One important idea I hope that the children took from today’s story is that the Holy Family materials in our classroom are there for the children. They do not need to ask permission to touch the figures. They are always available to work with, touch, handle, and draw inspiration from as the children worship together in this space. Following the story the children were asked to think about what they would like to make their work for the day. They were invited to work with the holy family materials, to make something about the holy family, or to continue work they'd begun last week. When I told the children, after the story, that I wondered where they saw themselves in the Holy Family, or what part of the story was most about them, several children mentioned the sheep and donkey as a character they identified with. I was very glad to see one of the children who chose to work with clay today immediately went to the focal shelf and selected a sheep from our story to represent with the clay. For another child, the part of the story that resonated was the line spoken by the angel who said, “Go. Hurry. Go to Bethlehem. Something has happened there that will change everything.” After work time he brought me a drawing full of colorful swirls bursting from every corner of the paper and announced that it was a picture of the “moment that everything changed.” Several children took the opportunity to try out our new painting supplies today. Both setting up and cleaning up took some time, but again this week I was so pleased with the careful stewardship the children showed in taking care of our work space. Though two adult guides and I were in the room to assist, the children did the lions share of the work of gathering the materials they needed, finding a good workspace, and after work time restoring their materials. The children took care not only of the materials, but also of each other as they helped to clean up, wipe down paint trays, dump dirty paint water, sweep up chalk dust from the floor, return trays and rugs to their resting places, and reassemble in our circle for our closing feast. Pouring 12 tiny glasses full of orange juice and passing them out was done by the children as well, and while we were not without spills today, we used them as a learning experience to find where the paper towels, spray bottles, and other cleaning supplies could be found, and again, it was the children and not the adults who did the work to clean them up. My only disappointment today was that we did not have more time to pray and enjoy our feast together today. The hour goes by so very, very quickly. I look forward to when we all meet again. A reminder that next week we will not have a Godly Play session during the Sunday school hour as the children will be practicing in the sanctuary to lead our 10:45 worship service. We will gather in the parlor at 9:30 and have a craft project to work on while the children take turns practicing their special roles for worship. If you have any questions about this please email Hannah Hannover or leave a comment here or on our contact page. Peace be with you. Genya
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We had a wonderful first day of Godly Play today. The title of today's lesson was "The Circle of The Church Year." It's one of my favorites as it kind of sets the context for the whole year. I love the way Jerome Berryman, the founder of Godly Play, talks about it in the lesson materials. He says, "Each year, the Christian people move through a circle of memory and expectation to open themselves to the elusive presence of God." In the Godly Play classroom, we pay attention to this circle of movement each week through the use of a cloth wall hanging that has different colored cloth "blocks" for each Sunday of the year and a golden arrow which moves from Sunday to Sunday. Today our story explored what the colors of this liturgical calendar mean and how the church uses it to tell "time." You can scroll down to the bottom of the page to find a condensed version of the story I presented today as well as a link to another storyteller demonstrating the entire lesson should you wish to see it for yourself. The lesson materials for this story include a smaller wooden version of this liturgical calendar with small removable blocks painted to match and three arrows which point to the "three great times" or "mysteries" of the church year (Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost.) Here you can see one of our students using the materials during creative response time to deconstruct and then reconstruct the calendar beginning with these three great times. Using the materials to retell or explore the story is one of the many options children may choose to "work with" during our creative response time. Other children chose to explore working with the colors of the church calendar in other ways. Modeling clay was a popular choice today, with several children constructing different circular creations that they are planning to paint next week after they have dried. Others worked on stringing beads in these colors to match the church calendar so that they can have their very own church calendar at home. Our new oil pastels were another favorite material for exploring the colors and circular shape of the church calendar. My favorite moments from today's lesson were not caught on camera. There were two things that I particularly enjoyed experiencing with the children today and both happened after the story was finished and even after the children finished their creative responses for today. As I was sitting in the service today listening to Pastor Eileen talk with the children about stewardship and then inviting them to offer their prayers for today I got goose bumps. Though I didn't get a chance to talk with Pastor Eileen between the Sunday School hour and the regular service, it was as if she was speaking to exactly the central issues that made today's session so successful and special.
While I didn't use the word stewardship with the children today, we talked about how our Godly Play room was a special place for them. And how it would be up to us to work together to take care of the beautiful art materials, the lovely glass pitcher and cups with which we share our feast, and, most importantly, of each other. And the children truly rose to the occasion, helping each other to restore work materials and clean up spills and scraps, carefully carrying small glasses (yes actually glass, glasses) of orange juice to our circle, politely thanking those children who served the snack, and even waiting patiently until all had been served. Once we had all been seated and served, my second favorite part of the day happened. We have a small white candle in the classroom which we call our Christ candle. We light it at the beginning of our time together and ask that Christ be with us in our time together. Before we eat our feast we pass this candle very carefully around the circle and each child (and the adult story teller and guide) hold the candle for a moment and say a short prayer, either out loud or silently to themselves before saying "Amen" aloud and then passing it around the circle. Most of the children chose to pray silently, so I don't know exactly what they prayed for, but most did pause with the candle and think for a moment or two before finally saying Amen and passing the candle on, and every child was completely silent and respectful of each other during this time. The room truly felt blessed and alive and as if we were all starting a special and wonderful journey this year. I will repeat here the prayer I shared when the candle finally returned to me. "Thank you God for each of these wonderful children and for the gift of spending time with them today." Amen. Genya Coffey |
Godly Play TeamHannah Hannover, Minister to Children and Families and Genya Coffey, Christian Education Team Coordinator make up our current team of guides and storytellers. Both have attended workshops in order to receive certification from the Godly Play Foundation. They will take turns authoring the blog posts found here. Interested in joining the team? Be sure to let them know through the contact page. Archives
September 2016
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