What We Offer

Worship and Music
Summer Services
Programs for Children and Youth
Adult Religious Education
Upcoming Special Events
Community Outreach
Ministry and Pastoral Care
Covenant Circles
Other Groups and Activities

Sunday School Curricula for 2010-2011

We have chosen a variety of engaging and educational curricula for each age group in our Sunday school program.

Nursery (Six months thru 3 years)

This is an important place, for it is here that our children have their first important experiences within our church. It is staffed and equipped to be a warm, welcoming, and secure place away from home.

Preschool

Children will be given the opportunity to learn about their religious community and tradition, as well as the freedom to discover and express their uniqueness with the curriculum “We are Many, We are One”. Each session is full of games, stories, and activities to stimulate their imaginations and introduce them to the ideals we UU's hold dear.
In addition, every second Sunday of the month, our preschoolers will be making cards for Meals on Wheels.

Kindergarten–Grade 1

Around the Church, Around the Year is a curriculum about our UU community- its people, buildings, and rituals. By the end of this program, our children will know much more about the physical and social life of the church, have the beginnings of an overall understanding of our faith, and have explored their feelings about themselves and their relationship to our religious community.
In addition, every second Sunday of the month, our K-1 students will be making homemade toys and art supplies to donate to the Center for Prevention of Abuse.

Grades 2–3

The curriculum, Free to Believe, explores our UU principles through hands-on activities, stories, games, songs, and discussions. It also explores the answers offered by UU sources to big questions about life and death, spirit and God, and the beginnings of the world and life.
In addition, every second Sunday of the month, our 2nd-3rd graders will be making blankets to donate to Project Linus.

Grades 4–5

Our curriculum for the year is called We Believe. This curriculum focuses on learning and living our UU principles. The program uses the praxis model of education to introduce each UU principle in a creative and fun way and uses art, games, songs, skits, and discussions to help the children internalize each principle and reflect on how they can live as Unitarian Universalists in our world.
In addition, every second Sunday of the month, our 4th-5th graders will be cooking and serving meals with “Food Not Bombs” at the Peoria Connections Day Shelter.

Junior High

The first curriculum that our junior youth will be exploring is Messages in Music, which explores the seven UU Principles and sources from which they evolved in our UU history. The program is divided into two parts. Part One explores the UU principles primarily through the music and images of contemporary North American culture, culminating in a music project developed by the participants. Part Two examines the sources of the UU living tradition through learning activities, service, and culminating in a congregational worship experience.
The second of the two junior high curricula for this year is entitled Race for Justice. The ultimate goal of this program is to work toward eliminating racism, “beginning with ourselves as we are.” It rests on a foundation of affirming the worth and dignity of the participants and encouraging them to affirm the same in others within the group and beyond. Race to Justice celebrates human diversity – racial, ethnic, cultural, and familial – as a positive, enriching fact of life.
In addition, our junior high students will be choosing a charitable project to engage in on every second Sunday of the month.

High School Youth Group

This year the high school group will be choosing their own curricula and working on creating their own personal spiritual credos. This year we also plan to include a variety of activities to enrich our UU youths' experience of our faith. In addition, our high school students will be helping host a district youth conference in the fall and choosing charitable and/or social action projects to engage in throughout the year..