Roots Class (k-2nd grade) w/Marie:

Check-ins this morning included news of lost and growing teeth, a treasured in-person play date, upcoming birthdays. So much life! We read Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney, connecting our country to the bigger world we are a part of. So much time peering at maps of our country this past week as we experienced the presidential election and the grownups have been “cray cray” about it. Celebrating the election of our first black woman Vice President registers with our group. Voting- how you make your choice- is something we believe is so important as Unitarian Universalists as this is the process we use to decide important things at church in our congregational meetings. There is so much more to unpack here about fairness and being heard, and the ongoing work for all of us together for the world we want to live in, wherever you fall on the map. 

Seedlings Class (3rd-5th grade) w/Piaf:

This week we discussed the recent elections and how everyone was feeling about it. We looked at and discussed an image of Vice President Elect Kamala Harris with a shadow in the shape of young Ruby Bridges. What message is the artist trying to convey? What is the symbolic connection between these two women? Then we watched a short video of grown Ruby Bridges remembering her experiences and what she learned from them. Finally, we finished with a game.

Wildflower Youth (Middle School & High School) w/Solveij:

Today the youth talked about how they feel in this moment and about the future with election news–we heard celebration, relief, hope, and a desire for meaningful change. We also have sign-ups ready for the mural!!! A muralist visited us to talk all about the process, youth came up with an amazing mock-up design, and we’ll be getting started this upcoming weekend on constructing a base and painting the primer. 🙂

Roots Class (k-2nd) w/Marie:

Hello all, it was so fun hearing about the creative and safe ways people have found to enjoy Halloween this year. I am so inspired by how our community thinks and cares for each other.

We spoke more about traditions to remember loved ones and the children had a lot to say about what they already know about Dia de los muertos. We read I Remember Abuelito by Janice Levy and Loretta Lopez, and traveled to Mioachan Mexico in this beautiful clip:https://youtu.be/sMs-lCaTKoE
Having been to that pine forest where the Monarchs spend the winter, I can tell you that standing among the trees with my eyes closed and being able to then *hear* the sound of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of butterfly wings is one of my most treasured memories of time with my family, and my father, whose spirit I miss and celebrate very much. 
We can remember our loved ones together.

Seedlings & Youth Group w/Piaf:

Solveij was not feeling well today so we had a combined class. We began with our usual check-in and heard from the Youth Group about their ongoing mural project. Then we discussed how we are feeling about the upcoming election and what self-strategy strategies we use to help us when we feel anxious or overwhelmed. Several ideas were shared, including hugging your pet, deep breathing, singing, and exercising. Finally, we played several rounds of the game Mafia. We hope Solveij feels better soon!

Roots Class w/Marie:

So nice visiting with everyone today. The children have exciting updates for each other about what Halloween looks like this year in a year of doing things differently. We heard joy about fall gardens and hopeful family gathering plans, sisters that play violin really well, and learning new skills like weaving. So much life in our rose and thorn weekly shares. Thank you for being with us this morning. 

Today’s read aloud is The Two of Them by Aliki, a little girl is born and grows up making many memories with her grandfather, and after he dies, remembers and cares for his apple trees in his memory. We talked about remembering those we love when we lose someone. A memorial service is something we do at Wildflower, the children remember the service held for Gerry. My best memory of Gerry is how kindly he greeted me in my first visit to our church and everyday after doing his job as a church greeter. Sharing our stories of those we have lost is a very powerful way we can do deep listening together. 

Seedlings Class w/Piaf: 

This week we continued with our theme of Deep Listening by remembering our ancestors, friends, or pets that have died. How can we keep “listening” to those who pass on? What role does sharing our stories and memories of them play in this listening? Then we made connections between celebrations that honor the dead and the Halloween traditions common in this country. Finally, we played a new game, 15 Monsters in a Row, and revisited a favorite listening/drawing game from past weeks.

