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.
RE News
1.11.2010
The New Year is off to a great start in Children’s RE. After the series of event cancellations due to snowy December, it was wonderful to see so many children, families, and HUU members and friends at the intergenerational service on January 3. Special thanks go to Holly Labbe and Scott Cole for directing, staging, and facilitating the CYCORE service.
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.
Social Action
CYCORE is beginning to line up intergenerational and kid-friendly social action projects for the spring. If you have a great idea for us to consider, please email huudcre@gmail.com with “RE Social Action” in the subject line.
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 is also a mailing list for Religious Education participants HUUkids.
- To subscribe: paste this message in the body of your e-mail and send to
majordomo@huuweb.org
subscribe huukids
END
- To unsubscribe: paste this message in the body of your e-mail and send to
majordomo@huuweb.org
unsubscribe huukids
END - To post a message to the list: send an e-mail to
huukids@huuweb.org. The message will
go to all current members of the group. If you are NOT a member of the group,
the message will be held for approval.
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!