EFC Update Sept 23, 2016

Hello parents and friends!

We are getting excited about this last Sunday of the month before we open registration and delve more deeply into our group classes and projects in October!

DUPREE VISITS LIVING/EVOLVING ETHICS THIS WEEK!
This week our Living Ethics (8-12) and Evolving Ethics (12-14) groups will be led in song -and other activities around the theme of music and activism- by our own DuPree. If you have not yet heard DuPree sing, she starts off the platform on the first Sunday of each month. Her voice is a treasure and her partnership with our children’s program this year is very exciting. If you child is joining our Living or Evolving Ethics groups this week, they are welcome to bring a song that is meaningful to them or to their parents or grandparents, particularly songs that speak to social justice or environment issues. If the song is available online, they can come with the title and I’ll pull it up.

TAG SALE OCT. 2
Also, a reminder that our tag sale is on Oct 2nd after platform, so please continue to set aside all that great stuff you are planning to get rid of and we hope some of you can stay after platform to help with it! I’ll send another update about it next week.

9-18-16 CLASS SNAPSHOTS!

Simba Yangala
Exploring Ethics (3-7year olds)
Celebrating the elders in our community was our theme this week. This Sunday after the funny laughter yoga with Phyllis, the children made a collaborative birthday card for BSEC member Anne-Marie who turned 94 years old! We went together to present it to her and sing her happy birthday. Also, taking turns in our circle, the children talked about their own grandparents and what they love and remember about them.

Lea Bender
Living Ethics (8-12 year olds)/Evolving Ethics (12-14 year olds)
We began with all ages joining together in a circle on the playground on a beautiful warm morning. Although I am a 20-year yoga practitioner, I’d never done “Laughter Yoga” before so it was fun to experience it with our guest Phyllis and our big circle of friends. Afterwards, our group headed to the Poly Prep library to join a discussion with BSEC members Cat Miller and Vandra Thorburn. This was the first in a series of adult member visits that we are trying out this year. What started as a chance for the adults to share what Ethical Culture means to them, turned into a discussion of what it means to be ethical in general. Other interesting topics around the circle included how to engage with people who have different belief systems with respect and curiosity, and the ways in which our own beliefs can change and evolve.

Looking forward to seeing you on Sunday!

Best,
Lea

The Ethics for Children Program

The Ethics for Children Program

Art, service projects, theater, music, games, scavenger hunts, conversation & ethics.

That’s right—Ethics!

Sign up for our FREE Trial Class

OFFERING IN-PERSON AND VIRTUAL PROGRAMS

IN-PERSON CLASSES

Click here to sign up for in-person classes!

The Ethics for Children program is a fun, safe, and interactive learning environment for kids to investigate important topics that affect their lives. Our program fosters empathy and a deeper understanding of self and others, and empowers students to make a difference in their world.

How do we do it? Each of our weekly classes features a lesson drawn from our 5 core principles: Caring for Self, Family, Community, Society (our world community), and the Earth. Our lessons utilize participatory learning through art, theater, games, music, discussion, reflection, and most importantly, action.

Each month we have a Service Day when all of our students come together to perform a project for the greater good. Past projects have included making lunches for a community fridge, building a bench for our new meeting space, and making enrichment toys for shelter animals.

Our lessons and service projects are influenced by student passions and interests, ensuring that our classes have significance to them. Our program does not impose a fixed set of values or beliefs. Rather, our goal is to provide a forum where students can identify their own values, expand their knowledge, and gain skills essential to developing and following their own moral compass and voice.

We encourage you to reach out to us with any questions: Contact form

Full and partial scholarships are available: Scholarship application

Fall in-person classes will be held on Sundays from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM at Brooklyn Ethical, 269 4th Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11215.

Time or location inconvenient? Our virtual program meets on Wednesdays at 5:00 PM (suggested ages:
8 to 12 years). In-person students are always welcome to join their virtual counterparts for a hybrid experience.

In-Person Classes are held on Sundays 10:00–11:30 AM
Price: $250 per semester (14 sessions)
Click here to sign up for in-person classes!

