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Our theme for Religious Education during the 2011-2012 church year is Wisdom Tales: Stories within Our Hearts. All RE classes and Children's Worships will be working together to explore the wisdom, spirituality and lessons that various stories of our Unitarian Universalist faith and other religions can bring to us. The RE Committee has developed monthly Essential Questions that all classes are discussing every Sunday to support our Wisdom Tales: Stories within Our Hearts theme.
 Sunday Mornings
Services are held at 10:30 am on Sunday mornings. Each Sunday, except the second Sunday of the month (discussed below), the Pre-K through 8th grade children and youth begin in the sanctuary, with their families, for the first 15-20 minutes of the service. This allows families to worship together with the entire congregation through opening words, hymns, chalice lighting and a Story for All Ages. The children and youth then go to their classes, which conclude at 11:45. All classes, except for the middle and high school classes, require a parent pick-up at 11:45. The high school youth do not start in the worship service, they go directly to class. All children and youth, infant through high school must be registered for RE. Please complete the RE Registration form at the bottom of this page and email it to April Fritts, the Director of Relgious Education, at dre@uufhc.net. Children’s Worship On the second Sunday of each month, a full-length Children’s Worship will be held for Pre-K through 5th grades. It is designed to build a sense of community among our children as they establish their own traditions and rituals. It mirrors the adult service with opening words, a chalice lighting, stones of sharing, songs, a story, an offering and closing words. This year’s worship theme is Wisdom Tales: Stories within Our Hearts. Looking into the stories of our UU history and the wisdom takes that touch us from other world religions is a way in which our children can start to explore their own personal spirituality. Doing this together in community helps us to grow lifelong UUs. Children’s Worship will be held on October 9th, November 13th, December 11th, January 8th, February 12th, March 11th, April 8th, and Ma13th. About Our Curriculum Chalice Tots Chalice Tots provides a warm and caring atmosphere for very young children while parents attend services, adult discussion and coffee hour. The nursery program accommodates infants and children through age 2+. We employ paid nursery staff to ensure continuity of care. Hours are 9:00 am – 12:00 noon. It is our policy that parents must sign their children in and out of the nursery. Pre-Kindergarten (3-4 year olds) We are Many We are One
This classic UU curriculum offers our 3 and 4 year olds the opportunity to learn about their religious community and tradition, as well as the freedom to discover and express their uniqueness. The four units in this program encourage children to use their minds, bodies, and emotions to develop their sense of identity and self-esteem within their UU community and their world.
Grades K-1 Picture Book Bible Tales (with Picture Book World Religions and Picture Book UU supplement)
Based on the 14 best picture books for teaching young children about Bible stories with a UU perspective, this curriculum will help our young UUs develop a working knowledge of the Bible stories that are significant part of the culture we live in. Using Picture Book UU and Picture Book World Religions to supplement the curricula, our children will explore the spiritual tales that influence both our personal and Unitarian Universalist faith.
Timeless Themes
This classic UU curriculum informs our children's hearts and minds by sharing Biblical stories from our Jewish and Christian heritages. These stories have inspired faith and hope and acts of justice and compassion for over 4000 years. Beyond that, these stories have inspired great artistic expression and creativity in music, poetry, sculpture, dance, drama, architecture and literature. We will look at these wisdom tales through a UU perspective that allows us to deepen our own personal faith.
Our Whole Lives (OWL)
Our Whole Lives is based on the philosophy that parents and educating institutions- religious communities, community organizations, and schools- can form meaningful partnerships for positive and responsible sexuality education. 2nd-3rd grade OWL is a 6 week program taught on Sunday mornings in the fall. The teachers are trained OWL facilitators. There is an alternative placement for children not involved in the OWL program. Grades 4 – 5
Bibleodean Bibleodean is a Shelter Rock curricula aimed at introducing young UUs to stories of the Hebrew and Christian Bibles. The Bible has had a profound impact on the world and the western cultures in which our children live. Biblical ideas and references are common in today's literature, art, music and politics. Having a fundamental understanding of the Bible is important to history of our UU faith and to promoting inter-faith dialogue in our modern world.
Our Whole Lives (OWL)
Our Whole Lives is based on the philosophy that parents and educating institutions- religious communities, community organizations, and schools- can form meaningful partnerships for positive and responsible sexuality education. OWL is a 8 week program taught on Sunday mornings in the winter.The teachers are trained OWL facilitators. There is an alternative placement for children not involved in the OWL program.
Grades 6 – 8
Building Bridges
Building Bridges is an updated version of our ever-popular Neighboring Faiths program from years past. During this program our middle school youth will have the opportunity to study other faiths through discussions, projects, guest speakers and the most popular aspect of the program, field trips to other places of worship. Most field trips are on Sunday mornings unless the faith of study worships at some other time.
Junior Youth Group
Junior Youth Group (JYG) is the middle school youth group here at UUFHC. The group meets the second Sunday of each month during the worship service. With advisors Lara Mortimer and Laura Paligo, the group plans social action projects, worship, overnight activities and fun events. JYG is open to all 6th – 8th graders. Grades 9 - 12 The high school program here at UUFHC is one of worship, social action, bonding and exploring. All Sunday RE meetings are planned and led by youth-adult teams. The high school youth participate in a youth worship the second Sunday of every month, led by Paula Morrison, Ken Bourn and various youth group members. They are also involved in the planning and executing of four RE-wide social action projects, which are planned and led by Dyrck and Gina Van Dusen and various youth members. During the remainder of their RE classes they are using a small group ministry model to plan and discuss topics they find important to the growth of their UU faith. This is a fun group with lots of overnight events, projects and laughter! This class is open to all 9th – 12th graders. |
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Current Programming |