DIY Religious Education lesson

by | Mar 16, 2020 | Children Programs, Children's Curriculum, News (home), Religious Ed News

Dear Families, 

Here is a DIY Religious Education lesson from a colleague Andrew Coate! If children complete all seven, they will earn an embroidered badge!!

To ensure folks have adequate resources, are feeling safe, and to see what type of support you’d like from us, from digital worship video, Hangouts for your children/ youth, activity kits, and book bundles, please let us know! Huge shout out to Krista Mendelsohn, Kendall Lynch, and Tim Holmes for helping me reach out to all families

The story on Sunday involves a family making a bird feeder at home! Laurie Lemson and I are going to put some kits together on Wednesday morning, and folks are welcome to pick up bird feeders from the church on Wednesday afternoon!  Please be in touch.

Lastly, I’d love for the UU Ventura Parenting Group to be a space you can ask for help. If you need supplies, someone to watch your kids, if someone falls ill and you need support, or if you just need to vent, I am here for you. We are here for you!  

Armfuls of love,
Emily, Director of Religious Education 
Pronouns: She/ her/ hers

Every Person Is Important

by | Mar 15, 2020 | Children Programs, Children's Curriculum, News (home), Religious Ed News

Our First Principle 

There are 7 principles in Unitarian Universalism. Our first principle is “Every Person is Important.”  Read or listen to Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña and then complete two of these three challenges. 

Challenge 1: CJ and his grandmother travel from their church to a soup kitchen where they help out. There are a lot of different places and ways you can help out, too. Think of a way you could help out or volunteer and then draw a picture of that activity. Examples might be donating clothes, writing letters to lawmakers, or helping fix up a trail you like to hike on with your family. Have your parents send me a picture of your art! 

Challenge 2: While they’re traveling CJ and his grandmother are on the bus they travel down familiar streets across their city. Use Google Maps Street View to take a virtual walk around the neighborhood. Then pick somewhere else far away. It may be a city in another country you don’t know anything about or an address near a faraway friend. Take a virtual walk around that neighborhood and talk about what it might be like to live there. What is similar to your neighborhood? What is different? 

Challenge 3: At first CJ is bored on the bus, but then he starts noticing the people around him on the bus. Call a friend and ask them how they are doing. Maybe make plans to talk again soon or try playing a game together on the computer or via video chat. 

 

Which challenges did you complete? 

Masks, Music & Justice

by | Aug 27, 2019 | Children Programs, News (home), Religious Ed News

Masks, Music and Justice Making in Children’s Religious Education this Summer

NEWS from Religious Education • Emily Carroll, DRE – July, 2019

As our main curricula finish, and most of our team of amazing volunteer teachers takes a time of rest, we turn toward the playful spirit of summer! Our mission is family ministry that develops wisdom and resilience with UU values and action, builds relationships across the ages, and serves by learning and building connections within the congregation and beyond!

We are delighted to offer two activities on any given Sunday in addition to our nursery class. For the first half of the summer Joyce Lombard will be leading a fabulous mask-making project where kids will form masks to their faces using wet plaster gauze! After painting and decorating, masks will be displayed in the Green Room Gallery! For the younger kids, we’ll have a Music and Principles curriculum where musician guests from the congregation will share their instruments with the kids as we uphold our 7 UU principles with story, craft, and song!

Part two of the summer starts July 28 with activities around reading “Magical Monkey King: Mischief in Heaven” about the Chinese trickster God who gets away with lots of mischief! It’s about taming the monkey mind and learning the meaning of kindness. We’ll create shadow puppets to act out the story as we go!

The other option for the second half of summer is to be part of a Growing Young Justice Makers curriculum for children and youth to understand the complexities of conversations on race, participate in service projects, identify and heed the voice of their conscience, and ground their justice work in UU values.

We are also over the moon excited for the second annual Peace Camp at UU Ventura which is in early August! It is a weeklong day camp for K-8th grade that uses a musical curriculum to teach peacemaking, conflict resolution, and social justice, including three field trips! Register at: tinyurl.com/y2xlxh3u

Wishing everyone a lovely change of pace as the season turns, and from a book I try to read every summer: “Bees do have a smell, you know, and if they don’t they should, for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers.” Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine

Three Cheers for Summer,
Emily Carroll, Director of Religious Education emily@uuventura.org

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by | Feb 16, 2019 | Children Programs, Youth Group

 

Unitarian Family Fun Events!

Ventura, CA
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We are a congregation boldly growing compassion, justice, and joy in the world! Our religious education program for kids is about nurturing family ministry that teaches wisdom…

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News from Religious Education

by | Feb 14, 2019 | Children Programs, Children's Curriculum

Dear UUCV Community,

This month we explore what it means to be a people of trust, and one way we do that is by creating covenant. Every congregation has covenanted to “affirm and promote” our 7 Principles and at the end of that statement, it continues ”As free congregations we enter into this covenant, promising to one another our mutual trust and support.” That is a beautiful north star or guide post as we interact with each other, and yet we fall short!

Despite the horror of God deciding to destroy most life with a flood in the story of Noah, there is a beautiful mention of promises I’d like to lift up from the Bible: “And as a sign of my covenant with you I will put a rainbow in the clouds. And every time you see a rainbow it will remind you of our covenant to create and preserve life.”Genesis 9:12-13

So in this rainy season when I’ve already seen several rainbows, I invite you to consider the north stars of your own life and remember what guides you. We are here to support each other, love each other, and bring out the best in each other in community, as we are a people who crave love, connection, and belonging.

May we remember and trust that change is possible, and love each other tenderly as we work to change the world. In the words of Katie Covey, “When trust is broken, we are wounded, and wounds leave scars… Sometimes, our own Unitarian Universalist denomination betrayed the trust of Unitarian Universalist people of color… Right now, by telling stories and understanding racism, we are trying to take steps to create the trust we wish we had.”

Armfuls of love,

Emily Carroll

Director of Religious Education

emily@uuventura.org

Nursery and Toddler Care

by | Nov 27, 2018 | Children Programs

Playroom

Tender, loving, and interactive care for infants and children under age four is provided by trained, professional caregivers 15 minutes prior to the service, during worship, and during social hour from 9:45-11:45 in our Nursery  from 9:45-11:15 and outdoor playground from 11:15-11:45.

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