Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education, href="dreocuucorg">dreocuucorg

Current.  1^st-6^thgrade “With Justice and Compassion” curriculum activities. The 1st through 6th graders are continuing with the “With Justice and Compassion” curriculum. The lessons in this curriculum explore social issues and history of immigration to the United States. As part of these lessons, the children will be asked to learn about, and share with the class, information on their own families. Please help your child prepare to talk about one of the following for class.  (If your child has already talked about one or more of these, he or she should do a different one.)


 

This will be a fun evening for all ages!!

Please take some time to learn about our OWL programs. Some of our OWL graduates are now teaching OWL at their UU churches and fellowships.

From our Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) web site:

“OWL addresses decision-making, clarifies values, builds interpersonal skills, and deepens understanding of spiritual, emotional and societal aspects of sexuality, which can influence the decisions we make. Its ‘three Rs’ are Responsibility, Respect, and Relationships.”

http://www.uua.org/ga/past/2008/commonthreads/115700.shtml

In the Faith~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education

How quickly this month has gone by! The cooler weather is most enjoyable, and there is so much going on in our congregation and RE program right now during the spring months.

Please join us for our annual Easter Egg Hunt with our Bunny Store on Sunday April 8. This is always so much fun. Please bring a canned food item for our Share Ourselves (SOS) collection. This will allow our children to experience community giving and receiving on special days.

Our new social justice curriculum is in full swing for grades 1-6. We will be telling family stories. If your 1^st-6^th graders ask about family history and lore, please take some time to talk to them. This will be a learning time for all of us! This is to assist us in getting ready for Justice General Assembly in Phoenix June 2012. Please consider attending GA! www.uua.org I just made my reservation for Justice GA in Phoenix. I hope your family can join me. More information is below.

Mark your calendars for Sunday May 6 for OCUUCs Auction and Annual Meeting Event. Stay tuned for our activity plan for children and youth for that evening. There will be no Religious Education that Sunday, we want all to come for an afternoon and evening of fun and community.

Please take the time to complete your congregational survey from our ministerial search committee. The selection of a new minister will have a huge impact on OCUUC for many years to come. See the information below. Also, the attached document is from our congregation nurse on how to talk ot parent who choose not to vaccinate their children. That choice poses a threat to public health, and Adair Small has put together valuable information for our UU parents.

I want to encourage everyone to stay abreast of our exciting news about the possibility of finding a new church home.  Our hard-working OCUUC Board is working on this and we have found a property that could work very well for us.  Read the BLAST for more information from our church president, Mary Lundholm.

Many thanks to our Secret Pals Team for all they did this year to make SP a big success! Gabrielle Block, Team Leader, Elizabeth Kilchoer, Jacques Kilchoer and Christine Soriano all made our program and reveal picnic fun for all.

Thanks for all you do~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education, dreocuucorg

——————–

Current. The 1st through 6th graders have started a new curriculum, adapted from the UUA’s “With Justice and Compassion” curriculum. The lessons in this curriculum explore social issues and history of immigration to the United States. As part of these lessons, the children will be asked to learn about, and share with the class, information on their own families. For the March 25th class, we will be creating an immigration timeline. Please make sure that your child has information about what country at least one parent or more distant ancestor came from, and when (year or approximate year) they came to the United States.

April 8. Easter Egg Hunt and Bunny Store. We will participate in our regular curriculum sessions and have our annual Easter Egg hunt after the 2^nd service. Join us for the fun!

 ASAP. Many parents in the congregation have not yet returned their Congregational Surveys.  As you know, OCUUC is beginning the important work of selecting a new minister. Critical to that process is the completion of the Congregational Survey sent to every member and friend of OCUUC. Reponses to the Congregational Survey will be used as a snapshot of the congregation, and will help determine what qualities and skills will be required of our next minister.  Put yourself in the picture by completing and returning the Congregational Survey as soon as possible. If you have misplaced your survey and would like another copy, please contact Barbara Schilling, dreocuucorg

April. OCUUC is offering 5-6th Sr. High Our Whole Lives (OWL). Classes will be held at OCUUC, the cost is $30 per family. 4-6 grade sessions are: Sunday April 15, 1-3:30 pm mandatory parent & student session; and Sundays April 22, 29, May 6, 13, 20, 27, June 3, 1-2:30 pm. dreocuucorg

April 8 and Ongoing. Families are invited to bring non-perishable foods and toiletry items for the Share Our Selves (SOS) little green shopping cart on the patio. Goods will be dropped at SOS each week. Please bring one canned good on Easter Sunday.

 June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly (GA) in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/ GA is the yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA. Here is a link to the new UU Justice GA blog http://immigrationjustice.blogs.uua.org/

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education, dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

• Secret Pals is now underway! The Secret Pals gift exchange is taking place on March 11th, March 18th, and March 25th.  Don’t forget to bring your presents! On those four Sundays, please leave a present in your Secret Pal’s basket before the beginning of the second service. Pick up your present from your basket after the end of the second service. Baskets will be located in the Social Hall.
• A basket will be set out for you before the second service to make sure that your Secret Pal has a place to put your present. The Secret Pal reveal party will be held on March 25th, after the second service. Look for further details in your Secret Pal basket, or on this blog. If you have questions, contact Gabrielle Block, gbpuzzleraolcom  (gbpuzzleraolcom)  .
• OCUUC will be offering 5-6th grade and Sr. High Our Whole Lives (OWL). Classes will be held at OCUUC, the cost is $30 per family. 4-6 grade sessions are: Sunday April 15, 1-3:30 pm mandatory parent & student session; and Sundays April 22, 29, May 6, 13, 20, 27, June 3, 1-2:30 pm.
• Sr. High OWL dates are Friday March 30 6 pm through Saturday March 31, 6 pm, and Friday April 20 6 pm through Saturday April 21, 6 pm. (two weekend intensives) and one mandatory parent meeting, date tba.
• Parents, please let us know asap student names, grade level, and parent names and contact info, for those who are ready to sign up.  Spaces are limited. This is a wonderful program and I encourage you to enroll your children. dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• OCUUC will be starting new curriculum in March for our 1st-6^th graders. This is part of our nation-wide preparation for Justice General Assembly in June in Phoenix. We will be sending home more information about this new curriculum.
• Ongoing. Families are invited to bring non-perishable foods and toiletry items for the Share Our Selves (SOS) little green shopping cart on the patio. Goods will be dropped at SOS each week.
• June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly (GA) in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/ GA is the yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA. Here is a link to the new UU Justice GA blog http://immigrationjustice.blogs.uua.org/

 Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education, dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

• Secret Pals is now underway! The Secret Pals gift exchange is taking place on March 4th, March 11th, March 18th, and March 25th.  Don’t forget to bring your presents! On those four Sundays, please leave a present in your Secret Pal’s basket before the beginning of the second service. Pick up your present from your basket after the end of the second service. Baskets will be located in the Social Hall. For those of you didn’t have a chance to decorate your Secret Pals gift basket on February 26th, stickers will be available for basket decorating on March 4th.  A basket will be set out for you before the second service to make sure that your Secret Pal has a place to put your present. The Secret Pal reveal party will be held on March 25th, after the second service. Look for further details in your Secret Pal basket, or on this blog. If you have questions, contact Gabrielle Block, dreocuucorg    Thanks to Gabrielle for heading up this project!

• OCUUC will be offering 5-6th grade and Sr. High Our Whole Lives (OWL). Classes will be held at OCUUC, the cost is $30 per family. 4-6 grade sessions are: Sunday April 15, 1-3:30 pm mandatory parent & student session; and Sundays April 22, 29, May 6, 13, 20, 27, June 3, 1-2:30 pm.

• OCUUC will be starting new curriculum in March for our 1st-6^th graders. This is part of our nation-wide preparation for Justice General Assembly in June in Phoenix. We will be sending home more information about this new curriculum.

• Ongoing. Families are invited to bring non-perishable foods and toiletry items for the Share Our Selves (SOS) little green shopping cart on the patio. Goods will be dropped at SOS each week.

• June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly (GA) in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/  GA is the yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA. Here is a link to the new UU Justice GA blog http://immigrationjustice.blogs.uua.org/

• Harry Potter will be back this summer by popular demand! Jennifer Abt is preparing our own UU Hogwart’s Academy for our OCUUC summer program. Stay tuned for more news about our upcoming HP summer.

OCUUC is very pleased to be hosting two sessions of Our Whole Lives (OWL) this spring. OWL is designed to teach our young people about their bodies and to assist them in navigating the messages about  sexuality they enouncter in today’s complex world. This spring we are offering OWL for grades 5-6 and for Sr. High students. Spaces are filling up so please get your youth on the list for OWL soon.

Our RE committee, RECY, is very excited to be offering  new curriculum for our 1-6 graders this spring. With Justice and Compassion: Immigration Sessions for Children’s Religious Education, by Mandy Neff. Please take a look at this new curriculum put out by the UUA  http://www.uua.org/documents/neffmandy/justice_compassion.pdf   Our own Gabrielle Block is working to adapt the curriculum to the specific needs of our OCUUC RE program.

Adult and children’s programs are being created and offered to assist us all in getting ready for our Justice General Assembly in Phoenix in June. If you have not been to a UU General Assembly (GA) and are interested, ask me or someone else who has been to a GA about going. It is an amazing experience to stand together with a thousand or more UUs from all over the country to worship and work together at GA!

