Sunday School
“Five years ago I was pregnant and I was contemplating how I might accomplish giving my child a religious education in the absence of my own belief in god. I knew I wasn’t alone in my desire for a community free of creed or dogma. I found you. I found Ethical Culture.” – Kathryn Sloboda
The Baltimore Ethical Society provides child care and educational activities for children of all ages. The children remain with the adults for the first part of the program, which includes a story for the children and the child in all of us, and they then go to their Sunday School room.
In May 2011, Linda Joy Burke, a well-known published poet and writer, was brought on board as a “guest” Sunday School teacher. She was so enthusiastic and effective that she was asked to continue teaching for the 2011-2012 year. Ms. Burke has long been active in education. At Carver Center for Arts and Technology, the Baltimore County public magnet high school, she served as the English department’s Poet in Residence for many years. Her school poetry residencies also include several elementary schools, a middle school, and the Good Shepherd Center (where she also did a Life-Skills Residency). She has presented workshops, done storytelling, given speeches, and read her poetry and prose at numerous colleges and universities as well as at settings as diverse as the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Association of American Women in Psychology, the Maryland Writers’ Association Conference, and the Harford County Drug/Alcohol Impact Program. Ms. Burke is a recipient of the Distinguished Black Marylander Award for Art (2002) and the Legacy Award (2004), and has also been a nominee for the Coca-Cola Company/National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts Distinguished Teachers Award.
Recently, Ms. Burke shared some thoughts about what she plans to bring to the BES program: “I’ve begun creating visuals for the classroom and lesson plans that correlate with ethical principles. I anticipate that students will be able to create a portfolio of their experiences which they will take with them at the end of the year.” She is designing a curriculum that will use both traditional and original activities such as vocabulary building, dialogues, audio/video storytelling, journal keeping, drama, and collages. She also has plans to “include a reading list for students which will be developed as we go along. Books in the existing library will be used, and there will be different lists for different age groups.”
For more information, download the Sunday School Flyer. You can also download and print our Student Registration Form.
At the present time, Sunday School is not available during the summer.
