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What’s Up in Religious Education This Sunday
Here’s what going on this week!
Preschool: Preschoolers will join Carla and share all the things that makes their families special. Kindergarten—1st Grade—Learn about the history of the well-loved Unitarian Universalist tradition of the Flower Communion. You can access the complete lesson here http://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/children/lovesurrounds/session7/index.shtml 2nd-3rd Grade—Will discuss how giving time and love is more important than giving material objects. You can access the complete lesson here http://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/children/loveguide/session7/index.shtml 4th-5th Grade—Will explore the old favorite story Stone Soup!
6th –7th Grade—will explore our 3rd UU Principle in music Coming of Age—will begin practicing how to articulate their UU faith by working on developing an “elevator speech.”
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News and Other Stuff
Reservation 101Misison Trip Fundraiser, January 28, 6-8 PM in Parish Hall. Native Elder Winnie Shirley and Cheryl Marzec present about Hopi Culture, history and the work our fellow UUs on the reservation. Dinner will be served. Proceeds support Mission Trip. Tickets on sale in Parish Garden at RE table. Cost $20 per person/$50 for family of 3 or more. Coming of Age Wizard of Oz Sleepover is next weekend, 1/28-29. Contact LeeAnn for details. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Santa Barbara Children's Chorus, who you may know is partnered with USSB to bring music classes to our RE children, has offered up 6 spots in their upcoming Spring Session at no charge to our RE families - a savings of over $200! Classes, which are held on Mondays from 4-6pm in Parish Hall and will run for 15 weeks, will start on Monday the 23rd. Normally, the Chorus offers classes at a 50% discount off their regular rate to USSB member families but for this Session, they have offered up 6 spots at no charge for any RE students ages 8-14 who are interested in attending the program. This session, the Chorus will be performing as part of our Earth Day celebration and I understand that they have a number of other exciting events that they will be participating in. I highly recommend you take advantage of this.
Because of the impending start date and limited space, I wanted to get this email out to you to let you know right away. If you would like more information, or are interested in registering for the program, please email Paul Freeman at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 805-845-6376. Sunday is the Last Day to Sign up for Secret Pals. Parents if you would like your child to participate in the Secret Pals program during Feb. please stop by the RE table and have your child complete a request form on Sunday. Adults, if you would like to be a secret pal, stop by and complete a form as well. Congregation Variety Show & Potluck “The Love Boat” Feb 11. We celebrate the season of love with a nautical theme. Do you have a particular talent you’d like to share? Contact Ken Ralph, or Kate Gallup It’s all fun & free & a great way to get to know each other better. Stop by our table during community hour to sign up & select your potluck category.
USSB Social Media Help Desk: Learn & Grow - find out what's going on with “Occupy” and how they (and you) can connect with social media (Facebook, Twitter etc.). Thursdays 5-6 PM, Parish Hall.
An At-Home Activity to Reinforce our UU Values – “Change is Needed for Growth”: (from Nurturing Spirituality in Children by Peggy Joy Jenkins) This lesson is especially useful when a child is facing a challenge or a risk, perhaps like joining scouts or a soccer team, going away to camp, staying overnight with a friend for the first time, or entering a new school. Materials: A real houseplant that has become bound by its roots in its current pot and needs transplanting. If a rootbound plant is not available, use a tiny clay flowerpot or a small cardboard transplanting pot, a large tangled mass of string stuffed into the pot, and an artificial flower to be inserted into the string mass. Lesson: If you don’t use a houseplant, explain that the mass of string represents the roots of the flower. “Roots need a lot of soil to grow in, but these roots have grown so that there is hardly room for any soil. We need to remove the plant from the old pot and put it into a larger one, or the plant will always be limited in size.” Explain that people are just like the plant, and at times we, too, need more room to grow. Compare the pot to the children’s old ways of thinking about themselves. The old pot, or the old ways, can be so comfortable that sometimes we need to push ourselves out of our “comfort zone.” If not, our growth will become stunted, just as the plant’s growth is stunted when it’s in a container that’s too small for it. The old pot met the needs of the plant at one time and was good for the plant. Now that the plant has grown, a change is necessary so it can continue its growth. Discuss how, in order to grow and become all that they can be, children must change their old ideas about themselves. Help them see change as a means of “becoming,” and use examples like an acorn breaking apart to sprout a new tree or a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. Suggested affirmation: I welcome change in my life because it helps me grow. This Week in UU History: (From This Day in Unitarian Universalist History, by Frank Schulman) January 16, 1826: The idea of creating a Boston Sunday School Society was proposed at a teacher’s meeting of the Franklin Sabbath School, organized by Josiah Flagg. Joseph Tuckerman was chosen as the first president. In 1832, the Society changed its name to the Sunday School Society, and it became the Unitarian Sunday School Society in 1858. The Society coordinated the development of hundreds of Sunday school books and teacher-training conferences until 1912, when the Department of Religious Education of the American Unitarian Association took over most of its responsibilities. January 17, 1827: The Nonconformist Club in London, composed chiefly of Unitarians, resolved to work for repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, which restricted the civil liberties of Dissenters. January 18, 1778: Joseph Tuckerman was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Educated at Harvard University, he became a minister in Chelsea, Massachusetts, in 1801. Tuckerman was the first president of the Boston Sunday School Society, the forerunner of the Unitarian Sunday School Society. He was concerned about the growing poverty in Boston and, under the tutelage of Henry Ware, became the first Unitarian minister-at-large to assist the needy. In 1834, he founded the Benevolent Fraternity of Unitarian Churches in Boston, which became a major influence on the development of professional social work and a model for other ministers and organizations in the United States and England who wanted to address urban poverty. Joseph Tuckerman died on April 20, 1840. January 18, 1782: Daniel Webster was born in Salisbury, New Hampshire. He was a Unitarian lawyer and political leader best known for using his powerful oratorical skills to promote moderate federal unity when the divisions over slavery were growing extreme. He opposed the War or 1812 and, as a member of Congress from New Hampshire, refused to vote for taxes to support the war. Webster moved to Boston and became a leading constitutional lawyer, and eventually a U.S. congressman and then senator representing Massachusetts. As a senator, he opposed the annexation of Texas. Webster also ran for president on the Whig Party and served as secretary of state under William Henry Harrison, John Tyler and Millard Fillmore. He supported the Compromise of 1850, allowing slavery where it existed but not in new states. Daniel Webster died on October 24, 1852. See you all Sunday! LeeAnn
LeeAnn Williams Director of Lifespan Religious Education Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara 1535 Santa Barbara St. Santa Barbara, CA 93101 Phone: 805-965-4583 x 229 Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Office Hours: Sunday--Thursday, 9-4.
I normally respond to email messages within three workdays, Monday through Thursday. |