Thanks for all you do~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education, dreocuucorg

~~~~~~~~

• Secret Pals begins on February 26th! If you or your child have signed up to participate, please pick up your Secret Pals assignments from Gabrielle Block. Gift basket decorating (for the basket that will be used for your Secret Pal presents) will be held in the Social Hall after the second service, beginning at 12:15.  If you are new to Secret Pals this year, you should decorate a gift basket.  If you participated in Secret Pals last year, you may choose whether to decorate a new basket or to keep your basket from last year. The Secret Pals gift exchange will begin on March 4th. Stay tuned for further announcements!

• OCUUC will be offering 5-6th grade and Sr. High Our Whole Lives (OWL). Classes will be held at OCUUC, the cost is $30 per family. 4-6 grade sessions are: Sunday April 15, 1-3:30 pm mandatory parent & student session; and Sundays April 22, 29, May 6, 13, 20, 27, June 3, 1-2:30 pm.

• Sr. High OWL dates are Friday March 30 6 pm through Saturday March 31, 6 pm, and Friday April 20 6 pm through Saturday April 21, 6 pm. (two weekend intensives) and one mandatory parent meeting, date tba.

• Parents, please let us know asap student names, grade level, and parent names and contact info, for those who are ready to sign up.  Spaces are limited. This is a wonderful program and I encourage you to enroll your children. dreocuucorg

• Ongoing. Families are invited to bring non-perishable foods and toiletry items for the Share Our Selves (SOS) little green shopping cart on the patio. Goods will be dropped at SOS each week.

•  June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly (GA) in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/  GA is the yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA. Here is a link to the new UU Justice GA blog http://immigrationjustice.blogs.uua.org/

I hope your children will be able to join us for our dragon parade for Chinese New Year this coming Sunday. We will walk our dragon around our coffee area immediately after the adult service. We still need adult helpers for this Sunday’s project, and to assist the children in making their own dragon paper bag puppets. Please let me know if you can assist, there will be too many children for just three of us to work with safely.

RECY has made one policy change for this year for teachers. We are asking that relatives not teach together in the same classroom if there are only two teachers present. This is to keep everyone protected should any questions arise about any situation in a classroom. We are being proactive with this policy so that continue to have safe and happy classes at OCUUC.

Our youth group will be moving the first week in February up to the Tracey Boag Building for a pilot project. We hope to create a great place for the youth to gather near the patio area and playground.

Check out all the details below for fun activities for all ages. The Jason Shelton music event is coming up fast. RE will host a Valentines Craft Night, with pizza dinner on February 4^th. Gabrielle Block will be heading up our Secret Pals program at the end of February, continuing through March for the third year in a row. Thank you, Gabrielle!

Dates will be announced very soon for winter/spring Our Whole Lives for Sr. high and for our 4-6 graders. Our Whole Lives (OWL) provides a safe setting with trained facilitators for children and youth to learn about their bodies. In addition to providing accurate information, OWL encourages the older youth to explore their own sexual identities and ethics, and to critically examine the messages from the larger culture. Please contact me immediately if your sr. high or 4-6 grade students would like to take OWL this spring. dreocuucorg

Thanks for all you do~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education

dreocuucorg

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

• Saturday February 4th, 4-7 pm in the Social Hall, Crafts for Valentine’s Day such as cards and decorations. Fun for the entire family, all are welcome! Pizza will be provided, bring a side dish or dessert to share. Helpers needed for set up and clean up, please contact Rayna to RSVP at dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

• OCUUC Children’s Choir will be singing in the Jason Shelton concert “Voices in Unity” on February 11 at 7:30pm.

Rehearsal schedule:

Sunday, January 29, 1-2pm, Gillan 3 classroom

Sunday, Febuary 5, 1-2pm, Gillan 3 classroom

Thursday, February 9, 7-8pm, sanctuary

Friday evening, February 10, 6-7pm, sanctuary

Saturday evening, 6pm call time, 7:30pm concert

Jason Shelton wrote some of our favorite UU songs – “Standing on the Side of Love,” “Morning Has Come,” and “Fire of Commitment.”  He’ll be here to conduct and sing a concert of his own compositions about love, unity, and action.    Here is the flyer for the whole Jason Shelton weekend:  http://ocuuc.org/ministries/workshops/

Contact Beth Syverson if your family wants to participate in this special event.  Beth Syverson, 714-376-6666, MusicDirectorocuucorg  (MusicDirectorocuucorg)  .

• Renaissance Module at the Los Angeles UU Church, March 22, 2012, 5:30 pm  to March 24, 2012, 12:00 pm. Renaissance Module: UU Identity. This is open to the RE community; Rayna is one of the organizers. The goals of the Unitarian Universalist Identity Module include: creating an understanding of identity as a process; becoming aware of how the process unfolds; identifying ways to foster the process, specifically among Religious Education participants and generally among their congregations. Link: Registration form

• May 5, 2012, save the date. International Day at Soka University, with the OC Dept. of Education and Arts Orange County. We can meet up for music and fun

• Ongoing. Families are invited to bring non-perishable foods and toiletry items for the Share Our Selves (SOS) little green shopping cart on the patio. Goods will be dropped at SOS each week.
• June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly (GA) in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/  GA is the yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA. Here is is a link to the new UU Justice GA blog

With combined RE funds, youth recycling money, a donation to RE and Spirit Grant matching, we have been able to purchase a new television for the Social Hall. We look forward to resuming movie nights with a much sharper audio and video output for the new year! We will need someone with a pick up truck to assist with moving the old TV for recycling on January 13 or 14, transporting to a temporary recycling center at Huntington Beach Public Library. Please let me know if you could help us out with a truck dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

We are in the process of setting up dates for winter/spring Our Whole Lives for Sr. high and possibly for our 4-6 graders. Our Whole Lives (OWL) provides a safe setting with trained facilitators for children and youth learn about their bodies. In addition to providing accurate information, OWL encourages the older youth to explore their own sexual identities and ethics, and to critically examine the messages from the larger culture. Please contact me immediately if your sr. high or 4-6 grade student would like to take OWL this spring:  dreocuucorg

