Atrium Beginnings

Flower arranging is a peaceful work.

For me it has been a very joyful beginning to atrium this year! We've had two wonderful new children to draw into our atrium and many lovely returning children to guide along the way. We are blessed to have Marilyn Wright joining us in the True Vine Atrium this year. Marilyn was one of my first Catechesis of the Good Shepherd trainers and she is an accomplished Montessorian and catechist. Her deep understanding of the Catechesis and her gentle guiding spirit are making such a difference in our atrium this year and I find I am already learning so much working with her.

As we begin the new year, we've been creating opportunities for the children to become engaged in the materials provided in the atrium. There are such riches in each work to be discovered. We present each material to the children, but often the deepest learnings are made by the children themselves while working on their own. It was a joy to see the children working peacefully with many different materials this week. I am so thankful for all three of our atria and for all of our beautiful materials made by Christ Church's catechists and parishioners!

I took a few pictures of our little group working on Sunday and thought I would share them with you here. We have made a beginning!

Many hands have set the model altar already this year.

Deep concentration is needed to find the unfamiliar names of Israel on the pin maps.

Matching the cards describing the articles we find on
 the altar is a work that seems to satisfy the children.

The Good Shepherd is a familiar friend to children
 moving up from the Good Shepherd Atrium.

Material Making in the Summer Months

It's been quiet on the blog this summer, but I've been as busy as ever with the Catechesis! In June, Lynn and I completed our Level 3 training with a wonderful seven day session in Saginaw, Michigan, led by the amazing Donna Turner. It was a fabulous experience, and it feels great to be familiar with all three levels of the Catechesis.

Seeing all the Level 3 works inspired me to return to Level 2 with a new eye. I've been revisiting album pages and thinking about materials. The new online material manual (available to catechists at the National Association website) makes it really easy to work through materials to see which pieces may have changed or may be missing from the atrium. Many of our tracing packets needed to be updated, and as a result I have been spending my evenings tracing and coloring. I'm enjoying it!

A few weekends ago several Christ Church Catechists and I attended a Regional Gathering for people with an interest in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd held at St. Gabriel's Catholic Church in Concord, Ohio. It was great to connect with other catechists and spend time together. A special blessing for me was the chance to hear Betty Hissong speak about some of the influential leaders of the Catechesis. Betty is one of the pioneers of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and an amazing and faith-filled leader herself. It was a fun morning, and I was so glad to participate.

I've also been working on our calendar for fall and connecting with teachers and catechists. September 15th will be here before we know it! I can't wait to begin again!

Sculpey Figures

Several people have asked about the Infancy Narrative figures we recently replaced so I thought I'd post a few photos of them. We generally make our figures out of sculpey polymer clay built on an aluminum foil base. Scupey is a great clay to use and I think it is attractive to the children. We occasionally have trouble with chipping or with the necks breaking on the people when they are dropped, but overall the figures are pretty durable. In the photo above you can see the new shepherd and sheep we made.

This is the Heavenly Host who appear to the shepherds in the field.

This is our new Joseph and Mary from the birth of Jesus.

And here is our new wiseman.

Advent Preparations!

Take a look at these advent elves! As we began our ninth advent with the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd we found that it was time to replace many of the figures from our infancy narratives. Lynn, Sarah, Terri, Deb and I spent a day this week recreating wise men, Mary and Elizabeth, angels and sheep for little hands to hold this December. What a pleasure! Thank you to these special helpers!

Advent begins tomorrow! How will you be observing the season with your family this year? Check out the post, Advent Begins if you need some inspiration!

The Infancy Narratives

Advent is the perfect time to introduce (or re-introduce) children to the person of Jesus.  In addition to geography works and prophecies, we spend a lot of time in Advent exploring the infancy narratives - the scripture that tells of the events surrounding Jesus' birth.  We aren't just telling cute baby stories or even just recalling historical events with the children. Instead we want to encourage the children to wonder at the mystery of incarnation - God loves humanity so much that God chose to become human and live as one of us. The infancy narratives teach us a lot about who Jesus is, and about how God works in the world.

