The First Day School’s Corner of the World: September 2023
Head of First Day School, Charlotta Koppanyi
August and September are busy months for anyone involved in education. Regular school has already started and these days the beaches are empty – and perfect for connecting with yourself. An empty quiet beach is also perfect for getting planning done and drafts written, so all you need to do at home is the computer work. Our classrooms at EFM are all set, with just the Middle School room to be done by Sunday, September 17, when our regular First Day School classes start.
• Sunday, September 3 - Labor Day Weekend: Summer RE program, last day.
• Sunday, September 10: The RE program and its families are hosting our annual “Welcome Back to School” Potluck Picnic in the yard, starting at 11:15 am until about 1:15 pm. All are welcome to join us after Meeting. Bring something to share and join us for this feast. It means a lot to the children when you attend! As always, we will grill, and perhaps even have a salmon, along with everything else. Children, families and staff will be setting up and cleaning up, however additional help with clean-up will be much appreciated.
• Sunday, September 17 First Day School starts. For the 2023-2024 year we will once again have all four classrooms, Preschool, Primary, Intermediate and Middle School, filled with students. The range of number students who will be attending FDS is wide, with the biggest group being the Intermediate class.
We are fortunate to have committed volunteer teachers once again in Primary and Intermediate and Guest Teacher will be invited for Middle School. Teaching is a wonderful opportunity to become a part of our young Friends life and share your knowledge, experience, and faith. Teaching also creates relationships across the ages and starts to build that bridge we need to have for our students join the upstairs Meeting when the time comes.
Preschool: Norma and Raphael are in charge and all set.
Primary: Liz K is our Story Teller in Primary. We would love to have someone being a DoorKeeper, an important role in the program who also could step in as the StoryTeller for the few Sundays Liz is not available. The stories follow a set schedule and the story baskets are complete with items/objects and texts (hard and electronic copies). Stories are from the Godly Play, Faith & Play curriculum, as well as Quaker stories and Holiday stories. We provide training for both positions. Teachers can work either every other week, continuous weeks for a set time period or step in as needed. We work with you and your availability! If interested please let Liz and Charlotta know.
Intermediate: Steven R and Michael P will be teaching and working with our Intermediate students. When the number of students – and the age range – will be too large for the classroom, we will divide the Intermediate class into two groups based on age. Last year the class focused on Quakerism and this year the focus will be on Bible stories, which includes how Quakers and Quakerism relate to the stories of the Bible, the Bible and its roots in Christianity. The students will read from the Bible, create a village in clay — always a very popular part of the class — which depicts the stories read.
Middle School: Charlotta will be leading the Middle School class and we will invite Guest Teachers to join us and share their unique experience, knowledge, perspective and Quaker faith. Our focus will be on Bible stories, Christianity and Quakerism. This group has more or less grown up together and have nice sense of who they are, what is of importance to them and what being a Quaker means to them.
• A few Intergenerational classes will be held; the first is World Quaker Day, October 1, for which David S will join us. October 29 is a 5th Sunday and we will join the upstairs Meeting around 11:05AM. December 10 is the Annual Holiday Puppet Show – and the Holiday Potluck hosted by the RE program and families.
• Sunday, December 24 and December 31 families are welcome to join the upstairs Meeting for a full worship time.
