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Operating Hours: Every Sunday 10:30am - Noon
Visitors are always welcome. Please fill out a visitor card at the welcome table. Children attend the first 20 minutes of worship with their families, and then go to their Religious Education classes until noon. The nursery and preschool classrooms are open at 10:30am with paid teachers for babies and young children who cannot attend the first 20 minutes. At noon all parents for children up to grades 5 are expected to come and pick them up in their classrooms. Each Religious Education group is led by a team of volunteers.
Cooperative Program
Our Religious Education Program is a cooperative endeavor. Learning is most successful when young and old share experiences. The more our entire community contributes to our religious education program, the more each person benefits. To operate our program each year, we need about 50 volunteers to contribute their time and gifts.
Nursery and preschool [Ages: Newborn to 3]
We care for our babies in a warm and loving atmosphere. Toddlers are encouraged to play cooperatively. Our nursery is well equipped with toys. Parents should provide their children with diapers, wipes, and a drink. A simple snack of crackers is generally served. Our well-loved paid caregiver, Yami Corrales has been with us for 14 years.
Preschool [Ages 3 to 5]
Our preschool class is a wonderful spiritual beginning. Children are encouraged to meet the following goals by playing with each other and their adult caregivers:
1. Learn how to play and work cooperatively.
2. Express their feelings about themselves and others.
3. See congregations as places for making and caring about friends.
Their paid lead teacher, Cathy Rivet, is a certified preschool teacher.
Spirit Play (Grades K-2)
This group offers the young child the opportunity to be open, honest, and creative in a non-judgmental environment. The children in this group participate in a Montessori based, child centered program called Spirit Play. Children are encouraged to wonder about and work through play in the following areas:
• Our Unitarian Universalist principles
• Appreciate our relationship with the Earth
• To be in awe and wonder of their uniqueness in the world
• To appreciate other people and how we are all different and yet the same
• Become aware of the Christian and Jewish stories that shape our faith
• Explore how our Unitarian Universalist faith relates to stories from the world’s religions
Elementary (Grades 3-5)
In our elementary group the children have the opportunity to talk freely about what they are experiencing and what they are thinking and feeling about the world, their concept of god, the Earth they live on, and their relationships with other people. Goals for the children are:
• To stimulate thinking and decision making through discovery of the questions, story, and vision of Unitarian Universalists
• To introduce religious literature through Hebrew and Christian Bible stories which are central to our culture and to our heritage
• To take beginning steps in forming their religious concepts and identities by spending time talking, becoming responsible, making good choices, and expressing feelings
• To gain knowledge and experience with and about the Earth that we live on, understanding that we are all a part of the interdependent web of life
Middle School (Grades 6-8)
Our Junior Youth follow a program which focuses on the following: self-reflection, ethical analysis, decision-making, Earth awareness and the exploration of World Religions. This year the group will be working on Social Action/Justice projects, talking about The Simpson’s and exploring Unitarian Universalism through popular music.
Youth Group YRUU (Grades 9 through 12)
We work with our youth in a model that encourages Youth Empowerment. They meet with a paid youth coordinator and a volunteer youth advisor every Sunday. Their program is a balance of participatory activities and small group ministry. They tailor the program to their interests with adult support and follow the YRUU program guidelines for balanced programming. Our youth enjoy activities like:
Active discussions about current issues
Planning active fundraisers/Balcony Cafe
Planning children’s conversations for Service
Holding potlucks/sleepovers
Hosting speakers on relevant topics
Assisting with Loaves and Fishes
Attending service as a group
Planning and holding a worship service
Planning a weekend long conference
Taking trips together
Children’s Worship
Several times per year all the children come together to worship on a seasonal or historical theme.
Social Action Sundays
Several times per year our children and youth get together to work on a Social Action or Social Justice project.
In addition to our regular Religious Education Programming for children and youth, we also offer special programming outside of worship time, including Our Whole Lives (OWL) sexuality education classes and Coming of Age classes for elementary age children and senior youth.