Main Lesson: Creation Stories - Ancient Hebrews with Mr. Séamus

October 12-15, 2026

During the past week we began hearing about the sons of Cain with a story of Jabal who was inspired from a young age to find a way to tame wild horses and cows. The morning we heard this story brought with it a great deal of humor in our group as we pictured his first attempts chasing wild horses around and tumbling off their backs. The interesting thing about the Cain line in these stories is that each descendant of Cain represents the part of the human being that seeks to master matter in various ways. This is very relevant to 9 year olds as they move into their earthly existence and turn with interest toward the many powerful and beautiful forces of the earth that can be worked with, orchestrated, collaborated with, tamed and shaped to create, build and in many cases improve human life and work on earth. In the case of Jabal, he eventually, after many failed attempts, manages to befriend a powerful horse, who carries him everywhere- allowing him to cover greater distances than he could without the help of such a strong and intelligent creature. We laughed heartily at the description of people who had never seen a horse being ridden before who thought it was some kind of monster with two heads, two hands and six legs, coming to terrorize them! In reality it was Jabal coming to teach them about working with the animal kingdom. He showed them how milk could be received from the cow and how this milk was very nourishing and strengthening for people. We took our poetry work a step forward. The 3rd grade are beginning to be able to intuitively sense how to “play” - as in act out truthfully, the character of the fairy from the Shakespeare excerpt and our Tubal Cain poem is getting stronger each day as well. It has been strengthening to walk his journey each morning in poetry. 

The 3rd graders practiced their writing as part of the scavenger hunt they created for the 4th/5th grade. They found hiding spots and used their creativity to create clues for the 4th/5th grade to find. They wrote the clues entirely on their own! Here is an example of one of their clues:

under your classroom

in something blue

there is a clue

hidden just for you

They were also introduced to the obstacle course. The obstacle is the 3rd grade rite of passage, a fun way we teach the times tables through full-body movement, jumping, clapping, dancing, and rhythm because it engages the whole child—connecting physical coordination, timing, and spatial geometry before introducing the abstract concepts of multiplication. This will be an ongoing practice throughout the year. 

In team course challenge the children joined their teams to create a bird feeder (from sunflower butter, bird seed, string)  and place it in that location of their choosing around Mettabee. We then made our way around the land looking at each team creation and thinking about the birds who are getting ready to make their migrations south for the wintertime. What a lovely offering the children gave for that journey!

warmly,

Mr. Séamus