Child care is provided by paid staff and volunteers who have been screened and given a professional background check. There is no charge for childcare services.

Sunday mornings

Every Sunday, the nursery opens at 10:00 a.m. and is staffed until 11:30 a.m. (or when the service ends) so that parents and guardians can attend worship. Parents and guardians sign their children in and out for safety and communication.

On Sundays when REE classes are in session, the nursery is open for infants and toddlers through three years old.

On Sundays when REE classes are not in session (1st Sunday of the month; holidays; winter, spring, and summer breaks), the nursery is open for infants and children through five years old. 

Children who are older than three may stay in the nursery or may move into the PreK-K classroom if they are out of diapers and able to generally maintain focus on a five-minute story.

Parents who wish to keep infants or toddlers with them are welcome to bring them to the service.

Child care for church activities

We recognize the importance of child care in helping support young families become more engaged and involved in congregational life.Child care is provided at no cost for large congregational events such as the annual meeting, coffee house, or the service action. Child care may be available on request for other meetings, programs, or church activities.

Email our religious education professionalto discuss childcare options and needs.

Contact Information

For more information, please contact the UUCUC Childcare Coordinator, Erin Preslar, at childcare@childcareuucuc.org

Registration

Complete a registration form for your child. There is no fee or tuition required.

Getting information on participants and their family members helps us get you timely and relevant communication about what’s happening, share resources, and tell you more about the experience your child or youth is having. It helps teachers plan and teach to their fullest potential. It also helps us do a better job of providing a safe, engaging learning environment for all participants.

If you have questions or would like to speak with a REE professional staff member, email religious-exploration@uucuc.org.

What to Expect Sunday Morning

Children are invited to begin service with their families (10:15 a.m.) in the Sanctuary. If you are a visitor or a returning family who hasn’t registered, inquire at the Connection Hub table in Fellowship Hall.

Time For All Ages (TFAA) is a special time when our whole community – children, teens, parents, young adults to elders, REE teachers…everyone! – is together for the beginning of worship in the Sanctuary for an opening, song, and story. We encourage parents to begin bringing children to TFAA at a young age. Children are learning the rhythms, patterns, sights, and

sounds of our hymns, traditions, and rituals. Families may enjoy the seating area right up front so kids can really see what’s happening.

After TFAA, children and teachers leave for the downstairs classrooms. Kids should look for their peer group and grade and walk to class together.

Parents or guardians should pick up their child (under 10 years old) from class at 11:30 p.m. or immediately after service ends (whichever is later), or plan a meeting spot for older kids.

Childcare is available for very young children (0-3 years old) during the entire worship service, including TFAA. Please sign them in with the childcare staff downstairs in the nursery either before the worship service or following TFAA.

All children are welcome to attend worship anytime, with their families. Audio from worship is broadcast in Fellowship Hall, across the foyer from the Sanctuary, for anyone more comfortable there.

On the first Sunday of every month, we have multigenerational worship in the Sanctuary with NO REE CLASSES. The nursery will be open for infants through 5 years old. Check the REE Calendar for specific dates.

Class Descriptions for 2023-2024

PreK-Kindergarten: Rainbow Connection

Explores the eight principles and core values of UU through picture books followed by an activity or crafts based on the book. Then free play and a light snack.

Grade 1-2: Growing Anti-Racist UUs (Fall) and Love Surrounds Us (Spring)

This program explores how love connects with the eight principles in the context of beloved communities of family/home, school, and neighborhood. Children will also engage with racial justice and anti-bias learning through stories, crafts, activities, and discussions grounded in the eight principles.

Grade 3-4: Signs of Our Faith: Being UU Every Day

Signs of Our Faith engages children to explore ritual practices that remind us of UU traits and values. Some rituals are enacted in the congregation; some we conduct alone, or in our interactions with family, friends, and peers; and others are offered to the wider world. This program helps children understand the abstract concept of a ritual by naming rituals as signs of our faith. Rituals are defined broadly, so that naming and dedicating a baby is a ritual, but so too is befriending a new child at school. Through the concept of “ritual,” children discover evidence of their faith in everyday actions and are encouraged to ritualize or form into habits such traits as caring, welcoming, and making fair group decisions.

Registration

Complete a registration form for your middle schooler. There is no fee or tuition required.

