Our 2014 Fall Godly Play Schedule

First of all, perhaps you missed me. (I HOPE you missed me!) If you wondered where I’ve been, I’ve been puppy wrangling – so here’s a gratuitous photo of Harvey, the Monster Puppy (he’s a 9 month old border collie mix and was 52 lbs six weeks ago…)

As I usually sit at my computer when Harvey is sleeping, blogging time has been limited…

Back to our scheduling. In early September, all of the Sunday School teachers usually meet for a dinner and time to plan or organize in our classrooms (we have two Godly Play classrooms). In our older class (grades 3-5), we try to schedule out every Sunday with story, storyteller, and doorkeeper up until Advent.

We try to come up with a “frame” for our stories. One season it was all the stories we could think of about coming to the table. This year my co-teachers were kind enough to let me suggest an idea that’s been percolating for some time: we’re using the Jesse Tree.

In December 2010 we had an evening Advent Workshop with various seasonal crafts for children. I worked for days making Shrinky Dink patterns to color and bake, with accompanying verses and explanations. I slightly adapted the Jesse Tree symbols to fit  Godly Play – for example, the red heart represents the Ten Best Ways to Live (the 10 commandments) rather than whatever it was the internet source listed. Of course, the number of children at that workshop who were interested in this craft was ZERO. Not a ONE. But I did secretly admire the sample tree I made, and it’s been sitting around my house and then our Sunday School classroom for four years.

The Shrinky Dink Jesse Tree is turning out to be an interesting frame for our autumn story schedule. At our first meeting we talked about the Isaiah verse about the root of Jesse  (“But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom.”  Isaiah 11:1) We’ve been asking the children to look for clues about Jesus in all of our Old Testament stories. For us, it’s been an excellent additional wondering question.

Here is our fall schedule:

9/7/2014 – Second Creation: Falling Apart (and discussion about the root of Jesse)

9/14/2014 - The Flood and the Ark

9/21/2014 – The Great Family

9/28/2014 – Abraham

10/5/2014 – Jacob

10/12/2014 – Joseph

10/19/2014 – Moses

10/26/2014 – The Ten Best Ways

11/2/2014 – Samuel

11/9/2014 – David

11/16/2014 – Jonah

How do you schedule your stories?