What Children Learn at Sunday School
Children’s Classes — Ages 3 through 5th Grade
These classes begin by inviting the children into Sacred Circle. The circle represents our spiritual wholeness and equality in our community. In this circle we light the Christ candle and offer a prayer of gratitude for the day and prayers of well-being for others.
Each child is encouraged to speak their name into the circle and be affirmed by the group, “(Name of child), I behold the Christ in you.” After a love offering is taken, the teacher presents the theme for the day.
Each lesson is found in our sacred writings or Unity principles and is based on a Truth principle that is explored through “wonder” questions (open-ended) and active play (art, drama, creating, thinking, etc.).
The classroom environment is structured to allow each child to express and explore what his or her understanding of the spiritual lesson is and how it impacts him or her in their daily living. Class ends with clean-up and returning to the circle for a closing prayer and group building.
Light of God: Preschool
Theme:
God is in all things
Development:
Sensory learner: reasoning is intuitive with the beginning of symbolic thought
Year 1: Creation Story
Each week focuses on one day of biblical creation and its representation in the physical world and us. This introduction to the bible, our sacred stories, starts children on their spiritual journey as co-creator with God and the awareness of our human responsibility to the care of our world.
Year 2: Twelve Gifts/Powers of Man
Unity’s twelve attributes of man are the gifts innate to each of us which support our spiritual journey as we express and experience life as spiritual beings.
Parent Board located inside classroom has daily lesson and upcoming event information.
Love of God: Kindergarten-1st Grade
Theme:
God speaks as a small still voice within us
Development:
Preoperational learner: still intuitive but beginning to balance internal thoughts with external choices
Year 1: Creation Story
Genesis Stories; from Jonah and the Whale, Noah and the Ark, Abraham’s Journey, to Moses and the Ten Commandments. Children learn through these stories that no matter where we are, or where we go, God is always with us and if we listen to our inner voice (God) and God’s word we will find our way.
Year 2: Five Basic Unity Principles
Moses gave us the Ten Commandments to live peacefully in a community and Unity gives us the five basic spiritual laws to live successful spiritual lives in community with all things.
Power of God: 2nd & 3rd Grade
Theme:
God’s spirit is expressed as gifts, talents and powers hidden within us and within the sacred stories
Development:
Reasoning learner: Inner thinking process organizes information into black or white, right or wrong
Year 1: Creation Story
Old Testament Stories; these stories are the beginning of a community structure through the appointment of the judges, kings, and building of the temple. Each story teaches how these biblical characters made decisions, some wise and some not so wise, but how in all the stories the presence and power of God guides the way.
Year 2: Twelve Gifts/Powers of Man
Unity’s twelve attributes of man are the gifts innate to each of us which support our spiritual journey. Children visit each attribute by looking at the way bible characters used them when making decisions or following Gods guidance.
Presence of God: 4th & 5th Grade
Theme:
God in us is bigger than our life experience
Development:
Concrete learner: reasoning is practical but the beginning of thinking about thinking is applied to a variety of situations
Year 1: New Testament
Jesus' teachings, metaphors, and the philosophy of ethics, fate, faith, and the natural world.
Year 2: World Religion
The beginning of Christianity, Unity, and exploring our individual spiritual journey. Also, a selection of related beliefs within the four major religious theologies is discussed in class to give children an understanding of our similarities.
