Our Children's Religious Education Program
- Welcome!
- Mission
- Staff
- Programs
- Volunteer
- Classes
- Register
- Dates
Welcome!
What a joy it is to welcome you to the 2009-2010 Children’s Religious Education Program at First Unitarian Society. I am pleased that you are joining us once again or are considering making this program a part of your family’s life. Each year we strive to provide opportunities to help our children grow spiritually, develop a sense of personal and social responsibility, and experience delight, wonder and reverence as a central part of our Unitarian Universalist community and our life together. 
It is our hope that your child(ren) will find a safe and nurturing community of peers and adults here at FUS who will help them to determine their own spiritual beliefs and discover their own ethical guide for living. Our lessons and activities provide a framework for learning based on the wisdom of many faith traditions and cultures. They serve as the vehicle to build community, foster respect, and bring our Unitarian Universalist principles to life.
Please remember that our program is a cooperative venture and could not exist without the hands and hearts of our many volunteers. We would love to add your energy and commitment to our program. When you are filling out your registration form, take a moment to review the parent participation section and let us know what gifts and talents you would like to add to our community.
Yours in growing faith,
Kelly J. Crocker,
Minister of Religious Education
Kellyc@fusmadison.org (608)233-9774 x 112
Our Mission
The mission of the FUS Children’s Religious Education Program is to facilitate ethical and spiritual development in our children. They will be empowered to become free thinking individuals who:• Know and respect themselves and others
• Contribute to their human and natural communities
• Make informed decisions regarding their spiritual paths
Our Goals
• Create community in the classroom, the congregation, and the UU movement.
• Help children and youth understand of the history of Unitarian Universalism.
• Strengthen them to stand against racism, homophobia, sexism, ableism, and other forms of prejudice.
• Help them respect the interdependent nature of all existence.
• Inspire appreciation for the Judeo-Christian world’s other great religions.
• Guide and support the development and expression of a personal faith.
• Develop integrity, responsibility, equity and love.
Meet Our Religious Education Staff and Lay Leaders
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Kelly Jane Crocker, Minister of Religious Education |
Leslie Ross, Director of Religious Education |
Deb Mies, Program Assistant for Religious Education |
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Aiden Schmidt, Child Care Coordinator |
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How Are Kids Involved at FUS?
Child Care
We have child care available for infants and toddlers during each of our worship services and during many parish events. Our silent pager system allows us to contact parents if their child is having difficulty in the child care room. We also have Baby Haven, a soundproof room located at the back of the Atrium Auditorium that allows parents to enjoy the worship service while tending to fussy or restless young children.
Religious Education Classes
We have a vibrant Religious Education (RE) program, with over 500 children enrolled in our classes, and over 100 volunteer teachers. Our classes begin with three year-olds and go through 9th grade; they meet during each of our worship times.In the early years, we focus on building a trusting community, helping children to feel safe and secure at FUS, and introducing them to Unitarian Universalist principles. During the elementary school years we learn more about our UU history and traditions, the beliefs of other traditions, our evolutionary history, and the stories of the Bible.
In middle school, youth visit other places of worship, compare the basic tenets of the worlds’ religions, engage in social justice and environmental service projects, and learn about relationship development and sexuality.
Our program culminates with our 9th grade Coming of Age year. These students explore some of the BIG QUESTIONS in life and develop and define their own faith beliefs. More detailed descriptions of class offerings are available on the "classes" tab of this web page..
