Faith Development: Upper Elementary Aged Children

  • Exploring Differences
  • Logical and Fair
  • Seeking Belonging and Affirmation

"Education is a kind of continuing dialogue, and a dialogue assumes....different points of view."
                                                                                                     -Robert M. Hutchins

We have three multi-aged classes for children in 2nd through 5th grades.Children in these classes attend the first portion of the service with their families every week before leaving for class. Religious Education classes help develop the young school aged child’s sense of belonging to a religious community, which supplement’s the parent’s work teaching about the traditions, values, and beliefs of their own family

Philosophy

Our philosophy is that the spiritual development needs of middle to upper elementary aged children are to feel a part of a religious community, to learn about diverse perspectives, and to respond to them using their developing sense of scientific inquiry and fairness.These children benefit from an environment that allows them to safely form friendships with children that are different from them, and from the experience of being accepted and cared for by adults outside of their families.

The middle to upper elementary-aged child

At this age, children are exploring differences, but want to fit in with other children their age.Children leave magical thinking and adopt a more scientific approach; the free 'wondering' and the tenancy to accept the authority figure's word as true are replaced with an interest in logical explanation and discussion of ideas.Children of this age worry about fairness, and often believe that 'good' and 'bad' actions should be rewarded and punished.

During this stage of development, it is very important to children to know the core stories of their society, family, and congregation; their keen interest in being taught about religious ideas and identifying themselves with others usually makes them eager both to learn about different points of view and to share their own perspective with others.

During this stage, children develop individual learning styles and domain-specific intelligence; often their ability to succeed as students is a source of self-esteem.