Religious Education News

    Click here to view or print pdf copy of our Latest Brochure: RE Brochure 2010

         Download free Adobe Reader at:  http://get.adobe.com/reader/

Reflections on the past Month in R.E.

The R.E. Committee wishes to thank everyone who volunteered their time and energy to support our R.E. program. It was an extraordinarily good year, and we have hopes for even greater success in the 2010-2011 church year. While we are finishing up this year, we are also making our plans for the next, including seeing OWL (Our Whole Lives) classes begin, choosing new curriculum for regular Sunday morning classes, cleaning up the R.E. classroom so it will be bright and welcoming in the fall, and thinking up new inter-generational activities. Also, as Safe Church policy requires an additional adult to be in the classroom with each teachers, we are re-thinking how to most efficiently coordinate parent helpers and other volunteers.
— Mary Drucker

Spirit Play – Four to Seven Years Old
June 6th:   General Promises Story:  Review of the UU promises.  A laminated UU Promise booklet was given to all participants along with a summer reading list that corresponded with each          promise.
June 13:    Water Ceremony
June 20:    87th Annual Pilgrimage at Barneveld church
June 27:    Church Picnic at the New Hartford Sherrillbrook Town Park
HAVE A SAFE AND WONDERFUL SUMMER!!!!
- Alida Davis

Spirit Play – Eight and Nine Years Old
     Our last Spirit Play class was June 13, 2010.  Students learned about Hinduism and compared/contrasted the ideas of that faith to ours and other world religions.  We studied a Hindu story, "The King and the Loyal Dog" and wondered about the wisdom it shared.  The older students shared a story with the younger group called "Hide and Seek with God" and played a cooperative hide and seek game with Alida outside.  We finished our year off with the water ceremony so that the kids will remember about collecting a special water sample for our homecoming after summer vacation.  Hopefully, the children will keep our UU community in their thoughts as they enjoy the summer. Alida made darling little reminders of the UU principles on a key ring for the kids, and even included a summer reading list for every "promise".  We also sent the children on their way with ideas about how to stay spiritual and how to create sacred space even without our sanctuary and classroom (quiet time, quiet, independent projects, wondering, etc.). We look forward to seeing all of you in the fall!  – Julie Pawlek Jacobs

Traditions With A Wink – Ten+ Years Old
I'd like to offer my sincere thanks to the members of the Traditions With A Wink class for such a fantastic year.  You are a wonderful group of people to spend Sundays with, and volunteers have repeatedly informed me how inspiring it is to spend time with you!  Thanks also to all of the church members who volunteered their time and shared their point of view with our students.

The 10+ RE class will be running the Neighboring Faiths curriculum for the 2010-2011 church year.
This is a UU curriculum, although an internet search turns up a Christian program by the same name.
The curriculum can be found at the UUA bookstore, and can be viewed in its entirety on Google Books.

Neighboring Faiths involves multiple field trips to other communities of faith throughout the church year.  While there are units on specific religions, the curriculum is designed to be somewhat flexible.     Please contact Sarah Cannon at saillenotsallie@gmail.com if you have suggestions of specific houses of worship that might be open to visitors or if you would like to suggest specific contacts. The survey our students conducted this year revealed a wide variety of religious backgrounds and knowledge among church members. It is my hope that UU Utica members will freely share that knowledge this year by looking over our units of study and requesting the Sundays on which they volunteer accordingly. A list will be posted prior to the start of RE in the fall. — Sarah Cannon

Volunteers
•     The Traditions With a Wink class (older group) needs volunteers for the year ahead. Please see Sarah Cannon or if you’re able  to help.
•     Spirit Play is in need of baskets to be made for next year’s classes.  These require no great amount of skill and are fun to do.  If interested, please see Julie Pawlek Jacob.

— Mary Drucker

WE NEED VOLUNTEERS!  We are in dire need of volunteers in all of our RE Classes.  Volunteer Sign-up sheets are on the classroom doors. Please sign up as you are able!
 — Mary Drucker

R E Committee Curricula for 2010-2011

TWAW - Sarah reports that she has found several good curricula for the fall. She will discuss with students and let them select from among them.
 Spirit Play - Julie reports that she has had good success with breaking up the big group by age, with 4-7 year olds in one and 8-9 year olds in the other.  Next year’s group will not have many 8 -9 year olds, which may make the division into sub groups a challenge for next year. Several possibilities were discussed.

Kids’ Change Jar:  Each Sunday, the children are given the opportunity to contribute change to a big mason jar when they come forward during the service.  These monies are donated to
charities of the children’s choice.

Food Bank:  Thank you for continuing to support our  “Traditions with a Wink” service project; by doing so you are teaching our youth how important it is to help others in need.  The Community Food Bank is very grateful for your donations.  Thanks for your support.

Borrow Bags

We now have "borrow bags" available for parents with small children who may yet be uncomfortable with the nursery. The bags consist of "quiet toys and books" allowing children to join their parents in the sanctuary for the service. Speakers are also set up in the parlor in case you need to leave the room. This way you won't miss the service.  Ask an usher for a "borrow bag".  We have a policy of requiring parents to pick up their children from the RE classroom after the service. No child will be permitted to leave at the end of class without a parent.  Please stop by the RE rooms by 11:45 to get your students.
We appreciate your cooperation with this policy.
 

