Teaching Resources

Religous Education

Resources for Children's First Day School (lesson plans are further down the page)

So it's your turn to teach First Day School. Want some help preparing and presenting the lesson? Quaker First Day School for Busy People offers many practical aids, including outlines for traditional and experiential approaches.

There are scores of Bible resources on the market for children. FGC offers reviews to help you select the best children's Bibles and Bible storybooks for your purposes.

A kind word or gesture works wonders. Here are 8 beautiful things you can do to nurture and support teachers in your meeting's First Day School program.

For a wide range of resources pertaining to the experiential Quaker curriculum Faith & Play, designed for children from preschool thru pre-adolescence and for multigenerational groups, visit our Faith & Play website.

Resources for Adult Religious Education (book groups, discussions, worship sharing, adult forums, etc.)

Facilitating an adult session? Here are simple and effective guidelines for both group discussion and worship sharing to help you and your group have respectful, thoughtful and worshipful sessions using either format.

Whether you are an experienced teacher, an occasional group leader or someone new to adult group facilitation, you might want to review these 10 best practices for facilitators of Friends adult education sessions.

Concrete help is available for planning and facilitating Quaker adult education sessions. Check out these practical suggestions and session outlines.

Worship sharing can be used in First Day School, within committee meetings, as part of meeting for worship with an attention to business, and in many other settings. FGC offers a generous list of worship sharing queries relating to worship.

How one plans and organizes an adult session or group of sessions matters, and when the participants themselves have a voice there is often greater ownership and commitment. FGC offers practical suggestions for organizing and facilitating adult religious education sessions.

For a Quaker adapatation of lectio divina that can be used in private devotions or in small group settings, see A Query Method of Reading Scripture.

Most Quaker religious educators are familiar with the use of discussion questions and queries in adult sessions. Learn how "wondering" with adults can enliven and deepen adult classes.

Lesson Plans for Children, Youth and Adults

Lesson plan on peace and community, for children ages 3-8, and based on Somewhere Today: A Book of Peace, by Shelley Moore Thomas.

Lesson plan for developing an understanding of and appreciation for God, for children ages 3-8 and based on I Wanted to Know All about God, by Virginia L. Kroll.

Lesson plan on listening to others and honoring different paths to God, for children ages 3-9 and based on In God's Name, by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso.

Lesson plan on Friends testimonies, determination and courage, and the value of mentors, based on the chapter, "Elizabeth Fry," in Good Friends, by Judith Baresel. For middle school children, ages 10-13.

Lesson plan on equality and integrity, for children ages 5-11, but adaptable for people of any age. Based on Sam Johnson and the Blue Quilt, by Lisa Campbell Ernst.

Lesson plan(s) on meeting for worship for high school and/or adult Friends based on the book, Holy Silence, by J. Brent Bill

Lesson plan on responding faithfully to the leadings of the Spirit, based on the pamphlet Here I Am, Lord, by Ernestine and Vincent Buscemi. This lesson is appropriate for older teens and adults.

Lesson plan on peace, community and the nature of truth, for adults and based on Old Turtle and the Broken Truth, by Douglas Wood.

Lesson plan on "that of God within," based on the tract Friends and God, by Mary K. Blackmar. Appropriate for late teen and adult newcomers to meeting.