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
We have wrapped up an incredible year together. We covered a lot of ground through the exploration of topics ranging from inclusion and imagination to repair and trust. We discussed the practice of not leaving people out, expanded our minds by thinking outside the box, used kindness as a tool to repair meanness, and learned ways of exercising trust. More importantly, we grew bonds with one another and felt a connection as our children’s community grew.
Over the past year, I’ve noticed that our children and youth are the happiest and most themselves when they are engaging with and giving back to our community at large. This was clear when we made dog treats and delivered them to the sheltered dogs at the humane society, hosted a complimentary warm beverage booth on a cold winter day, and made care packages for our unhoused neighbors. Because of this, we will weave more of this form of engagement into next year's curriculum.
But for now, we are going to soak in summer with activities based around love, peace & science! Each week over the next two summer months, we will focus our time on learning and loving, mostly through science experiments and plenty of outdoor time.
We still have an ever-growing need for volunteers to help keep our children’s program vibrant, safe, and enriching. If you are interested in volunteering, please reach out to me and I’ll provide you with more info.
As always, if you have an idea that you would like to suggest for our children’s program, please let me know. I am always happy to build a lesson around your idea and, better yet, feature your knowledge within our program, inviting you in as a special guest. Our children benefit from the wealth of knowledge held in our community and from interactive time with our adults. This makes our program more dynamic and diverse.
Thank you for supporting our children’s program. Have a wonderful summer, and we hope to see you soon!
With gratitude,
Maya
Children’s Religious Education
August & September 2025
Building Belonging
September 7th 10:30 a.m.
All Ages Service - Water Ceremony / Ingathering
Join us for this annual ceremony reflecting on the past year and welcoming in the new year together as a faith community. In this special yearly ritual, we are encouraged to bring water from, or representing, a place or time that is dear to our hearts. We invite you to pour your water into our community water chalice and share your reflections.
September 14th 10:30 a.m.
RE Kickoff/Plant Our Tree & Root Our Intentions for the Year
Yes, a real tree! Join us as we launch the new RE year off by diving into what it means to Build Belonging. We’ll then plant a native juniper tree in front of the Blessing Box to represent that which we wish to build together this year.
September 21st 10:30 a.m.
International Day of Peace - How can we cultivate peace locally?
Fostering peace can take many forms. Today we will brainstorm ways that we can engage with and giving back to our local community. We will come up with a plan for sharing our time, raising awareness and/or money for a local cause.
September 28th 10:30 a.m.
Non-violence - Launch of our Peace Plan
Today we get to work on our Peace Plan we formulated last week. We’ll let you know how you can participate!
September 7th 10:30 a.m.
All Ages Service - Water Ceremony / Ingathering
Join us for this annual ceremony reflecting on the past year and welcoming in the new year together as a faith community. In this special yearly ritual, we are encouraged to bring water from, or representing, a place or time that is dear to our hearts. We invite you to pour your water into our community water chalice and share your reflections.
September 14th 10:30 a.m.
RE Kickoff/Plant Our Tree & Root Our Intentions for the Year
Yes, a real tree! Join us as we launch the new RE year off by diving into what it means to Build Belonging. We’ll then plant a native juniper tree in front of the Blessing Box to represent that which we wish to build together this year.
September 21st 10:30 a.m.
International Day of Peace - How can we cultivate peace locally?
Fostering peace can take many forms. Today we will brainstorm ways that we can engage with and giving back to our local community. We will come up with a plan for sharing our time, raising awareness and/or money for a local cause.
September 28th 10:30 a.m.
Non-violence - Launch of our Peace Plan
Today we get to work on our Peace Plan we formulated last week. We’ll let you know how you can participate!
​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!