Pre-school 1 (3 year olds): Celebrating Me and My World.

A spiritual guide to the immediate world surrounding our youngest class.  Includes celebration of all bodies, all families, various holy days, and our UU congregation.

Pre-school 2 (4 year olds): We Are Many, We Are One

An introduction for young UU kids to Unitarian Universalism, the Seven Principles, our UU Society, its people, program and building. A celebration of ourselves, the people and world around us -- all of whom welcome pre-schoolers into the RE program.  This is a community-building curriculum.

Kindergarten:  Walking the Rainbow Path

Five year olds are full of life’s most significant questions.  This curriculum offers various possible answers (great for parents working on their own strategies) and grounds them in our UU values and culture.  Rich crafts and community building accompany this wealth of guided discussion.

First Grade:  We Believe:  Learning and Living our UU Principles and UU Superheroes

Our first graders explore what it means to be young Unitarian Universalists.  Through creativity, games, stories and crafts, We Believe helps our young UU kids build an understanding and an ability to articulate what it is that Unitarian Universalists believe.  UU Superheroes introduces great forebears – often well known in US or Canadian culture --who have made a better world by living our faith.

Second Grade: Roots and Branches

As North Americans we are heirs to a rich and varied heritage of customs, traditions, foods, games, songs and stories. By exploring this heritage our second graders celebrate the contributions of many ethnic groups to our common culture. As in many of our RE programs, the children learn that similarities of people are greater than their differences.

Third Grade: Holidays and Holy Days

Our third graders learn how other people think about God, prayer and the right ways to live. By studying the origins and meanings of the holidays and holy days of various cultures, and then by celebrating them on Sunday mornings with art, song, dance and feast, the children of the third grade affirm their own Unitarian Universalist beliefs and the concept that under the sun all people are one.

Fourth Grade: Bible Stories

The fourth grade year is an introduction to the Bible stories that peers from more traditional Jewish and Christian religions are familiar with. Through dramatization, art, games, role-playing and hands-on use, the children come to know the Hebrew and Christian scriptures of the Bible. They discuss the messages of the scriptures to traditional religions and compare those to the messages we affirm in our UUA Principles.

Fifth Grade: Community Connections

Fifth graders are becoming new selves.  This combination of classes, guest speakers and service projects helps fifth graders weigh the value of serving others and contemplate the interconnected and interdependent web of all existence.   Through small group activities and conversations they start to articulate their views of the human potential to help or hurt our universe.

Sixth Grade: The Boston Trip Year and Traditions with a Wink

First UU students cap off the elementary school years with a trip to visit our North American beginnings in Boston.  Parents the youth raise their own funds, so some class days are project oriented.  In preparation, the students use “Traditions with a Wink” to learn more about our Unitarian and Universalist beliefs and forebears.

This year’s trip is the weekend of May 13.

Seventh and Eighth Grades: Neighboring Faiths

In keeping with all of the Unitarian Universalist Principles, especially the free and responsible search for truth and meaning, this program actively engages young people in exploring the religious traditions in our community. Leaders and participants together plan their program, determining which religious groups they want to learn about, visit and relate to their growing Unitarian Universalist faith. Each unit clusters religious faiths around a specific religious element. The first and final units focus on our UU Principles and the UU sources, respectively.

This class gathers in the sanctuary at 10:30 and walks to an offsite class location rented from Community College of Vermont.  Permission slips are required for the outings, which often occur at times other than Sunday morning.

Our Whole Lives “OWL” (7-9th grade curriculum, next offered in 2006-07)

OWL is based on the philosophy of comprehensive sexuality education, which helps participants make informed and responsible decisions about their sexual health and behavior.  It articulates liberal spiritual values which can equip youth with accurate information in human development, relationships, personal skills, sexual behavior, sexual health, and society and culture.  Grounded in a holistic view of sexuality, OWL provides not only the facts about anatomy and human development, but also helps youth to clarify their values, build interpersonal skills and understand the spiritual, emotional, social, and political aspects of sexuality as well.

OWL courses are lead by adults who have been specifically trained for this curriculum and require parental permission to participate.

Ninth and Tenth Grades Coming of Age (next offered 2006-2007)

Our Coming of Age (CoA) program is designed to recognize adolescence as an important time of transition in the lives of our young people. Membership in the CoA program includes participation in the Neighboring Faiths curriculum and the Our Whole Lives (OWL) program. The program culminates with each member creating her/his own credo statement with the support of an adult member of our congregation. All young people completing the Coming of Age program are eligible for membership of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington, VT.

Young Religious Unitarian Universalists (YRUU): Our Youth Group

A Sunday morning program developed for and with our senior high youth to gain a more personal understanding of our seven Unitarian Universalist Principles, and the youth's own values and sense of self-worth. During these very important years in our young UU's lives, a stronger emphasis is placed on becoming participating members of our adult community through attendance of Sunday services and social action projects.   In 2005 the Annual Meeting voted to fund a youth advisor, so the YUUTs are now led by Hillary Collins-Gilpatrick as well as adult volunteers.