>< / ^/ PROSPECTUS OF THE CHURCH SCHOOL FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Leslie T. Pennington, Minister Eleanor E. Lewis, Director of Religious Education "Wisdom is not one word, and then another, 'Til words are like dry leaves under a tree; Wisdom is like a dawn that comes up slowly Out of an unknown ocean. " Edwin Arlington Robinson TO THE CHURCH THE CHILD WILL COME 2. Religious experience is not something which begins when a child is enrolled in the Church School. It be­ gins in his earliest days. Appreciation for him as a person, a chance to develop a sense of his own worth and abilities, and the subtle but pervading influence of the values which are most important to the family into which he comes will be the bases on which he develops his own religious feelings, as he grows and develops. The smallest members of the church family learn that the church is a good and friendly place where they, too, are welcome, while their families come to the church on Sunday mornings. Friendly and competent people try to make their experience a comfortable and a happy one, with things to see, songs to sing, finger play, playthings, and stories. So that they may be able to help their children at home, parents of pre-schoolers may get books and materials in the church school library, and are encouraged to attend a discussion group for parents of young children, where they can exchange their ideas, problems, and ex­ periences with others, and with members of the church school staff. PRE SCHOOL TO BE INTRODUCED TO HIS PLACE IN THE CHURCH FAMILY Five-year-olds are enrolled as members of the Church School in the Kindergarten Class. Stories of the simple experiences of children in their world, as they experience the rhythm of the seasons, and come to know the great forces of nature, - rain, snow, sunshine, and winds, — beginning discoveries of the difference between animate and inanimate things, ex­ periences with shadows, dreams, and fancies, and a chance to become acquainted with baby animals and with human babies, ~ all these hold within them the seeds of the new and the wonderful from which later religious ex­ periences will grow. Boys and girls in this class will have a chance to explore the developing life of baby animals, and of human babie^ and through the story of their own birth, and how it came to be, will begin an understanding of the bond that links all living things. Go K„ Chesterton says that all of us should cultivate the; "power of seeing plain things in a kind of sunlight of sur­ prise", and calls this art of wonder "the beginning of the praise of God, " Worship for the kindergartener is the wonder of his wid­ ening world, a part in the celebrations and the drama of the festivals around the year, and a chance to share these experiences with others. KINDERGARTEN: To Consider How He Himself Came To Be 4. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders are enrolled in the Lower School, and attend the full session of the Church School, beginning at 10:00 A.M. First-graders will investigate the natural world around them, as they move through the seasons of the year, each with its particular celebrations. TREES, STARS, SNOW-CRYSTALS, SEEDS, PLANTS and FLOWERS will be studied in some detail. They will now learn by working and talking together how to sees listen, notice, and ask questions, how to see small things in a larger framework. With GOLDFISH and TURTLES they will see how small living things live in varied environments, and they will look closely at their own HANDS, and the hands of others, to see how the human hand, a mechanism mir­ aculously perfect, allows a person to express himself in a variety of ways. In their own short period of worship, they will begin to learn to use a "quiet time" for the thinkings sharing, and putting together of experiences. Here, with songs, poems, stories, and thinking together, they will begin to explore the orderliness of relationships between things, to sense their own place in the patterns of life, and to share their wonderings and their questionings together FIRST GRADE: To Look About Him With Wonder, Curiosity, and Surprise 5, By the time a child is in second grade, he has made an adjustment to a new world of school and neighborhood outside his own family, and is ready to expand his hori­ zons. Much of his concerns will be centered around his relationships with other people, and with understanding more fully his place in his own family. In his church school class, he will look into the lives of children in other lands, to see how they live, and what are their national and family customs. He will hear some of the stories told to them, and will have a chance to look at some of their varied religious beliefs and practices. He will learn that all people are different, and that all people are very much alike, and to come to some terms with this paradox. In stories of China, he will become acquainted with the wise Confucius; in stories from India, he will read of the good Buddha, and his efforts to lead men to abetter way of life. Through songs, films and stories, he will meet children from Italy, and from Japan, and he will visit Palestine, and hear stories of the birth and the teachings of Jesus, the great man honored in our own Judeo-Christian tradition. He will have a chance to compare the three birth stories of Buddha, Confucius and Jesus, and to enj oy the stories of wonder and mag­ ic that have been added to each. Through an acquaintance with people of both long ago and far away9 he will learn to enjoy the varieties of custom and environment, to appreciate the bonds of common needs, thoughts and feelings which join us all in one great family, and to take from each, those things of real value which may become a part of his own life. SECOND GRADE; To Widen His Concerns To People Long Ago And Far Away 6. Eight-year olds have a developing interest in heros and hero tales, in legend and in fancy, and relationships with their own friends are of growing importance to them, as well as relationships in their own families. A chance to read of hero-tales and legends from many sources, including hero tales from the Bible, will be­ gin the work this year. They will go on to explore in some detail the story of Joseph., which is for boys and girls of this age one of the most interesting of the Bible stories9 with its dramatic incidents, itc concerns with problems of love and hate, of jealousy and forgiveness within a family. They will learn of David, and of the life of a shepherd both long agos and in this day$ and will have a chance not only to see David as a growing boy, and as a hero3 but to share in his wanderings as they become acquain­ ted with some of his songs and hymns. In their services of worship, they will continue to de­ velop the discipline and capacity for quiet times of thoughtfully sharing with others a consideration of those things which really matter most. Here they will continue to learn some of the songs and responses which are part of worship in a liberal church. They will have a chance to think about the place of heroes in the lives of men, and of why men have always needed to build stories of greatness, strength and heroism beyond their own reach. They will also begin to have a speaking ac­ quaintance with some of the men in the stories of the Hebrews, with their weakness and strengths, and their concerns for the great problems of good and evil, of justice and forgiveness in the world in which they live. THIRD GRADE To Learn Of Legends And Of Heroes And To Stretch To Their Measure 7, Fourth-graders will be concerned with stories which primitive people have told and retold to try to explain the beginning of things, and legends from many cultures about the creation of the world. The Biblical account of the Hebrew creation story will take its place among others. They will learn something of the medieval Chris­ tian's concept of a central and immovable earth, sur­ rounded by revolving spheres, and will explore the new ways of thinking which led to the modern scientist's hy­ potheses of the earth's beginning. Beginnings of life and death, and stories from many peoples of how life came to be, as well as their specu­ lations on the end of life, will be considered. They will spend some time on the thinking and questionings of bi­ ologists, as they search for probable answers to the question of how man came to be on the earth. The year will include a unit on human reproduction and on the functioning of the human body, of how we become aware of the world around us, and of other people, and how we try to communicate to them our ideas our thoughts, pur feelings, hopes and dreams. It is hoped that from this year's study will come an un­ derstanding of how all people, in various times and places, have felt a great need to answer the why and the wherefore of life, — to think about man's beginning, and what will be his end.