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Sunday School Curricula Overview Preschool: A Time to GrowInfants and Toddlers: Childcare and Becoming Acquainted Pre-K: Love Your Neighbor Elementary Grades K-5: A Time for Discovery Ethical Culture: What is Ethical Culture, how did it start and what are its Core Values? World Religions: What Do My Friends Believe? Character Education: How do I learn to Be the Best Me? Community Service: Giving Back to Our Community Middle School: Exploring the Emerging Self Grades 6-7 Religious Expression; Exploring our Core Values; Spaceship Earth Grade 8 A Coming of Age Year Senior High: Discovering our Potential Grades 9-12 Youth Group Sunday School Curricula Detail Preschool: A Time to Grow
Infants and Toddlers: Childcare and Becoming AcquaintedThe Pre-School/Kindergarten program is designed to provide a warm and caring environment for young children, a place they want to be. The activities and curriculum for each class are geared to the emotional, physical, cognitive and social developmental stages of each group of children. This program provides an opportunity for the children to grow together as a group — to develop strong relationships that will bond them in a spirit of togetherness as they move through the Sunday School program. We provide warm and gentle care for infants and babies. We employ an experienced childcare professional as the lead Pre-School teacher and have parent volunteers to assist her when necessary. For toddlers through 3 years of age, enough routine is provided to give them a sense of stability and trust, as well as a significant amount of play time. Other activities like snack, craft and story time always take place in a predictable order so the children can develop a sense of what will come next and feel secure. The curriculum focuses on the child’s self-awareness. The 4 and 5 year olds have a curriculum based on the book “Love Your Neighbor” written by Ethical Culture Leader Arthur Dobrin. The book and its accompanying curriculum teach the children about respect for others and themselves using animals in engaging stories and activities which encourage kids to problem solve for the characters. The curriculum for all pre-schoolers is play-based and encourages cooperation and respect for themselves and their classmates. Elementary Grades K-5: A Time for Discovery 
Children’s Sunday Gathering takes place from 10-11 a.m. and is followed by formal elementary Sunday School classes from 11 a.m. – noon. The main objectives of the classes for elementary age children are to give a sense of religious heritage, to explore how the individual is connected to the world, to help children develop ethical approaches to everyday situations, and to enhance the child’s understanding of the primacy of ethics in our beliefs. With the understanding that people learn and grow through a variety of experiences, the lessons use literature, art, activities, games and discussion to explore topics. Each grade studies the same topic on the same week for continuity of learning within families. The lessons build on each other from 1-7th grade so that they start with the basics in the lower grades and build to more philosophical discussions of what they have learned as they move into the middle school years. Lesson topics are listed below. Exploring Ethical Culture In an effort to give our children a good understanding of Ethical Culture and its purpose, there are lessons on our founder, Felix Adler; the first St. Louis leader, Walter Sheldon and other Ethical Culture figures. The children will also learn how Felix Adler and his vision have affected our world today through the development of the ACLU and other socially conscious groups. These lessons also include in-depth exploration of each of our Core Values and the reasons why we feel these particular values should be applied to our daily lives. It is important for children to understand why something is important in order to begin to incorporate it into their daily lives. We encourage critical thinking in these discussions to foster a better understanding of what being ethical really means. Character Education So often our children are faced with moral dilemmas and situations where they must learn to make an ethical decision. Lessons in ethics and character development are presented to the children at an age-appropriate level, along with activities and stories to help them process the ideas they have been discussing. These lessons are based on our Twelve Core Values. Religions of the World In order to respect someone else’s religion, you must understand that religion. That is the basis of our instruction in religions. The children will learn about Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism and others. As the children get older, the lessons become more in depth so as to foster a true understanding of where these religions came from and why they exist. Community Service 
In an effort to have our children understand the kind of difference they can make in the world and how important it is to give back to our community we have several community service projects each year. We have collected school supplies for refugee children, pet supplies for the Humane Society, winter clothing for the homeless and canned goods. We have also adopted families for the holidays, helped sort canned goods for Operation Food Search, participated in a Forest Park clean up and tree planting for Earth Day, and worked with Beyond Housing to help beautify a neighborhood recreation facility. There are at least 2 Community Service projects each year.The formal classes
Middle School: Exploring the Emerging Self Grades 6-7: Creativity and Religious Expression; Exploring our Core Values; Spaceship Earth Our middle school students will more deeply explore Ethical Culture's origins as described above and its application to their daily lives. They will come to understand more fully the religions of other people and countries and begin to explore their own beliefs in preparation for their Coming of Age year. They will also take an in-depth look at the core values of the Ethical Society Sunday School, and participate in an 8 week role-playing game called "Spaceship Earth" which requires the students to put ethical and moral judgments into practice. |
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9001 Clayton Road
St. Louis, MO 63117-1003
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