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BUILDING A CHILDREN'S CHAPEL

One Story at a Time

Church Publishing Incorporated

Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

SETTING UP CHAPEL

Where Shall We Have Chapel?

Keep it simple! The space we use for chapel is a carpeted room in the basement of the school. At one end are a simple altar, a piano, an easel with felt board, and a few stools for musicians and song leader. Behind the altar is a large woven wall hanging created years ago by school parents that has simple images from Bible stories. There are no chairs in the room. Everyone sits on the carpet facing the altar. There are built-in benches on either side of the front half of the room. The other half of the room's walls house books on shelves for the library. When the benches were installed, we thought perhaps some of the families would sit on them for chapel. As we considered it further, the fact that only a small number could sit on the benches led us to decide that everyone (other than a grandparent or very pregnant mom) would continue in our tradition of children and parents sitting together on the floor. Our school is in New York City and though many parents are on their way to work, they happily join the others in their work clothes (generally business suits) with child in lap sitting together on the rug. The room is simple and handled simply, and it serves us well.

Some schools use the sanctuary of the church. Others use an auditorium, a gymnasium, or a classroom. Each situation creates its own benefits and challenges. Wherever your chapel is held, the size of the space and the size of the children should be taken into consideration. What might at first glance look perfect to an adult may not be the right circumstance for a young child. For example, sitting in pews can make children feel isolated from the others in their class. Many schools solve this by having everyone gather in the chancel, or by having the children gather in the chancel while parents sit in the pews. Some schools go ahead and use the sanctuary without considering whether another available space in the building might actually serve their purposes better. What at first might seem like a terrible choice (like a carpeted room in a basement!) might actually offer just what you need – a simple space to gather with children.

Choosing a setting with few visual or sound distractions (or smells for that matter) will help the children stay focused on the story and songs and being together. When there are fewer potential distractions, you can have fewer rules to control the behavior. The children become engaged in the story and "follow the rules" without being told. A simple setting is a good place to start.

Who Will Attend?

The immediate answer to this question is simple: Children. Of course the chapels are for children and therefore children will attend, but how many and when? How about parents? If the school has a preschool, kindergarten, and lower grades, do all the students attend together? The answer to all these questions is: "It depends." It depends on your particular circumstances.

Our school is devoted to early childhood, with over two hundred preschoolers attending. The youngest begin at two-plus and the oldest are five when they leave. We have decided that our chapels will not include our youngest children. The behavioral expectations would not be fair and the stories are too complex. This is not to say that there are no stories in this book appropriate for such young children. Some are and can be shared with the youngest children, with care and in a very small group. At our school the children begin chapel in the fall when they are three. Our school has morning and afternoon sessions, so we have chapels for both sessions. We have three classes of three-year-olds and three classes of four-year-olds in each session, so we have a discrete chapel for each of these age groups. On Wednesday, we have chapel for fours and on Thursday for threes. The children get to share the experience with two other classes of children as well as with their parents. This provides them a larger group experience and makes them more aware of and a part of the whole school. Thursday chapel is for the younger group because it gives the children several days in school each week before the chapel gathering with a large group. Additionally, we have told the story already for the Wednesday fours' group so the story can more easily be tailored for the younger listeners.

The size of many early-childhood (including kindergarten) schools makes one chapel for the whole group the right choice. In a school with Pre-K through elementary, you probably will want to group the Pre-K and kindergarten (and possibly first) together, with a separate chapel program for second to fifth grades. For special occasions, if you have the space, it's nice to have the whole school gather together.

PARENTS ATTEND

We invite the parents to bring their children and stay for chapel each week. In fact, it is assumed (and expected) that at least one parent will attend chapel each week. This is our community time together, and by the end of the year, the parents have spent the majority of their time at school attending chapel with their children. Many parents remark that at first they were not keen on coming to chapel but soon grew to enjoy it. When their children have moved on to another school, many, many parents have let us know how they miss the weekly gatherings. The fact that the parents attend chapel dictates when our chapels take place—at the beginning of the session (in our case 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.). The parents sit with their children on the floor in the chapel. On occasion a parent is unable to attend. In this circumstance, a grandparent, relative, adult family friend, or caregiver is welcomed.