Getting information on participants and their family members helps us get you timely and relevant communication about what’s happening, share resources, and tell you more about the experience your pre-teen or teen is having. It helps teachers plan and teach to their fullest potential. It also helps us do a better job of providing a safe, engaging learning environment for all participants.

If you have questions or would like to speak with a REE professional staff member, email religious-exploration@uucuc.org.

What to Expect Sunday Morning

Middle schoolers are invited to begin service with their families (10:15 a.m.) in the Sanctuary. If you are a visitor or a returning family who hasn’t registered, inquire at the Connection Hub table in Fellowship Hall.

After the Time for All Ages in the service, fifth and sixth graders and teachers leave for the downstairs classrooms. Kids should look for their peer group and grade and walk to class together. Older middle schoolers are encouraged to participate in the entire service and then attend class after worship.

Parents or guardians should pick up their child from class or plan a meeting spot at 11:30 p.m. or immediately after service ends (whichever is later).

On the first Sunday of every month, we have multigenerational worship in the Sanctuary with NO REE CLASSES.

Youth are always welcome to join their families in the sanctuary for the worship service if they prefer that.

Class Descriptions for 2023-2024

The middle school curriculum includes creative, high-quality, hands-on ways for teens and preteens to explore identity and justice themes and engage in the middle school-age journey together.

Grades 5-6: Heading the Call: Qualities of A Justice Maker

Encourages youth to view themselves as agents of change in the world as they develop qualities crucial to justice work. They reflect on their own lives while making connections to others’ lives, building self-awareness while growing as leaders. Participants will plan and engage in personal hands-on justice projects and practice becoming allies to marginalized communities.

Grades 7-8: Crossing Paths

We will explore various religious traditions through different lenses with the goal of helping participants build and clarify their own UU identity through the exploration of and engagement with other faiths. This interfaith journey will include Unitarian Universalism, Judaism, Christianity, Catholicism, Quakerism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Paganism, and Humanism. As participants learn about the beliefs, practices, and history of each tradition, they will also get to explore their own beliefs and values.

This class meets after worship most Sunday afternoons from noon to 1:30 p.m. and has regular field trips. Learn more and complete the special registration form.

Advisors lead the youth to take greater leadership in their own learning and to select and discuss topics relevant to Unitarian Universalism and the greater world. Additionally, topics relevant to healthy adolescent development, values-based decision-making, and relationships are also addressed. Together, these programs give our youth the opportunity to deepen their religious and moral understandings and bring their beliefs and values to bear on the world. 

Because YRUU has many specific events and functions, the advisors often use GroupMe, in addition to emails, to inform and communicate with youth.

Schedule

YRUU meets on Sundays alternating between noon-2 p.m. and 4-6 p.m.

September 10: 4-6 p.m.

September 17: noon-2 p.m.

September 24:4-6 p.m.

October 1:noon-2 p.m.

October 8:4-6 p.m.

October 15: TBA

October 22: TBA

October 29: noon-2 p.m.

November 5:4-6 p.m.

November 12: noon-2 p.m.

November 19: 4-6 p.m.

November 26: no meeting

December 3: noon-2 p.m.

December 10: 4-6 p.m.

December 17: noon-2 p.m.

December 24: no meeting

December 31: no meeting

**9th graders can choose to participate in either YRUU or Crossing Paths on Sunday afternoons. 

Activities

Social Outings 

Several times a year the YRUU group enjoys social outings such as kayaking, painting, late nights, roller skating, movies, or hiking, as well as other activities that the teens suggest. Advisors organize and attend the outings with the group. These activities are a great opportunity for the teens to get to know each other in a social setting.

Service Projects 

YRUU has the opportunity to assist in the community as a group. Past projects have included a coat drive, Randolph Street Garden, and Books to Prisoners. Often a fun activity like games or a potluck along with helping the church and the community is planned.

District-Wide Youth Conferences

The youth may attend a “CON”, a regional district youth conference where they work on social justice projects, attend classes, worship, and generally have fun with other teens and advisors from area congregations.

Overnights 

The YRUU group may get together for overnight lock-ins or a retreat. This is a great way for the teens to bond as a group.

Registration

If you are a youth who is a rising 9th grader-12th grader, please complete this form and provide the contact information you’d like for us to use for you.

