Youth Religious Education

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. ~ Nelson Mandela

The Fellowship’s youth RE classes are open to all children, pre-kindergarten through high school, who wish to participate in religious exploration, engage in social activities with other UU youth and learn new skills from enrichment activities that complement their religious exploration. Children are grouped together by grades and taught by volunteer teachers. RE classes, held concurrently with Sunday worship services, begin at 10:30 a.m. in the RE wing and generally last until 11:45. Four to six times a year, the Sunday morning worship is intergenerational. These services, designed with our children in mind, often include youth participants, and all children are asked to attend. No RE classes meet on these Sundays.

There are no fees for ongoing youth RE classes, but families are asked to register their children each fall so that we have current contact and health information. You may download the registration form here and mail it in or drop it off at the Fellowship. Or, you may download a prospectus for more information. If you have any questions, e-mail Pam Lepley at DRE@uufws.org.

A Tapestry of Faith Program for Children

2011-2012 Programming
<click here for a printable curriculum handout>
<click here for a printable calendar of events>
<click here to print the RE registration form>

Nursery: Infants to age 3 - Murray Room

PreK–1st Grade – Clara Barton Room
~~~ Fall ~~~
Wonderful Welcome
by Aisha Hauser and Susan Lawrence
The Wonderful Welcome curriculum engages and challenges leaders and children alike to explore how and why we are willing to welcome others into our lives. We welcome not only strangers, but family, our peers, our neighbors and even entities that are not people such as our animal friends and nature itself.
~~~ Spring ~~~
Love Surrounds Us
by Lynn Kerr and Christy Olson
At the core of our Unitarian Universalist community are our seven Principles. The Principles encompass all the ingredients of a good and faith-filled life based on equality, freedom, peace, acceptance, truth, care, and love. This program explores all the Principles in the context of Beloved Community of family/home, school, and neighborhood. Participants engage in activities that emphasize the love they feel in community.

2nd-3rd Grades – Whitney Young Room
~~~ Fall ~~~
Moral Tales
by Rev. Alice Anacheka-Nasemann and Elisa Davy Pearmain
Moral Tales provides children with spiritual and ethical tools to make choices and take actions that reflect their Unitarian Universalist beliefs and values.
~~~ Spring ~~~
Faithful Journeys
by Rev. Alice Anacheka-Nasemann and the Rev. Lynn Ungar
Faithful Journeys equips children with language and experiences to develop and articulate a strong Unitarian Universalist faith identity. Through historic and contemporary stories of Unitarian Universalist faith in action.

4th-5th Grades – Emerson/Thoreau Room
~~~ Fall ~~~
Toolbox of Faith
by Kate Tweedie Covey
Toolbox of Faith invites participants to reflect on 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.
~~~ Spring ~~~
Windows and Mirrors
by Gabrielle Farrell, Natalie Fenimore and Dr. Jenice View
The metaphor of windows and mirrors represents the dynamic relationship among our awareness of self, our perceptions of others, and others’ perceptions of us.

Middle School: 6th-8th Grades – Library
~~~ Fall ~~~
Amazing Grace: Exploring Right and Wrong
by Richard Kimball
Amazing Grace intends to help youth understand right and wrong and act on their new understanding. Its purpose is to equip them for moving safely and productively through the middle- and high school years, when they will be continually tugged toward both ends of the ethics continuum. Through their involvement in Amazing Grace, youth will come to recognize and depend on their Unitarian Universalist identity and resources as essential to their movement toward understanding, independence, and fulfillment of personal promise.
~~~ Spring ~~~
Heeding the Call: Qualities of a Justicemaker
by Nicole Bowmer and Jodi Tharan
Youth are encouraged to view themselves as agents of change in the world as they develop qualities crucial to justice work. They reflect on their own lives while making connections to the lives lived by others, building self-awareness while growing as leaders. Includes a Justicemakers Guide to help youth track their activities outside the workshop and a long-term Faith in Action project to lead youth, step-by-step, in becoming allies to marginalized communities.

High School: 9th-12th Grades – Young Religious Unitarian Universalists (YRUU)
YRUU will meet every 1st and 3rd Sundays from 5:00-7:30pm. Youth Group activities include discussions, games, movies, social action projects, worship planning, etc. Youth meet either in the Emerson/Thoreau Rooms or in the Fellowship Hall, depending on programming. Outings and field trips are sometimes planned as well. Please contact Pam Lepley at dre@uufws.org to be added to the YRUU contact list to stay current on schedule and activities.