Quakerism This Month

The Quakerism theme for this month is Stewardship, and was chosen to coincide with the annual celebration of Earth Day (April 22). Have you seen the bulletin board display on the first floor of the classroom building? Created by T. Caroline with beautiful doves made by T. Connie's first graders, it is simple in its design and message.

stewardship the conducting, supervising or managing of something: especially: the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care (Webster's)

"We did not weave the web of life; we are merely a strand in it. What we do to the web, we do to ourselves." Chief Seattle

Classroom lessons since we returned from spring break have focused on how we as individuals and a community can take simple steps to care and manage what has been entrusted to our care, especially our environment. Next Thursday (April 16), worship sharing groups will consider a query based on this theme. The following Thursday (April 23), we will start our morning by engaging in some outdoor cleanup and campus beautification activities, and then share silent worship on the lawn (all weather permitting, of course). The last Thursday of the month (April 30), we will have meeting for singing and then silent worship in the Meeting House.

Parents are welcome to join us for worship:
Thursday, April 9, 8:55 a.m.
Thursday, April 23, 8:55 a.m. -- on the lawn
Thursday, April 30, 8:35 Meeting for Singing, 8:55 Meeting for Worship

Here are some good family-oriented activities in our area related to Earth Day:
Stash Your Trash at the Chester County Historical Society
Volunteering for Earth Day Events (Senator Dinniman's site)
Earth Day History and Calendar (EnviroLink)

A parent recently sent the following email message to me, and I am happy to share it. His family is new to WCFS this year and, not surprisingly, he has already discovered one of the greatest qualities of our school.

T. Matt,

I recently read an article in the NYT about educational reform. One paragraph made me think of the staff @ WCFS. I think the student teacher relationships that are developed are the best part of WCFS.

"We’ve spent years working on ways to restructure schools, but what matters most is the relationship between one student and one teacher. You ask a kid who has graduated from high school to list the teachers who mattered in his life, and he will reel off names. You ask a kid who dropped out, and he will not even understand the question. Relationships like that are beyond his experience."

(The full article - an op-ed by David Brooks - is a good read.)