Brunch + the Spiral Curriculum in Godly Play

I am trying to get back into blogging on a regular basis. It has just been a busy season for our family. Thanks for your patience!

Yesterday was our church's first Brunch of the new school year. I decided to start off with "The Great Family", the story of God's promise to Abraham and Sarah. This story is from the genre of what we call "Sacred Stories" in Godly Play and addresses the question of identity: who we (the worldwide church) are as a Christian family, where we came from, and how the individual child fits into it all.

The body of Godly Play stories are divided into core stories and extension stories. The core stories, of which "The Great Family" is one, are told in each stage of childhood: early, middle and late. In early childhood, only the core stories are told. Extension stories begin to be added in middle childhood once the children are thoroughly familiar with the core stories. Berryman writes in Teaching Godly Play that "it usually takes three encounters with a lesson for a child to become familiar with it and its context in the liturgical year". By late childhood, the children are so familiar with the stories and how the classroom functions that they can listen more closely to the words and apply a broader meaning. Berryman goes on to write that this upward spiral of learning is advanced by three distinct circles: the circle of the creative process in each child, the circle of dynamics in the class, and the circle of the church year.

I have to admit that I had been practicing Godly Play for some time before I realized that it had a spiral curriculum. In fact, it wasn't until I had some e-mail correspondence with Jerome Berryman in my third year that I heard the term in relationship to GP. While a spiral curriculum works well in a setting where the children attend church each Sunday, I have to say that it is quite challenging in my context. Less than 1 percent of Berliners attend church on a regular basis, and a regular basis means once a month. In our church plant, I see the children 1-2 times a month if I'm lucky. And in our after-school clubs, I might see the same children only 4 weeks out of an entire school year. 

I can't say that I've figured it out yet, but my strategy right now is to keep repeating the core stories as much as possible with all the kids and fight the urge with in me to want to do something new. And that's why I started out this school year with "The Great Family". Each child in the room had heard it at least once and some 2-3 times already. I did notice as a result that the Wondering was deeper with the children who had heard the story more often. Another child who had heard the story only once before was confused about some of the characters and stopped me to help her get the names straight. Yet another reason to keep repeating the core stories.

Some highlights from the Wondering: one child shared which character he liked best rather than which part of the story he liked best. It was Isaac, whose name means "laughter".  Another child shared that she liked God coming close to Abraham.  One child though the most important part was that Abraham and Sarah found out that God was everywhere, not just in their home city of Ur. When I asked what we could leave out and still have everything we needed for the story, one child responded that we could have left out the part about the parents (Abraham and Sarah) dying. 

During the Response Time, an 8-year-old girl drew this picture.

When I asked her if she wanted to tell me about it, she responded, "It is nighttime outside and God is there. He gives us this bouquet of flowers."

Although Godly Play is full of repetitions, it is completely different each time. : )

Godly Play: The Great Family

Two new children have joined our Sunday Godly Play group, and I am helping to prepare them for baptism. From now until their baptism in October, I will be presenting some of the "core" Godly Play stories that explain deep truths of the Christian faith.

We began with "The Great Family", a story that I never get tired of telling. This is the story of childless Abraham and Sarah who discover not only that God is always with them, but that he brings amazing things out of barrenness. In this story, the children learn how the Jewish people came to be and that Jesus himself was born into this Great Family; that the Christian Church was born from this family, and that the children themselves are now a part of this Great Family.

The Great Family: this is the point in the story where Isaac is born.

Once again, my kitchen has become my Godly Play room. (For more on adapting GP to different situations see, Chameleon Godly Play and Godly Play on the Go.) Here is a quick view of my focus table and story "shelf".

This are my art shelves for the creative phase. I have three simple options: paint, colored pencils, and modeling clay.

To my delight, the children seem to be playing more with the materials this year instead of always rushing immediately for the art supplies. (Not that this is bad, but I do enjoy seeing a variety of things going on.) This is my "door person", Melinda, playing with a child during the creative phase. 

Two children playing with the materials from "The Ten Best Ways to Live".

I managed to snap a picture of some of the work with clay. The pink thing in the middle is a boat, perhaps a reminder of Paul's Discovery which this child heard a few weeks ago. 

One of the children in our group is a younger, special needs child, so I prepared a Practical Life activity for her. This is a simple transfer exercise where the child places a small wooden bird (left in the bowl) into each apple. My door person explained to the child that "the birds were hungry and wanted to eat an apple". Not only is this great fun for younger children, it trains their fine motor skills as well as developing mathematical skills.