Oct. 9: Principle 4, Chalice, Investigating

This week was all about exploration. The K-2nd and 3rd-6th graders continued their exploration of the seven principles with Principle 4: a free and responsible search for truth and meaning; the preschoolers continued their exploration of chalices and the fellowship; and the toddlers explored their room as detectives, looking for hidden objects.

The 3rd-6th grade class started with joys and concerns. Then Larry told them about a founding Unitarian and his encouragement of a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Larry explained that the “free” part makes it sound like Unitarians can believe whatever they want and do whatever they want – and they can, but “responsibly.” There needs to be careful consideration to arrive at truth and meaning. After this discussion, the kids acted out skits. Two would act it out and the rest would guess. The lesson concluded with a discussion of the Children’s Conversation and the brief return of Lorenzo, Larry’s misguided twin.

The K-2nd grade class started with joys and concerns and their 7 Principles song. Then Molly honed in on the lesson for the day by asking them to define truth. Leah said it was “not lying” and then Ronan helped clarify by adding, “saying what actually happened.” After these definitions of the truth, Molly read them creation stories. She shared Christian, Chinese, Mayan and scientific versions of how the world came to be. After the stories, the class went outside to discuss ritual and called out to the four directions. Then Molly asked them again what truth was and introduced a role play game. Each child believed a different creation truth and got to tell others they were wrong. Although they had a lot of fun telling their friends they were wrong, when Molly asked them if they would help someone who believed differently than them, they said they would. Such great kids! The lesson concluded with a super fun and messy activity of making their own worlds with flour  and salt water.

The preschoolers began their lesson by lighting their felt chalices and singing their Welcome Chalice Children song. Then they had a great conversation about the UU symbol and found it in many places around the room. After finding the symbol, they got to proudly stamp their “important papers” with a flaming chalice rubber stamp. Then they returned to their “Memory” matching game from last week and cooperatively played a few rounds, discussing the people on the cards as well as the many chalices. The lesson ended with making chalice necklaces to proudly wear and eating snack together. Such a happy group!

In the nursery they started their day by singing, “The Bear Went Over the Mountain” and “Skida Marinky Dinky Dink”. Then the toddlers became detectives. Katherine and Courtney took turns hiding some of the toys in the room for the kids to find.  After finding objects in the room, they sat in a circle and looked at a Seek and Find book. Then the detectives went off-duty and played with toys!

If you would like to continue these lessons at home, here are some suggestions: For 3rd-6th graders, ask them what they believe. They might not be able to formulate a complete thought yet, but the discussion will help them begin to consider the question. For K-2nd graders, continue the discussion of what truth is and the importance of supporting friends who may have different “truths” than them. For preschoolers, draw or make a chalice to display in their room – you could even make a “stained glass” chalice pane for their window out of tissue paper. For toddlers, continue the game of detective. Hide objects around the house and see if they can find them. You could even play hide-and-seek!

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