Grand Valley UU Children's Religious Education (RE)
We offer children's programming each Sunday in a combined preK-5th grade class at 10:30am. Teachers lead classes drawing from the Soul Matters curriculum while making use of creative activities including music, art, theater, and story. The Soul Matters curriculum presents the same themes the adults engage in during service in an age-appropriate format. Our classes and services are designed to foster community, empathy, and a sense of social responsibility among our children and youth.
From Director of Programming and Community Outreach Maya Kraushaar
December 2024
Last month, we spent our time together gaining a better understanding of how we can manage hard emotions through practices of repair and care. We uncovered the truth behind certain feelings and also learned the power of slowing down our judgements of and reactions to life’s surprises. We finished the month with what has turned into a tradition, creating a Stone Soup of Gratitude.
I believe we met November’s goal of helping our children understand the many tools we have available to heal each other and the world. That regardless of how supposedly “large” or “small” these ways of going about repair may be, they are effective. We used the story of the Two Wolves in Our Heart to explore the power of intention in regard to positive virtues and negative tendencies. We learned that the wolf we feed is the wolf who wins the battle.
A major goal this month is to help our children leave behind the hustle & bustle of the holiday season as well as to escape the all-pervasive consumerist messaging. Instead, we want them to look around and notice the deeper gifts of the season. This is a time to notice the presence of stillness and the gifts already given.
With gratitude,
Maya
I believe we met November’s goal of helping our children understand the many tools we have available to heal each other and the world. That regardless of how supposedly “large” or “small” these ways of going about repair may be, they are effective. We used the story of the Two Wolves in Our Heart to explore the power of intention in regard to positive virtues and negative tendencies. We learned that the wolf we feed is the wolf who wins the battle.
A major goal this month is to help our children leave behind the hustle & bustle of the holiday season as well as to escape the all-pervasive consumerist messaging. Instead, we want them to look around and notice the deeper gifts of the season. This is a time to notice the presence of stillness and the gifts already given.
With gratitude,
Maya
Children’s Religious Education
February 2025 -Welcome to The Practice of Inclusion!
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February 2nd 10:30 a.m.
The Practice of Not Leaving People Out In this session, we will explore how our actions can result in others' feelings of being left out and unseen. Then, we will reflect on ways we can be more inclusive. February 16th 10:30 a.m. The Practice of Not Leaving Love for Ourselves Out We are already halfway through our month of exploring our monthly theme: The Practice of Inclusion. So far, we’ve looked at people and stories that get left out. Today, we talk about how parts of ourselves sometimes get left out. To explore this, we will get into body positivity as well as the importance of self-love and self-acceptance. |
February 9th 10:30 a.m.
The Practice of Not Leaving Stories Out In this session, we continue our exploration of people and things that get “left out.” Whereas last week we looked at how people get left out, today we turn to how stories get left out of our telling of history. We will dig into why this is, how it harms us all, and what we can do to tell “bigger stories” that honor us all. February 23rd 10:30 a.m. The Practice of Not Leaving Religion Out This is our final week exploring The Practice of Inclusion and looking at how people and things that get “left out.” In this last session, we turn to the way religions get left out and treated as “untrue,” “immoral,” and even “evil.” Our UU commitment to religious diversity and our UU belief that all religions contain truth will be a central part of our discussion. As UUs, we are called to help people value the learnings and insights from all of the world's religions and understand that there are many valid spiritual paths to travel. |
​Childcare provided every Sunday from 10:15am-11:45am during Sunday Worship.
Thank you volunteers!
A big thank you to our incredible teachers! Volunteers make our RE program fantastic!