YRUU
Young Religious Unitarian Universalists, YRUU, is our high school youth group. During our time together, we have lively conversations about our world, our faith, and our lives. We also engage in service projects that help us to better understand ourselves as compassionate agents of change. And, sometimes, we just hang out and enjoy each others’ company! Contact the Director of Religious Education for information on meeting times. No registration for YRUU is required.Children’s Choirs
We have several children’s choirs (divided by age), offering a special opportunity for children and youth to use their gift of music to serve our congregation. Our choirs are a strong and vibrant part of our community. They meet at various times on Wednesday nights. Please contact Heather Thorpe, our children’s choir director, for details at heathert@fusmadison.org. Child Dedications
A child dedication is a uniquely Unitarian Universalist naming ceremony which offers parents the opportunity to have their child blessed by congregation, their family and our ministers. During this time, our congregation commits to help the child grow in ways of love, truth, justice, and peace. Child dedications are held four times during the year. Contact Rev. Kelly Crocker to discuss/schedule a child dedication: 233-9774, x. 112, or kellyc@fusmadison.org. Summer Programs for Children
During the summer, concurrent with worship services, we offer two programs for children. Summer Fun is for children ages 4 to 9; Summer Fun2 is for youth ages 10 to 13. During our time together, children engage in arts activities, story time, and outdoor fun and games.Note to Parents
Our children paint, run, play on the playground, dig in the dirt, and do other things that may get messy. Comfortable and casual clothing is encouraged!About Parent Participation
Our RE programs could not be as strong as they are without the financial and human resources that our parents offer. Our programs depend on many volunteers, including over 100 teachers, snack coordinators, committee members, summer helpers, and others throughout the year.We also depend on pledging members to help cover the actual expense of running our RE programs (as opposed to the fees charged), which is estimated at $450 per child per year. This includes the cost of curricula, craft supplies, food, books, staff, and other materials. Parents are welcome to sit in on their children’s classes (except 7th grade and up) and are asked to sign up to bring snack several times during the year. On those snack days, they serve as classroom helpers as well. This gives parents an excellent opportunity to learn more about the curriculum and the community of which their child is a part. When you register your child(ren) for religious education, we ask that you commit to one of several volunteer needs.
RE Volunteer Opportunities
Teaching
Most of our classes are taught by a team of four teachers. Each week, one teacher has the responsibility of leading the class, and one has the responsibility of assisting that teacher. Our volunteer teachers are in the classroom roughly twice per month. Most of our classes use a provided curriculum that outlines what will be taught from week to week.Teaching a class has many benefits:
- It’s a wonderful way to spend time with your child
- Being with children and youth, ministering to their spiritual development, can truly enrich your life
- It’s a great way to meet other FUS families
- It’s an excellent way to expand your own religious education
Many lasting friendships have developed between teachers - It’s a profound contribution to the FUS community!
Classroom Support Coordinators (CSCs)
CSCs assign families to bring snack each week in both the classrooms and the child care room. They make reminder phone calls to parents, alert snack bringers of allergies or special snack needs, schedule potlucks for family fellowship, and occasionally help staff a classroom or organize transportation for a special event.Summer Helpers
During the summer months, we need extra adults to read stories, lead activities, and generally help out with summer activities for our children and youth. If you have a talent or activity you’d like to share with our kids, or if you would enjoy being a helper, we’d love to have your assistance! Committee Members
Parents can become members of either the Children’s Religious Education (CRE) Committee or the Child Care Committee (CCC). The primary task of committees is to address policy and procedural issues, to help define the direction of future growth in our programs, to assist with the nuts and bolts of some program operations (e.g. cleaning the toys in the child care room, registering families for RE, etc.), and to help with special events, such as our Teacher Orientation and Appreciation events. The Children’s Religious Education committee meets monthly and the Child Care Committee meets bi-monthly. Special Events
During the year, we need help with several special children’s and family events. These include multi-age children’s activities, our annual Easter Egg Hunt, or winter holiday festivities. We often need several extra hands to help make these successful.Gearing Up
During the summer, the RE Office needs a good deal of extra help to get our classrooms ready for students, our binders ready for teachers, materials ready for classrooms, supplies organized, and other tasks. We depend on parent help to get all our ducks in a row.
Note: you can volunteer at the same time you register you child, or call Deb Mies at 233-9774 extension 114 or debm@fusmadison.org
Class Descriptions
Our programs begin at the same time as worship services: 4:30 p.m. on Saturdays, and 9 and 11 a.m. on Sundays. Children in pre-school through 7th grade start out in the Auditorium for an intergenerational message that lasts about 15 minutes. Then they will leave for their classes. Classes end at 6 p.m. on Saturdays, and 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Sundays. Parents of pre-K through first grade students are expected to pick up their children at the classroom.
Most of our classes are offered on a rotational system. What does that mean? Our one-year/two-year rotation offers one list of classes for kids pre-K – 5th grade one year, and another list of classes the second year. On the third year, we switch back to the first list of classes, and so on. Generally speaking, we have eight classes that we offer to pre-K through 5th grade students; students in grades 6 through 9 have the same classes offered each year.
