Wondering which RE group your child fits into? We have something for babies through teenagers heading into young adulthood. Read on to find where your little ones fit into our set-up.
Babies to toddlers 3 years old may attend our spacious, well-equipped Nursery, regularly staffed by Sienna Henshaw and Sam Getvay. These young adults are well-experienced, familiar caregivers whom we are pleased to reimburse for their valuable work. (Note we also have a basket of board books and toys on the welcome table in the front foyer for little ones who stay with their parents during Sunday services).
Play and explore
We strive to create a caring environment where children’s natural inclination to play and explore is nurtured and sharing is reinforced.
The nursery has a play house, slide, teeter-totter, kitchen centre and many toys and books. There is also a craft & snack area as well as a bathroom with a change table nearby.
The older children in the adjacent garden class have stories, crafts and activities aimed at interacting and creating community. Lessons are drawn from three Unitarian-Universalist programs that emphasize peacemaking and affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person, as well as the value of cooperation.
Children put together Peace Peas packages of soup mix.
The Garden Group is for four-year-olds through Grade One and meets across the hall from the Nursery, in the epynonymous Garden Room.
Our DRE, Caroline Balderston Parry, has been hard at work incorporating Spirit Play into our childrens' lives.
Here's how it works: After leaving the sanctuary, the children congregate in the foyer outside the Garden Room so that the day’s storytellers and doorkeepers can be introduced – this way, the children get to develop relationships with UCM adults.
When each class has nametags, slippers and "quiet bodies" and is ready to enter the peaceful space of their room, they go in and form a circle around the storyteller.
The storyteller then gets a box to unpack and share the story or “lesson” of the day with the children. Each story or lesson has physical components, starting with a coloured circle of cloth, often representing the colours of the seven promises, or Unitarian/Uniiversalist principles.
In a way, the circle defines “sacred space.” The objects, mostly 3-D, which “illustrate” the story, are taken out slowly and reverently, one by one, as the story is told.
The storyteller then asks a number of open-ended “Wondering . . .” questions, such as “I wonder where you fit in this story?” or “I wonder what it feels like to be teased?” These questions blossom into wonderful discussion, much to our delight.
Then the children take their own circular mat for their “work period” of about 15-20 minutes. They may choose to retell any story or lesson on the shelves, or select an art activity or puzzles, blocks, play dough, or poetry magnets. Finally they tidy up and gather for a simple “feast” around the chalice.
The Primers Group comprises children from Grades 2-5 who gather in the room downstairs next to the RE office. Each room has warm floor coverings, so that we can have a storytelling circle on the floor and children can enjoy the work period which follows the story using small rugs for their base.
The two Spirit Play rooms are special places where children “hear many stories, asking questions and searching for answers together. We talk, listen, and feel the Spirit of Love and Mystery that some people call God. Everyone in the room will be treated fairly and kindly.”
We come close to the Spirit of Love and Mystery through singing, retelling the Spirit Play stories, and through artwork of many kinds. Each story that gets told will be stored in a special box or basket and kept on low shelves around the room, so that children can take them out to use during the work period. A doorkeeper will assist the teacher who tells the story every week.
Our Junior Youth Group (Grade 6, 7 and 8) has a series of Saturday night sleepovers planned that will include plenty of UU fun, service projects and learning. Rhetta Parnas and Allen Lobo have returned to help lead this group.
French RE: Garden, Primers, and Junior Youth have an all-ages French Religious Education program on most third Sundays each month, led by Lisa Chojnowicz and Rita Izzi. Elizabeth Charbonneau develops and monitors the curriculum for our pioneering French RE classes.
