may-story-wk 4

Dear UU Parents and Guardians,

PLEASE contact me as soon as possible if you are willing to teach or assist or be a floater for Sunday School this summer!
If we don't have volunteers - we can't have a program!
If we have many people step in to do even just 2-3 times this summer, it would make a huge difference!
This isn't just your USUAL plea for volunteers. 
We genuinely want our children and youth to re-connect, but in order to do so we need people to SHOW UP for them! 
At this point, we are bordering on keeping just online Sunday School if we don't have people willing to volunteer in-person. 
Don't think, "Someone else will do it, so I don't have to..." 
Just a handful of times would make a HUGE difference and allow us to have a program. 
No complicated curriculum and heavy books this time around - our plan is so simple, easy, and FUN! 
Email me today for more information. 

Back in the Building!

We are still asking you to please REGISTER for church. This way we can do contact tracing for Covid if issues arrive. 
This week we are at 50% capacity, and then in June we move to 100% capacity. 
Check your eblast from the office for the registrations.
Childcare is provided for children 5 and under 
Older children are invited to join in the service
Starting in June - IF we have enough volunteers - we will offer Sunday School for K-5th grade
Please check HERE for the document for health and safety precautions for Sunday School 
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Special Middle and High School Events for June! 

Save the dates 
June 9th and 16th from 6-7:30pm

Middle and High School Youth are invited to meet up for socializing and to celebrate Pride month! 

June 9th - 
Join the LGBTQA Welcoming Committee for a rainbow decorating party in preparation for Pride Month and the Pride Parade! Regardless of your position on the rainbow, (LGBTQ or Ally) we can all celebrate togetherness. Fabric markers, poster-making materials, and a few white bandanas will be provided. Bring anything else you'd like to decorate with rainbows (ie: shirts, hats, shoes, etc). This year, the Unitarian Church will participate in the Pride Parade where 'the people are the rainbow'! Help make our sign, your own sign, or your outfit for Pride, or simply join to meet-up and say hello if rainbows aren't your thing.

June 15th - 
More Pride month fun and shenanigans! 
Meet to check-in with one another after a long year, and do some other exciting activities led by Abby Lemburg. 

Look for a required registration coming soon in parent/guardian emails from me in your emails

*Sunday School *

Zoom Sunday School at 11am
Approximately 30 minute program geared towards K-5, but is open to all ages
Sundays at 11am
We typically have a chalice lighting, story, guided discussion, and/or activity such as a scavenger hunt or art project to be done at home as part of these lessons.
Link: https://zoom.us/j/805185601        Password: unitarian
Online classes will continue as long as we have regular attendance. If many people shift to in-person, or don't attend over summer, we will re-evaluate.

*Middle and HS *
Plans are in the works for what will happen this summer - stay tuned.
For May, middle and high schoolers are invited into our service in-person with parents and guardians.
In June, middle and high schoolers are welcome to attend the Ingatherings with our K-5th graders as assistants, or can attend service with parents.

DISCORD for Middle and High School
We invite all Middle and High School students from Omaha and Lincoln to join us for discussion and community through this app.
'Would you rather' questions - Thoughts along our monthly Soul Matters themes - 'Big questions' related to UUism.
Also - a "Pet Page"!!! So much fun.
***Be aware that once joining Discord, it opens up the app to multiple pages which will need to be moderated by students themselves and their parents/guardians for security.

https://discord.gg/3NuSj6f
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*Parent and Guardian Chat:*
The chance for parents and guardians to check in with me for 'open office hours'
Every other Thursday 8pm and every other Wednesday noon (I close the meeting after 15 minutes if no one checks in)

Wednesday July 2nd at noon

Link: https://zoom.us/j/5036046295

Thursday the 10th at 8pm
  https://zoom.us/j/5036046295    
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Family Open Circle: 
Information can be found on their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1081904435272577
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Videos This Week: 

Chelsea's Story-
Anansi and the Box of Stories
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K-5: Soul Matters Theme: Story
These materials come to us from the Soul Matters Curriculum team
On the Porch
Extra Mile
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Bonus Resources for Parents With the theme of: Story
Articles & Reflections

How Will History Books Remember the 2010s?
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2019/12/27/how-will-history-books-remember-the-2010s-089796
Exploring how the story of our time will be told...
 
The Top 10 Stories that Shaped the World
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180521-the-top-10-stories-that-shaped-the-world 
 
5 things people still get wrong about slavery: debunking slavery’s greatest myths.
https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/8/22/20812883/1619-slavery-project-anniversary
 
A Story Inherited, Jabari S. Jones
Full piece found at https://www.uua.org/worship/words/reflection/story-inherited
 
“Not belonging here” is a story I have inherited, an American inheritance. I was born and raised here, yet to some I am and always will be from “somewhere else.”…
 
The Myth of the Absent Black Father, Teddy Burrage
https://blackgirlinmaine.com/parenting/the-myth-of-the-absent-black-father/
 
Debunking the Myth of the Middle Class
https://www.pbs.org/wnet/amanpour-and-company/video/debunking-the-myth-of-the-middle-class/
 
notes from BALLE talk, Adrienne Maree Brown
http://adriennemareebrown.net/tag/narrative/
 
Butchering the Mythic West: Setting the story straight about America’s frontier, John Freeman
https://www.altaonline.com/books/fiction/a34839129/john-freeman-butchering-the-mythic-west/?utm_source=pocket&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits
 
On Neil Gaiman &  Why Scary Stories Appeal to Us, brainpickings
https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/03/20/neil-gaiman-ghost-stories/