WAY COOL SUNDAY SCHOOL

Our Sunday school is a collaborative effort.

Everyone works together to share their skills, time, and energy to enrich our programs. We use the “Spirit Play” curriculum to share goals and objectives for the younger children. Children spend the first fifteen minutes in the sanctuary, and then we head upstairs to the classroom space. You are welcome to accompany your child.

The RE (Religious Education) Team meets monthly to determine the programs, policies, and events for the children, youth, and adults. Parents are encouraged to join the RE Team.

Please feel free to contact the Director of Religious Education, Yasmin Flefleh-Vincent, for further information, questions, or comments about our Sunday School.

We welcome all children and families to join our programs.

SUNDAY SCHOOL SCHEDULE

11:00 Welcome & Worship in the Sanctuary
11:15 Way Cool Sunday School (Spirit Play)
12:00 Closing Celebrations

Children at church.

When you bring your children to the First Unitarian Church, you can expect a few things will happen…They may beg you to bring them back again next week!

The Spirit Play story will engage them and teach them about themselves and the world in which they live.

Through the arts and role play, they will learn the lessons of caring for each other, lessons of compassion, and empathy.

When you arrive on Sunday morning, an usher or greeter can help you find a seat and introduce you to one of our Way Cool Sunday School Staff. Please let the staff know if your child has any special needs. The children generally join us for the first fifteen minutes of the service and then head to their classes. You are welcome to join them or remain in the service - whatever works best for your family is fine. When their classes are over, the children come down and join us in the Parish Hall for coffee hour.

Our Way Cool Sunday School program is an opportunity for children and families to learn and grow together. After leaving the worship service, children head up to Tryworks Auditorium. (an elevator is available)

Below is a snapshot of what our morning looks like:

Welcome and Introductions of New Friends

Gandhi Peace Greeting
I offer you peace.
I offer you friendship.
I offer you love.
I see your beauty.
I hear your needs.
I feel your feelings.
My wisdom comes from a higher source.
I honor that source in you.
Let us work together.

Songs/Hymns to Sing
Spirit Play Stories
Working with the Spirit Play Stories through ARTWORK
Chalice Lighting
Feast
Clean up/Closing Celebrations

There are two gifts we should give our children; one is roots, and the other is wings.

Every Child is Special.

We know that every child is different and every child is special. There are some children at this church who have special needs and we do the best we can to care for every child.

We Stand on the Side of Love with all children.

Spirit Play

With this method:

Present core stories of our faith and your 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

The co-developers (Dr. Nita Penfold, Beverly Leute Bruce, Rev. Ralph Roberts) see this purpose as helping children to find the religious language and story to live into their own answers to existential questions such as:

Who am I?
Where did I come from?
What is my purpose?
What are my gifts?
How do I choose to live my life?
What happens when I die?
Why am I lonely and sad sometimes?

We want to help children make meaning of their lives through the container of Unitarian Universalism.

Key elements from Montessori:

Teacher as a guide into materials rather than the leader
Prepared environment (child-sized): everything in the room has an assigned place and is available to the child for worktime
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:

Door Keeper and Storyteller

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

The storyteller checks on the readiness of story baskets, manages circle time, tells stories and leads wondering, helps children choose work, manages feast time, and affirms children when saying goodbye.

Entering and getting ready for the story
Circle with song, story, and wondering
Worktime: response to the story in art or choose another story
Clean-up and feast, leave-taking

Spirit Play Strengths

A proven educational method whose values support Unitarian Universalism

Encourages independent thinking through wondering questions
Values learning differences and multiple styles of learning
Gives children real choices within the structure of the morning
Creates a community of children in a classroom of mixed ages
Develops an underlying sense of the spiritual and the mystery of life
Supports congregational polity through the choice of lessons
Develops an identity as a Unitarian Universalist