Why Children Sit with Parents

At many gatherings with children and parents present, I have seen the children sitting together at the front with the parents gathered in the back. The reasoning behind this is that the event is really for children and this seating arrangement makes them the focus. Additionally, it keeps the seated grown-ups from blocking the sight lines for the children. These seem like very good reasons. However, what often happens is this: because the parents are gathered in the back with the focus on the children, they forget that they are still in the same space and often talk with each other. With the added noise from the back, the children are less attentive. However, the most important reason for seating parents with their children is so that parent and child share the chapel experience. Singing together and hearing a story that can later be discussed is a shared experience profoundly different from one where the children and grownups are seated separately (especially in early childhood).

Some parents bring a younger sibling with the child who is attending chapel. The younger child is welcomed as long as the chapel remains relatively peaceful. On occasion, a parent might leave the room with a crying baby. We wait patiently when this occurs. Sometimes the parent chooses to leave the younger one home with a caregiver. The younger siblings are generally engaged by these stories and the warmth of sitting with family, and they look forward to the time when they will attend our school and each can say "my" chapel.

Many childhood chapel programs do not include the parents. Clearly it is not imperative, but it is central to our gatherings. If your chapels do not include the parents, before revamping your whole program or rejecting the entire idea, consider trying out family chapels on several occasions during the year. At the end of the year, you will have a clearer idea what direction you wish to follow.

How Often Should We Have Chapel?

We have chapel once a week for the school year. This seems just right as the children grow accustomed to and excited about the weekly gathering. The children come to chapel with their parents at the beginning of the session. In this way it is similar to the child's experience of the other days—i.e., entering school with a parent but with a bonus. The parent gets to stay for a half hour with the child. Following chapel the parent walks the child to the classroom and says good-bye at the classroom door like the other days.

How Long Should It Be?

We have found that a half-hour program is perfect. Our time is divided between singing together and listening to a story. Generally we sing for ten or fifteen minutes at the beginning of the chapel. The vast majority arrive for the first sing-along song, but this set-up allows for children with a parent to arrive during the singing. We then tell the story. Depending on the story, this segment lasts from five to fifteen minutes, though most of the stories presented in this book can be told in about ten to twelve minutes. We close with a theme-related sing-along. Half an hour is a good length of time for chapel through second grade.

How Will Children Come and Go?

At many schools where the parents are not a part of the equation, the children are brought with their classes, sit with their group, and leave with their teachers. This allows for the chapel to be held at a convenient time for all the classes.

Having parents at chapel has many benefits, but with young children, saying good-bye is a bit more of a challenge. These children have gotten used to saying good-bye to their parents at the classroom door and getting on with their school day. For a child to sit and sing and listen to a story at school with a parent is very special, but separating can be difficult. At our school, for years the parents said good-bye to the children in the chapel space and the young children gathered with their teachers to return to the classroom. This often resulted in at least one crying child or one still clinging to a parent's leg. This will happen on occasion no matter what you do. However, we have found that by having the parents walk with their children to the classroom following chapel, the children fall into a known routine—saying good-bye at the classroom door. It has made a huge difference. Many of the discoveries we have made seem obvious once they are in place, but not until then. So we continue to observe the children and discuss any problems to see if we can adjust to make the experience more meaningful.

The Format

EARLY CHILDHOOD

Our chapels consist of singing and sharing a story. Each chapel we begin by singing songs from our Chapel Songbook. Following a period of singing (around ten minutes), the school's director joins us and we announce, "Page one!" Page one provides the lyrics to the song ("Now Is the Time") we sing at every chapel before the story. The director then welcomes everyone, makes a brief comment about the day's story, and acknowledges the group that made the artwork that will accompany the story.

The story is then told. Following the story, the director comments on how it relates to life at school. Then she announces the name and page number of the thematically selected sing-along song. After the entire group sings the song, the director directs the families to accompany their children to their classrooms.

Prayer: Many chapel programs close their gatherings with a prayer. Although we refer to prayer in the stories, the content of the prayers is generally left to the imagination of the listeners. Our school welcomes a range of families to our chapels, and we feel that the use of prayers is a personal choice for them—to be followed at home and their church. In Sunday schools, leaders may wish to use a prayer at the end of the story, before or after a song. There is an opportunity here to use the children's reflections on the story to create a prayer for the group.

