Sunday School Carpenters

The Art workshop for the "Jesus as a Child" workshop in WorkshopCycles is a carpentry project. The project as it was originally conceived didn't have much carpentry involved. However, I had A Great Idea. I decided our children should make wooden prayer benches, and found free directions (that seem to no longer exist). Here is another site with directions on how to make the prayer benches.

As the time drew near, adults were beginning to get nervous about combining children and power tools, and about the ability of the children to get this project done in the alotted time. However, since Charlie has helped Shawn with carpentry projects since he was 2, and since Shawn was leading the workshop, I was confident things would be fine.

We pre-cut and routed the wood, so the first things the children did were to put the legs in the grooves and sand the pieces:


Next, Sly helped the children used a drill press to drill pilot holes for the 4 screws that hold the legs on:


Some children also tried using hand tools to make the pilot holes:


They then screwed in the 4 screws and their benches were complete:


The workshop went wonderfully!! I was able to be around for it, and the students were very engaged in the project. It was a delight to see.

I had intended for the children to leave the benches here at the church, as a donation of their time and talent to the worship in this place. However, I forgot to make that clear to my husband. So the children took their benches home. Today, I heard that one student is now having her dolls pray.

What could be better!?!

Rally Day

This is the first year we've done a Rally Day at church. After the service, we invited everyone downstairs to see our classrooms and interact with our curriculum. I didn't get any good photos of people visiting our Godly Play room, although they did. But here are some shots from our new Workshop Rotation room.

We're a small church and only have one multi-purpose room that we use for Workshop Rotation, so different areas have different feels.

This is the area which is also used for other groups during the week. It's a good "lounge" area and we have displayed our printed WorkshopCycles curriculum here for folks to examine:

(I have no idea why this is underlined...)
Next, we have the entrance to our Tent. Today, it is set up for a Computer Rotation. However, we use this space for many different things. It is a great place to read the story at the beginning of each Workshop. It is also a good place for drama, movement, and games.


As you can see, the students were very excited about showing us the Computer games they have been using.


All in all, a good day.

Multiple Intelligence Self-Test

Sunday is Rally Day at our parish. It's the first time we've done a Rally Day in who knows how long. We're doing it specifically to introduce the congregation to Workshop Rotation Model Sunday School, which we began 3 weeks ago. Workshop Rotation Model is based on the idea that people learn in a number of different way, called Multiple Intelligences.
I took this quick self-test and found out that my learning styles are as follows:
1) Intrapersonal
2) Interpersonal
3) Kinesthetic
4) Naturalistic
5) Musical
6) Linguistic
7) Logical
8) Visual/Spacial

Maybe one of the reason I am so excited about Workshop Rotation is because there are 5 modes I learn better in than Linguistic (the one traditional Sunday Schools use most).

What are your top learning styles? How about your children's?

Any Regrets?

When my husband and I had been married a few years, we took a group of youth on a mission trip. Near the end of the trip we went white water rafting and there was an accident. Half of our raft got thrown out in a Class IV rapids. The guide and I were able to get back in almost immediately. But a teen and Shawn were out longer. I watched Shawn tumbling and tumbling down the rapids in front of us, clearly not getting all the breath he needed. And the girl was stuck under the raft. All of us in the raft were holding on, feeling under the water for the girl. After what seemed like an eternity, the guide felt her paddle, pulled on it and got her back in the raft. About 100 yards down river, we caught up to my well-battered husband. I was the one that took hold of his life vest. I wasn't strong enough to pull him in alone. With the help of 2 others, we hoisted him in and he fell on me: bluish-white, bloody, and breathing ragged. But breathing! And no bones sticking out. Everyone was safe, thank God.

During the time that Shawn was tumbling in the river and I was watching helplessly, I had an amazing realization: There was nothing I regretted about our life together. There was nothing unsaid that needed to be said. There were no choices I would have made differently. If he were to die, I wouldn't grieve any choices I made.

Since that day, I have striven to keep this up. Regularly I will review my life and consider those I love and imagine one of us has died. Is there anything I would regret? If so, I try to shift my life so that I can always say at any moment, "there is nothing I regret."

Creating a Sunday School Tent

Today Penny and I met to redo our Sunday School area. We were on our 3rd plan of how to update this space:


We found these bright jewel tone fabrics at a great price, and made them into panels to make 2 sides of a tent:



However, as soon as we began fiddling, we realized there was no way our 3rd plan was going to work either. Luckily, Penny brought along her Favorite Handyman (to whom she happens to be married) and he got us all squared away. Instead of wall-to-wall bars to hang our curtain panels, he built a pvc structure:

We hung the fabric:
And voila!

I think the kids are really going to like it.

We had been planning to jump into our first rotation tomorrow (Computers). But we were so excited about our new space and our new curriculum that we thought the children might be as well. So we punted (AGAIN) and decided to spend tomorrow doing an introduction to WorkshopCycles and the elements in includes, like Shepherds, Workshop Leaders, Journaling, and the different workshops.

FUN!

Friday Five

I'm proud to say I'm now part of the RevGalPal Blogring (you can check out others by clicking on the sidebar).

One of the things they do is the Friday Five. This week, it's 5 things that have helped you on your spiritual journey. Here's my list, with a childcentric spin:

1. Book
I go back again and again to 2 series, Madeline L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time series and C.S. Lewis' science fiction trilogy (Perelandra, etc). Each time I read them, I am reminded about God, humanity, and our relationships in wonderful ways. Wrinkle in Time can be read starting around age 7-8. I believe I first read Perelandra at age 13.

2. Music
Why Not Sea Monsters have created the world's greatest biblical-based music. They may be "children's artists" but their theology can stand up to many a ThD. If you haven't heard them, check them out NOW. Their song about Job had me weeping tears of joy. They are able to convey the overwhelming love of God in a way I've seldom heard.

3. Art
My own. We are all artists, and are able to understand a little bit about the creative aspect of God by being creative ourselves. Spend a little time with your kids and art this week!

4. Film
There's an old film, possibly made in the 1960s or 70s called The Music Box. It's about a hopeless man in a hopeless world. He finds a music box that brings joy into his life. He tries to hide the change in himself and also hides the music box. A really great band of funky singing angels come to share the joy and teach him to share. First his family, then his neighborhood, and then the world become hope-filled.

5. Unusual Engagement with Pop Culture
I love The Brick Testament. It takes (usually the goriest or sexiest) stories from the bible and tells them through legos. It has a rating systems for the stories, including N (nudity), V (violence), S (sex), and C (I'm not sure what C is for). Not for young children, but I would think that especially older boys might really enjoy it. However, parents may not want to have to try to explain these "stinky parts" of the bible to their children!

Now, post a comment and share your nominations in these categories.

The Real New Year

Sunday school starts this week. Our preschool group has been using a modified Godly Play model for years, and it is still working well.

This year, we're beginning to use WorkshopCycles for our gradeschool Sunday School. It's a WHOLE LOT of work to get up and running, but I think it's going to be a fantastic program.

Our Sunday School Space currently looks like this


We are hoping to change the boarder, add better lighting, add cubbies, and make a 2-sided tent around the rug of brightly colored fabric hung from rods attached to the wall. Oh, and some pillows or meditation benches for sitting upon.
This area will be used for story telling, drama, and other similar activities.

For journaling, computers, and some of the art activities, we'll be here at the nearby table.



For our kitchen workshops, we'll be working several blocks away in our Parish House kitchen:



And our first art (carpentry) project will be these benches. FUN!