Teaching Variations Resources

Listening Circle: Inviting Children’s Participation in Worship

Listening Circle: Inviting Children’s Participation in Worship

Join these listening circles to explore children’s participation in Quaker Meeting for Worship. These conversations will support a Friend’s seminary research from which will emerge a guide for how to be an intergenerational spiritual community and how to encourage reciprocity across generations.

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Service Learning Guidelines for High School Students

Service Learning Guidelines for High School Students

Maryland was the first state in the U.S. to mandate service learning for high school students. Service learning is a teaching method that combines meaningful service to the community with curriculum-based learning. Students improve their academic skills by applying...

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Despair, Hope and the Great Turning

Despair, Hope and the Great Turning

Anxiety about the state of the world is common among young Friends. From the widely acclaimed Powell House Youth Program, this experiential retreat curriculum provides a safe place to voice the fear that burdens so many who seek to live with awareness and...

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The Light: A Story for December

The Light: A Story for December

Cultures all over the world celebrate festivals of Light, often in December.  This story, told in the Faith & Play style. uses symbols of Light in a simple, profound way to introduce these festivals in Quaker religious education.

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Nurturing Quaker Children in a Small Meeting

Nurturing Quaker Children in a Small Meeting

From the child's point of view, living in a small Meeting can be very rich. The segregation between children and adults that is the norm for popular culture and many large Meetings is impossible here. It is like living in a small town, or a large family where everyone...

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Settling Routine

Settling Routine

We use this settling routine from Ann Arbor (MI) Friends Meeting with all our kids, sometimes omitting a line or two. It's important to have chairs an appropriate height for all children so their toes can touch the floor. Sitting on the floor with knees bent and feet...

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Religious Education for the Home and Small Meeting

Religious Education for the Home and Small Meeting

This is an idea packet assembled for families and small meetings who seek to educate children in Quaker faith and practice. Originally published in 1986, this is a treasure trove, worthy of adaptation and revision given that most Quaker meetings still face these...

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Discovering Our Faith through Story and Play

Discovering Our Faith through Story and Play

Part one of the booklet contains the classic Quaker stories of George Fox, Elizabeth Fry, Stephen Grellet, William Pickett, Mary Fisher and John Woolman. Part two has stories of the experience of meeting for worship. The third part consists of two biblical...

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Shaking Out the Truth

Shaking Out the Truth

This curriculum explains processes of making decisions in Quaker meeting.  In three lessons, students learn about meeting for business, clearness committees, and threshing sessions are described along with age-appropriate activties to increase understanding.  For...

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Earth Care for Children

Earth Care for Children

This curriculum helps children walk gently over God's Earth through interactive and fun activities. Young Friends experience the Earth as our home, see how we share our home with God's creatures, and learn how we can behave in caring ways for our world. Quaker...

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The Complete Guide to Godly Play

The Complete Guide to Godly Play

From the Godly Play Foundation: "Children have an innate sense of the presence of God. The Godly Play approach helps them to explore their faith through story, to gain religious language and to enhance their spiritual experience though wonder and play. Based on...

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Top Ten List for New Teachers

Top Ten List for New Teachers

What do you think is most important for a new teacher to know? This query was given to gifted and seasoned First Day School teachers in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Their responses were remarkably similar. They range from the practical (Make sure you have all of your...

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