Contact: children@annapolisfriends.org
Each Sunday our Children’s Religious Education Committee (CREC) prepares and provides a class (which we call First Day School “FDS”) highlighting Quaker faith in action for children from kindergarten through high school age. For our babies and pre-K children, we offer nursery care.
Nursery Care
Our nursery is full of toys and books and offers children a place to play and enjoy a snack. Care is provided — from 11:00 until after Meeting for Worship — by our committee, Young Friends (13 and older) who enjoy playing with the little ones and adult members/attenders who volunteer.
First Day School
Our goal is to lovingly tend to Young Friends’ spiritual growth, nurturing their awareness of the presence of God/Spirit/the Divine in all of life, and encouraging them to find and follow the Light within themselves and others. In FDS our children can experience the Quaker testimonies and enjoy fellowship among their peers as well as with adults who volunteer to come to share their particular gifts in arts and crafts or story-telling, etc.
We plan a curriculum to include a foundation of Quaker history and practices, and becoming familiar with the Bible as well as sacred writings of other faiths and cultures. Our curriculum is described in some detail in teacher sign-up sheets (First Day School Volunteer Sign-up Sheet) and all are encouraged to consider signing up. We use interactive and fun activities to inspire wonder and awe as we experience the Earth as our home, see how we share our home with God’s creatures, and learn how we can behave in caring ways for our world. Through these experiences, we hope to instill a sense of kinship with all life, recognizing the interrelatedness of all Earth processes. Service projects are also a strong component of our Young Friends program. They provide opportunities for Young Friends to plan and participate in projects designed to strengthen our neighbors both near and far.
First Day School Library and Nursery Library
We maintain a great Young Friends’ library. Young Friends and their parents are encouraged to check out books on a wide variety of topics, including Quakerism, other religions, diversity, family life, and our natural environment. We also have a smaller, but interesting library just for our babies and youngest children. To look up children’s books in the AFM Library Collection, click on the following link: Library Collection.
Play Area and Meadow
Our Play Area provides a lovely setting for supervised outdoor fun. It includes a climbing structure, swings, a sandbox, and a bench and picnic table in a shaded area near the meetinghouse. The meadow adjacent to the play area is a fine place for games.
CREC promotes attendance at Camps and Conferences
Baltimore Yearly Meeting (BYM), to which we belong, offers a wonderful summer camp program for children ages 9 and up, where campers can enjoy the outdoors and art activities in a fun, caring, and uniquely Quaker environment. Financial aid is available through the Baltimore Yearly Meeting Camping Fund to help make summer camp possible for all of our Young Friends.
BYM also offers weekend conferences for those in high school (Young Friends) or middle school (Junior Young Friends). Information about upcoming conferences is available at (https://www.bym.rsf.org/what_we_do/yutes). Annapolis Friends Meeting supports the participation of our Young Friends in these programs, helping to arrange carpooling and paying registration fees through the Young Friends Opportunity Fund. This Fund also supports additional educational opportunities for AFM children.
CREC has developed and abides by a Youth Safety Policy at Annapolis Friends Meeting
Our Youth Safety Policy is posted on the bulletin board outside the large classroom and available for parents and guardians. This policy explains the supervision standards—which include two teachers or caregivers per classroom for nursery and elementary age—and the other general safety precautions.