Prairie Circle Unitarian Universalist Congregation
Children's Religious Education, 2022-2023
The PCUUC RE Program provides a weekly religious education experience that takes place in a safe environment. We recognize each child as special and worthy of respect and dignity. We support each child in their individual spiritual journey through the use of Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) resources such as books, singing, art, and discussion.
This year our Religious Education program will be using the Soul Matters curricula. Soul Matters was built around the idea of bringing coherence to church life.
Our monthly Soul Matters themes will allow us to tie together RE and church life. This will allow what we learn in service to flow into our children's RE lessons, and what we learn in our RE lessons will set up a flow into their home life. We are excited to continue Soul Matters monthly themes for the 2022-2023 church year.
Our RE classes will take place on Sunday mornings after the Story for All Ages (approximately 9:30am) and will end at 10:30am.
Our Adolescent class will take place on Tuesday evenings at 7pm via Zoom.
For more information, contact Director of RE Jennifer Weigand Dre@prairiecircleuuc.org.
Nursery
Director of Religious Education
As the Director of Religious Education since March 2015, Jennifer Weigand is responsible for all facets of PCUUC’s Sunday morning Religious Education (RE) program for children. Look for Jennifer in the classroom during RE or up in front of the barn as she reads the Story for all Ages. She is always working to ensure the children and families experience excellent RE while continually building bridges within our multi-generational church community.
Jennifer brings 14 years of experience from the Children’s Learning Center at the College of Lake County where she was a classroom teacher. She has a degree in early childhood education and lives in Fox Lake with her two children, Kyla and Ashlyn. She has volunteered as a portrait photographer at the Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago. She is certified in CPR and first aid.
Primary RE Teacher
Samantha grew up attending Sunday school in Christian churches, and her paternal grandfather was a pastor. He always spoke of how children are blessings. Sam volunteered in the children's ministry as a teenager, preferring to work with the kids and learn more than sitting though the sermon. Sam competed in swimming for over 10 years and taught lessons at 13. After graduating from high school, she coached for a bit while attending McHenry Community College and the University of Wisconsin. Currently, Sam is a caregiver during the week and loves the opportunity to work with the kids on Sundays.
Curriculum -- SOUL MATTERS -- Sundays at 9am
Jennifer Weigand, DRE, and Sam Smith, RE Teacher, will lead our lessons for 5 yrs. old and older. Younger children may participate along with a parent to help facilitate.
Supply bags will be for each family registered that will be used in lessons each month and delivered to your porch. The online lessons includes: short, active, experiential small group activities to build relationships and remain engaging. We understand children are already spending a lot of time online getting information handed to them, so RE will be leaning on 4 strategies to ensure compelling online interactive experiences:
● Simultaneous creation (i.e. online creative projects one can do on the screen with others)
● Science experiment-based lessons
● Treasure hunt approaches
● “Find ‘N Show” type approaches
And, of course, we will keep hunting for games that work well online. After all, spirituality without fun and silliness is, well, no fun at all!
The monthly themes for 2022-2023 are:
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September – Belonging
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October – Courage
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November – Change
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December – Wonder
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January – Finding our Center
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February – Love
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March – Vulnerability
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April – Resistance
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May – Creativity
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June – Delight
Linda Bowser is our primary Nursery Caretaker. She has been at PCUUC since 2014 and in the industry for over 20 years. Once kids turn 3, they move to the Pre-primary class.
On the Sundays we meet in person (i.e., all except the second Sunday of the month), the Nursery is available starting at 8:45am in the Charter School.