dreocuucorg

• February 4, 4-7 pm in the Social Hall. By popular demand, Crafts with Judi for Valentine’s Day designs!! Cards and crafts, fun for the entire family, all are welcome! Pizza will be provided, bring a side dish or dessert to share. Helpers needed for set up and clean up, please contact Judi or Rayna at dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

• OCUUC Children’s Choir will be singing in the Jason Shelton concert “Voices in Unity” on February 11 at 7:30pm.
• Rehearsal schedule:
• Sunday, January 29, 1-2pm, Gillan 3 classroom
• Sunday, Febuary 5, 1-2pm, Gillan 3 classroom
• Thursday, February 9, 7-8pm, sanctuary
• Friday evening, February 10, 6-7pm, sanctuary
• Saturday evening, 6pm call time, 7:30pm concert

 Jason Shelton wrote some of our favorite UU songs – “Standing on the Side of Love,” “Morning Has Come,” and “Fire of Commitment.”  He’ll be here to conduct and sing a concert of his own compositions about love, unity, and action.    Here is the flyer for the whole Jason Shelton weekend:  http://ocuuc.org/ministries/workshops/  Contact Beth Syverson if your family wants to participate in this special event.  Beth Syverson, MusicDirectorocuucorg  (MusicDirectorocuucorg)  .

• Renaissance Module at the Los Angeles UU Church, March 22, 2012, 5:30 pm  to March 24, 2012, 12:00 pm. Renaissance Module: UU Identity. This is open to the RE community, Rayna is one of the organizers. The goals of the Unitarian Universalist Identity module include: creating an understanding of identity as a process; becoming aware of how the process unfolds; identifying ways to foster the process, specifically among Religious Education participants and generally among their congregations. Link: Registration form

• Ongoing. Families are invited to bring non-perishable foods and toiletry items for the Share Our Selves (SOS) little green shopping cart on the patio. Goods will be dropped at SOS each week.

• June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly (GA) in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/  GA is the yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA. Here is is a link to the new UU Justice GA blog http://immigrationjustice.blogs.uua.org/

Blessings of the season to all!

Please stop by the Social Hall after the potluck on Sunday 12/18 to hear a presentation on Ethical Eating. OCUUC would like to have more involvement in this important movement to assist the planet and all that make up the interdependent web.

The day is rapidly approaching for our Christmas Eve pageant! We still need some help behind the scenes for the presentation Would You Like to Hold the Baby? This will be a wonderful evening of family and church bonding and holiday fun. Please bring a treat or snack to share for the social hour from 6:30-7:30 p.m. that night. Beth Syverson will be leading the choir, and I am coordinating the acting roles. Rehearsal for the actors is this Thursday December 22^nd.  Pizza dinner for the rehearsal diner, 6:00 p.m. for pizza, rehearsal begins at 6:30.

We will be moving ahead to create a pilot program for a full RE program at our first service time on Sundays. Please send any thoughts, ideas or comments to me, we need to hear from you. The target date for beginning is February 5. We will need teachers and participants. We are very excited and hope to expand our vibrant RE program to a wider community. We will need your assistance and talents for this pilot. Please contact Rayna if you can assist or have any questions or suggestions.

We are in the process of setting up dates for winter/spring Our Whole Lives for Sr. high and for our 4-6 graders. Our Whole Lives (OWL) provides a safe setting with trained facilitators for children and youth learn about their bodies. In addition to providing accurate information, OWL encourages the older youth to explore their own sexual identities and ethics, and to critically examine the messages from the larger culture.

Thanks for all you do~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education

dreocuucorg

_______________________________

• Rehearsal for the Christmas Eve children’s choir and pageant actors.  All children are invited to participate:

• Rehearsal for all actors and choir members is Dec. 22. Actors can wear bathrobes if they play people, animals will wear the color of their animal, any style of clothing. If you have an earth color or plain head scarf for the people roles, please bring it. I will have some on hand for actors to borrow.
• The children’s choir will sing at the Christmas Eve service which will be on Saturday, December 24 at 7:30pm.  Children can participate in BOTH the pageant and the children’s choir if they wish.   MusicDirectorocuucorg  (MusicDirectorocuucorg)   or dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

Backstage pageant help is needed:

• Costume & mask helpers (night of the performance), staging coordinators, prop assistants, clean up and set break down(at least 4 helpers needed)    dreocuucorg

• Registration is ongoing for winter camps at de Benneville Pines. Sr. registration goes fast, sign up asap http://www.uucamp.org/
• Ongoing. Families are invited to bring non-perishable foods and toiletry items for the Share Our Selves (SOS) little green shopping cart on the patio. Goods will be dropped at SOS each week.
• June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly (GA) in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/  GA is the yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA. Here is is a link to the new UU Justice GA blog http://immigrationjustice.blogs.uua.org/

Religious Education is currently looking at adding a full RE program to our first service time on Sundays. Please send any thought, ideas or comments to me, we want to hear from you. The target date for beginning this pilot program is February 5 2012.

Note the link to sign up for Camp de Benneville Pines winter camps below. The camps fill quickly, particularly Sr. High Camp, so get your registration money in soon. Some scholarship money is available through OCUUC, contact Rayna for more information.

Thanks for all you do~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education

dreocuucorg

• Rehearsal for the Christmas Eve children’s choir.  All children are invited to participate:

Rehearsals will be Sundays from 1:00-1:45pm in the Gillan 3 classroom on these dates: November 27; December 4 (in the Sanctuary); December 11; December 18

The children’s choir will sing at the Christmas Eve service which will be on Saturday, December 24 at 7pm.  There will be a rehearsal around 6pm that night. The Christmas Eve service this year will be the “Would You Like to Hold the Baby?” pageant, which involves children, youth, and grown-ups acting out the nativity story.  Children can participate in BOTH the pageant and the children’s choir if they wish.   MusicDirectorocuucorg  (MusicDirectorocuucorg)   or dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

• Non-speaking, December 24th pageant parts available. Please contact Rayna or sign up at the RE Table on Sunday:

Mary, Joseph, Donkey, Innkeeper & Wife, Stable girl, Shepherds, 3 Wise People, Dove, sheep, cow, cats, horse & barnyard animals

• Backstage help needed:

