OUUC Religious Education

Another Teaching Team gets ready for the Fall

Sara — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:55:18 +0000

Last night the teaching team for the 1st-3rd grade met to get ready for the Fall classes. Six wonderful volunteers have stepped forward to make up this team, and give the gift of their time to the children in the 1st-3rd grades. I’m very excited about this team, and about the curriculum we will use this Fall. It is “Spirit of Adventure” by Kate Tweedie Erslev, and in the introduction to the curriculum she writes “I challenged myself to write a curriculum that teaches UU identity without the usual arts and crafts projects”. It is a curriculum intended for more active children, which should be fun and challenging and meaningful in unexpected ways. We will be splinting fingers, dissecting computers, making pancakes, shooting balloon rockets across the classroom, and much much more. Along the way we will learn about many notable UU’s, such as Clara Barton, Charles Dickens, and Frank Lloyd Wright, and discuss how the UU principles play out in their and our lives.

It’s going to be a lot of fun! This class will be offered at both the 9:15 and the 11:00 services.

Our Perspective in The Olympian

Sara — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 19:09:01 +0000

Last Saturday, I had my perspective on religious education in The Olympian. You can read the article on their website here: http://www.theolympian.com/2010/08/21/1342658/its-about-questions-not-answers.html

SpiritPlay getting ready for the Fall

Sara — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 20:10:49 +0000

Last Sunday, we held our first teachers training of the year, for the Spirit Play teachers. I’ve also been putting the classroom together, and I’m so excited for the class to start again. Spirit Play is a Montessori-based method, which we offer for our pre-K class at both first and second service. In this class, the children are told stories and have time to make art, but truly the Method is the Message here, as it is a time of quieter and slower reflection on the Wondering Questions of this age group. The first Spirit Play class will be on September 19th.

Chalice Camp wraps up … for this year

Sara — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 20:47:41 +0000

Chalice Camp is coming to a close, but watch for it next year!

Today in Chalice Camp

Sara — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 03:31:52 +0000

Each day we have had a music class, with our fabulous guest music teacher Kerri Lynn Nichols. Singing, dancing, and playing some very fun instruments – it’s been lovely.

Chalice Camp is going great!

Sara — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 03:33:23 +0000

Two days of Chalice Camp have been full of Outer Space and Evolution, and dinosaur bones!

Only one class for 4th-5th grade next year

Sara — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:12:25 +0000

Dear families of a 4th grader- middle school youth,

This last church year OUUC saw a real attendance trend in the 4th-5th grade classes: one service would be well-attended and the other would have very low attendance. It became such a trend that we canceled first service classes toward the end of the year, as it wasn’t fair to volunteer teachers to prep a lesson that no one showed up for. Talking with the kids and families, it became clear to me and to the Family Ministry Team that a big part of this was the desire of the kids to come to the class where their friends and everyone else will be. They want to be a group, with a group identity, much like the Middle School group and the High School group have. But they can’t have a group identity if they are attending separate services and classes.

Because of the need for group cohesion and the attendance patterns we have seen, we are intending on only offering one 4th-5th grade class during Second Service ONLY. We intend to also offer the Middle School during second service. While I realize that second service will not work for everyone – and I apologize to any family that sees this as a hardship – I have heard from more people who prefer second service.

I welcome feedback about this decision. Please email me with any comments, questions, or complaints.

in peace,

Sara Lewis

Director of Religious Education

Olympia Unitarian Universalist Congregation

dre@ouuc.org

Back from our Partner Church

Sara — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:15:42 +0000

I’m just back from visiting our Partner Church in Kissolymos, and what a wonderful visit it was! I have so many ideas for bringing more about our Partner Church into the RE classrooms, and I’m looking forward to this year’s Partner Church Sunday (usually in November) being a whole church experience.

And I can’t wait to see you all in class this Sunday!

The Next Three Sundays in RE

Sara — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 01:17:06 +0000

I am very excited to be going on a trip to Transylvania with my son this month. Transylvania is the historical birthplace of the first Unitarian church, and we will be touring many historical sights and staying in our partner church village in Kissolymos. I will be sharing pictures and stories of our adventures upon my return.

While I am gone, members of our wonderful Family Ministry Team will be stepping forward to replace me on Sunday mornings. Coming up:

July 4^th Music Sunday

July 11^th Dealing with Anger, Fear, and Sadness

July 18^th Body Awareness

This Sunday’s Meditation Class

Sara — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 15:26:48 +0000

Taking it Home – The Six Wonderful Doors

The Buddha went into some detail about using the breath in meditation, which is a basic technique the children worked with this Sunday in class. Although most children would not care for a lot of detail about the “Six Wonderful Doors”, and most would not be reached until a practitioner had spent considerable time with a meditation practice, I thought you might be interested in knowing more. If you wanted to start a meditation practice at home with your child, a practice centered around breathing would be a very simple and easy way to start.

The first door is counting when the practitioner counts each breath. This helps the mind focus on the breathing, and the very act of counting tends to prevent distracting thoughts from arising, or from dominating the mind if they do arise.

Following is the next wonderful door, when you can cease to count and just follow the sensation of the breath as it flows past the nostrils, cool on the in-breath, and warm on the outbreath. Following does not mean that you “follow” the flow of the breath through the body, because that would dissipate your point of concentration. Instead, you just follow the sensation at the nose.

As concentration develops through following, the next wonderful door is stopping. Stopping refers to stopping distracting thoughts, and it will naturally happen as a result of following. It is not something to be striven for directly.

Next, the fourth door is observing. When thoughts have stopped, or at least subsided, the meditator can look objectively at things – that is, to observe without the intrusion of concepts. Anything can be observed, but it is most frequently your own body. Comfort and discomfort can be observed without judgment.

The fifth door is returning. This is part of a quite advanced practice, and is harder to explain. It refers to the ability to “return” to the source of the mind, or to look at your mind when thoughts are not capturing its attention. We are not our thoughts, and returning helps the meditator become aware of this fact.

The sixth door of meditation is calming. When the meditator has established awareness of body and mind, there comes a feeling of deep peace, born of a sense of unity and harmony within oneself. Instead of a separate, fragmented existence, there is a sense of wholeness and completeness. The distinction between the meditator and the object of meditation finally disappears, and there is only a peaceful and joyous sense of existence.