Next Children's Class January 3rd, 2010

Because of the holidays, our next class will be Sunday January 3rd at 1:30.

Patience Reflection - what happened in class?

Today the kids actually started by playing a game of Ruk Shuk, a building game with rocks that takes patience to play. Then we went into our story...

Story: We told the story of 'Abdu'l-Baha's 23-year patience with a man who hated him. It was a beautiful story to hear, how 'Abdu'l-Baha bought food for the man and paid for a doctor. The kids totally got that 'Abdu'l-Baha was patient for those 23 years.


Music: We put two rhythm cards together and played complex rhythms, individually and as a group on various instruments.

Craft: We did beading, because that takes PATIENCE!!

Patience - December 20th, 2009

Oops, I forgot to post this lesson plan until today! Sorry about that. Today we will be focusing on the virute of Patience. Seeing that the kids are all revved up for Christmas, it seemed fitting to talk a little bit about the hardest part of the season - being patient.

Story: Today we will hear a story about how 'Abdu'l-Baha was patient for 23 years! There was a man who really hated 'Abdu'l-Baha because of his religion, but 'Abdu'l-Baha was always very kind to him, and even took care of him when he was sick. After 23 years the man finally realized that 'Abdu'l-Baha had been kind and patient with him despite all of his hatred, and that man was transformed and became grateful for all of the kindness 'Abdu'l-Baha had shown him.

Music: We will focus on reading the rhythm flashcards, and try putting two cards together today, to join patterns.

Craft: Today instead of a craft we will play games (Jack Straws, where you pick up objects from a scrambled pile, and Ruk-Shuk, a game of rock balancing) that require some patience to play. Of course, the craft stuff will be out on the table and the kids will be welcome to draw, colour, do stickers, and make whatever they like.

Justice Reflection - what happened in class?

We had three kids altogether today - well, three 6 year-olds plus a little sister and a big brother!

Story: the story of 'Abdu'l-Baha and the carriage when very well. When discussing the story, the kids understood the concept... they understood that 'Abdu'l-Baha had sacrificed his own comfort so that he would have money to help the needy. However, if I did this again with 6-year-olds I would not bring up the subject of Christmas presents. When I asked the kids if they thought there were some kids who wouldn't receive many presents for Christmas because they were poor, the kids immediately answered, "maybe they've been naughty!" And so the Santa Claus myth doesn't help much with the concept of justice at Christmas I found out. We had to sort that out before we could go on. As one of the parents commented, "We should have stuck with food (rather than presents!)". And I agreed. So next time I would use the idea of 'not enough food' as opposed to 'not enough presents'! Live and learn!

Music: We were all reading four-beat rhythm cards quite successfully, saying the rhythms first, then saying and playing them, and then just playing them on percussion instruments. We passed the instruments around so that everyone could have a chance to play each one.

Craft: We made masks, because my child was on all week about the Justice League (Batman etc - his personal reference to Justice) so the masks were made of foam and individualized with stamps and glitter.

After the class, I went over the concept of Justice with my own child (I wanted to make sure he understood about the presents!) and he decided we should buy a new toy for a little boy and take it to the Empty Stocking Fund or some place where they will distribute presents to the needy at Christmas time. So I know he got the concept, but I was glad I reinforced it afterwards.

Justice ~ December 13, 2009

This week the virture we will focus on is Justice.

Story: 'Abdu'l-Baha and the carriage ride. In this story, a driver waits for 'Abdu'l-Baha in an expensive carriage, thinking that he will want to ride "in style". Instead, 'Abdu'l-Baha climbs into a plain carriage where others are sharing the ride. The driver says to him, "Wouldn't you rather ride by yourself in a nice carriage?" but 'Abdu'l-Baha replies, "why would I ride in that fancy carriage while others have to ride in a plain carriage?" The driver shrugs and drives the plain carriage with all its passengers on to its destination. At the end of the ride, when 'Abdu'l-Baha gets off the carriage, an old fisherwoman comes to him and tells him that she has been fishing all day but has caught nothing, and now she has nothing with which to feed her family. 'Abdu'l-Baha gives her some money to buy food, and tells the driver that without the money he saved on the carriage ride, he would have had nothing to give to this needy woman.

Justice is about more than being fair - it is about making sure that everyone has what they need. We will do some role-play after the story that helps the kids understand this concept in a concrete way.

Music: We will continue with reading rhythms and transferring them to instruments.

Craft: Foam masks

Kindness Reflection - what happened in class?

Today we had three kids, and the theme was Kindness to Animals. We began with the prayer 'Blessed is the Spot', which we first sang with the actions, and then we just did the actions with no singing.

The kids making pictures today

Story: We told the story of St. Francis of Assisi taming the 'wolf of Gubbio' by being gentle, feeding it and taking care of it. We learned that the story is a legend, around 800 years old, and that although we know that St. Francis was a real person, and that he was known for being gentle, we don't know for sure if the stories about him (like the wolf of Gubbio) are all true. But the example of kindness to the wolf in the story kicked off our class on kindness to animals.

