IV. IDEAS FOR TEACHING QUAKER VALUES IN FIRST DAY SCHOOL

KEY: Asterisks indicate the appropriate age levels for each section: * A single asterisk indicates that the idea is especially appropriate for children. ** A double asterisk indicates it is appropriate for both children and teenagers. *** A triple asterisk indicates that the idea is best suited for teenagers. **** Four asterisks indicate it is ideal for all-ages.

*** AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL LETTER-WRITING: Once a month, the high school teenagers organize and administer an after meeting letter-writing campaign for Amnesty International.

* BACKYARD WILD LIFE HABITAT: Have your class create a habitat in the yard of your meetinghouse, which provides food, water, and shelter for wildlife. On First Day, the children tend the habitat.

* BREAKING SOMEONE ELSE'S BALLOON:

This activity requires extra adult guidance and supervision. Talk in advance with the

children about how to avoid accidentally kicking or hurting someone, while playing this game. It would be especially good to talk about the importance of using physical restraint while playing such games. Children need to hear that it is more important to not hurt someone than to win a game. Be sure to play this game in a safe space. An outdoor field would be ideal. If you are in a classroom, set boundaries and remove obstacles that could be tripped over. Because it raises the excitement level, follow this game with a time for silent reflection before asking the observation questions. Do not use this game if you have children in your class who are prone to be physically aggressive.

Form two teams by counting off. Give each member of one team the same color balloon to blow up and tie with a string snuggly to his or her ankle. When the teacher gives the signal, everyone tries to break the other team's balloons, using only their feet. Any person whose balloon is broken is "out" and has to sit down. The team with the last unbroken balloon is "the winner."

Observation questions:

• How did it feel to have your balloon broken?
• How did it feel to break someone else's balloon?
• Did you try to protect your teammates' balloons? How was that harder than protecting your balloon?
• What did you do to avoid hurting someone while you were trying to break his or her balloon?

*** A CHARITY OF THEIR CHOICE: Have the children make crafts to sell at a yard sale or a festival. The children choose the charity to send the proceeds to. This is an especially good summer activity when attendance is low. (Marcia Boone)

*** CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR SPEAKERS: Ask elderly Friends to talk with your class about what they did during wartime and why. Offer a variety of Friends' experiences.

*** DRAWING CARTOONS: Give each child a portion of a cartoon strip that shows a conflict. Have each child complete the cartoon by drawing the last picture or several pictures with a peaceful solution.

*** DUNCAN DONUTS: Take your class to Duncan Donuts during First Day School. Discuss politics.

** EATING DINNER BLINDFOLDED: For safety, everyone remains seated and eats with spoons-no knives or forks. Tell parents in advance that their children should wear washable clothes.

Discussion question: What do you think it feels like to not be able to see?

* ECOLOGY: The following are ideas for teaching ecology.

• Have the children create a habitat near your meeting place that can provide food, water, and shelter for wild life. On First Days, the children tend the habitat.

• Have each child "adopt" a tree or plant to visit and observe each time they come to meeting.

• As a class, plant a garden near your meeting place and tend it.

• Plant a seed in a cup to take home and care for.

• Set up a recycling project in your meeting place.

• Make pencil holders out of tin cans. Decorate them.

* FIRST AID: Have a member of meeting who has been trained in First Aid teach the children how to bandage a cut. Also, wrap each other's arms in slings and spend the remainder of the class wearing the slings.

** GO FOR A WALK IN A WHEEL CHAIR: Take your class for a walk in a wheel chair. Everyone takes a turn riding in the chair and pushing the chair.

Discussion questions:

• What difficulties did we encounter?

• What would it be like to always use a wheel chair?

** HAND-SIGNING OF THE SONG, "FROM A DISTANCE": Perform and then teach it.

*** THE HAT GAME: Half of the children wear fancy hats during an activity such as weeding the meetinghouse garden. Those wearing hats are the lords and ladies. Those not wearing the hats are the serfs. The lords and ladies tell the serfs what to do. Then everyone trades hats.

Discussion questions:

• What did it feel like to be a lord, a lady, or a serf?

• Was it difficult to switch hats?

*** THE HEALING QUILT: Make a quilt to loan to Friends who are sick. Each child draws a picture that would make him or her feel better if they were sad or sick. Children can think healing thoughts while they make the quilt. Keep a scrapbook of notes from Friends who use the quilt.

*** THE HUMAN MACHINE: Divide into groups of five or six. Have each group construct a machine, using the bodies of its members as parts of the machine. Demonstrate by creating a toaster with two people performing as toast, two as the sides of the toaster, and one person as the start-up lever.

Observation questions:

• What are some differences in the way you feel when you work together or when you work alone?

• What are some things we have to give up to be able to work together?

• What are some things we can do together that we cannot do alone?

*** JOBS: Hire teenagers to baby-sit, rake leaves, mow the grass, and shovel snow at the meetinghouse. They will "pick up" Quakerism by osmosis.

