RE Program Goals...
To Create an Environment Which Encourages:
- a Unitarian Universalist identity
- a sense of belonging to our church community
- a religious experience
- a tolerance for others' beliefs and values
- a belief that it is all right not to know the answer to every question
- a religious literacy
- a social conscience
Children's Worship
The worship experience is an integral part of our program.
Some weeks, children begin by worshipping together with
their families, and others in our Children's Chapel in the
Undercroft. In the Sanctuary, children become familiar with
the setting, and feel part of the larger community. In the
Undercroft, children experience worship in a peer community
where we create our own rituals and traditions and introduce
spiritual practices in developmentally appropriate ways.
KUUC also has Intergenerational Services over the course of
the year where our whole community engages in worship
together.
The Parental Role
Religious Education is a collaborative effort between
parents, teachers, mentors, and students, and our
professional staff. Parents can help foster their
children’s spiritual growth in a variety of ways. Joining
a teaching team, volunteering as a teacher’s aide, leading
one of several Sunday multi-age group activities are some
ways to help.
Parents can also help by staying informed. Read the Religious Education notes weekly in the Order of Service as well as any letters or notices sent home with your child(ren).
Parents can assist teachers and aides getting to know their children by completing the Church School registration form. Please give us any information that will help ensure your child's comfort and safety in the church school environment. Lastly, by bringing your children regularly, they more easily develop relatedness and connections with teachers and peers and the confidence to share their religious ideas in the class setting. As classes develop a sense of community, the children will look forward to coming.
Parents
should also engage their children in conversations about
their separate Sunday morning experiences. When possible,
the staff tries to align the messages that will be heard in
the Sanctuary with the messages heard in the Children's
Chapel and Story for All Ages. We hope this will provide a
springboard for parents and their children and youth to
bring the conversations home. We encourage children, youth
and parents to share with one another their unique faith
development journeys and spiritual practices.
Nursery Care
The Church provides childcare for infants and toddlers under the age of three downstairs from 9:45-11:30 a.m. Sunday mornings.
Social Action
Project
At the Children's Annual Meeting last June,
students voted to engage in a church school wide project to
support Free the Children. As a multi-age group, we will
learn more about global child labor practices, by educating
ourselves and our families and other adults in the
congregation, and by raising funds to support Free the
Children's work.
It is our hope that this project will make tangible the
values we share at home an in our classrooms and will create
important opportunities for congregants of all ages to work
together in common purpose.
Children's version of the UU Principles:
- Each person is important
- Be kind in all you do
- We're free to learn together
- We search for what is true
- All people need a voice
- Build a fair and peaceful world
- We care for Earth's lifeboat
SUNDAY SCHEDULE
Each Sunday after their classes, students will come together in the Undercroft at 11:15 for a children's shared snack time, analogous to the adult coffee hour in the Parish Hall. We ask all parents to retrieve their young children from the Undercroft by 11:30 so that teachers may return to clean up their classroom areas in a timely way.
First Sunday of the Month 10:00 Begin in classes
Second
Sunday of the Month 10:00 Begin in Worship together, Joys and
Sorrows for all ages
10:15 – 11:15 Religious
Education classes
Third
Sunday of the Month 10:00 Begin in Worship together, a Story for
All Ages
10:15
– 11:15 Religious Education classes
Fourth
Sunday of the Month 10:00 Children’s Chapel in the
Undercroft
10:15
– 11:15 Religious
Education Classes
Fifth Sunday and Group
Activity programs to be announced.
When the weather permits, our youngest children always take advantage of the playground adjacent to their class to build community through play. Please send your children to their classes with clothing appropriate for the weather and for outdoor play.
