RE teaching report.
Sep. 22nd, 2008 10:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivkaMy RE teaching career has gone like this: preschool stories-and-crafts, ZOMG middle-school sex ed, preschool stories-and-crafts. Not sure if next year will be a ZOMG middle-school sex ed year or not, but let me just say that I find this pattern a bit... odd. Mindbending. At least it encourages mental flexibility.
When I taught preschool two years ago, our curriculum revolved around the natural world and cultivating a sense of wonder. This year our theme is home and family, including an appreciation for our church home and a sense that we belong to the human family. Once again we are using lessons cobbled together from three different curricula: Celebrating Me and My World, We Are Many, We Are One, and a modified version of a new curriculum for older kids called Creating Home.
Alex is in my class this year, and oh boy, is she proud of being a "Sunday Schooler" instead of a nursery kid. Every day last week she woke up and asked if it was a Sunday School day. It is especially exciting for her to have me be one of her teachers - I'm having to gently prepare her for the fact that I won't be teaching every week. Instead, I'm the lead teacher two weeks out of every four, and occasionally I also fill in as the assistant teacher. (For reasons of safety and practicality, all RE classes are team-taught.)
Today's lesson was called "Here We Meet Friends," and was supposed to promote two goals: associating the class and the church with friendship, and learning how to make the class a friendly place.
Six kids came to class today: two boys and four girls, ages 3-5. I was interested to notice that only two of the kids were white - which is in line with the demographics of Baltimore and the church's neighborhood, but is unusual given the demographics of the church.
We have a stack of old carpet samples that we use as seats on the floor. The kids each grabbed a carpet square and made a circle, and we sang a little song individually welcoming each person. I asked them if they knew why we come to church, and suggested that one reason we come to church is to have friends and be part of a community where people are friendly to each other. We talked a bit about what it means to be friendly, and as a group we acted out a little poem/play/thingy about friendly interactions and how they make people feel good. (Sample line: "I was feeling lonely... until Jeanette said, "Would you like to meet my octopus? He's very friendly!" I was feeling lonely... until Charley said, "Come and sit next to me!")
That was enough sitting still, so we played a game to practice saying friendly things. The kids are still pretty shy with each other - this was only the second class of the year. We stood in a circle, and one person walked around the outside. When she tapped someone on the shoulder, the two ran around the circle in opposite directions. When their paths met on the other side, they shook hands and said, "Hi, I'm glad to see you!" "Hi, I'm glad to see you, but I've got to go!" Then they raced on, and the person who had been on the outside took the other person's spot in the circle. It's kind of like a cooperative version of duck-duck-goose. I wasn't sure how much fun this game would be, but the kids loved it and giggled like crazy all the way through.
After that, all the girls simultaneously decided that they had to go to the bathroom. My assistant teacher took them out, and I stayed behind and looked at a dinosaur book with the boys. (Their choice, not a theme choice.) When the girls came back, I had all the kids sit at the craft tables. Each person, including the teachers, got a puzzle piece I had previously cut out of posterboard. I explained that we were each going to decorate a puzzle piece, and then we'd put them together to see what the whole class made together. They could draw on their piece with markers or cut and paste magazine pictures. Everyone really enjoyed this activity. My favorite part was when Alex needed something, looked up at me, and called "Miss Rebecca!" instead of "Mama!"
When our puzzle pieces were done, we re-formed our carpet square circle and put the puzzle together in the middle, talking about the decorating choices each child had made. I pointed out that we each made something beautiful by ourselves, and then when we put them together we found that we had made something so amazing as a whole group.
Next it was story time. I read them Chester's Way, a story about a pair of mice who are best friends because they do everything alike. When a new, eccentric mouse moves into the neighborhood, at first they are put off by her idiosyncracies, but then they discover that she can be a good friend too.
Finally it was snack time. I lit our tiny battery-powered chalice and read the chalice-lighting words we're supposed to use in this curriculum, which seem kind of cumbersome to me. We snacked on goldfish crackers and water, and then went back to our circle for closing words. I told them that I was leaving the puzzle in the middle to remind us that when friends come together they can make something really cool, and that church is a place where we are friendly to each other. Then I taught them hand motions to go along with our chalice words. We did that twice. I went around the circle personally thanking each child for coming to class or telling them how happy I was to have them there, and then their parents came in to take them home.