Costume & mask helpers (night of the performance), staging coordinators, prop assistants, clean up and set break down(at least 4 helpers needed)          dreocuucorg

• Winter Jr. High OWL. The UU Fellowship of Long Beach will be hosting  Jr. High Our Whole Lives (OWL) for grades 8-9 (grade 7 on a case-by-case basis). This class will be held from late January to early March 2012. OWL training teaches young people to be responsible and become knowledgeable about their bodies and sexual choices. Contact Rayna or Merrie Lee if you are interested and would like more information.  See attached, and info flyers will be available at the RE Table with the dates dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• Registration is ongoing for winter camps at de Benneville Pines. Sr. registration goes fast, sign up asap http://www.uucamp.org/
• Ongoing. Families are invited to bring non-perishable foods and toiletry items for the Share Our Selves (SOS) little green shopping cart on the patio. Goods will be dropped at SOS each week.
• Share Our Selves (SOS) adopt-a-family. Information on the patio for adopting a family for the winter holiday
• June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly (GA) in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/  GA is the yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA. Here is is a link to the new UU Justice GA blog http://immigrationjustice.blogs.uua.org/

Craft, Cider and Stories Night with Judi & Rayna on Sat. 11/19, tonight! In the Social Hall, light dinner provided, 4-7 p.m.

Jr. High parents, attached is the information about upcoming Jr. High OWL in Long Beach. We need to get reservations in to Cheryl Kessler for our youth if they are attending. Registration will be held the first day, but we need to reserve spots for our youth.  The information is on the attached info sheet. Please contact me with any questions.

Note the link to sign up for Camp de Benneville Pines winter camps below. The camps fill quickly, particularly Sr. High Camp, so get your registration money in soon. Some scholarship money is available through OCUUC, contact Rayna for more information dre@ocuuc

Thanks for all you do~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education

• Family Night of Crafts, Cider and Stories, Saturday November 19th, 4-7 p.m. Come for a cozy evening of crafts with Judi and stories with Rayna. Warm cider and fall snacks, too. All who are young at heart are most welcome! Please RSVP to Rayna  (dreocuucorg)   so we can plan supplies and food. dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• Saturday November 19th from 9am to 1pm at the Orangethorpe Methodist Church to hand out food to the needy. Call or text Merrie Lee.
• All children and youth are invited to sing in the Christmas Eve children’s choir.  There are animal parts and parts for hand percussion also. All children are invited to participate:

• Rehearsals will be Sundays from 1:00-1:45pm in the Gillan 3 classroom on these dates: November 27; December 4; December 11; December 18
• The children’s choir will sing at the Christmas Eve service which will be on Saturday, December 24 at 7pm.  There will be a rehearsal around 6pm that night. The Christmas Eve service this year will be the “Would You Like to Hold the Baby?” pageant, which involves children, youth, and grown-ups acting out the nativity story.  Children can participate in BOTH the pageant and the children’s choir if they wish.   MusicDirectorocuucorg  (MusicDirectorocuucorg)   or dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

• Winter Jr. High OWL. The UU Fellowship of Long Beach will be hosting  Jr. High Our Whole Lives (OWL) for grades 8-9 (grade 7 on a case-by-case basis). This class will be held from late January to early March 2012. OWL training teaches young people to be responsible and become knowledgeable about their bodies and sexual choices. Contact Rayna or Merrie Lee if you are interested and would like more information.  See attached, and info flyers will be available at the RE Table with the dates dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• Registration is ongoing for winter camps at de Benneville Pines. Sr. registration goes fast, sign up asap http://www.uucamp.org/
• Families are invited to bring non-perishable foods and toiletry items for the Share Our Selves (SOS) little green shopping cart on the patio. Goods will be dropped at SOS each week.
• June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/  This is our yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA. Here is is a link to the new UU Justice GA blog http://immigrationjustice.blogs.uua.org/

Craft, Cider and stories night with Judi & Rayna on Sat. 11/19 RSVP requested so we can plan supplies and food. This event will be cancelled if we do not receive your RSVPs by Wed. Nov. 16, so let us know if you can make it for this evening of family fun!

Special thanks this week to Ariana Kenney and Karen-Magoon Pearson for their assistance on November First Sunday, and to Merrie Lee and Heather McCoy for putting together our youth Halloween party.

Thanks for all you do~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education

• Family Night of Crafts, Cider and Stories, Saturday November 19th, 4-7 p.m. Come for a cozy evening of crafts with Judi and stories with Rayna. Warm cider and fall snacks, too. All who are young at heart are most welcome! Please RSVP to Rayna  (dreocuucorg)   so we can plan supplies and food. dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• Saturday November 19th from 9am to 1pm at the Orangethorpe Methodist Church to hand out food to the needy. Call or text Merrie Lee.
• All children and youth are invited to sing in the Christmas Eve children’s choir.  There are animal parts and parts for hand percussion also. All children are invited to participate:

1. Rehearsals will be Sundays from 1:00-1:45pm in the Gillan 3 classroom on these dates: November 27; December 4; December 11; December 18
2. The children’s choir will sing at the Christmas Eve service which will be on Saturday, December 24 at 7pm.  There will be a rehearsal around 6pm that night. The Christmas Eve service this year will be the “Would You Like to Hold the Baby?” pageant, which involves children, youth, and grown-ups acting out the nativity story.  Children can participate in BOTH the pageant and the children’s choir if they wish.   MusicDirectorocuucorg  (MusicDirectorocuucorg)   or dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

• Winter Jr. High OWL. The UU Fellowship of Long Beach will be hosting  Jr. High Our Whole Lives (OWL) for grades 8-9 (grade 7 on a case-by-case basis). This class will be held from late January to early March 2012. OWL training teaches young people to be responsible and become knowledgeable about their bodies and sexual choices. Contact Rayna or Merrie Lee if you are interested and would like more information.  Info flyers will be available at the RE Table with the dates dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• Families are invited to bring non-perishable foods and toiletry items for the Share Our Selves (SOS) little green shopping cart on the patio. Goods will be dropped at SOS each week.
• June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/  This is our yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA. Here is is a link to the new UU Justice GA blog http://immigrationjustice.blogs.uua.org/

