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CHILDREN AND YOUTH RELIGIOUS EDUCATION PROGRAMS |
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Children's Peace Camp - Summer 2008
RE Booklist Religious Education Calendar Ohio-Meadville District Youth Adult Committee Religious Education Council |
Our regular Sunday School classes in Religious Education (or "RE") comprise 28 sessions over the year and will continue through May 18th, at both the 9 am (two multi-age classes) and 11 am services (classes for most grades as single age groups). These are interspersed with a further ten "All Ages Sunday School" special sessions for holiday Sundays. In February we held our annual "Teacher Appreciation and All Ages Sunday" which featured a time to thank all teachers, assistants, mentors, helpers and committee members (over 100 different generous volunteers!), plus a Chinese New Year dragon parade created by the All Ages team and the children who attended on the 17th. The next All Ages Sundays are as follows: The Sr Hi covenant group, which meets at Panera's at 11 am, reconvened January 13th and should meet every two weeks from then on. Toddlers are cared for by a paid sitter plus church volunteer during both services in Room 1. A volunteer nursery caregiver is available to help with babies at the beginning of each service --our fully-equipped, brightly coloured nursery is in the back hallway opposite Rooms 3 & 4. There are also separate glassed in areas -- Slowter Lounge and the Family Room -- at the side and back of the Worship Centre for families to sit together and listen to the service. Map of RE class spaces NEW! Gr 5&6 OWL class experiment for ten weeks: Sunday School Committee and the OWL [Our Whole Lives comprehensive sexuality education] ministry team will offer an optional spring Gr 5&6 OWL class on Sunday mornings, ten sessions held BETWEEN the services, 9:30 to 10:45 am. Interested? Contact the RE Office to reserve space. Books are for sale in the Sunday School Info Area. More information at http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/ourwhole/ 2/24 OWL parents and children together - Mandatory orientation session from 12:45 to 3pm, light lunch available. 3/9 first Gr 5&6 OWL class, 9:30-10:45am. Registration closed after this date. Your child's regular attendance is necessary for this to be a good learning experience. OWL for Gr 5&6 will run every Sunday except Easter March 23rd, through May 18th from 9:30-10:45am. Our Summer Sunday School Program begins Sunday, June 1st, with just one service at 10 AM. This Sunday is traditionally the day when we celebrate the youth who have progressed through our Coming Of Age program since the early fall. Summer children's programming will follow the intergenerational story at the beginning of each service: this year the program will be run by Cynthia Dillard on a theme of the UU seven principles and on cooperative games.
LOOKING FOR A RELIGIOUS EDUCATION PROGRAM FOR YOUR CHILD/REN?
We ask all Sunday School visitors to fill in a pink visitors form for their initial visit,
and teachers will track your repeat visits on the same page. After three visits,
we would encourage you to register your child/ren and have your family's contact
information entered in the church data base. There is no fee for our RE programs for children and youth.
Please register in whatever way is most convenient, noting that youth must sign their
forms, so need hard copies.
We are sorry, but the Gr.8 Our Whole Lives (or OWL) classes, the Gr. 9 Coming of Age program, and the Senior Hi Covenant group are special, limited registration opportunities, now closed for 2007-2008. If you wish to visit our Sunday School, and have youth in these age groups, they may either drop in on our Neighbouring Faiths class (for Gr 6-7-8) or join you for worship. The R.E. office may be small, but it is full of interesting books and videos, both for adults and children. Please make an appointment to come and browse – or look at all the titles on the RE page of the church website. Also have a look at the library books table in the Sunday School Info Area each week – we try to put out topical books for all ages, and keep them changing as relevant. You may borrow books and audio-visual materials for one month, often renewable. If you are interested in the overall structure of all RE activities and groups at First UU, here is a helpful new description. We welcome your questions and comments - and your help!
We are currently recruiting teachers for our expanding 9 am service classes,
and will soon commence recruitment for teachers of RE programs in 2008-2009.
Your help is needed and welcome! Please note that everyone working with
children and youth is screened, for the safety of the entire community.
Caroline Balderston Parry |
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First UU runs many different
programs for upwards
of 180 children and youth, mostly on Sundays, supported by an active
Sunday School Committee, Nursery/Toddler caregivers, Sunday School
teachers, All Ages Sundays team, and the very special teachers and
leaders of our Our Whole Lives (OWL) human sexuality class for Grade 8
youth, our Coming of Age (CoA) program for Grade 9 youth, and our Youth
Group Advisors. We hope you will find the UU class or program/s that
are just right for your young people. And we hope to see you at church!
For details of our programs, please
download the two different documents below as appropriate: Here are the signup forms: Note that we have recently established an All-Ages class for children from age 3 through Gr 5 at the 9 am service, which is quieter and more intimate than classes at the 11 am service. For more details, go to page 9 from The Discoverer vol 72 #28. If you would like more information about the Ohio Meadville UU District youth conferences and activities, you can go to their website or read further in this document about our First UU procedures for Youth Conferences or "CONs". If you would like further information about the newly formed Youth Adult Steering Committee (YASC), please refer to page 9 from The Discoverer vol 72 #29 Finally, if you are interested in the overall structure of all RE activities and groups at First UU, here is a helpful new description. We welcome your questions and comments - and help! To contact the Religious Education office, you may phone or e-mail Caroline
Balderston Parry, the Interim Director of Religious Education |
