Religious Programming for Youth and Children

Ministry to
Children and Youth
2009 ~ 2010

Unitarian Society of Hartford - Religious Education Program

Grade Level K-1
Grade Level 2-3
Grade Level 4-5
Grade level 6-8

Spirit Play: Grades Pre-K-1 Overview

Class Theme and Description:
A Unitarian Universalist adaptation of the Godly Play and Montessori Methods developed by Nita Penfold D.Min., Rev. Ralph Roberts, and Beverly Leute Bruce at the Winchester and Milton, MA U.U. churches. A number of other churches are now using the adaptation.

Spirit Play uses the Montessori approach and Jerome Berryman’s morning-as-worship approach for the structure of the morning. As in Montessori, the key elements are the classroom environment and the teachers. These elements free the children to work at their own pace on their own issues.

Class time is broken into the following elements:

1) The Door Keeper helps the children get ready to enter the classroom as parents drop them off.
2) The Storyteller leads the circle in the story of the day, followed by wondering questions.
3) Children choose an art response or work with a story previously heard, helped by the Door Keeper.
4) Children clean-up, assisted by the Door Keeper and Storyteller.
5) Leave-taking is a formal process of saying good-bye to the Storyteller when parents arrive and children are ready.

Key elements from Montessori:

Teacher as guide into materials rather than leader;
Prepared environment (child-sized): everything in the room has an assigned place and is available to the child for work time;
Other elements: structure and order, reality and nature, beauty, materials in sequential order, sensorimotor materials (manipulatives);
Development of community life through mixed ages.

Key elements from Jerome Berryman and Sofia Cavalletti:
Teachers: Door Keeper and Storyteller;

Doorkeeper greets children to ready them at door, keeps art supplies organized and helps children find their materials, helps with work time and leave-taking

Storyteller checks on readiness of story baskets, manages circle time, tells story and leads wondering, helps children choose work, affirms children when saying goodbye.

·      Entering and getting ready for story;
·      Circle with song, story and wondering;
·      Work time: response to story in art or choose another story;
·      Clean-up and leave-taking.

2. Goals for Participants:

We see the purpose of religious education as helping children to discover their own answers to the existential questions, as in Jerome Berryman’s work:
Where did we come from? What are we doing here? What is our purpose?
How do we choose to live our lives? What are our gifts? How do we use them?
What happens when we die? Why do we die? Why are we lonely and sad sometimes?
Other goals of this method:

Present core stories of our faith and our particular church and its theology;
Help children to make meaning through wondering and art;
Create a spiritual community of children;
Support multiple learning styles and challenges;
Create a strong Unitarian Universalist identity.

3. Stories and Lesson Themes:

Stories and Resources will be developed in the following categories:

Unitarian Universalist Focal Stories: Liturgical lessons pertaining to our central story of agreeing to live in community and right relationship, including our central symbol, the Flaming Chalice. This included stories of church history, U.U. history and U.U. figures.

Promises: Lessons pertaining to our 7 principles and stories illustrating each principle.

Sources: Lessons pertaining to the sources of our principles and our faith, including Judeo-Christian stories from Godly Play.

Stories of the Mystery: Stories relating to the Mystery that some people call God.

Beginnings and Endings: Stories from all cultures and science telling of our beginnings and what might happen when we die, including concepts of heaven, hell, and reincarnation. These will include materials on the Universe Story and the story of Earth.

Sacred Places: Table containing a Jerusalem Temple, and other sets of blocks representing those spaces religions hold sacred, including a labyrinth.
Review by Nita Penfold, D.Min

Communication & Community: Grades 2-3 Overview

Using two curricula, Heart Talk and UU Superheroes, students will learn the skills and history of their faith community.

Heart Talk for Kids
Teaching Nonviolent Communication

Authors: Veronica Lassen and Debbie Grieb
Publisher: Veronica Lassen and Debbie Grieb, 2007

Theme and Description
Heart Talk for Kids© is based on Compassionate (Nonviolent) Communication. Debbie Grieb and Veronica Lassen, were inspired to create Heart Talk because they have a passion for creating more connection and peace on the planet.

The purpose of Heart Talk© is to communicate with each other in empathy – to understand and see our common humanity. From that place of deep understanding and caring we can find mutually satisfying ways of being together.

Goals for Participants
The curriculum follows Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication model. Children learn to:

Make observations (separate from evaluations);
Get in touch with feelings (separate from thoughts);
Learn the difference between a universal need and a strategy (just because I can say I need chocolate doesn’t make it a ‘need’);
Practice making clear requests.

We love to see kids have fun learning and so emphasize movement, activities, crafts, songs, games, and time in spent in nature.

The children also practice the whole model with an emphasis on the purpose of Heart Talk. We explore anger, empathy, gratitude, conflict resolution and we take a look at historical and current peacemakers.

Unitarian Universalist Values
The main intention of Heart Talk is to create a space where people truly see each other. This space of respectful connection is a place that honors the ‘inherent worth and dignity of every person.’ It is a space that allows us to live our UU values. Each lesson in the curriculum includes specific references to one or more UU Principles. The introduction to each major curriculum section also includes these, as well as references to UU Sources.

Review by Lassen and Grieb

UU Superheroes
Study of famous Unitarians, Universalists, and Unitarian Universalists

Authors: Gaia Brown with Illustrations by Terry Stafford
Publisher: Gaia Brown, 2004

Theme and Description
UU Super Heroes is a values-based Unitarian Universalist identity curriculum that encourages children to explore the lives of famous people who were Unitarians, Universalists or Unitarian Universalists.