A big thanks to Merrie Lee, Heather, Vera Viana-Asper, Frankie Seigfried, Jade & Jeremiah, Gabrielle Block, and Birdie Reed for assistance with our special activities on Halloween Sunday. Our regular volunteer teachers jumped right in, too. Adults and young people had a fun day. We had a learning activity centered around our reverse trick-or-treat packets that were put together by the children and were sent home for each family.

Thanks for all you do~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education

• Family Night of Crafts, Cider and Stories, Saturday November 19th, 4-7 p.m. Come for a cozy evening of crafts with Judi and stories with Rayna. Warm cider and fall snacks, too. All who are young at heart are most welcome! Please RSVP to Rayna  (dreocuucorg)   so we can plan supplies and food. dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• All children and youth are invited to sing in the Christmas Eve children’s choir.   I will also have parts for hand percussion if they would rather play than sing:

1. Rehearsals will be Sundays from 1:00-1:45pm in the Gillan 3 classroom on these dates: November 27; December 4; December 11; December 18
2. The children’s choir will sing at the Christmas Eve service which will be on Saturday, December 24 at 7pm.  There will be a rehearsal around 6pm that night. The Christmas Eve service this year will be the “Would You Like to Hold the Baby?” pageant, which involves children, youth, and grown-ups acting out the nativity story.  Children can participate in BOTH the pageant and the children’s choir if they wish.   MusicDirectorocuucorg  (MusicDirectorocuucorg)  

• Winter Jr. High OWL. The UU Fellowship of Long Beach will be hosting  Jr. High Our Whole Lives (OWL) for grades 8-9 (grade 7 on a case-by-case basis). This class will be held from late January to early March 2012. OWL training teaches young people to be responsible and become knowledgeable about their bodies and sexual choices. Contact Rayna or Merrie Lee if you are interested and would like more information.  Info flyers will be available at the RE Table.dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• Saturday, November 5^th Assist with our building and grounds clean up and maintenance.
  9:00 am Work Party, OCUUC grounds
• November 6th will be our all-church Goods and Services auction. I have been to some wonderful events over the years, including pizza making last month. Plan to offer an event and come for the fun! Contact Rayna or Merrie Lee for more information.  dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• Families are invited to bring non-perishable foods and toiletry items for the Share Our Selves (SOS)  little green shopping cart on the patio. Goods will be dropped at SOS each week.
• June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/  This is our yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA. Here is is a link to the new UU Justice GA blog http://immigrationjustice.blogs.uua.org/

Craft night with Judi on Sat. 11/19 rsvp requested; Talents and Services Auction Sunday 11/6; we need a few more adults to help out with RE this Sunday for our fun & informative Halloween RE time. Kids are invited to wear their costumes. Face painting between services, reverse trick-or-treating packets and more. More information below.

Thanks for all you do~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education

• Date change for crafts with Judi, Saturday November 19.  Come and have fun, snacks and make some winter craft items to take home and to sell at our our Dec. crafts fair as a RE fundraiser. Plenty of crafts for the entire family, don’t miss this night! Save baby food or other small jars WITH lids, cleaned and label, free please, for snow globes. You can drop them off at the RE table on Sundays. Please rsvp so we can purchase supplies and get ready for the fun.  dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• All children and youth are invited to sing in the Christmas Eve children’s choir.   I will also have parts for hand percussion if they would rather play than sing.

1. Rehearsals will be Sundays from 1:00-1:45pm in the Gillan 3 classroom on these dates: November 27; December 4; December 11; December 18
2. The children’s choir will sing at the Christmas Eve service which will be on Saturday, December 24 at 7pm.  There will be a rehearsal around 6pm that night. The Christmas Eve service this year will be the “Would You Like to Hold the Baby?” pageant, which involves children, youth, and grown-ups acting out the nativity story.  Children can participate in BOTH the pageant and the children’s choir if they wish.   MusicDirectorocuucor  (MusicDirectorocuucorg)  g
3. We will be looking for a few good actors to participate in the pageant. No speaking parts except for  a bit of mooing, neighing or baaaing.

• November 6th will be our all-church Goods and Services auction. I have been to some wonderful events over the years, including pizza making last month. Plan to offer an event and come for the fun! Contact Rayna or Merrie Lee for more information.  dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/  This is our yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA. Here is is a link to the new UU Justice GA blog http://immigrationjustice.blogs.uua.org/

dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

Look for a new service project on the patio. OCUUC will begin an ongoing collection for Share Our Selves, canned goods and toiletry items.

RE teachers, please note this Sunday is the last opportunity to attend teacher training. We will gather immediately after the service to review changes and updates in our RE program.

Beth Syverson, our Director of Music Ministries, is getting ready for our Christmas Eve Service. Note the dates for the children’s choir practice below. Your child’s participation is most welcome for this year’s pageant! Contact Beth at

MusicDirectorocuucorg  (MusicDirectorocuucorg)  

Thanks for all you do~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education

• All children and youth are invited to sing in the Christmas Eve children’s choir.   There will be parts for hand percussion if your child would rather play than sing:

• • Rehearsals will be Sundays from 1:00-1:45pm in the Gillan 3 classroom on these dates: November 27; December 4; December 11; December 18
  • The children’s choir will sing at the Christmas Eve service which will be on Saturday, December 24 at 7pm.  There will be a rehearsal around 6pm that night. The Christmas Eve service this year will be the “Would You Like to Hold the Baby?” pageant, which involves children, youth, and grown-ups acting out the nativity story.  Children can participate in BOTH the pageant and the children’s choir if they wish.   MusicDirectorocuucorg  (MusicDirectorocuucorg)  

