Sparkling Still, a Quaker RE Curriculum for ages 3 – 8
Conversation Circles: January 16 & 18, 2024
Sparkling still uses children’s picture books as a foundation to teach Friends faith and practice. Novice and experienced religious education teachers alike will find everything needed to create lessons and build classroom community among children ages 3-8. The Sparkling Still manual streamlines the lesson-planning process while folding in basic elements of teaching technique. Also included are guidance for exploring hard issues, such as grief and divorce, and extensive lists of children’s books for enjoyable, meaningful lessons. The webpage offers resources on how to use the curriculum, and an online catalog of books suitable for lessons searchable by topic and age appropriateness.
If you’re looking for:
- A lesson planning process that accommodates children’s intermittent attendance,
- A consistent format that can accommodate volunteers with minimal prep time,
- Flexibility to create your own lessons,
- A series that uses children’s books available at your public library or Meeting library,
Join these conversations with the Sparkling Still Working Group to explore how to use Sparkling Still in your Meeting.
REGISTRATION REQUIRED
Conversation Starters:
-
Anne Collins, Saratoga Friends Meeting, NYYM
- Sally Farneth, Portland Friends Meeting, NEYM
- Susan Hopkins, Grass Valley Friends Meeting, PacYM
- Erika Mittag, Austin Friends Meeting, SCYM
Facilitators:
- Andrew Wright, Durham Friends Meeting, NCYMC
- Sita Diehl, Madison Friends Meeting, NYM
RESOURCES:
-
Sparkling Still: A Quaker Religious Education Curriculum for First Day School and Home Use for Children ages 3-8. Friends General Conference (FGC)
-
Sparkling Still Children’s Book Collection on Library Thing
- Learn more: Visit the QREC Resource Library and subscribe to our announcements
An Introduction
The Quaker Religious Education Collaborative (QREC) is an international, cross-branch, grassroots network of Friends sharing a stewardship for lifelong Quaker faith formation through religious education. We formed in April 2014 and now serve more than 300 Friends in our network. We actively engage and support each other across languages and continents. We gather for regional and annual conferences and offer monthly Conversation Circles via an online conferencing platform.
Steering Circle
We share leadership as part of our collaborative mission, making decisions using the Quaker ‘sense of the meeting’ process, sitting in expectant, worshipful waiting for the emergence of shared truth. Read more…
Working Circles
Our work takes place in ‘circles’ or small groups of Friends who labor on a common task, usually meeting by video conference due to the geographic diversity of the membership. Read more…
The Resource Library
Finders Guide, a sampling of the collection
The QREC Resource Library is a place to share lessons and other educational information in support of our work as Quaker religious educators. This library is a forum for curricula, articles, videos and other educational materials on Quaker themes. You will also find principles, policies and procedures to strengthen operation of your child, youth and adult religious education programs.
Children's Education
Adult Education
Family
African Quaker Library
Youth Education
Small Meetings
Young Adult Friends
Biblioteca QREC
Events
Find renewal, companionship, and help for nitty gritty issues in Quaker religious education, all the while opening spaces for Spirit to work and listening together for God’s way forward.
QREC holds an annual conference and retreat. In addition we hold online Conversation Circles and post other religious education events as we learn about them.
Conversation Circles
Online conferences for Quaker religious educators to share about their work. Conversations are scheduled for two sessions per topic to encourage international participation. Join the conversation…
Other Events
Religious education events of interest to Quakers from all parts of the world. Please let us know about upcoming online or in-person events happening in your area. See the list of upcoming events…
Love at the Heart
Spiritual Practices
Discernment
Active Caring
Quaker Family Culture
Finding the Light
Faith at Home
Home is the heart of faith formation for all families. This is especially true for Friends. As an experiential religion, Quakerism is best learned through living in loving community. Indeed, the vast majority of faith formation for our young Friends happens at home in the busy swirl of daily life.
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Get Involved
QREC depends on all of us sharing our gifts and skills as religious educators. Here are some of the ways you can get involved…