ELEMENTARY

The format offered above is excellent for very young children. This basic outline can be expanded upon for older children (first to fifth grades). Singing together is welcome with any age group, and with older children you can sing more verses of songs as well as ones with more complicated music. Often a class will prepare a special song to open or close a chapel. You can expand the story by including the students as singers or actors (or narrators). The refrains included in this book are in good keys for young singers. Some schools also have students read a passage from the Bible to accompany the story. At Saint Mark's School in Altadena, California, students light and extinguish the candles on the altar followed by a moment of silence to appreciate the flame (or smoke). Often the chapel in elementary grades is also a time for announcements. Trinity School in New York City uses chapel as an opportunity to share anecdotes of students helping someone. Actively involving the children in the chapel gatherings should be a focus of elementary chapels.

The Stories

Stories are the centerpiece of our chapel program. There are many excellent stories that can be used for a chapel gathering. Picture books, folktales, personal stories and Bible stories can all contribute to a vibrant program. Picture books for young children offer a story they can revisit on their own or with others. Folktales demonstrate to children that we learn from many cultures. Personal stories remind children that everyone has experiences in common and that we learn from events in others' lives. Bible stories offer a wealth and depth of story that is central to our culture. As stated in the Author's Preface, the majority of this book is devoted to the telling of Bible stories. Each biblical story in this collection has been examined for what it offers in meaning, in story shape, and in how it can be retold using my knowledge of young children and stories to make a truly meaningful and memorable tale for young listeners.

WHY TELL STORIES?

The Bible stories in this book were told many times before they were written down. The fact that they have been written down does not mean that they are now in a definitive form. In fact when I tell them, they continue to change. They change because of the listeners. Some groups need to hear a phrase repeated, and you can see that in their eyes or in their restlessness. Some groups of children require a more energetic telling, while others like a quieter delivery. It is true that you can be responsive to your listeners when you are reading, but it is easier for you and more meaningful to them if the story is told, not recited word for word. Then it exists in the space shared by you and your listeners. It offers you the opportunity to find the phrase that can be repeated by the children, allowing them to become a storyteller too and help you tell the story. It is in the moment of the telling that you can keep active the interface of teller/listener in most meaningful ways. This is not something that will happen immediately, but will accumulate over many sessions. This does not mean that the first times will not be meaningful! They will, for the children sense the immediacy and presence of a story told. As you become comfortable you will notice more ways of adjusting your stories to your listeners. Following each story in this collection, you will find "Story-telling Tips." They are specific to each story, while offering ideas that will accumulate with the others as you use them. To summarize and clarify:

WHAT TELLING A STORY OFFERS TO THE CHAPEL EXPERIENCE

• Telling a story allows the relationship to be exclusively between you and the children listeners, rather than having a book as intermediary. Even if you know the words in a book, you will turn to it as you are reading, breaking into your relationship with your young listeners.

• Telling the story allows you to be extremely responsive to the children and provides the opportunity to alter the way you' re telling the story as you go. You will use different words different times. This keeps it fresh and in the moment. Memorizing a story word for word is very time-consuming and tends to make you focus on trying to remember the words rather than on telling the story. You will find the "Story Skeletons" at the end of each story helpful for retelling rather than memorizing.

• Children sense the "magic" of a story being told, seeing it as a privilege and giving it attention that they don' t when they know they can pick up the book later and look at it.

• It is hard to deviate from the text of a written story even if you sense that something should be altered. Telling a story is specific to the moment in which it is told.

GETTING COMFORTABLE TELLING STORIES (START SLOWLY!)

Having read the section above, you may agree with the importance of telling the stories but may still feel uncomfortable trying it. Here are some ideas to guide you. When telling stories, use your own vocabulary and develop your own personal style. This allows the children listeners to feel at home because it is you personally telling them the stories!
(Continues...)

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Excerpted from BUILDING A CHILDREN'S CHAPEL by BILL GORDH. Copyright © 2007 by Bill Gordh. Excerpted by permission of Church Publishing Incorporated.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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