.  Finally he is left with beautiful black wings when all of the golden feathers have been given away.  He returns to his friends who welcome him back, but Tico carries with him a new knowledge of  how he is the same and how he is different from the others.

The story was a jumping off point for our craft for the day, making movable bird puppets, black like Tico.

bird puppets

• The kids drew their own bird bodies onto black cardstock, plus two wings each.
• I helped the youngest two draw and cut their shapes out.
• Linda joined me at this point and helped with poking holes (we used an awl), and putting tiny brads through the three pieces.
• Last we glued the birds onto wooden tongue depressors for the kids to hold.
• The other idea (from one of the kids!) is to add gold paper or paint to one side of the wings, so that the puppets can be used in two ways (or some of the puppets might have more gold or black showing).

My thought was that this project could be continued and turned into a puppet show on the next Sunday, if the teachers would like to do that.

*Just as an aside, we didn’t have time to do our pen-pal letter, but I will bring the items we need this week to do after Meeting.

First Day School, November 8, 2009

Today we started with learning a song, Raffi’s “Thanks a Lot.”  The lyrics are easy and repetitive, with the phrase “Thanks a lot” echoed over and over, between a list of features of the natural world.

lyrics cropped

Thanks a lot

Thanks for the sun in the sky

Thanks a lot

Thanks for the clouds so high…”

After a time of silence we read “The Circle of Days” by Reeve Lindbergh, illustrated by Cathie Felstead.  This is a beautiful picture book version of Saint Francis of Assisi’s “Canticle of the Sun.”

I introduced Saint Francis by reading a bit more about him, and showing the kids another version of the canticle called “Song of the Sun,” with emphasis on his love of animals and birds, and his gentleness and kindness.

We talked about the Raffi song and the two books and what they had in common, then moved on to a craft.  The idea was to draw elements from these songs that each child felt thankful for on a piece of card stock, then to fold the paper in thirds, glue the words to “Thanks a lot” on the back, then tape the edges together to make it stand(perhaps to be used as a table prayer/song at home). We used water soluble colored pencils and water to make the pictures.

song inside

At rise of Meeting we taught the song to the the adults.

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Look for a more comprehensive post from the First Day Committee.