Welcome back to those families that I haven’t seen this summer.
Our intergenerational water ingathering service is on September 11th. Please bring a small amount of water from your home or a place you visited this summer.
Religious education classes begin on September 18th. The RE Committee for Children and Youth (“RECCY”) and I have planned an exciting year for UUCWC’s children. Here is what each class will be studying:
Pre-school (age 3 and 4): Chalice Children encourages spiritual development by direct experiences. We nurture young children’s spiritual growth, creativ¬ity, and connection to their UU community through rhymes, games, stories and activities.
Kindergarten: Treasure Hunting uses the theme of treasure hunting as a concrete way of involving children in the excitement of the search for the meaning of life. It addresses issues that children face daily, explores the meaning of Unitarian Universalist principles and values, and emphasizes an accepting and caring community.
Grades 1 and 2: Free to Believe explores Unitarian Universalist principles and sources while nurturing the emotional, social, and spiritual life of children. Later sessions focus on life’s big questions (about God, death, creation of life) through a UU lens. In the spring,we will also use a curriculum called “Stories of Justice.”
Grades 3 and 4: Spirit of Adventure exposes children to our Unitarian Universalist values & heroes through themes of sports, food, exploring, science and medicine. Children will play, build, cook and explore their way toward forming their UU identity.
Grades 5 and 6: Windows and Mirrors nurtures children’s ability to identify their own experiences and perspectives and to seek out, care about and respect those of others. The sessions unpack topics that lend themselves to diverse experiences and perspectives—for example, faith heritage, public service, anti-racism and prayer. The class experiences that there are always multiple viewpoints and everyone’s viewpoint matters.
In February and March, this class will have 8 sessions of OWL, the Unitarian Universalist sexuality curriculum. Parent orientation sessions will be in January 2017.
Grades 7,8 and 9: Popcorn Theology is a popular UU curriculum that uses 15 minute segments of movies as vehicles for exploring theological and ethical issues with the class. Additionally, UU history and core Unitarian Universalist values will be reviewed.
Grades 9-12: The Senior Youth Group meets on 1st and 3rd Sunday afternoons from 12:30 – 2:00 pm this year. The Youth Group’s purpose includes nurturing spiritual, emotional and intellectual growth, developing leadership skills, building community, increasing understanding between youth and adults, and serving the wider community. Activities include worship, learning, games, overnights, social action, field trips and youth conferences.
I’m looking forward to a great year.
Warmly,
Robin