First Day School:
2023 Annual Report
Through our children's programming, Third Haven Friends Meeting's goal nurtures the natural spirituality of children and their families, helping them learn and use principles from Quaker history, faith, and values. We honor each child's unique talents and skills, striving to give them the tools, experiences and freedom to pursue their purposes. We emphasize the qualities (called the Quaker Testimonies) of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality and stewardship. Our curricula focus on service, social action and experiential learning, all growing from our firm believe that world needs what our children can do.
Events:
Summer Nature Mindfulness Camp: Camp this summer was so much fun!! The topic for the week was TAKING FLIGHT. We studied the "3 Bs", birds, bugs and bats. We learned about habitat, captured a few bug specimens, made dioramas and engineered different "bird beaks". Click here for the Summer Camp Special edition newsletter.
Fall 2023 Update:
Exciting note- *Welcome back brunch**- September 17 after worship. All welcome. Here is our planned schedule:
- Sept 10: Welcome back, Susan/Cherie
- Sept 17: Community—FDS/Hospitality BRUNCH right after Meeting- please bring fruit or kids juice. Waffles are on the menu!!
- Sept 17: Kids needed to help with preparing Shelter meal in common room after brunch
- Sept 24: Equality
- Oct 1: Integrity, Cherie/Kristin
- Oct 8: Peace
- Oct 15: Community, Cherie
- Oct 21: Halloween 🎃 Family Fun night Common room 5-8pm. Dinner provided, please bring pumpkin to carve or a spooky story to share.
- Oct 22: Simplicity
- Oct 29: Stewardship
Please contact Susan Claggett with any questions.
The Basics:
Third Haven's First Day School offers spiritual education for children from preschool through high school (in other faiths this might be called Sunday School). We hold First Day School classes during the school year (from the 2nd week in September through the 2nd week in June) from 10 to 11AM. The children join their families with the full Friends Meeting for the first 15 minutes of Meeting for Worship, then attend their classes during the last 45 minutes of Meeting for Worship. The children are taught by a mix of parents, meeting members, and paid teachers. Curriculum is developed for every season and tailored to the group of kids attending, with the help of a First Day School Committee.
We also offer other children's programs, such as summer camps. These will be posted on this page as they are organized.
More about First Day School Lessons:
Third Haven Friends Meeting is hosting another fall calendar of rich, engaging activities for children in our First Day School. Featured programs include:
NATURE SEEKERS:
These sessions focus on helping kids build their toolbox of mindfulness techniques through immersion in nature. They will be led by Third Haven's talented summer camp teachers, Cherie Baron and Kristen Hanlon.FAITH & PLAY STORIES:
These are beautiful stories about the roots of Quakerism and Quaker values, told by teachers trained in a Montessori-inspired manner.
QUERIES & REFLECTIONS:
This monthly dialogue taps into the natural wisdom, curiosity and wonder of young children to explore how to think clearly about life's biggest queries—e.g., What is philosophy? Friendship? Happiness? Justice? Love? How do we know ourselves and what role do we play in the world? For the fall, the emphasis will be on the Quaker value of Peace.
SOCIAL ACTION:
A key theme of Quaker's faith: Let your life speak. Several times a year the kids take social action, offering their time and talent to help heal problems in our community. Recent projects have focused on local child hunger, homelessness, and refugee support. For details, please take a look at the upcoming calendar here.