Our Class Rotation
Year One
We Are Many, We Are One 3 and 4 year-oldsTreasure Hunting K and 1st grade
What We Believe 2nd and 3rd grade
Exploring Our Origins 4th and 5th grade
Year Two
Celebrating Me & My World 3 and 4 year-oldsExperiences with the Web of Life K and 1st grade
Holidays and Holy Days 2nd and 3rd grade
Bibleodeon 4th and 5th grade
Below are short descriptions of the Religious Education classes we offer. Please click on the bar to reveal the information about each class.
Celebrating Me & My World
3 and 4 Year Olds, Preschool
Celebrating Me & My World invites children to celebrate what is wonderful about themselves and to explore the world and the people around them. It encourages the development of a positive self-image, feelings of comfort and safety here at FUS, familiarity with the basics of our religious principles, awareness of our connectedness with nature, and the development of cooperative skills that make for a happy group experience. Experiences with the Web of Life
A Class for Kindergarteners to First Graders
Experiences with the Web of Life celebrates our 7th UU principle: “Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.” Children in this class will observe the ways that living things relate to the rest of life: what the earthworm eats, what eats the earthworm, what it contributes to the soil, how that helps plants and helps us grow food in the soil, and so on. Each lesson is an adventure in finding such interdependent connections. Throughout the curriculum, our spiritual connection with all living things is reinforced.Holidays and Holy Days
Second and Third Grades
Holidays and Holy Days introduces children to religious and cultural holidays throughout the world. Each week is a new celebration. From Ramadan to Divali, Huichol Indian Day to John Murray Day, children will use celebrations as a lens for observing religious and cultural traditions. UU values are explicitly related to the many religious traditions celebrated here. Holidays are the natural, age-old vehicle for socializations; their festivals tell a story that children absorb with delight.
Bibleodeon
For children in
fourth and fifth grades
Bibleodeon introduces biblical scriptures by presenting the best-known Hebrew and Christian stories with fun and interactive games, such as investigating the Cain and Abel crime scene and solving the “Mystery of the Day.” Participants also act in 11 amusing playlets, illustrate a time line, keep doodle books, give awards to outstanding biblical women, and more. They explore connections between biblical events and UU principles, between biblical ideas and their own lives.
Neighboring Faiths
Sixth Grade
Neighboring Faiths offers youth the opportunity to learn about the beginnings, beliefs and rituals of worship practiced by people of other religious traditions. It will include visits to different places of worship and interviews with people of other faith traditions.
The material covers Jewish, Christian (Catholic and Protestant), Hindu, Buddhist and Islamic traditions. It also offers an overview of UUs religious heritage. Enrollment in this course requires some flexibility in schedule to allow for visiting other places of worship.
Social Justice
Seventh Grade
Unitarian Universalists have a strong history of commitment toward justice. Social Justice students will develop a more complex understanding of inequity, oppression, and intolerance, while discovering avenues for creating positive change in their community and beyond. Each class will decide on the specific issues and service projects they will include during the year. Common themes have included homelessness, human rights, environmental protection, labor issues, and discrimination. Through information shared in class, guest speakers, activities, visits to local agencies and service projects, students will become more critical thinkers and active participants in our community. Committed participation in service projects and flexibility to accommodate off site projects are expected. This class offers an excellent opportunity to put our UU values into action and to learn about the many resources and humanitarian activities taking place in Dane County.
Social Justice
Seventh Grade
Compass Points is a curriculum that helps youth to better understand themselves as Unitarian Universalists. The curriculum is divided into four sections. Traveling North looks at concepts of belief and authority; this “opens up the diversity of UU belief and how it is formed.” Traveling East “ponders issues of transition, dying and living.” Traveling South is “an active look at Unitarian and Universalist history and polity which emphasizes the ongoing struggle for religious freedom.” And Traveling West “looks at how we, as Unitarian Universalists, act in the world and what the consequences of our actions are.” These sound like weighty lessons, but they are approached with activities that are sensitive to the developmental needs of middle schoolers and multiple styles of learning.
Caring For the Earth
6th - 8th Grades (Sunday at 11)
Caring for the Earth is an experiential class reinforcing UU spiritual connections to the environment. We’ll look at how we, as UUs, can have a positive effect on our natural resources by living up to our principles that call us to respect them. We’ll also investigate a broad array of environmental issues that affect us every day, engage in some low-impact, outdoor adventures, and simply go outside and play! Frequent field trips will require flexibility with the class schedule and parent volunteers.
