The Religious Education program has kicked-off to an excellent start! Our Chalice children are extraordinarily bright, inquisitive, and enjoy learning. It is very satisfying personally working with the students on UU principles and the impact of these principles on our wider world. One intriguing new feature within our classrooms is the Feelings Board, which shows an image of each of the five emotion characters from the movie “Inside Out”. Rev. Sharon Wylie introduced these same characters to the congregation last month during the multi-generational service: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear. As a student enters and is welcomed into the classroom, each has an opportunity to check-in, sharing how they are feeling at that moment. The students’ checking-in process is simplified using the Feelings Board; they hang their name tag under the character that symbolizes their current emotion.

A wonderful thing happens with this Feelings Board chart system–the student is free to change what they are feeling during the class. One student recently changed his emotion, from Fear to Joy (it was the first day of class), and felt empowered to also change the placement of his name tag on the Feelings Chart. Validation of emotions creates a powerful learning environment for our Chalice RE students.

Volunteers for this RE Program are essential and our Director of Family Ministries, Kathleen Swift, has provided us with the information and tools to succeed. If you are interested in helping with any of the class levels, please contact Kathleen. You can choose your amount of time, and which level of class you volunteer with. I can attest to the fact that I, as a volunteer, feel joy at being able to work with the students, learning something new every time I do. Our future is in these wonderful, engaged children and I ask that you consider volunteering within the Chalice RE Program.

– Susan Spoto, President