We have just concluded our first trimester in which we explored the question: What is church for? We learned that church is for friends, community, service, support, diversity, sharing core values, growth, spritiual journey, questioning, family, teaching, learning, and many other things.
Now we are moving into the holiday interlude between the first and second trimesters. There are no RE classes during this time, instead we will be participating in other sorts of activities. Here’s the schedule:
November 29 and December 6: Children will participating in our annual tradition of making holiday crafts to be sold as a fund raiser.
December 13: Matt Loosigian will be leading our children in singing holiday music. Our holiday craft sale will be hel during coffee hour.
December 20: This is an intergenerational service Sunday. We will be having a solstice themed service and it is my hope that the children will sing a song that they learned with Matt the week before.
Be sure to sign up for multi-age activities if your children will be participating by sending the DRE a quick e-mail or leaving a phone message at the church office.
Filed under: Sunday morning RE
Wow, this month has been flying by. It’s hard to believe that it’s almost Thanksgiving! It seems that in all the action of this month that I’m a little behind on Sunday reports. So here’s what’s been happening in the UUCB RE program:
The PreK-K class participated in activities about giving and receiving help and also about diversity. Some favorite activities included making headbands to show the ways in which they could help at church and at home, singing, and reading stories connected with the topic of the day.
The grades 1-3 class conducted their elder interview on November 1st, finishing up the children’s portion of the elder interview project. The class finished up the trimester by talking about how church is a place for teaching and learning and how our community is like a tapestry of interwoven parts.
Interview
The grades 4-6 class conducted a survey of beliefs of our congregation, discussed different types of beliefs, and worked on making a presentation of what they learned this first trimester.
This past Sunday, 11/22, each Sunday morning RE class participated in the first service which was an intergenerational celebration of what we learned this first trimester exploring the question, “What is church for?”. The 1st-3rd graders did choreographed movement to Jack Johnson’s song My Own Two Hands to illustrate the weaving together of the parts of our community. The 4th-6th graders performed a great skit about their experiences in class- the elder interview, the guest historian storyteller, and the presentation of the results of the beliefs survey. The PreK-K class sang Gentle Words which served a simple but important reminder on how to treat one another. We have an amazing group of children in our program and were blessed by their participation in the service.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Filed under: Sunday morning RE
Sunday RE class weekly reports:
Grades PreK-K
Old and young make good friends
On Sunday this class had the Wurtz’ as their special guests. They talked together and shared a snack that the children had prepared the week before.
Grades 1-3
Church is for young and old
In class the children placed prepared for next week’s special guests (three church elders will be spending time with the class on 11/1). They made cookie dough that will be baked on Saturday and served for snack, created a welcome banner to help their guests feel welcome in RE, and thought of some questions that they wanted to ask the guests. They read the story Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox and Mrs. Katz and Tush by Patricia Polacco and talked about ways that old and young can be friends.
Grades 4-6
Church is for friends
On Sunday this class focused on friendships and trust. They learned that church is a great place for making friends and talked about what friendship means. They played “Forest of Obstacles” which showed them that navigating through life can be easier when we’ve got friends for support.
Filed under: Sunday morning RE
Sunday RE class weekly reports:
Grades PreK-K
Church is for caring
On Sunday this class prepared for next week’s special guests. They had a great time making chocolate chip cookie dough, creating a welcome banner, and learning a new song called Gentle Words. They read the story Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox.
Grades 1-3
Church is for family and community
In class the children placed their families within the community of the church and placed our church within the family of UU churches by making a mural.
Grades 4-6
Special Guests
On Sunday this class spent time interviewing and talking with the Stimpsons and learning about why our churchis important to them and what their favorite memories are of our church community.
Filed under: Sunday morning RE
Sunday RE class weekly reports:
Grades PreK-K: Church is for Friends
On Sunday the class spent time learning about making church a friendly place because church is a place for friends! They read two stories: Bear and Emily and I Was Feeling Left Out. They made flowers for their friendship garden out of hand cutouts and pictures and sand More Together.