Music: We learned the song "If an animal be sick" by Joe Crone (words from the Baha'i Writings), and sang it over a few times. Then we each chose an animal and invented our own line, and it became a chant that ended up like this:

Listen to the snake: hiss hiss hiss
Listen to the cat: meow meow meow!
Listen to the T-Rex: roar roar roar!
Listen to the wolf: owwwwwwwwwww!
Listen to the humming bird: hummmmmmmmmm

We each said our own part of the chant, keeping us in rhythm together. Then we chose instruments that we thought sounded like our animals and transferred the rhythm to those. We had snake on a shaker, cat on xylophone bells, T-rex on a djembe drum, wolf on finger cymbals, and humming bird on a guiro. We played the whole chant several times through without words, and kept together on the rhythm.

Then we read more ta, tee-tee and quarter-rest rhythm flashcards, first saying them, and then playing them on hand drums as we read the notes. Everyone seemed to pick it up very well, and we'll continue with the rhythm reading for a while until everyone can read their own rhythms and play them on a drum.

Craft: We folded regular paper into four parts, and pasted the four parts of the quote about being kind to animals onto the four sections. Here are some more photos of what the kids created:

Kindness - December 6th, 2009

The virtue for this week is KINDNESS.
Specifically, we will talk about kindness to animals.

Story: The Tale of St. Francis

Music: Rhythm Chant with instruments built on animal names and sounds

Song: If An Animal Be Sick (by Joe Crone)

"If an animal be sick let the children try to heal it,
If it be hungry let them feed it,
If thirsty let them quench its thirst,
If weary let them see that it rests."
(from the Baha'i Writings)

Craft: foamy animal cartoons illustrating animals that are hungry, thirsty, sick, and weary, with self-portraits of being kind to these animals.

Helpfulness Reflection - what happened in class?

Today we had four kids attending, and we started with a prayer: 'Blessed is the Spot' with actions. It helped to focus us into a frame of mind where we could quietly listen to the story.

Story: We told the story of the Lion and the Mouse using two stuffies, and the kids were really attentive and engaged. They guessed that the virtue for the week was helpfulness. The kids then offered stories about when they had been helpful, and when others had helped them.


Music: We learned the Lion and the Mouse chant, and parents stayed to help us out. We had four different lines going at the same time, and then we transferred them to instruments. We took away the words, and taa-daa! We had an orchestra playing four parts! It was lots of fun.

Then we learned how to read music rhythms: ta (quarter note), tee-tee (eighth notes) and a quarter rest. We went through 10 flashcards with the kids each pointing and reading the rhythms. Learning to read music will be a part of every class.

Craft: We made lion and mouse masks, so that the kids could act out the story. They looked awesome!

Helpfulness - November 29th, 2009

The virtue for this week is HELPFULNESS. Here's the basic plan:

Story: The Lion and the Mouse (from Aesop's Fables)

Music: The Lion and the Mouse (Orff version) on drums, xylophone, bells & tambourine

Hea-vy li-on's paw - smash! (tee tee tee tee tah tah)
Squea-ky lit-tle mouse - squeak! (tee tee tee tee tah)
Chew chew chew chew chew - Aaah! (tee tee tee tee tah)
You helped me - now I'm free! (tah tah tah rest - tah tah tah rest)

Craft: lion and mouse masks, act out the story at home!

Welcome to Soul Friends!

Soul Friends is the name of a Baha'i Children's Class - focusing on a virtue every week - that we are starting at our house. We are Baha'is, and my son said to me just last week, "Mom, can't we have another children's class like the one we had at our old house?" (we used to live in North Van).

The old gang with a take-home craft...
Baha'i children's class at our old house

We offer children's classes because we believe children are the most precious treasure a community can possess, for in them are the promise and guarantee of the future. They bear the seeds of the character of future society which is largely shaped by what the adults constituting the community do or fail to do with respect to children. We would like this class to be a safe place where kids can come together and learn about virtues and universal spiritual values in a safe environment, through fun activities and interaction.

Singing and acting out Five Green and Speckled Frogs
(we'll be playing instruments and learning about music as well)

We will choose a virtue for the week and focus on it, drawing on sources that illustrate the virtue being focused on. For example, in a class on "truthfulness" a great story for the kids to hear and even act out in a drama of their own is "The Boy Who Cried Wolf". However, in a class on love or forgiveness it is appropriate to use a story about something that Jesus, the Buddha or 'Abdu'l-Baha did in their lives. There is no room in a Baha'i children's class for theology or dogma - virtues are universal and as children learn about them they develop their spiritual faculties and lay the foundations of a noble and upright character.

Making colored eggs in the spring

These classes don't cost anything, they are meant to build community and bonds between children and families of all backgrounds and help strengthen the roots of Faith in society. If any parent would like to help out with the classes at any time, you are most welcome. All parents are welcome to stay for the class or drop off their child. If you don't find out what you want to know from this blog, please give me a call on the good, old-fashioned phone or talk to me if you see me at the school.

Here is a video of a Baha'i prayer called "Blessed Is the Spot" that I taught the kids (along with some actions) at a Baha'i Children's Class in Surrey.

"Blessed is the spot, and the house, and the place, and the city, and the heart, and the mountain, and the refuge, and the cave, and the valley, and the land, and the sea, and the island,
and the meadow where mention of God hath been made
and His praise glorified." ~ Baha'u'llah