Available classes by age

  • Growing Ethics (ages 5 to 7 years)
  • Living Ethics (ages 8 to 11 years)
  • Evolving Ethics (ages 12 years and up)

Winter/Spring 2026 Dates

* Service Day

January

  • 18 (Trial Day)
  • 25

February

  • 1 (Service Day)*
  • 8
  • 22

March

  • 1 (Service Day)*
  • 8
  • 15
  • 29

April

  • 19 (Service Day)
  • 26

May

  • 15
  • 3 (Service Day)*
  • 17
  • 31

June

    • 7

 

VIRTUAL CLASSES

Click here to sign up for virtual classes!

The Ethics for Children program is a fun, safe, and interactive learning environment for kids to investigate important topics that affect their lives. Our program fosters empathy and a deeper understanding of self and others, and empowers students to make a difference in their world.

How do we do it? Each of our weekly classes features a lesson drawn from our 5 core principles: Caring for Self, Family, Community, Society (our world community), and the Earth. Our lessons utilize participatory learning through art, theater, games, music, discussion, reflection, and most importantly, action.

Our lessons and projects are influenced by student passions and interests, ensuring that our classes have significance to them. Our program does not impose a fixed set of values or beliefs. Rather our goal is to provide a forum where students can identify their own values, expand their knowledge, and gain skills essential to developing and following their own moral compass and voice.

Students who attend our virtual program are also welcome to join their in-person counterparts on Sundays in Brooklyn, putting ethics into action with community service projects and other joint activities throughout the year.

We encourage you to reach out to us with any questions: Contact form

Full and partial scholarships are available: Scholarship application

Have a learner who prefers to be in-person? Our Brooklyn-based in-person classes meet on Sundays at 10:00 AM.

Virtual Classes are held on Wednesdays 5:00–6:00 PM
Price: $225 per semester (14 sessions + optional in-person activities)
Click here to sign up for virtual classes!

Available classes by age

  • Exploring Ethics (suggested ages 8 to 14 years)

Winter/Spring 2026 Dates

* optional in-person Service Day

January

  • 21 (Trial Day)
  • 28

February

  • 1 (Service Day)*
  • 4
  • 11
  • 25

March

  • 1 (Service Day)*
  • 4
  • 11
  • 18
  • 25

April

  • 15*
  • 19 (Service Day)
  • 22
  • 29

May

  • 15*
  • 3 (Service Day)
  • 6
  • 13
  • 20

Subscribe to our Ethics for Children mailing list for updates


Angel Thompson
Angel Thompson is an artist, writer, educator, and mother. She has a background in visual arts, including an Integrative Arts degree from Penn State University. She has over 10 years of teaching experience, working with families and children of all ages throughout NYC. As an instructor, she is passionate about instilling her students with the skills they need to share their inherent creativity and voice. She is a strong proponent of service-learning and volunteerism. She believes that facilitating experiences for youth where their principles can become action is essential to developing a life of agency for the greater good.

 

Kerry Warren
Kerry Warren is a New York based actor, teaching artist, and former Co-Executive of the Teaching Artists Guild, TAG.  As a theater teaching artist she strives to create a classroom of joy and rigor and hopes to make classical texts such as Shakespeare more relatable and accessible to her students. She is a graduate of the Juilliard School where she received The President Polisi Prize for Artist as Citizen and recently received the NEXT GENERATION award from the National Guild of Community of Arts Education in 2024. She has taught with Harlem Children’s Zone, Lincoln Center Education, GIRLBEHEARD,  People’s Theatre Project, the 52nd Street Project, EPIC theatre, ArtsConnection, New York Theater Workshop and a member of NYC Artist in Education Roundtable

Laura Borgwardt
Laura is an actor and teaching artist based in Brooklyn, NY. In addition to BSEC, she currently teaches theater/movement and careers in theater & film for ArtsConnection. Laura is also a co-founder of and teaching artist with CO/LAB Theater Group, a nonprofit for actors with developmental disabilities (colabtheatergroup.com). She lives in Brooklyn with her daughter, Joanie, and their rescue pup, Edith Ann.

Have any questions for us? Please send us a message and we will get back to you right away.

 

The video below is from one of our classes during our end of year ceremony: