All Hallow's Eve Party Sunday 10:30 -11:30 AM

It's that time again! Dangerous Dangling Doughnuts returns at our annual All Hallow's Eve party this Sunday. The children in grades preK-6 will be at Waters House and rotate thru party stations. They are welcome to come in costume. There will be snacks and crafts, stories and education. At the end, the children will parade over to the Great Hall and meet parents there.

As I have already written about here, as a liberal religion, we are very deliberate about how we celebrate and share together in celebration. Halloween is a cultural holiday in the United States. As part of RE and our party, children will have the opportunity to learn about trick or treating for UNICEF. They'll also learn about fair trade chocolate.

As I've written around this holiday.........

In pagan celebrations going back many, many years, Halloween, Samhain to the Celts, is an agricultural festival. It is a time when the veil between the living and dead is the thinnest. It is a time to honor our ancestors. Making an Ancestor Altar would be both appropriate to this holiday and important in acknowledging and discussing these big questions about life and death. We are all here only because of those who have come before us. An excellent resource on this holiday and other that I have found is Waverly Fitzgerald's, e-magazine, Living in Season.

Enjoy your special celebrations!

Religious Education October 14 and 21

SEVENTH PRINCIPLE PROJECT: COMPOSTING: Religious Education can be a messy endeavor! Sunday October 14 and October 21,  preK thru grade 4 will help build a composting system for FUSS! We will be outside, so please have children dressed for the weather. They will be building and learning about composting as well. They are being led in this project by Gary Feinland and FUSS Master Composters: Nancy Benz, Nancy Peterson and Robin Schnell. This is a combined effort on the part of RE, Buildings  and Grounds, and Green Sanctuary.

RIDDLE and MYSTERY: Grades 5/6 will continue their exploration of "big" questions while they begin filming in their newly created "news studio."

POPCORN THEOLOGY: 10:30 -11:45 AM. Over the next two Sundays Grades 7/8 will watch the movie, Bruce, the Almighty, and have a chance to think about and discus prayer and "Who has the power?"

SENIOR YOUTH: Grades 9 -12 meet in the senior youth lounge.

Sacred Land at Cohoes Falls Returned to Iroquois

Today's local paper, the Times Union, has  piece on the sacred land at Cohoes Falls where the world's oldest united nations began. This is a story some of our children at FUSS learned in RE and a site they visited last June. It is part of the story of the Peacemaker.

THIS SATURDAY, October 6, you can be part of the RETURN of this sacred land to the Iroquois by Brookfield Renewable Energy Company!

• At 10 AM you can hear a traditional Thanksgiving Address

• At 10:15AM hear the story of the Mohawks in Cohoes by Akwesasne Mohawk Doug George Kanentiio.

And more!

Its all at Cohoes Music Hall, 58 Remsen St, Cohoes, NY 12047

Check out the Hiawatha Institute for Indigenous Knowledge for more info.

Compost Happens at FUSS!

Starting this Sunday, Master Composters from FUSS will lead a three- week project with our PreK thru 4th graders. The children will learn about and BUILD a composting system for FUSS. The compost bins will be built near the parking lot. Classroom teachers will be there to assist and other adults are welcome. Compost building days are Sunday: September 30, October 14 and October 21. Please have your child dress for the weather. We will be outside.

Today is the United Nations International Day of Peace

Watch live streaming video from peacedaytv at livestream.com

RE starts September 16

Our full RE schedule starts tomorrow! Everyone begins in the Great Hall. We will have a teacher dedication and then senior youth, 7th&8th grade OWL, and 5th &6th grade go to their classes and meeting rooms.

Grades preK thru 4 will celebrate International Day of Peace, together, in the dining room. We gather outside to rededicate our Peace Pole and finish with a healthy snack.

Parents of 7th and 8th graders can attend a parent orientation for Our Whole Lives (OWL) beginning at 12 noon in Waters House. Pizza and salad will be served.

