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edenfallingWe were scheduled to do a UU-specific lesson this week, but the assistant DRE got swamped by life and did not have time to write up a lesson plan. So we got dumped in with the 1st grade and kindergarten classes for a combined Easter lesson.
We gathered in our separate classrooms, then met in the Arch Room for the lesson. We started by lighting the chalice and singing the Seven Principles song (which is a new innovation this year: simplified versions of the 7 UU Principles set to the tune of "Do, a Deer" -- it's awfully cute), and doing brief introductions. Then Helen Ann read a rather boring and incoherent picture book about Easter (why are kid's books that explain religious holidays so uniformly awful???), after which I attempted to ask leading questions to connect the idea of Jesus coming back from the dead with spring bringing a rebirth of plant and animal life. I am not sure how well I succeeded.
Then Erin explained the growth of plants from seeds to flowers, using the same backdrop and velcro aids that I remember using two years ago for a lesson on plant sex. (Hi, we are UUs; we teach science in church for kicks.) Scott then did some guided exercise (pretending to be stones and eggs and seeds, then plants growing, then rabbits hopping) which is a good way to bleed some excess fidgets out of small children. Then we planted poppy seeds in small cups of dirt, and I dug a roll of masking tape out of the art supply closet so we could label them with the kids' names.
Then I led a guided meditation, which is not a life skill I ever thought I would have need to acquire. Who knew? It was about a lotus blossom opening in your heart, and spreading blue light and love through your body and out to touch all the people around you. I think it would have worked better with some quiet New Age background music, to play through the points where I was supposed to pause -- I never paused more than about ten seconds, and instead improvised a lot, because I do not trust five-year-old kids to keep paying attention without audible cues that the activity is not over.
And then we passed a hand squeeze around the circle and went back to our respective classrooms for a plastic egg hunt. All in all, I pronounce the morning a success. \o/
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On my way home, I passed a house where someone had tied five or six short free verse poems about speaking, silence, and healing to the bare, whippy branches of a decorative hedge. The wind had torn one loose, which I picked up and attempted to pin in place via judicious interlacing of several branches. The poems themselves were interesting -- not great art, but thought-provoking, especially in their presentation. However, they really needed better copy editing. One in particular was marred by two places where the poet had meant to write "healing" and "only," but had mistyped, and an auto-correct program (or spell-check) had replaced them with "Ealing" and "Orly," respectively. *headdesk*
Still, the poems and their presentation were a lovely little gift. I am glad I was paying attention and had the time to stop and read.
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Some minor progress on ch. 4 of "The Courting Dance" tonight. This new version begins with interaction between Cor and Aravis, continues through some useful character development for Cor, and is now (I think) working up to Cor going to ask Corin to explain stuff to him. So I have thus far avoided the history bog that kept stalling and deflecting my previous attempts. Hurrah!
We gathered in our separate classrooms, then met in the Arch Room for the lesson. We started by lighting the chalice and singing the Seven Principles song (which is a new innovation this year: simplified versions of the 7 UU Principles set to the tune of "Do, a Deer" -- it's awfully cute), and doing brief introductions. Then Helen Ann read a rather boring and incoherent picture book about Easter (why are kid's books that explain religious holidays so uniformly awful???), after which I attempted to ask leading questions to connect the idea of Jesus coming back from the dead with spring bringing a rebirth of plant and animal life. I am not sure how well I succeeded.
Then Erin explained the growth of plants from seeds to flowers, using the same backdrop and velcro aids that I remember using two years ago for a lesson on plant sex. (Hi, we are UUs; we teach science in church for kicks.) Scott then did some guided exercise (pretending to be stones and eggs and seeds, then plants growing, then rabbits hopping) which is a good way to bleed some excess fidgets out of small children. Then we planted poppy seeds in small cups of dirt, and I dug a roll of masking tape out of the art supply closet so we could label them with the kids' names.
Then I led a guided meditation, which is not a life skill I ever thought I would have need to acquire. Who knew? It was about a lotus blossom opening in your heart, and spreading blue light and love through your body and out to touch all the people around you. I think it would have worked better with some quiet New Age background music, to play through the points where I was supposed to pause -- I never paused more than about ten seconds, and instead improvised a lot, because I do not trust five-year-old kids to keep paying attention without audible cues that the activity is not over.
And then we passed a hand squeeze around the circle and went back to our respective classrooms for a plastic egg hunt. All in all, I pronounce the morning a success. \o/
-----
On my way home, I passed a house where someone had tied five or six short free verse poems about speaking, silence, and healing to the bare, whippy branches of a decorative hedge. The wind had torn one loose, which I picked up and attempted to pin in place via judicious interlacing of several branches. The poems themselves were interesting -- not great art, but thought-provoking, especially in their presentation. However, they really needed better copy editing. One in particular was marred by two places where the poet had meant to write "healing" and "only," but had mistyped, and an auto-correct program (or spell-check) had replaced them with "Ealing" and "Orly," respectively. *headdesk*
Still, the poems and their presentation were a lovely little gift. I am glad I was paying attention and had the time to stop and read.
-----
Some minor progress on ch. 4 of "The Courting Dance" tonight. This new version begins with interaction between Cor and Aravis, continues through some useful character development for Cor, and is now (I think) working up to Cor going to ask Corin to explain stuff to him. So I have thus far avoided the history bog that kept stalling and deflecting my previous attempts. Hurrah!
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Date: 2010-03-30 02:45 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-30 05:50 am (UTC)