Youth Religious Education Lesson Descriptions

October 18th at 10:15am

PreK & Kindergarten – The Rainbow Connection
Butterfly House
In this gentle and inspiring lesson, children will hear Butterfly House by Eve Bunting and learn about the life cycle of a butterfly and the importance of caring for living things. As they follow the story of a girl who protects a caterpillar and later releases the butterfly back into nature, children will explore themes of kindness, responsibility, and letting living creatures thrive in their natural homes.

1st & 2nd Grade – Faithful Journeys and Moral Tales (and Lego Values too)
Transformation (Lego lesson)
This week, we will explore how small changes can make a big difference! Through the story Harlem Grown by Tony Hillery, children will discover how a neglected empty lot became a thriving community garden through teamwork and determination. Using LEGOs and Play-Doh, they will explore transformation through creativity and imagination while learning that we all have the power to help change our world for the better. 

3rd & 4th Grade – Timeless Stories: Exploring the Bible Through a UU Lens
Sodom and Gomorrah
Children hear the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and explore what happens when a community becomes cruel, unjust, and unwilling to protect vulnerable people. They learn how Abraham courageously questions whether innocent people should suffer alongside those who have caused harm. Through several activities, children consider the importance of hospitality, fairness, moral courage, and creating communities where everyone is treated with dignity. 

5th & 6th Grade – Toolbox of Faith
Justice (Flashlight)
The flashlight symbolizes the light of truth and the light in each of us. The group will consider the nobility as well as the difficulties of seeking justice. Reflections may include the overwhelming nature of the sacrifice when one seeks to work for justice and the difficulty of balancing local and global concerns.

7th & 8th Grade – Neighboring Justice: An Interactive Social Justice Program
Who Gets Punished?
Youth move from familiar school consequences into the juvenile and criminal legal systems. Through an unequal-choice activity, current juvenile justice data, history, and multimedia, youth examine how race, poverty, and other circumstances can affect who enters the justice system and what happens once they are there. Youth are challenged to distinguish individual responsibility from systemic inequality.

High School Youth Group
Our Year, Our Youth Group
Youth brainstorm what they want from HSYG this year and identify discussions, activities, projects, outings, and justice work they would actually like to do.