Children's Religious Education

Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse

Registration
RE Assistant
Grade Configurations
Spring Curriculum
For Grades Pre-K Through Sixth Grade
For Grades 1-3
For Grades 4-6
Jr. High School Class
High School Youth Group
After RE Classes Child Safety
Yellow House Needs Snacks!

Registration

As we begin this new semester, please fill out a registration form for your child if you have not done so previously. If your child is in the 4/5/6 class, please remember to complete the Sign-Out waiver, which lets the RE program know if you would like your children to sign themselves out, or if you wish to sign them out.

RE and Nursery Assistant

The RE Program is very lucky to have long time member, parent and volunteer Melodie Rai returning as RE Assistant and Nursery Coordinator. Her hard work, insight, and innovative ideas have helped to make the RE Program a flexible yet consistent work in progress that is moving us forward to some of the goals outlined by the UUA in its recent long-range planning.

Grade Configurations

The grade configurations for the will be as follows: the PreK-K class will be held in the foyer of the Yellow House; the 1/2/3 class will continue on the main floor of the Yellow House; and the 4/5/6 class on the top floor. The DRE’s office is now in the basement, where the old Kinder class used to be, along with the Church library, and a community space that will be painted and refurbished sometime this summer. The Youth Group will have their very own room upstairs in the old DRE office, with the option of moving out into the other top floor classroom for larger gatherings.

A multi-age Children's Fellowship where children can visit and have snack will meet on the main floor of the Yellow House AFTER RE classes at 11:30am.

Spring Curriculum

For more information on these and more curricula from the UUA, visit www.uua.org

For Grades Pre-K Through Sixth Grade

The Prek/K class will use the Wonderful Welcome curriculum. In this program, children will "identify intangible gifts central to Unitarian Universalism such as friendship, hospitality and fairness, and share these gifts with others." By Aisha Hauser and Susan Lawrence

PreK/K children that come to class will participate in the Chalice Lighting and Opening ritual with the 1/2/3 class, and then proceed to the foyer for a simplified lesson and modified playtime.

And of course the program will continue to incorporate all of the current rituals of the Yellow House - lighting the chalice, and the sharing of Joys and Concerns, and the most important part of all - SNACK TIME!!

As the curriculum is somewhat fluid, the DRE will try to tie weekly lessons to ongoing events in the church, and to other events happening in the church and out in the community.

For Grades 1-3

Grades 1/2/3 will share the Faithful Journeys curriculum, In the Faithful Journeys program, children will embark on a "pilgrimage of faith, exploring how Unitarian Universalism translates into life choices and everyday actions. In each session, they will hear historic or contemporary examples of Unitarian Universalist faith in action. Stories about real people model how participants can activate their own personal agency - their capacity to act faithfully as Unitarian Universalists - in their own lives, and children will have regular opportunities to share and affirm their own stories of faithful action". By the Rev. Alice Anacheka-Nasemann and the Rev. Lynn Ungar

For Grades 4-6

The 4/5/6 class will explore the Windows and Mirrors curriculum, which will use the metaphor of windows and mirrors to represent the dynamic relationship among our awareness of self, our perceptions of others, and others’ perceptions of us. By Gabrielle Farrell, Natalie Fenimore and Dr. Jenice View

Jr. High School Class

The Jr. High Class is continuing its Neighboring Faiths program with Ken Faunce and Dale and Wendy Amsbaugh leading the class. Here, Junior High students are exploring the world of various faith traditions and religious practices here in our Palouse community. Each week they visit a place of religious practice or a guest speaker visits them here at the Yellow House. In this way, the Neighboring Faiths classes will let the 7th-9th graders explore the world of religion and spirituality while allowing them to explore their own beliefs. Participants meet at the Church (unless otherwise instructed) at. 10:00am during the Church Service in the Yellow House Basement. The goals of this journey are:

To participate personally in the faith traditions of others
To reflect on the uniqueness and universality of religious experience
To explore their own values as they relate to many other faith traditions
To become more aware of the many connections between UUs and other faith traditions
To strengthen commitment to UU faith and community
To increase their understanding and appreciation of religious diversity.

Date Neighboring Faith Lesson

January 10

New Year planning

January 17

Buddhism

January 24

Snow Retreat No Class

January 31

Episcopal

February 7

Methodist

February 14

Music Sunday-no class

February 21

Hinduism

February 28

Youth Service - Intergenerational Service - no class

March 7

Baha'i

March 14

Spring Break-no class

March 21

Spring Break-no class

March 28

Catholic

April 4

Easter-no class

April 11

LDS

April 18

Sufi

April 25

No class

May 2

Flower Communion? -Intergenerational Service, Renaissance Fair - no class

May 9

Presbyterian

May 16

Bridging Ceremony-- Intergenerational Service

May 23

African Methodist-Episcopal Spokane

May 30

Last class-Discussion of Religion and Faith

**For more information about the Spring semester schedule, please contact Ken Faunce.

High School Youth Group

The RE Program is very proud to announce an exciting group of Youth Group Leaders for the 2009-2010 year. Returning from last year are veterans Lysa & Tom Salsbury.

Also joining the Youth Group Leadership is RE Committee member and past Group Leader Donal Wilkinson, who will offer his expertise in community and interfaith gatherings and activities, as well as his passion in leading outdoor and nature -oriented expeditions.

New to the group is college student Ehren Moler, who has been attending the UUCP for the past year, and acted as celebrant on Sunday, Aug. 30. Ehren is a student at the University of Idaho, majoring in Natural Resources, who is interested in networking our Youth with various programs and groups at the University, and forging relationships between high school and college students. We are also hoping for some occasional drop -in visits by our Youth Group bearer of the torch and YRUU historian Archie George.

The Youth Group continues to meet at 12:00pm in the Yellow House attic, and the Youth Service will be on February 28

Another exciting plan is for the Youth to attend a Church service once a month, followed by a hosted brunch afterwards, where they can discuss the service, the sermon, and other related topics. Rev. Kayle would like to plan sermons around topics that the Youth would like to hear addressed on a quarterly basis, and her first contribution to these Youth inspired sermons was on Feb. 8., where she spoke about Child Soldiers-- the use of children in military forces, and the active participation of children in armed conflicts. Youth members Audrey Faunce acted as celebrant, and Lilly Tarabulski read the Children’s Story.

After RE Classes Child Safety

For safety reasons, it is extremely important for parents to remember that RE does not provide supervision on the playground after RE classes are finished.

With those same concerns in mind, it is critical that parents of children in grades PreK-3rd grade sign their children out before they, the children, leave the Yellow House.

Up to now, we have not been requiring the 4th-6th grade students to be signed out by parents. But as part of our overall Safe Congregations Policy, we are now asking parents of the 4th-6th grade students to fill out a form, available from Director of Religious Education Janet Guthrie-Granja or from the UUCP Executive Secretary Summer Stevens during their office hours, noting whether they wish their children to sign themselves out or they wish to personally pick up and sign their children out at the Yellow House. Please drop the form off in the RE registration box in the windowsill in the Church foyer.