Thursday, February 26, 2009

After the Fire

Welcome to March! It's been nearly two months since I've posted here. As so often happens in our busy lives, many things have gotten away from me and I'm slowly trying to get caught up again.

We are recovering well from the fire in our Religious Education building on January 25. The renovations and repairs are progressing on schedule, and we expect to be back in our large classroom by mid March. I am so impressed with the resilience of our community, and how well we have come together to meet the challenges of loss of space.

On the Sunday following the fire, our two youngest classes met together. Steve lead the children in sharing their concerns and worries about the fire, then had them act out being fire with their bodies. They all drew pictures of the fire, complete with images showing them roasting their favorite foods over the blaze. I wish I had taken some photos to post here! The Discovery class has continued to share their space with the Treasure Hunters class, and some Treasure Hunters have joined with the Explorers class. There are important lessons here about hospitality--our children and their teachers have demonstrated how welcoming we can be, especially during difficult times.

The Spirit Play class, despite losing all of its materials in the fire, has continued to meet as well, in its temporary home in room 3. The teachers contributed donations of materials and time, and we quickly gathered the basics needed to continue running the class. The children have adapted well to the space as well. Last Sunday they strung beads representing the creation and evolution of the universe, and their own life journeys. Again, I wish I had photos to share!

We have some exciting events planned this month (see the "events" box, to the left). I hope you will consider attending. I look forward to seeing you soon!

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