Previously published

Policy & Procedures for Religious Education Classes and Activities

• There will be 2 adults present at all times with children in classes.
• Background checks for staff and volunteers required; paid for and arranged by RE Committee.
• Nursery will open before service and nursery children are to be released ONLY to parents.
• Spirit Play participants will come to service with parents.  After “Story for All Ages” children will follow leaders to the Spirit Play room.  Parents will pick up their own children after classes end.
• We Care children ages 10-14 will go directly to the parlor at 10:30 a.m. and will be released after service.
• Each child may contribute to an offering during the “Story for All Ages” or in “We Care”.

Religious Education News

• Background checks need to be on file for all teachers and volunteers working in the religious education area.  The necessary forms were completed by all members of the R.E. committee
• Sign for nursery door was completed and is now posted
• Pamphlet Committee has not yet met
• Volunteer Sign-up for the month of November is covered. Sign-up lists will be on the classroom doors. Malcolm is also announcing the need for volunteers during the church service. The names    of volunteers should be listed in the newsletter, as a way to acknowledge their contributions, and also to encourage others to give it a try.
• Recruitment of volunteers is currently a contractual duty for teachers.  Since the responsibility has shifted, the contract language should reflect that change.
• Parent ListServ is still being developed by Maureen Casile. Send any and all email addresses to   her attention at maureen-casile@yahoo.com. Maureen is also working on developing an assessment of our    R.E. program.

What is SpiritPlay?
SpiritPlay is a new Unitarian Universalist model of religious education, developed by Nita Penfold, D.Min, Rev. Ralph Roberts, and Beverly Leute Bruce. Dr. Penfold will be coming in May to our congregation in Utica to train religious educators and teachers in our St. Lawrence District in this exciting model!
SpiritPlay is a Unitarian Universalist model of religious education that teaches through wondering, stories, art; it is based on Montessouri methods.

The program:
  encourages independent thinking through wondering questions;
  gives children real choices within the structure of the classroom;
  creates communities of children in mixed-age classrooms;
  develops an underlying sense of the wonder and mystery of life; and
  supports congregational polity through the choices in lessons;

Volunteers who have taught and used the SpiritPlay model report that their own spiritual lives were greatly enriched and enhanced. SpiritPlay integrates easily with regular worship and with social justice, unifying the three core aspects of congregational life: worship, religious education, and faith in action.
SpiritPlay’s stories engage eight areas:
1. Promise stories
2. Sources and Traditions stories
3. Stories of Mystery
4. Beginnings and Endings
5. Sacred Places
6. Spiritual Practices
7. Liturgical (Worship) Practices
8. Unitarian Universalist History
This program tends to engage children where they are and helps them live into their own answers to the abiding questions. The environment, the multisensory approach, the wondering questions, the learning centers, the stories, and the community of children and teachers (and parents) are absolutely appropriate for Unitarian Universalist children and Religious Education Programs. The model engages multiple learning styles and challenges; helps children learn to make meaning of mysteries they encounter; and presents the core stories of our particular faith and theology, inviting children into becoming Unitarian Universalists. It is a model of religious education that engages children from pre-K through grade 4.
 
 

Development of an Identificatlon with the Unitarian Universalist denomination and
an understanding of the UU Principles & Purposes, listed below.

Assist our children in exploring the world's religions.

Enhance the children's involvement with each other and the congregation.

Provide a safe place to promote the use of natural curiosity.

Adults:  We believe in the inherent dignity and worth of every person.

Children: We believe that each and every person is important.
 

Adults: We believe in justice, equity and compassion in human relations.

Children: We believe that all people should be treated fairly.
 

Adults: We believe in acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations.

Children: We believe that our Churches are places where all people are accepted, and where we keep on learning together.
 

Adults: We believe in a free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

Children: We believe that each person must be free to search for what is right and true in life.
 

Adults: We believe in the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.

Children: We believe that everyone should have a vote about the things that concern them.
 

Adults: We believe in the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.

Children: We believe in working for a peaceful, fair and free world.
 

Adults: We believe in respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

Children: We believe in caring for our planet Earth.

Some beliefs are like walled gardens. They encourage exclusiveness,
and the feeling of being especially privileged.
Other beliefs are expansive, and lead the way into wider and deeper sympathies.

Some beliefs are like shadows, darkening children's days with fears of unknown calamities.
Other beliefs are like sunshine, blessing children with the warmth of happiness.

Some beliefs are divisive separating the saved from the unsaved, friends from enemies.
Other beliefs are bonds in a universal brotherhood where sincere differences beautify the pattern.

Some beliefs are like blinders, shutting off the power to choose
one's own direction.
Other beliefs are like gateways, opening up wide vistas for exploration.

Some beliefs weaken a child's selfhood. They blight the
growth of resourcefulness.
Other beliefs nurture self-confidence and enrich the
feeling of personal worth.

Some beliefs are rigid, like the body of death,
impotent in a changing world.
Other beliefs are pliable, like the young sapling,
ever growing wIth the upward thrust of lIte.

- - -from Today's Children and Yesterday's Heritage by Sophia Fahs

We are still collecting donations to the Heifer International project. We are asking each child to do a job at home that will earn a dollar, and in turn contribute the dollar to this worthy cause. Our goal is $20 with which we will “purchase” a flock of chicks. These chicks will be sent to a needy family in Afghanistan. You don’t have to be a child in the RE program to contribute. If you would like to donate to this project contact an RE committee member or one of the RE teachers.