Children's Religious Education - Children's Religious Education at HUU
Summaries of Curricula
Kid's RE Forms
Each of the documents listed below is in pdf format. You will need the free Reader to view them
For more information about Religious Education at HUU, contact the Director of Children's Religious Education (DCRE), Julie Caran, at huudcre@gmail.com and she will get back to you as soon as possible. Meet the Director of Children's Religious Education.
CYCORE News Spring 2010
CYCORE – Children and Youth Committee on
Religious Education
DCRE – Director of Children’s Religious Education,
Julie Caran
Nursery Supervisor – Pax Helferstay
Religious Education Assistant – Tabatha LaFreniere
CYCORE Committee – Holly Labbe (Chair), Chris
Spiller & Jeanine Sellers
Happy Summer! We had an incredibly rich 2009-2010 Religious Education year, and now the HUU kids, DCRE Julie and the Teaching Team take a summer hiatus from their curricular religious education. Sunday mornings during the summer, you can find the preschool and older-aged children participating in arts activities, games, and outdoor play under the supervision of Tabatha LaFreniere and an adult volunteer, while the babies and toddlers (0-2yrs) will be with Kirsten ‘Pax’ Helferstay and an adult volunteer in our Nursery. We still have some volunteer spots available; check out the sign up sheet outside of the Nursery or contact Holly at holly@huuweb.org and get on board for some summer fun with our smallest UUs.
Summer Fun 2010 – CYCORE is planning at least one Family Fellowship activity per month this summer. Activities may include: berry picking, a day-hike, camping, music jam., play day at the park, Pride in the Park, a drive-in movie… If you have a great idea for a family-friendly event, contact a member of CYCORE.
In case you missed them, here are some of the Spring 2010 RE highlights:
On May 30th, CYCORE led a service titled ‘The Seed,’ during which Julie took the congregation through a retrospective of what the children explored and discovered over the course of their year together, and the children expressed their thanks to this year’s Teaching Team and Nursery Volunteers. The children presented flowers (in pots they decorated themselves) to Robin McNallie, Angelina Gonzales, Kevin Caran and Jennifer Spiller; the Nursery Volunteers --- all 16 of them!--- received flower seed packets. CYCORE members were also recognized for their work this year, as was Julie. It was a delightful service with stories and songs that celebrated the spirit and the potential that is the ‘seed’ within each of us.
The Spring 2010 Kids’ Social Action Project, -- “HUU Playdate with a Purpose” --was a clean-up at Hillandale Park. After the service on Sunday, April 25th, we packed a picnic and then Jack and Audrey Sellers, Nathan and Solana Spector, Lily and Zachary Spiller, and Ada, Wyatt and Elijah Cole, along with their parents (and the Sellers’ grandparents!) hit the trails with gloves and garbage bags. The park playground was the final stop on our clean-up rounds as we spent some time playing together and celebrating our commitment to taking care of the Earth. We hope to schedule at least two Playdates with a Purpose each year. If you have a good idea for a kid-friendly or kid-initiated social action project, please contact a member of CYCORE .
The Team Teaching model for the K and up kids was a great success this past year, and all are eager to continue this approach during the next academic year. With Julie prepping the curricula, holding a training session for the Team and serving as lead teacher, the other 3 members of the Team (plus an alternate) rotate, so each member of the Team is working with the kids about once a month. The 2010-2011 Teaching Team is: Robin McNallie, Angelina Gonzales, and Theresa Sayre.
Finally, a word of Thanks - HUU is fortunate to have a great base of Volunteers who sign up regularly to help out in the Nursery or help our staff supervise kids during the summer months. (Did you know that most congregations consider themselves noteworthy if they have 30% of non-parent volunteers? Did you also know that HUU has 80% of non-parent volunteers working with our kids?) Thank you ALL for being the village that it takes to help raise our HUU kids! You matter to them!
Registration
I am happy to welcome new and visiting families to the RE program. If you have not registered your children yet but hope to attend regularly, please consider filling out the registration form. There is no registration fee for our program, but registering your child(ren) ensures your family’s inclusion in important communications about upcoming events. Your registration form also provides the teaching team with important information about allergies or other concerns.