Goals for Participants

To introduce children to the stories of Unitarians, Universalists and Unitarian Universalists;
To show how the lives of these people confirm the principles that Unitarian Universalists strive to promote;
To learn some of the traditions of both our Unitarian Universalist faith movement and our individual congregations;
To encourage the children to live their own lives fully and to use their own positive “super powers” to grow both spiritually and ethically.

Unitarian Universalist Values
Each lesson of this curriculum explicitly incorporates one or more of the Unitarian Universalist Principles. This curriculum has lessons on the Unitarian Universalist core values of letting your conscience be your guide, welcoming people of all abilities, and caring for the earth.

Review by Judith Frediani

The Tapestry of Faith: Grades 4-5 Overview

Unitarian Universalism and Moral Development will be explored using two curricula: Spirit of Adventure and Toolbox of Faith. Both programs explore the seven principles of Unitarian Universalism and universal tools like integrity, courage and justice while stimulating a variety of learning styles.

Spirit of Adventure
UU Identity and Moral Development

Authors: Kate Tweedie Covey
Publisher: Katie Covey, 2005

Theme and Description
This is an active Unitarian Universalist Identity curriculum for children using the themes of sports, medicine, food, science, building, exploring and the web of life as ways to discover the people and values of our Unitarian Universalist faith.

Goals for Participants

To communicate that good sportsmanship and teamwork offer important parallels to the UU way of being in the world;
To reinforce the value of taking care of others and keeping each other safe;
To experience the significance of being kind and generous;
To affirm the value of using reason and being curious;
To explore the importance of being creative and trying new things;
To examine the value of living simply and loving animals;
To build leadership skills and responsibility in the congregational setting through special projects.

Unitarian Universalist Values
Each session makes a direct connection to a Unitarian Universalist Principle and Source of our Living Tradition. Most of the sessions offer stories about a Unitarian Universalist who exemplifies or offers a deeper perspective on the ideas of the sessions. A sharing circle and closing time with chalice lighting relates specifically to our Unitarian Universalist faith.

Review by Judith Frediani

Toolbox of Faith
UU Identity and Moral Development

Authors: Kate Tweedie Covey
Publisher: Unitarian Universalist Association, 2008

Theme and Description
Toolbox of Faith invites fourth- and fifth- grade participants to reflect on the qualities of our Unitarian Universalist faith, such as integrity, courage, and love, as tools they can use in living their lives and building their own faith. Each of the 16 sessions uses a tool as a metaphor for an important quality of our faith such as reflection (symbolized by a mirror), flexibility (duct tape), and justice (a flashlight).

Goals for Participants
Reflecting on the qualities (tools) of our faith, children and leaders gain insight into what makes our faith important in their lives, and how they can grow in our faith.

Unitarian Universalist Values
The values expressed in the 7 Principles are an integral part of this curriculum.
Review by Judith Frediani

Neighboring Faiths and World Religions: Grades 6-7-8 Overview

Using the curriculum A World of New Friends as a guideline, students will explore a variety of world religions and how they compare to the experience of Unitarian Universalism.

A World of New Friends

Author: Sara L. Sautter
Publisher: The Unitarian Sunday School Society, 2004

Theme and Description
A World of New Friends is a collection of 13 lesson plans designed to introduce a multi-aged classroom to the eight largest world religions. Lessons are designed using a thematic approach to world religions and a center-based teaching format that uses multiple intelligence learning.

The lessons use imaginary classroom members to introduce the world religions. Each week the class will learn about a new Classroom Star.   Through a show-and-tell presentation of the Classroom Star, our UU students will learn about the faith and traditions of the imaginary student while learning the basic tenets, customs and celebrations of each faith.

The faiths included here represent the world’s largest, formal religious groups, and are ordered here by the size of their membership:

1)   Christianity
2)   Islam
3)   Hinduism
4)   Buddhism
5)   Traditional Chinese religions (Confucianism, Taoism)
6)   Earth-centered religions (Paganism, Native American Spirituality)
7)   Sikhism
8)   Judaism

Goals for Participants

To learn about other faith traditions;
To consider the universals of religious experience;
To deepen one's own faith;
To strengthen one's understanding of and respect for cultural diversity.

Unitarian Universalist Values
This program is a cornerstone of Unitarian Universalist religious education. It explicitly addresses Unitarian Universalist Principles and draws from the UU Sources. It promotes understanding and respect for other cultures while nurturing Unitarian Universalist identity.

Review by Judith Frediani

Coming of Age: Grade 8 Overview

These youth will explore who they are, what they believe and what faith means to them. The program is structured as a small group ministry experience, and culminates with a Coming of Age ceremony with the congregation.

“Coming of age (COA) ceremonies, marking the transition from childhood to young adult, are as old as history. They have included ritual abductions, vision quests, and bar and bat mitzvahs, all to help youth learn about themselves and prepare for adulthood.
“Such programs transform the youth”, says Gaia Brown, director of religious education at North Shore Unitarian Church in Deerfield, IL.
“It's important to mark the transition to adulthood,” says Jennifer Harrison, director of the Unitarian Universalist Association's (UUA) Youth Office. "It's an opportunity for youth to learn who they are and where they are on their spiritual journey, bond with other teens, celebrate their gifts, and become more confident in how to make decisions."

Let us know of any comments, errors and corrections - thanks (revised 09/03/09)

Ministry to Children and Youth 2009 ~ 2010

Ministry to
Children and Youth
2009 ~ 2010