Grades 1-3: Our church is a special building- a tour of the church
This class loved taking a tour of our church building. In each spot they visited (such as the DRE office, archives, minister’s study, community room, etc.) their challenge was to find a hidden letter. At the end they found out that the letters all spelled Sylvia! Their teacher challenged the kids and their families to find the one-eared rabbits in church next week. Parents, are you up for the challenge? Let us know if you find them.
Grades 4-6: Preparing for the special guest
On Sunday this class spent time talking about and preparing for the special guests that will be in class on October 18 for the elder interview.
Filed under: Announcements
RE Announcements
- On October 4th, immediately following the first service, join us for apple picking at Rocky Ridge Orchard in Bowdion. Pack a lunch or buy food at the orchard bakery. We’ll eat lunch and then head out to pick some apples.
- Multi-age RE activity on 10/11. In lieu of RE classes, the children will be joining together in the community room to make delicious apple treat (including fresh pressed cider!) to share with the congregation at coffee hour. If your child will be aprticipating, please sign up via e-mail or in person on this Sunday.
- Classes will be partcipating in interviewing some of the elders of our church community. The grades 4-6 class will be interviewing on 10/18. The grades PreK-K class will be interviewing on 10/25. The grades 1-3 class will be interviewing on 11/1. The class before each of these interviews will be spent preparing for the special guests. It’s a great opportunity for the children to form connections with older members of our community as well as to gain a better sense of our church history and the importance of being part of a church community.
Filed under: Sunday morning RE
This past Sunday in RE…
Grades PreK-K: Our church is a special building
The main activity for the class was to take a tour of the church. Rain hampered the tour a bit but the class spent some time in the church offices, looked in archives at some pictures of RE past, and learned about what goes in the church building.
Grades 1-3: Church is for welcoming and friends
On Sunday the class learned about welcoming through an Islamic folk tale, Mullah Nasruddin Feeds His Coat: An Islamic Folk Tale. The class learned how to make RE and our church a welcoming place.
Grades 4-6: Learning about our church’s history
Special guest Ellie Swanson told the class several interesting stories about our church building some of which included the placenta tree, time capsules, insulation, a fence, and a special table. Curious? See Nicole for a copy of some of these interesting stories.
Filed under: Announcements
Join us for intergenerational apple picking immediately follwoing the first service on October 4. We’ll be apple picking at Rocky Ridge Orchards in Bowdoin (http://www.rockyridgeorchard.com/). We’ll eat lunch and then pick apples. Pack a lunch or purchase lunch from the bakery at the orchard. We’ll use some of the apples we pick to make apple treats for our multi-age activity the following Sunday (10/11) to share with the congregation during coffee hour.
Filed under: Sunday morning RE
Sunday morning RE class reports:
PreK-K
Each of Us Is Important and Special
For their first class, the youngest children introduced themselves and shared something that they like to do. They recited their covenant, with the accompanying hand gestures. They sang the “If you’re happy and you know it” song, made placemats, had a snack, had a story, and time was up!
Grades 1-3
Church is for Unity
This was an energetic class with lots of ideas. They brainstormed some ideas for a class covenant and learned about how church provides us with strength in unity. They learned about this in a concrete way- with sticks. It’s easy to break one or two sticks in half, but impossible to break a bundle of sticks.
Grades 4-6
Church is for Community
The oldest sunday morning class spent some time getting to know each other and learned about the theme for the first trimester. Time was spent on brainstorming ideas for their classroom covenant. They discussed what community meant and came up with some great ideas (see the picture below).
Filed under: Uncategorized
Welcome (or welcome back)! I hope you all had a great summer and are still enjoying the beautiful weather even though school, church, sports, etc. are now in full swing. On this blog you’ll find information about Sunday morning RE classes, RE announcements, youth group activities, intergenerational events and services, and multi-age activities. Our theme for the first trimester of our year is “What is church for? Building community and connection in our church home”. RE classes and programs will focus on the reasons why we come to church- unity, friendships, community, diversity, giving and receiving help, and more. RE participaants will learn about our church history through tours of the church and intersting historical stories. They’ll participate in hospitatlity and community building through making apple treats for coffee hour in October and they’ll interview some of the elders in our church community to glean some of their wisdom. The trimester will conclude on November 22nd with an intergenerational celebration in which all children and youth will be encouraged to participate.
