Pre-School - 6th Grade
Religious Education 2012-2013
If you're interested in teaching or assisting any of these classes,
please e-mail Tracy Beck, DRE.
Spirit Play
Pre-school - Grade 1 (Children must be potty-trained)
& Grades 2 - 3
The purpose of Spirit Play is to help children in figuring out their own answers to the existential questions: Where did we come from? What are we doing here? How do we choose to live our lives? What happens when we die? Spirit Play uses the Montessori approach for the structure of the morning. As in Montessori, the key elements are the classroom environment and the teachers. These elements free the children to make meaning through wondering and art, as well as create a spiritual community of children while supporting multiple learning styles and challenges. The heart of the lesson is the stories presented and the “Wondering Questions” presented and discussed. Stories have been developed in the following categories: Unitarian Universalist Lessons and Stories, Promises (Principles), Unitarian Universalist Sources, Stories of the Mystery, Beginnings and Endings, Sacred Places, The Church, Ways to Pray and Heroes and Heroines. Stories will have extended, more developmentally appropriate discussion for the Grades 2-4 classroom.
Bibleodeon and Philosphers Club
Grades 4 - 6
As our children reach pre-adolescence they begin to think more critically. We voyage into the Bible and begin to expand our understanding of its importance and relevance in modern times. In Philosophers Club, the youth begin to grapple with some of life’s ‘Big’ questions.
Chalice Children
Pre-school - Ages 3-4 (children must be potty-trained)
Chalice Children is designed to help young children learn about their church and their congregation. The program offers children concrete experiences through rituals, rhymes, chants, stories, and activities. The experiences and messages of Chalice Children are intended to affirm young children in their spiritual growth, creativity and connection to their Unitarian Universalist congregation.
Picture Book UU
Kindergarten - Grade 1
Picture Book UU is a curriculum based on the thirty six best picture books for teaching young children about the love, reason, tolerance and good works that are the foundations of Unitarian Universalism and assist in developing a Unitarian Universalist identity.
Experiences with the Web of Life and UU Super Heroes
Grades 2 - 3
In Experiences with the Web of Life, children explore the ways that specific living things relate to the rest of life -- what the earthworm eats, what eats it, what it contributes to the soil, how that helps plants and helps us who grow food in that soil. Concepts come to life through direct experience. Throughout the curriculum, our spiritual connection with all living things is brought out. A closing ritual at the end of each session helps the children internalize their learning, sometimes with a story that summarizes the day’s experience. In UU Super Heroes, Unitarian, Universalist and UU super heroes include Sophia Fahs, King John Sigismund, Lewis Latimer, Theodore Parker, Olympia Brown and a dozen more. Each lesson’s story begins with the super hero as a child, so that young children can relate to this distant person. It then goes on to tell a few instances in the super hero’s life which illustrate one or more of our UU principles. Exploring the out-of-doors, inventing, participating in a class pentathlon, creating a class magazine and cooperating on a social service project are examples of the activities which allow children to physically incorporate their new learnings.
Bibledodeon and Philosophers Club
Grades 4 - 6
As our children reach pre-adolescence they begin to think more critically. We voyage into the Bible and begin to expand our understanding of its importance and relevance in modern times. In Philosophers Club, the youth begin to grapple with some of life’s ‘Big’ questions.