Planning for 2010-11
Curricula
It might seem early to be thinking of curricula for next year, but as part of the budget-planning process, CYCORE and I are beginning to consider which curricula to order for the nursery and K+ groups to use in 2010-11. If you have a child in the program, I am interested in hearing your thoughts on the thematic direction we should take in the coming year. Most of the preschool curricula offer fundamental messages that support the UU principles and help the children to become comfortable interacting within our church community. The curricula for the older kids generally emphasize one of four themes: Jewish and Christian Heritage; UU Identity and History; World Religions; and Social Action. Each curriculum draws on all of the UU principles and sources* for its lessons. Contact me at 540-434-6314 or speak to me at church to let me know your preferences.
RE Structure and Programming
This year two new approaches have been particular successful in the RE program: including curricular lessons in the nursery and using a team teaching structure with the older kids. If you have ideas of ways to further strengthen the program in next year’s programming, let me know. Have you been thinking of getting involved in the program? Participants need not be parents to join the teaching team or CYCORE. Speak to me, Holly Labbe, or Chris Spiller if you would like to help contribute to any aspect of the program.
Due to lack of necessity, I will no longer be offering “office hours” on Tuesday evenings. Please continue to feel free to call me on my home phone or my cell phone or to meet with me in person to discuss your children’s involvement or any aspects of the program. Thanks!
Julie Caran, Director of Children’s Religious Education
540-434-6314 (home)
540-421-8556 (cell)
Celebrating Me and My World
This curriculum begins by celebrating the wondrous qualities of the children themselves and expands outward to the things and people around them. This program provides preschoolers with experiences and opportunities to grow in their sense of trust and caring and to develop their self-identity and their sense of connectedness with all of life.
A Stepping Stone Year
A Stepping-Stone Year focuses on these important religious questions:
- How did the world begin?
- How did life begin?
- How did I begin?
- How can I live so as to make my life worthwhile?
- Why do people die? -What is right and wrong?
- How can I make decisions?
The curriculum addresses children who are taking their first structured steps in forming religious identities and concepts. Younger children may identify with their churches and fellowships or have religious experiences that will influence their religious experiences that will influence their religious thinking, but they are not ready developmentally to begin to understand and articulate these concepts until they reach around age eight or nine; hence, A Stepping Stone Year.
A Stepping Stone Year draws upon science, myth, Unitarian and Universalist traditions, and other secular and spiritual resources to support children in their inquiry.
Stories About God
Stories About God offers children of primary age (kindergarten, first and second grades) a wide variety of experiences with that which people call God. At the heart of each session is a story which presents a concept of God inspired by images and issues from world religions, feminist studies, science, and human experience. All these metaphors are compatible with our Unitarian Universalist Principles. Before the story there are activities which enable the children to make connections between the images and concepts in the story and their own experiences. After the story there are opportunities for them to express their own beliefs through conversation, service projects and the arts. Stories About God aims to help children develop a language appropriate for Unitarian Universalists, with which they can speak of God.
The Purposes and Principles Of The Unitarian Universalist
Association
(in language for children)
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We believe that each and every person is important
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We believe that all people should be treated fairly
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We believe that our churches are places where all people are accepted and where we keep learning together
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We believe that each person must be free to search for what is true and right in life
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We believe that everyone should have a vote about the things that concern them
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We believe in working for a peaceful, fair, and free world
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We believe in caring for our planet earth.
Our Religious Inspiration Comes From:
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our own experiences of wonder
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words and deeds of loving and courageous people
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our Jewish and Christian heritage
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other world religions
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earth-centered traditions of living in harmony with nature
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scientific discoveries and our own reasoning
Children and Youth Committee On Religious Education (CYCORE)
The Director of Children's Religious Education (DCRE), Julie Caran, coordinates the Children's Religious Education Program at HUU in cooperation with CYCORE. CYCORE is looking for new active members to join us in planning for the 2009-2010 church year. If interested, please contact Julie at huudcre@gmail.com.
Links for Kids
- Between Sundays - a website designed to help parents and other adults answer religious questions raised by children and youth.
- Alice the Chalice Coloring Pages - (a new window will open) Unitarian Universalist Kids across America are coloring in our Alice the Chalice coloring pages during Sunday services and in their classes/group meetings. You may print them out and use them in your UU church!