Our family picnic planned for June 25th was rained out. We plan to reschedule the picnic for a date in the fall.

On the last Sunday of June, we posed the question: "What is spirit?" The children had a wide range of responses to this question. We talked about how we can understand spirit as a part of God that lives inside each of us. We also talked about some of the different ways our spirit finds voice, or expression, in our lives; in worship, in praying, in playing, when we are in nature, in the woods, by the ocean; through acts of kindness, peace and love. We talked about we can express our individual spirit through our art. The children made easels out of Popsicle sticks, and then drew small pictures to express some aspect of how they understood spirit to place on the easel.

During several Sundays in June, a few of the older children opted to explore the topic we were discussing in greater depth, through work in their writing journals. We sat in the kitchen, or in the library, and I posed a series of questions to them around the topic; we talked for a while; then I asked them to explore the questions and their responses to the questions, in their writing journals.

We have been so fortunate to have Sharon A leading the art portion of First Day School throughout this year. Sharon has designed extraordinary, thoughtful, and creative art projects for the children to accompany the texts and stories we have been exploring. Sharon will be taking two months off for the summer. We are grateful for all of her support, her wisdom, and her expertise.