Over the first three years in the Good Shepherd Atrium the children become familiar with the Angel Gabriel's visit to Mary to tell her she will be mother to Jesus, Mary's visit to Elizabeth, the birth of Jesus and the visit of the Shepherds, Jesus' presentation at the Temple when he meets Simeon and Anna, and the visit of the Wise Men. We have many beautiful materials to help even the youngest children extend their meditation on these rich narratives - each includes 3-D figures and a simple environment to explore.  Often an adult (or another child) will read the scripture while the child moves the figures.

This week in the True Vine Atrium we celebrated the coming of Christmas by looking at the infancy narratives as a whole.  It was a beautiful experience, as the children brought together all that they have learned over their years in the atrium, and meditated once again on these beloved stories. We focused on the theme of the light of Christ and noticed how it spread - first to Mary, then to Elizabeth and John, to the shepherds, and to even to the wise men who traveled from so far away. I was amazed at the children's ability to sit in quiet joy and contemplate scripture, particularly at this exciting time of year!

As we grow close to Christmas, I wish you joy in quiet moments with your family.  Be alert for the light of Christ as the news of Jesus' birth spreads to you and yours this holiday season!

Essential Lessons

After my last post, I wanted to share something about the theology that the children have lifted up for us in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. There is so much that could be said!  But for now, I'll just say this:

It is so easy to underestimate children, expecting them to like the "cute" stories from the Bible, and wanting to make the stories "fun" to catch their interest.  For me, one of the most significant revelations from the children is their desire for the the most essential understandings of our Christian faith. Awe and wonder at God becoming a tiny baby, joy at the gift of the light of Christ given at Baptism, deep love for Jesus the Good Shepherd of the sheep, and gratefulness for the gift of Jesus in the bread and wine -- these are just a few of the central themes of the Christian message that catechists discovered over and over again in their observations of children.

As a result, in the Good Shepherd Atrium (for 3-6 year olds) we present the heart of our Christian theology to the children.  As they grow we have no need to "go deeper."  Instead we continually draw the circle wider to bring in more for the children to ponder.

The Materials

In my last post, I talked about some of the ways that the atrium environment meets the developmental needs of the children, and fosters independence. Here, I want to look a bit more closely at the materials, and how they were chosen for inclusion in the atrium. I think this is one of the best things about the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd -- the materials at each level have essentially been chosen by the children themselves.  

Just like Dr. Montessori, we catechists are scientists at heart and we are charged with the job of observation. Each week, we make an effort to sit and watch the children as they interact with the materials and each other. Our desire is to learn about their spiritual lives. We watch to see which materials children are repeatedly drawn to and which materials bring them joy. We listen carefully to their comments and questions and prayers, and we study their drawings for insight.  

This practice has been in use by catechists for over fifty years!  Our founders, Sofia Cavalletti and Gianna Gobbi, and their colleagues began by making materials - small figures for meditating upon scripture passages, model altars and altar pieces, maps of the land of Israel -- all for 3-6 year olds. Then they carefully observed the children's responses. Pieces that the children were drawn to again and again found a permanent place on the shelves.  Materials that appeared in drawings and brought the children contentment were kept.  But legend tells of many amazing materials - beautifully handcrafted items that catechists LOVED - that were put away because they just didn't speak to the children.  Some of our presentations were actually developed by the children themselves, when they brought together materials and concepts in their meditation and catechists observed their connections!

Over many years, patterns began to emerge. Specific presentations were treasured by the children at specific ages, and the decisions about what materials would be presented, when, and to whom, were made.   This process of observation and refinement has been practiced with all three levels of the Catechesis, and is still at work in atria around the world today.

This is the thing that I love -- the materials really do speak to the developmental needs and spiritual yearnings of the children.  And I am so grateful to the wise and faithful children and catechists, across continents and years, who have made it so.