* KNOW YOUR ORANGE: Give everyone an orange. Each person studies his or her orange. (You might ask questions such as "Are there any brown or green spots on your orange? "Where?" "What shape are the spots?" and so forth.) Each person puts his or her orange in a pile. Mix up the pile. Have each person pick out his or her orange.

Observation questions:

• Oranges look a lot alike. How were you able tell yours from the others?

• What does this tell us about people?

** THE LINE-UP GAME: Ask everyone to line up by height. Then ask everyone to line up by age. Then ask everyone to line up in the order of his or her importance. You may need to remind the children that each of us is equally important to God. Children may think of a circle as the best "line" indicating our importance.

Observation questions:

• What does this game tell us about how unique and valued we all are?
• What does it mean to love yourself as if you are a vessel or container for God?

** MOVIES: Take your class to the movies or show a movie in class. Discuss and critique it afterwards.

*** MUSICAL LAPS: This game requires chairs and a source of music. Each person sits on a chair in a circle. When the music begins, take one of the chairs away while everyone walks in a circle in front of the chairs. When the music ends, each person finds a chair to sit on and the person without a chair finds a lap to sit on. As more chairs are taken away, piles of lap-sitters result.

Observation questions:

• Who has played the game, "Musical Chairs?" How was that game different

from "Musical Laps?"

• What can we do to help others feel welcome in our First Day School class?

In our meeting?

• How can our meeting share what we have with others?

*** ONE HEART: Pretend you have the power to make a decision concerning who should receive a heart transplant. You have one heart available to give to a candidate. Physically, all of the candidates need it equally. In advance, prepare a list of candidates for the heart--such as a young unwed mother, an infant, a homeless child, a high school student, a convict, a doctor, a teacher, a soldier, and so forth. Ask your class to decide who should get it.

*** PLAY POPULAR MUSIC: Play popular music and talk about the meaning of the lyrics.

*** POLITICAL CARTOONS: Cut out political cartoons and bring them to class. Talk about he meaning of the cartoons. Then draw your own cartoon.

** PRESERVING THE RAIN FOREST: Show pictures of the Rain Forest. What animals live there? What foods grow there? Serve a snack of foods that grow in the Rain Forest (bananas, coconuts, peanuts). Play "Rain-Forest-Musical-Chairs." Have each child select a Rain Forest animal, which he or she will represent. When the music for musical chairs stops, the teacher, acting as the woodcutter, takes one of the chairs away. The child who is "out" becomes the woodcutter for the next round.

*** PRISON VISITS: Visit a prison. Invite a police officer to speak to your First Day School class. Tell the story of Elizabeth Fry.

*** QUAKER VALUES: For junior or senior high classes, use the curriculum, Silent Worship and Quaker Values: An Introduction, by Marsha Holliday. This curriculum provides material for twelve sessions and may be purchased from Friends General Conference at 1216 Arch Street, 2B, Philadelphia, PA 19107; telephone 800-966-4556 (9 AM to 4:30 PM EST); Fax 215-561-0759; or email bookstore@fgcquaker.org.

**** READ A BOOK: Purchase books for the meetinghouse, such as Benjamin, The Meeting Mouse by Clifford Pfeil (Philadelphia: Friends Journal, 1996). Each person signs the flap after reading it. (Marcia H. Boone)

* READ STORIES TO THE CHILDREN: Read stories from Lighting Candles in the Dark, edited by Elinor Briggs, Marnie Clark, and Carol Passmore. Philadelphia: FGC, 1992. Give each child a piece of clay to model while you read the story. They could, if they wish, model something from the story. (Sharon Stout)

* RECEPTION FOR THE JANITOR AND HIS OR HER FAMILY: Plan a party for your meetinghouse Janitor or Caretaker and his or her family. Have children prepare treats and put on a skit.

*** RESEARCH PROJECTS: Bring in materials on a specific research topic. Highlight the important information. Divide into groups. Have the children make group presentations of their research.

*** RIGHT-SHARING: Bake a fancy cake. Divide the cake up to represent countries. Make the portions of the cake proportional to the amount of food each country has. Have teenagers draw names from a hat and get the portion of the cake that is proportional to the name of the country they drew.

** SHOE BOXES FOR THE HOMELESS: Children invite monthly meeting members and attenders to bring personal items (toothpaste, soap, and so forth) to meeting. The children fill shoeboxes and deliver them to the homeless. This activity can also be used to help children in crisis areas of the world.

*** SOUP KITCHENS: Have your class serve dinner at a soup kitchen and, afterwards, have a discussion of the problems of the homeless.

*** VISITING OTHER RELIGIOUS SERVICES: With your participating youth and drivers, talk in advance about what they might expect to experience, what kind of clothes they should wear, and what behavior would be expected of them when they visit another worship service. Discuss your visit afterwards.

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