It's a funny time of year for it, but I wanted to share a few photos of the shelves in the Good Shepherd Atrium that we use to meditate on the events surrounding Jesus' birth. These shelves hold prophecies, infancy narratives, and the geography materials.
On top of the first shelf from the left, you can see the prophecies. The prophecies give us insight into who Jesus is, and the children enjoy tracing and illustrating them in the Advent season. You can learn more about the prophecies in another post, called Advent Prophecies in the Atrium.
The infancy narratives are kept on the first and second shelves from the left. These include small 3-D people and furnishings, along with environments (such as a house or stable) to place them into, and a booklet which isolates the specific scripture being considered. Children love to work with these materials year round and wonder about Mary's visit to Elizabeth, or the appearance of the angels to the shepherds in the fields. You can read more about this work in another post called The Infancy Narratives.
The third shelf from the left holds the geography materials, which help us to know that Jesus was a real person, who lived in a particular place and time. These are favorites with the children who love to run their fingers over the topographical map of the Land of Israel and find the three cities which meant so much to Jesus. You can read more about these materials in the post Geography.
In addition to these materials, there are several extensions on top of the second and third shelves from the left, including packets of images for tracing that correspond with the infancy narratives, and maps to trace, label with the city names, and color. Advent is always a joyful time in the atrium!
Very nice layout for your Infancy! I like the prophecy cards above! Where di you purchase your shelves? The works "pop" with being on the white background. :)
ReplyDeleteI've been enjoying your atrium tour! When you start a new atrium year are the shelves already filled with the parables you will tell later?
ReplyDelete@Marcia Thanks so much Marcia! Of course, once I started working with the tour pictures I took this summer I realized that the shelves really needed to be straightened! ;) The shelves are cheap-the kind you put together yourself-from a local outlet store. But I do like the way they look in the Good Shepherd Atrium. We used brown ones in the upper atria. Thanks so much for reading and commenting!
ReplyDelete@montessorisunday I'm so glad you are enjoying the tour MS! It seemed like a good time of year for it! At the start of the year, we keep materials out if there are children returning who know how to use them. The one exception to that has been the City of Jerusalem work. Some years we have chosen to put that away until winter when the new children are acclimated, because it is so attractive to the three year olds. So great hearing from you! I can't wait to hear about your training!
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