Introduction
We Are Friends is a booklet that highlights the Quaker values that are a part of every aspect of our pedagogy at Friends’ Central Lower School. The idea for this project was to create a resource for teachers to use in the classroom that would display images, queries, and messages in the form of student voices that reflect the Quaker life within the School. In the Lower School, learning to be a good friend grows out of the choices we make, the words we use, and the way we care for each other and our community. Quakers know that the Light of God shining in each one of us calls us to be kind to each other, to practice peacemaking, to be fair, respectful, and truthful, and to value being part of our community. Guided by the Quaker testimonies of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship, at the heart of everything we do is the belief that each individual is valued, that each voice is important. We encourage students to “let their lives speak,” and in these pages, you will see examples of how our students “let their lives speak” through their words and actions each day at Friends’ Central School.
We Learn Through Direct Experience “I love feeding my baby mantis. It shows me that all living animals need shelter, water, food, and air. I think all people do too.” -Kindergartner’s journal entry The Nursery class watched caterpillars turn into Painted Lady butterflies. One day on the playground, a Nursery child reminisced about the day the class released its adult butterflies.
“It’s hard to let something so beautiful go. It’s even hard for grown-ups.”
Making Kachina Dolls: The Hopi believe that the most important thing in life is to have a good heart, to strive to be helpful and kind to each other, and to live in harmony with the world. These values are shared by Quakers and our school, as well. Third grade students each make a Kachina doll as a part of their study and as an ever present reminder of these shared values.
QuerIES: • Why is it important that I learn through experience? • How do I feel when I actively engage in my learning? • How does learning about the world help me to be a better community member?
SPICES
INTEGRITY
In the Lower School, we use the acronym SPICES to remind us of the Quaker testimonies that we hold closest to our hearts.
“Showing Truth to other people.”
Simplicity Peace Integrity Community Equality Stewardship
-9th grader & Kindergartner reflection
“Integrity means doing the right thing when no one is watching.” -Kindergarten Class
“I see SPICES happen at FCS every day. Every day there’s a little bit of SPICES.” -4th grader
“When something is hard, we always work together.” -4th grader
QUERIES: • How can I be true in my actions to what I know is right in my heart? • How can I do something that I know needs to be done even when it is hard? • Do I keep the promises I make? • How does my being faithful relate to integrity?
PEACE & Conflict Resolution “A powerful, invisible force brings us together to be peaceful.” -4th grader
SIMPLICITY “It is better to live a little bit simply, to be thankful for what you have, not what you don’t have. God wants you to be happy, and being thankful is part of that.” -4th grader
“Fighting is not good; peace can help bring people together.”
“Time where you can be calm, stop being so busy, and listen to the raindrops patting on the roof when it’s raining.”
-Pre-Kindergartner
-2nd grader
“Peace is not around the world, but it can start with me being peaceful to others.” -Nursery-1st grade Meeting for Worship sharing
“In Meeting for Worship, I sometimes hear a small voice telling me to say there can be peace around the world.” -2nd grader
“If someone has a problem, we do not yell, we speak through the problem and we learn what to do next time.”
“Keeping distractions away, you can better connect with God.” -4th grader
“My gift is being myself, and I share it every day when I come to school.” -Kindergarten reflection with 9th grader
-3rd grader
QUERIES:
QuerIES:
• What can I do to let peace begin with me? • How can I resolve differences with others so that little harm is done? • How does ALL STOP make us a more peaceful community? • Do I try to listen to another point of view?
• How do I feel when my life is too busy? • How can I simplify my life? • What is a time when I feel peaceful in school? • Where do I feel at peace in my life?
Meeting for Worship Every week, we gather for Meeting for Worship. During this time, we settle in silence so that we are better able to listen to what is in our hearts. When the Spirit speaks to any one of us, one may stand and share a message.
“Meeting for Worship helps you settle down for the day, center on the good of the community, and connect with God.”
“A lot of times Meeting for Worship helps people’s hearts to start lighting up and we share thoughts that we need to hear.” -1st grader
“When the journey ends, The Spirit is still there.” -1st grader
-4th grader
“We use silence.”