Mind, Body & Soul
Eighth Grade
Mind, Body & Soul
Eighth Grade
Mind, Body & Soul is the merging together of two excellent curricula: Our Whole Lives and Love U2. In this class, youth explore issues related to relationships and sexuality. They learn to know themselves and their hopes better, to communicate with others, and to define their boundaries.
This class offers much more than a typical school health class by focusing on gender differences, emotional needs, stages of intimacy, gender orientation, sexual arousal patterns, sexually transmitted diseases, and pregnancy
options.
Our goal is to create a safe community of youth and adults where teens can honestly discuss sensitive issues that profoundly affect them – mind, body & soul. Regular attendance at this class is imperative to create and sustain a trusting bond and to most benefit from the lessons. A Parent Orientation will be held prior to the class.
Regular attendance at this class is imperative to create and sustain a trusting bond and to most benefit from the lessons! A Parent Orientation will be held prior to the class starting.
Coming of Age
Ninth Grade (Sundays) Ninth and Tenth Grades (Saturdays)
Coming of Age is a program, a passage, and a pilgrimage. It is the culmination of our CRE program, and is the most significant rite of passage we offer to our youth, celebrating their passage from childhood to youth.
During the year, youth will strive to define who they are and what they believe. They will grapple with some of the Big Questions in life: Is there a God? What happens after we die? What is faith? Why do bad things happen? What does it mean to live our UU principles?
Youth will meet regularly with a Council of Elders who will help them explore and define their own beliefs. Each youth works on the development of a personal faith statement and is involved in creating the Coming of Age worship service at the end of the year. In June, participants and their teachers will attend the UUA’s General Assembly, in Minneapolis, MN (attendance is highly encouraged but not required).
Participation in Coming of Age involves a significant commitment from parents and youth. In addition to requiring a commitment to regular attendance, the youth also participate in two weekend retreats (in the Fall and Spring), at least one service project, fundraising for their end-of-year trip, and several rituals and celebrations that fall outside of the usual class time. A meeting will be held with parents and youth to explain the class and the level of commitment needed to make it a truly meaningful experience.
Participation in Coming of Age involves a significant commitment from parents and youth. The youth spend time in class, in service projects, at overnight retreats, and in fund-raising activities to help defray the costs of the end-of-year trip. The estimated cost for the end-of-the-year trip is between $450 and $650. Scholarships are available.
Important Dates for 2009-10
- May 24 - August 30 Summer Fun (4-9 year olds) and Summer Fun2 (10-13 year olds) at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.worship services
- August 15 Teacher Orientation, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- September 5 & 6 Water Communion services for all ages
- September 12 & 13 CRE Program begins
- October 3 & 4 Child Dedications
- October 24 & 25 Halloween Parade during services
- October 24 Sally Patton workshop for lay leaders and teachers: Radical Hospitality: Welcoming All Children into Our Faith Communities
- November 7 Daylight Savings
- November 8 FUS Annual Art Fair
- November 28 & 29 Thanksgiving Services for alll ages. No CRE Classes
- December 6 Holiday Decorating Party at 1:00 p.m.
- December 13 SmALL Music Sunday at 10 a.m., Landmark Auditorium; No CRE Classes
- December 19 Solstice Service at 4:30 p.m.
- December 24 Christmas Eve Services:
- 3 p.m. Away in the Manger Service (for children under 5)
- 7 p.m. Family Christmas Eve Service - December 26 No Worship Service or CRE Classes
- December 27 N0 CRE CLASSES; multi-age activities for children age 4 to 3rd grade; service in Landmark Auditorium
- January 2 & 3 No CRE Classes; multi-age activities for children age 4 to 3rd grade
- January 9 & 10 Child Dedications
- January 23 & 24 Banner Parade
- January 30 Teacher In-Service, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
- March 20 & 21 Child Dedications
- April 3 No Saturday Service or CRE Classes (Easter weekend)
- April 4 NO CRE CLASSES; Easter Family Service at 9 a.m. in the Landmark Auditorium; Easter Egg Hunt at 10:15 a.m.
- May 15 & 16 Last Weekend of CRE Classes, Flower Communion Service