• Teacher training will be held after the second service, on Sunday October 23^rd at 12:45.  All RE teachers are requested to attend if you did not go to last week’s training. It will not take too long and will fun & informative ;)   dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• Winter Jr. High OWL. The UU Fellowship of Long Beach will be hosting  Jr. High Our Whole Lives (OWL) for grades 8-9 (grade 7 on a case-by-case basis). This class will be held from late January to early March 2012. OWL training teaches young people to be responsible and become knowledgeable about their bodies and sexual choices. Contact Rayna or Merrie Lee if you are interested and would like more information.  Info flyers will be available at the RE Table.dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• October 24, Social Justice Leadership Webinar. The UUA is presenting a series of webinars this fall, this is the first http://ocuuc.org/socialjustice/2011/10/social-justice-leadership-webinar-monday-october-24/
• October 29^th, 9am-1 pm, CPR and defibrillation training. Just a few spots are left, priority for RE teachers. Contact Rayna at dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• October 30, Sunday, Reverse Trick-or-Treating kits for your families. Let neighbors, friend and family know about earth-friendly options for chocolate purchases. Kits will be ready for pick-up in the Social Hall. We will hold our annual morning of face-painting, too! If you would like to help out with face-painting contact Rayna or an RE Committee member dreOCUUCorg  (dreOCUUCorg)  
• November 6th will be our all-church Goods and Services auction. I have been to some wonderful events over the years, including pizza making last month. Plan to offer an event and come for the fun! Contact Rayna or Merrie Lee for more information.  dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• Sat. Nov. 12, crafts with Judi! Come and have fun, snacks and make some winter craft items to take home and to sell at our our Dec. crafts fair as a RE fundraiser. Plenty of crafts for the entire family, don’t miss this night! Save baby food or other small jars WITH lids, cleaned and label, free please, for snow globes. You can drop them off at the RE table on Sundays. Please rsvp so we can purchase supplies .  dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/  This is our yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA. Here is is a link to the new UU Justice GA blog http://immigrationjustice.blogs.uua.org/

RE teachers, please note the dates for teacher training below and plan to attend one of the sessions. These will be very short sessions to provide updates, notebooks for new teachers, and ongoing and changes in important RE policies.

Thanks for all you do~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education

• October 15, Family Movie Night at OCUUC, save the date! Our movie for this quarter is Up! The older youth group movie nights have been discontinued through fall 2011. The youth will re-group after the holidays for movies. Contact Christine Soriano for more information. dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• Teacher training will be held after the second service, on Sunday October 16th and 23^rd at 12:45.  All RE teachers are requested to attend one of the sessions. They will not take too long and will fun & informative ;)   dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• Winter Jr. High OWL. The UU Fellowship of Long Beach will be hosting  Jr. High Our Whole Lives (OWL) for grades 8-9 (grade 7 on a case-by-case basis). This class will be held from late January to early March 2012. OWL training teaches young people to be responsible and become knowledgeable about their bodies and sexual choices. Contact Rayna or Merrie Lee if you are interested and would like more information.  Info flyers will be available at the RE Table.dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• October 24, Social Justice Leadership Webinar. The UUA is presenting a series of webinars this fall, this is the first http://ocuuc.org/socialjustice/2011/10/social-justice-leadership-webinar-monday-october-24/
• October 29^th, 9am-1 pm, CPR and defibrillation training. Just a few spots are left, priority for RE teachers. Contact Rayna at dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• October 30, Sunday, Reverse Trick-or-Treating kits for your families. Let neighbors, friend and family know about earth-friendly options for chocolate purchases. Kits will be ready for pick-up in the Social Hall. We will hold our annual morning of face-painting, too! If you would like to help out with face-painting contact Rayna or an RE Committee member. Children and adults are invited to wear costumes, we will have a costume parade during our second service. Children will remain in the service to help with the celebration of the season.  href="dreOCUUCorg">dreOCUUCorg
• November 6th will be our all-church Goods and Services auction. I have been to some wonderful events over the years, including pizza making last month. Plan to offer an event and come for the fun! Contact Rayna or Merrie Lee for more information.  dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  
• Sat. date in Nov.TBA, crafts with Judi. Come and have fun, snacks and make some winter craft items to take home and to sell at our our Dec. crafts fair as a RE fundraiser. Plenty of crafts for the entire family, don’t miss this night! Save baby food or other small jars WITH lids, cleaned and label, free please, for snow globes. You can drop them off at the RE table on Sundays.
• June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/  This is our yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA. Here is is a link to the new UU Justice GA blog http://immigrationjustice.blogs.uua.org/

RE teachers, please note the dates for teacher training below and plan to attend one of the sessions. These will be very short sessions to provide updates, notebooks for new teachers, and ongoing and changes in important RE policies.

Thanks for all you do~~

Rayna Hamre, OCUUC Director of Religious Education

• Teacher training will be held after the second service, on Sunday October 16th and 23^rd at 12:45.  All RE teachers are requested to attend one of the sessions. They will not take too long and will fun & informative ;) Childcare will be provided.  dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

• Winter Jr. High OWL. The UU Fellowship of Long Beach will be hosting  Jr. High Our Whole Lives (OWL) for grades 8-9 (grade 7 on a case-by-case basis). This class will be held from late January to early March 2012. OWL training teaches young people to be responsible and become knowledgeable about their bodies and sexual choices. Contact Rayna or Merrie Lee if you are interested and would like more information.  dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

• October 15, Family Movie Night at OCUUC, save the date! Our movie for this quarter is Up! The older youth group movie nights have been discontinued through fall 2011. The youth will re-group after the holidays for movies. Contact Christine Soriano for more information. dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

• October 24, Social Justice Leadership Webinar. The UUA is presenting a series of webinars this fall, this is the first http://ocuuc.org/socialjustice/2011/10/social-justice-leadership-webinar-monday-october-24/

• October 29^th, 9am-1 pm, CPR and defibrillation training. Just a few spots are left, priority for RE teachers. Contact Rayna at dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

•  October 30, Sunday, Reverse Trick-or-Treating kits for your families. Let neighbors, friend and family know about earth-friendly options for chocolate purchases. Kits will be ready for pick-up in the Social Hall. We will hold our annual morning of face-painting, too! If you would like to help out with face-painting contact Rayna or an RE Committee member dreOCUUCorg