-3rd grader
“During Meeting for Worship, I was thinking about how little those kids are but how strong, beautiful, and powerful the stuff they say is because we always say, 'well they're so little so they won't say anything that has to do with Meeting,' but the little kids can say some of the most powerful things.” -4th grader
“It makes me feel like God is everywhere. It gives me hope.” -1st grader
Queries: • What happens when I share silence with a group ? • Am I able to find an inner place of quiet and peace? • How do I settle myself in Meeting for Worship? • How can my words help others? How can your silence help others?
COMMUNITY
EQUALITY
“In our community, people can feel comfortable working together.”
“In our community, we stand up for ourselves and others. Be fair. Treat people nicely.”
-4th grader
-2nd grader
“Our community works well together because we compromise.” -4th grader
“Sometimes you have to make a friend by helping them.”
“I think it means treating people with respect.” -4th grader
-3rd grader
“Show someone how to play a ballgame, and when they are playing, pass to them.” -2nd grader
“Friendship is magic!” -3rd grader
“Equality is being fair and sharing. It is also giving people what they need so they can live well.” -2nd grader
QuerIES: • Why is “you can’t say you can’t play” important? • What is my part in our community? • Are there some things I can only do with the help of others?
QuerIES: • Why is it important to be fair in all I do? • Do I welcome others even if they seem different from me? • Do I realize the power of simply not laughing when someone says something mean-spirited?
STEWARDSHIP “Service is helping others. The whole world is a community, and we try to help each other in our community, then we widen the community to include others.”
FEEDBACK Feedback is a process we use in the Lower School, implemented by our psychologist, that develops a basis of connecting with our feelings and learning to share them with one another. We center down, reflect on our recent experiences, and then an individual may offer feedback to a friend explaining how something made them feel. Through the structure of feedback, we create a safe place for feelings to be expressed.
-4th grader
“I like feedback because I get to express my feelings for others. Whether negative or positive, it helps solve problems and makes better friendships.”
“Helping the Earth; keeping it clean.” -2nd grader “We take care of the lost and found.”
-3rd grader
-4th grader
“Service also happens in the classroom-we help each other.” -4th grader “We recycle and take care of our personal space.” -4th grader
“Words can make people feel good, especially when you give compliments, because they can make them feel more self confident.” -3rd grader
“A lot of times it helps people’s hearts to start lighting up and we share thoughts that we need to hear.” Queries: • Do I look after and put to good use the things in my care? • How does my helping others, help the world? • What are some ways that I help take care of my classroom and school community?
-1st grader
DEVOTIONS Excerpted from the Winter/Spring 2010 issue of Quaker Works Magazine. By Chris Ramsey, 4th grade teacher Once a week, each division gathers for Meeting for Worship, a time for spiritual, intellectual, and self-reflection. At the Lower School, we also have set aside a special period each day called “Devotions,” which draws on the habits of reflection developed in Meeting for Worship, but allows us to gather regularly in our classrooms and talk about our experiences. Devotions is different in each classroom but for all of us, it is central to the work of building community, developing a safe place for children to share, and helping them to explore their own and each other’s ideas, emotions, and spiritual understandings. Although the way we each guide Devotions ranges widely, we all consider it a powerful daily practice that helps reinforce the importance of listening, of considering different perspectives, of taking time to reflect, to be thankful, or simply quiet. The message that if there is a problem we will take the time to consider it as a group is a powerful message indeed to take into adulthood. This kind of problem solving begins here at Friends’ Central in the very earliest of grades.
“I feel like all our hearts are glowing around the room.” -1st grader
“You can calm down and listen to other people share their inner light, and you can share yours.” -4th grader
In My Silence A Poem by 2A (2011)
When I sit in silence I hear what I want, like the ocean waves crashing, I imagine what my family will look like when I’m older, I see myself riding the Lego Ship at Lego Land, I think about anger, I thank my family for giving me life. When I am silent I see a light that no one else can see, I wonder about what I will do when I get home, I hear the wind swaying in the trees, I think about my brother and all the fun times we had in the past, I believe that I can do anything. In my silence I imagine my family in peace and harmony, I see everybody’s mind, I touch the sky, I hear myself breathing softly, I can do anything; I can fly, be invisible, and run super fast. My silence leads to Believing and imagining, I let go of everything, Singing songs that I love to myself, Seeing the future and remembering the past, Appreciating friends, family, and teachers. The gift of silence allows me to see, hear, and imagine A world where there is peace for everyone.