Wildflower Youth Group w/Solveij:

Today in Wildflower Youth Group we began with a land acknowledgement: “This year, we recognize Indigenous People’s Day by making space to Honor Native Land. We acknowledge that we all sit on indigenous land. The Tonkawa lived in central Texas and the Comanche and Apache moved through this area. Today, various indigenous peoples from all over the globe visit Austin and call it home. We are grateful to be able to study and learn on this piece of Turtle Island.” We shared about how indigenous friends, neighbors and family members are part of our communities today, many of whom continue their traditional values and practices. We also talked about alternatives to policing when it comes to people experiencing a mental health crisis and unhoused community members. Finally, youth brainstormed ideas for how to bring new youth to join us, including hosting small, in-person events and making posters, folding posters into paper airplanes, and sending them flying towards people at a park. 🙂

Roots Class (K-2nd grade) w/Marie:

This week we continued thinking together about listening to nature as part of our UU identity. The Other Way to Listen by Byrd Baylor is such a very quiet, special book, one of my very favorites. I would recommend bringing it home from the library or finding a read aloud on you tube. You can read more about how her work- both on the page and off- can inspire all of us- here: 

Byrd’s advice for connecting with nature tells us “go get to know one thing as well as you can. It should be something small. Don’t start with a mountain. Don’t start with the whole Pacific Ocean. Start with one seed pod or one dry weed or one horned toad or one handful of dirt or one sandy wash.” In that spirit, we put on our snorkel gear and dove off the coast of South Africa watching a clip from the beautiful documentary My Octopus Teacher, getting a glimpse of the joy the filmmaker found in visiting with an octopus every day for a year.

Wishing you deeper connections with nature this week and always!

Seedling Class (3rd-5th grade) w/Piaf:

This week we continued our theme of Deep Listening with a mystery sound game and a discussion of International Coming Out Day. How could we use deep listening to be a good friend or ally to someone who is choosing to come out to us? After an interesting discussion on this topic, we played our listening / drawing game from last week by popular demand 🙂

Wildflower Youth Group (Middle & High School) w/Solveij:

Today the Youth Group played a youth-group favorite, Mafia, and brainstormed for our mural project! The word they chose is equALLity, and each youth will focus on creating and/or painting a letter to represent social justice messages and expressive symbols that are important to them. Youth can also brainstorm on powerpoint and add videos, articles, thoughts, or other content that interests them to our group pallet.

Roots (K – 2nd grade) w/Marie:

Today we thought together about the idea of listening to nature as a spiritual part of being Unitarian Universalists. We found an owl feather in the wonder box, and I shared how wonderous it feels to me hearing the sound of the Great Horned Owls that have returned to my neighborhood. Here is what we hear in the evening and early morning: 
https://youtu.be/FsIygCtoqYg
And here is another sound from my yard- the children guessed about this one. No picture in the video, just listen to the sound-
https://youtu.be/ZvC8BW1rWEE

Did you guess? I captured that video earlier this spring in our pond and we think the tadpoles we’re bowing checking on each week are Rio Grande Leopard Frogs. 

Sometimes people talk about “listening with your heart” to nature, noticing that feeling of connection and wonder. One student says that she feels that way when she plays in a rainstorm. Another feels that way when he plays with his brother outside. This week try getting outside if you can and seeing what you “hear” with your heart.

Seedlings (3rd – 5th) w/Piaf:

This week we began exploring this month’s theme of deep listening. First, we heard and discussed a story about how a white Unitarian church desegregated in 1948. Who was listened to? Who wasn’t even invited to the conversation? While the ultimate result (integrating that congregation) was positive, we all agreed that this congregation was missing the important step of listening deeply to the people of color they hoped to invite in. We brainstormed other situations that this reminded us of, including how many white people did not listen to the Black community who were speaking up about police violence until quite recently.

Finally, we played a listening/drawing game that resulted in some silly images.

Wildflower Youth (Middle & High School) w/Solveij:

This week the Wildflower Youth look back over a year of learning about restorative justice, service vs. activism, youth leadership in organizing for climate justice, anti-black racism in policing and schools, historical solidarity to fight racism and local efforts to defund the police for community safety alternatives. Then, they brainstormed for the message they wanted to include in the mural and talked about current events — the election, whether the president is capable of change, and what qualities they’d want to see in leaders.