If you have questions or would like to speak with a REE professional staff member, email religious-exploration@uucuc.org.

Here at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Urbana-Champaign, we believe that every strand of our community contributes to who we are. Together we create a stronger community that is ready to engage the world and take the risks needed to make it better.

In this spirit, we invite you to visit our Committee and Group Directory and complete the Membership Engagement Survey to learn about the many opportunities to become a vital part of church life at UUCUC through Adult Exploration and Engagement!

Contact Information

For more information, please contact:

Priscilla Kron at priscilla.kron@gmail.com

This Spring, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Urbana-Champaign is offering OWL classes between January 28 and May 5, 2024.

• Younger Elementary Curriculum for Grades K – 1 helps young children identify their attitudes, values and feelings about themselves, their sexuality and others’ sexuality. Along with a parent meeting and parent-child orientation, workshops help participants learn about birth, babies, bodies and families. Songs, stories, activities and at-home projects promote family dialogue. There is an Orientation for parents and children and 8 class sessions.
• Older Elementary Curriculum for Grades 4 – 5 helps children ages nine through eleven learn about and discuss the physical, emotional changes, and social changes of puberty. Parents and caregivers can be actively involved in the exploration of growing older, values, communication and decision making. OWL models and teaches caring, compassion, respect, and justice. There is an Orientation for parents and children and 10 class sessions.
• Parents & Caregivers As Sexuality Educators helps parents and caregivers explore their roles as the primary sexuality educators of their elementary through teenage children. There are 6-7 class sessions.

If you have questions about these classes or want information on future OWL classes, please contact religious-exploration@uucuc.org.

What is Our Whole Lives (OWL)?

Honest, accurate information about sexuality changes lives. It dismantles stereotypes and assumptions, builds self-acceptance and self-esteem, fosters healthy relationships, improves decision making, and has the potential to save lives. For these reasons and more, we are proud to offer Our Whole Lives (OWL), a comprehensive, lifespan sexuality education curricula for use in both secular settings and faith communities.

Our Whole Lives helps participants make informed and responsible decisions about their sexual health and behavior. With a holistic approach, Our Whole Lives provides accurate, developmentally appropriate information about a range of topics, including relationships, gender identity, sexual orientation, sexual health, and cultural influences on sexuality.

Our Whole Lives Offers…

• Accurate information presented in developmentally appropriate ways
• Affective and emotional learning
• Guiding values and principles
• Activities that help participants clarify values and improve decision-making skills
• A safe and supportive peer group
• Acceptance of diversity
• A social justice approach to inclusive sexuality education
• Step-by-step instructions for program promotion, implementation, and facilitation
• Parent orientation that affirms parents as their children’s primary sexuality educators
• Facilitator trainings and continuing education to increase knowledge, skills, confidence
• Expert user support from OWL Program Associate (UUA) and OWL Program Coordinator (UCC)
• Sexuality and Our Faith, an optional religious supplement for use in Unitarian Universalist and United Church of Christ settings.

Our Whole Lives Values…

While Our Whole Lives is secular, it is not value-free. The program gives clear messages about the following key sexuality issues:

• self worth
• sexual health
• responsibility
• justice and inclusivity

Our Whole Lives recognizes and respects the diversity of participants with respect to biological sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, and disability status. The activities and language used throughout the program have been carefully chosen to be as inclusive as possible of this human diversity.

For more information, please contact religious-exploration@uucuc.org.

REE and learning touches on all areas of congregation life, so the Council pays special attention to collaborating with other areas of the church like social justice, worship, membership, and more. 

There are several teams that make up the council. Each has a team leader who coordinates with the council chair and the religious education professional staff. Team leads coordinate the leadership, work and vision of several programs and volunteers. Some programs are ongoing, and others are special for the year.

2023-2024 REE Council 

Council Chair: Natalie Danner

BOT Liaison: Steve Herzog

Children’s Team: Cindy Ingold

Middle & Youth Team: TBA

Adult Team: Millie Davis and Priscila Kron

OWL Team: Teri Frederick and Michaela Kruse

Operational/Admin Team: TBA

If you have any interest in being a part of the REE Council, contact our religious education professional.They would enjoy having a conversation with you on how your passion fits into the REE model.