Senior youth interested in the trip to Guatemala should plan to attend the informational session with a parent. Meeting will be held in the Emerson room.

Fall 2012 Religious Education programs for children and youth

Religious Education programs start September 16 !
 


Creating Home: Pre K/ Kindergarten (ages 4 -6)
In Creating Home children explore the deep sense of sacredness, the beauty of hospitality, and the gift of loving relationships that a home can represent. As they actively explore the concept of home, they create a community home in their meeting space. They learn to identify their Unitarian Universalist congregation as a home. The program introduces children to Unitarian Universalist heritage, including rituals, songs, and traditions of our faith, and stories about Unitarian Universalists whose words, songs, and deeds have helped to shape the faith home that participants share. You can view the full curriculum here.

 Keepers of the Earth: Grades 1 and 2 (6 to 8 year olds) 
Keepers of the Earth is a Unitarian Universalist religious education program that comes from a curriculum of stories and environmental activities created by local Native American storyteller Joesph Bruchac and Michael Caduto. Keepers of the Earth allows children to explore spirituality in the natural world. Children will spend part of each class time outdoors (unless there is severe weather) and should come dressed to explore outside.

Toolbox of Faith: Grades 3 and 4 (8-10 year olds)
Toolbox of Faith invites third and fourth- grade participants to reflect on the qualities of our Unitarian Universalist faith. Qualities such as such as integrity, courage, and love, are tools they can use in living their lives and building their own faith. Each session uses a tool as a metaphor for an important quality of our faith such as reflection (symbolized by a mirror), flexibility (duct tape), and justice (a flashlight). You can view the full curriculum here.

Riddle and Mystery: Grade 5 and 6 (10-12 year olds)
The goal of Riddle and Mystery is to assist fifth and sixth- graders in their own search for understanding. Riddle and Mystery aims to teach participants to accept, appreciate and celebrate mystery, ambiguity and contradiction as part of human life and the starting points of religion. Together with their adult leaders, the class will create their own news studio and videotape and edit a news show. Their time together will involve both concrete and abstract work as they create the set, learn to use equipment, and consider the importance of questioning thought to Unitarian Universalist faith and its value in personal and communal life. You can view the full curriculum here.

    Our Whole Lives for grades 5 and 6 : Winter of 2013. There will be an 8-week Our Whole Lives (OWL) program offered to the class as part of our FUSS RE vision of fostering healthy community by teaching sexual health together with ethical values. A parent orientation is required and there will be an information session in the late fall/early winter.

Our Whole Lives (OWL): Grades 7 and 8 (12-14 year olds)
OWL is a year -long healthy sexuality program offered by trained facilitators from our  FUSS community. OWL offers positive, comprehensive, and age-appropriate sexual educational programming. This program fosters the development of sexual health and ethical values as it nurtures the worth and dignity of all participants.  It fosters equitable, healthy relationships through values-clarification activities, teaching communication and decision-making skills.  Children are encouraged to value themselves and act on their values throughout their whole lives.

This class REQUIRES a parent orientation and signed parental consent. There will be a schedule set by the advisors and handed out at the parent orientation. Because of the nature of the class, drop-ins are not allowed. There will be Sundays when OWL is not offered and the class will engage in other activities that are welcoming to drop-ins.

Senior Youth Group: for grades 9 to 12 (14-18 year olds)
Our youth group meets each Sunday morning beginning at 10:30 AM in the Youth Lounge (the basement of the main building).  Our youth group is open to the youth of our congregation and their friends. Our advisors work in collaboration with the youth; all working toward empowering the group to be youth-led and directed. Youth group focuses on five components: social action/justice, worship, activities and fellowship, learning, and leadership opportunity. Members may also participate in district and continental events, including District Youth Conferences (Cons) and the Youth Caucus at General Assembly. Cons are held throughout the year at various UU congregations throughout our district. These weekend youth retreats offer opportunities for friendship and spiritual reflection in addition to workshops, worship, dances, shared meals and communal living.