Classes for Children and Youth

Dates	Sep 13, 2009 to May, 2010
Class days	Preschool and Spirit Play classes meet every Sunday except the first. Second grade and higher meet on the second and third Sundays of each month.
Non-class days	see below
Times	9:30 am

Infants (0-3 years)

Please see information under Nursery

Pre-K through High School, Class Sundays

Preschool (age 3 and fully toilet trained to pre-Kindergarten): Celebrating Me and My World

Preschoolers grow spiritually through their connections with people who care and share with them, through their celebrations of Unitarian Universalist events, and through their experiences of joy and sorrow. The program emphasizes learning about our environment in particular, including how to take care of it, as well as appreciating diversity in individuals and families. All aspects of the curriculum are presented in a developmentally appropriate way that promotes young children's learning through experience.
Teachers: Janessa Manning, Honor Phillips, Maris Van Heynigan, Sue Williams

Kindergarten & First Grade: Spirit play.

This special curriculum was developed by longtime Unitarian Universalist religious educators. It uses the Montessori method of teaching to create an experientially-based, worshipful experience for children. Stories have been developed on the following topics: Unitarian Universalist Promises (Principles), Sources (World Religions), and Note-worthy People, The Mystery, Beginnings and Endings, and Sacred Spaces.
Teachers: Helen Mauk, Cindy Lortie, Donna Reed

2nd & 3rd Grade: Tapestry of Faith: Faithful Journeys

Participants embark on a pilgrimage of faith, exploring how Unitarian Universalism translates into life choices and everyday actions. In each session, they hear historic or contemporary examples of Unitarian Universalist faith in action. Stories about real people model how participants can activate their own personal agency – their capacity to act faithfully as Unitarian Universalists – in their own lives, and children have regular opportunities to share and affirm their own stories of faithful action. Over the course of the program, children discover a unity of faith in the many different ways Unitarian Universalists, including themselves, can act on our beliefs. A link to this on-line curriculum can be found at http://uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith/index.shtml.
Teachers: Aloise Miller, Kim Ayala

4th & 5th Grade: Tapestry of Faith: Toolbox of Faith

Toolbox of Faith invites fourth- and fifth- grade participants to reflect on the qualities of our Unitarian Universalist faith, such as integrity, courage, and love, as tools they can use in living their lives and building their own faith. Each of the 16 sessions uses a tool as a metaphor for an important quality of our faith such as reflection (symbolized by a mirror), flexibility (duct tape), and justice (a flashlight). A link to this on-line curriculum can be found at http://uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith/index.shtml.
Teachers: David Martin and Tlaloc Hidalgo

6th – 8th grade: Tapestry of Faith: Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace helps middle schoolers understand right and wrong and act on their new understanding. Its purpose is to equip them for moving safely and productively through the middle- and high school years, when they will be continually tugged toward both ends of the ethics continuum. Through their involvement in Amazing Grace, youth will come to recognize and depend on their Unitarian Universalist identity and resources as essential to their movement toward understanding, independence, and fulfillment of personal promise. A link to this on-line curriculum can be found at http://uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith/index.shtml.
Teachers: Nicole Meneses and Steve Stechschulte

High School: The Simpsons:

Did you know that the popular animated comedy series The Simpsons is laden with theological content? That Simpson’s creator Matt Groenig is a Unitarian Universalist? This class embarks on an exploration of the religious themes prevalent in the t.v. show. Topics include prayer, the bible, morality, god, pluralism, hell and the devil.
Teachers: Richard Rathman and Carol Ackerman

Our Whole Lives Sexuality Education:

Grades K-1 and 7-9:
Our Whole Lives helps participants make informed and responsible decisions about their sexual health and behavior. It equips participants with accurate, age-appropriate information in six subject areas: human development, relationships, personal skills, sexual behavior, sexual health, and society and culture. Grounded in a holistic view of sexuality, Our Whole Lives provides not only facts about anatomy and human development, but helps participants to clarify their values, build interpersonal skills, and understand the spiritual, emotional, and social aspects of sexuality.
Teachers:
K-1: Debra Loya and Todd O’Neill
7-9: Mark VanHeynigan, Bob Carnes, Catherine VonDohlen

Non-class Sundays:

First Sunday of the month:
      Lifespan Early Worship - Parents and other interested adults join the children and youth for worship, fellowship and fun in the Sanctuary.

Fourth Sunday of the month:
      Social Action and M2U Sunday - Children from 2nd to 5th grade meet in the Jefferson building for social action work as we seek to give our children and youth the tools to live out their beliefs. Middle and high school groups meet.

Fifth Sunday of the month:
      Art Sunday - Children from 2nd grade through high school engage in many types of art and expression that lend themselves to the theme being explored.

The principles are related through music, stories, art projects, helping others, working together and other age appropriate activities.

By learning and experiencing the principles through varied forms of Religious Education (worship, class, social action and art) it is our program’s hope that they will become part of the children’s lives; part of their decision making and their world view.

Last update Aug 28, 2009