Daniel was very brave and God gave him a lot of courage that day. One child said that being quiet when you pray, like Daniel did, allows God to talk to you even if you cannot hear anything. Recently with the Saint Patrick story, the children likened the snakes to the other Gods and said that Patrick chased them out of Ireland, leaving the one true God. We continue to work at respecting the circle and each other. Some weeks are challenging.
Some weeks are magical.
We have had parents observe every once in a while, which I would encourage. The metaphors in this short story are endless. But the story that happened in the classroom was an even greater metaphor. However, the class ended up teaching the class about what a parable is and then making connections with all the other stories and parables they had heard, as this story was a symbol for that. Their connections were in fact a lesson for me, as I hadn't even considered them in pondering the story the week before.