Category: LRE Blog

Ashleigh and the Religious Education Committee are seeking helpers, teachers and floaters for our children’s programming for grades PreK-8. We are continuing youth programming but are exploring new and creative ways of implementing it. A brochure has been written to give a snapshot of programming for the 2018-2019 year. Be on the lookout for cultural presentations and discussions, book clubs, documentary series and programming relating to our identity as Unitarian Universalists, our history, polity and importance of the Edict of Torda, which granted religious freedom to the early Unitarians in Transylvania. We will continue our adult forums before church with topics to be explored and announced in advance. If you have any programming ideas such as studies, lectures or dialogues that can enrich the religious educational life of the church, please speak with Ashleigh. She can be reached at arhodes@stjohnsuu.org or during coffee hour after church. We have also chosen a curriculum “Soul Matters” to implement but it does allow for some flexibility. Prior planning will be minimal since long-term curriculum will be provided as well as supplementary materials. There is some latitude, but we would like to unify the program so that we can be consistent across the age levels for PreK-8 and do more long-term curriculum mapping. If you have book club suggestions, please see Ashleigh.

 

Letter to families with children

September 7, 2021

Dear families with children,

Welcome to the 2021-2022 academic/church programming year!

Given the ongoing pandemic we will not be holding classes for children in our lower level rooms. Our current plan is for children (preschool – elementary grades) to gather outdoors during Sunday services.

Together we … read more.

First Hour, Children’s Worship and Themes

We are going to
offer expanded programming before the service starting this fall. It will be
called First Hour. We will offer
faith formation options across the lifespan, for all ages and interests. For
now, we’re calling this “religious development” time. This is a time for
learning together, growth, and … read more.

The Wheel of the Year

This year the staff team has worked
to schedule out a full year of themes.  When, in the last few years, we
have tried themes by month, we have found the time to be too short to dive deep
into the richness of the topic.  This year we … read more.

The Death of Sunday School

I’m going to admit that one of my favorite moments every Sunday at St. John’s is not a teaching moment, it is a parenting moment. I have developed the habit of doing our community ritual of joys and concerns with my youngest daughter, Juliana. I … read more.