The chalice words are:
We come together to remind ourselves
To treat all people kindly
Because they are our brothers and sisters
To take good care of our earth
Because it is our home
And to live lives full of goodness and love
Because that is how we will make our world
The best place it can be.
When I taught preschool two years ago, our curriculum revolved around the natural world and cultivating a sense of wonder. This year our theme is home and family, including an appreciation for our church home and a sense that we belong to the human family. Once again we are using lessons cobbled together from three different curricula: Celebrating Me and My World, We Are Many, We Are One, and a modified version of a new curriculum for older kids called Creating Home.
Alex is in my class this year, and oh boy, is she proud of being a "Sunday Schooler" instead of a nursery kid. Every day last week she woke up and asked if it was a Sunday School day. It is especially exciting for her to have me be one of her teachers - I'm having to gently prepare her for the fact that I won't be teaching every week. Instead, I'm the lead teacher two weeks out of every four, and occasionally I also fill in as the assistant teacher. (For reasons of safety and practicality, all RE classes are team-taught.)
Today's lesson was called "Here We Meet Friends," and was supposed to promote two goals: associating the class and the church with friendship, and learning how to make the class a friendly place.
Six kids came to class today: two boys and four girls, ages 3-5. I was interested to notice that only two of the kids were white - which is in line with the demographics of Baltimore and the church's neighborhood, but is unusual given the demographics of the church.
We have a stack of old carpet samples that we use as seats on the floor. The kids each grabbed a carpet square and made a circle, and we sang a little song individually welcoming each person. I asked them if they knew why we come to church, and suggested that one reason we come to church is to have friends and be part of a community where people are friendly to each other. We talked a bit about what it means to be friendly, and as a group we acted out a little poem/play/thingy about friendly interactions and how they make people feel good. (Sample line: "I was feeling lonely... until Jeanette said, "Would you like to meet my octopus? He's very friendly!" I was feeling lonely... until Charley said, "Come and sit next to me!")
That was enough sitting still, so we played a game to practice saying friendly things. The kids are still pretty shy with each other - this was only the second class of the year. We stood in a circle, and one person walked around the outside. When she tapped someone on the shoulder, the two ran around the circle in opposite directions. When their paths met on the other side, they shook hands and said, "Hi, I'm glad to see you!" "Hi, I'm glad to see you, but I've got to go!" Then they raced on, and the person who had been on the outside took the other person's spot in the circle. It's kind of like a cooperative version of duck-duck-goose. I wasn't sure how much fun this game would be, but the kids loved it and giggled like crazy all the way through.
After that, all the girls simultaneously decided that they had to go to the bathroom. My assistant teacher took them out, and I stayed behind and looked at a dinosaur book with the boys. (Their choice, not a theme choice.) When the girls came back, I had all the kids sit at the craft tables. Each person, including the teachers, got a puzzle piece I had previously cut out of posterboard. I explained that we were each going to decorate a puzzle piece, and then we'd put them together to see what the whole class made together. They could draw on their piece with markers or cut and paste magazine pictures. Everyone really enjoyed this activity. My favorite part was when Alex needed something, looked up at me, and called "Miss Rebecca!" instead of "Mama!"
When our puzzle pieces were done, we re-formed our carpet square circle and put the puzzle together in the middle, talking about the decorating choices each child had made. I pointed out that we each made something beautiful by ourselves, and then when we put them together we found that we had made something so amazing as a whole group.
Next it was story time. I read them Chester's Way, a story about a pair of mice who are best friends because they do everything alike. When a new, eccentric mouse moves into the neighborhood, at first they are put off by her idiosyncracies, but then they discover that she can be a good friend too.
Finally it was snack time. I lit our tiny battery-powered chalice and read the chalice-lighting words we're supposed to use in this curriculum, which seem kind of cumbersome to me. We snacked on goldfish crackers and water, and then went back to our circle for closing words. I told them that I was leaving the puzzle in the middle to remind us that when friends come together they can make something really cool, and that church is a place where we are friendly to each other. Then I taught them hand motions to go along with our chalice words. We did that twice. I went around the circle personally thanking each child for coming to class or telling them how happy I was to have them there, and then their parents came in to take them home.
The chalice words are:
We come together to remind ourselves
To treat all people kindly
Because they are our brothers and sisters
To take good care of our earth
Because it is our home
And to live lives full of goodness and love
Because that is how we will make our world
The best place it can be.