• November 6th will be our all-church Goods and Services auction. I have been to some wonderful events over the years, including pizza making last month. Plan to offer an event and come for the fun! Contact Rayna or Merrie Lee for more information.  dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

• Date in Nov.TBA, crafts with Judi. Come and have fun, snacks and make some winter craft items to take home and to sell at our our Dec. crafts fair as a RE fundraiser. Plenty of crafts for the entire family, don’t miss this night! Save baby food or other small jars WITH lids, cleaned and label, free please, for snow globes. You can drop them off at the RE table on Sundays.

• June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/  This is our yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA. Here is is a link to the new UU Justice GA blog http://immigrationjustice.blogs.uua.org/

Our Religious Education program is humming with activity in these first days of fall. Our youth group, for grades 7-12, has grown over the summer. What a wonderful group of young people we have at OCUUC! Many thanks to Merrie Lee Wooten for her guidance and care of this crucial program. We have 10-13 youth each week gathering for discussion and activities in Gillan 3.

We will begin our first Sunday gatherings for all of our children and youth together on Oct. 2. We feel it is important for all our young people to gather together once a month for joint worship. The topic for this year’s first Sunday Series is famous UUs. I will be be highlighting a famous UU, alternating women and men, each month. I am very excited to be sharing our UU history and heritage with our young people!

The RE committee has camp scholarship money. Please talk to Rayna if your family would like some assistance with our upcoming camp weekend at de Benneville Pines October 7-9. We would love to help your family go to camp this year! If you are going up to camp, have a wonderful and safe weekend. DBP is magic!

For those few families who have not yet registered for 2011-12, please take a minute to fill out the form now. You can also stop by the RE table on Sunday. We have almost completed registration. Thanks to all who have turned them in already. This information is important for the care of our children and our OCUUC records:

http://ocuuc.org/wp-content/uploads/RE-OCUUC-form-2011.pdf

RE Teachers, please note the dates for teacher training below and plan to attend one of the sessions. These will be very short sessions to provide updates, notebooks for new teachers, and ongoing and changes in important RE policies.

Thanks for all you do~~

Rayna Hamre
OCUUC Director of Religious Education

• Tomorrow, Oct. 1, Global Village in Irvine. Contact Merrie Lee at  dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

• October 7-9, OCUUC family camp at de Benneville Pines. Contact Rayna for information about scholarship money for camp. dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

• Teacher training will be held after the second service, on Sunday October 16th and 23^rd at 12:45.  All RE teachers are requested to attend one of the sessions. They will not take too long and will fun & informative ;) Childcare will be provided.  dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

• Winter Jr. High OWL. The UU Fellowship of Long Beach will be hosting  Jr. High Our Whole Lives (OWL) for grades 8-9 (grade 7 on a case-by-case basis). This class will be held from late January to early March 2012. OWL training teaches young people to be responsible and become knowledgeable about their bodies and sexual choices. Contact Rayna or Merrie Lee if you are interested and would like more information.  dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

• October 15, Family Movie Night at OCUUC, save the date! The older youth group movie nights have been discontinued through fall 2011. The youth will re-group after the holidays for movies. Contact Christine Soriano for more information. dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

• November 6th will be our all-church Goods and Services auction. I have been to some wonderful events over the years, including pizza making this month. Plan to offer an event and come for the fun! Contact Rayna or Merrie Lee for more information.  dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

• Saturday Nov. 12, crafts with Judi. Come have fun, snacks and make some winter craft items to take home and to sell at our our Dec. crafts fair as a RE fundraiser. Plenty of crafts for the entire family, don’t miss this night! Save baby food or other small jars WITH lids, cleaned and label, free please, for snow globes. You can drop them off at the RE table on Sundays.

• June 20-24 2012, UU Justice General Assembly in Phoenix http://www.uua.org/ga/  This is our yearly general conference for the entire UU denomination. This year it is being held in Phoenix, and this is a wonderful opportunity for our families and youth to attend. We hope to have some fund raisers this year to help send our youth to Justice GA.

Dear OCUUC Parents-

Our regular, curriculum driven classroom sessions have started up! It is so great to see an enthusiastic group of teachers and students attending RE classes at OCUUC this fall. Please take a minute to read through this newsletter, there is important information that will assist our church community in getting off to a good start for 2011-12.

The RE committee has camp scholarship money. Please talk to Rayna if your family would like some assistance with our upcoming camp weekend at de Benneville Pines October 7-9. We would love to help your family go to camp this year!

A huge THANK YOU to all who assisted in our classroom clean up over Labor Day weekend: the Kilchoer family; Maria Goode and Ella and Jackson Huang; Bob Coomes; the Lundholm family; Mike Scott; Keith Jenkins; and especially Merrie Lee Wooten for coordinating what will now be a twice-a-year event.

About 1/3 of our families have registered for 2011-12, please take a minute to fill out the form now if you have not done so, or stop by the RE table on Sunday. We are aiming for 100% registration by the end of September. Thanks to all who have turned them in already. This information is important for the care of our children and our OCUUC records:

http://ocuuc.org/wp-content/uploads/RE-OCUUC-form-2011.pdf

RE Teachers, please note the dates for teacher training below and plan to attend one of the sessions. These will be very short sessions to provide updates, notebooks for new teachers, and ongoing and changes in important RE policies.

Thanks for all you do~~

Rayna Hamre
OCUUC Director of Religious Education
dreocuucorg

• Join us for our Coastal Clean up Day event, TOMORROW, September 17 from 9 am to noon at the Newport Beach Back Bay. RSVP to Merrie Lee Wooten at dreocuucorg

• OCUUC Family Camp at Camp de  Benneville Pines weekend October 7-9. Contact Rayna Hamre for information about scholarship money for camp. dreocuucorg

• Teacher training will be held after the second service, on Sunday October 16th and 23^rd at 12:45.  All RE teachers are requested to attend one of the sessions. They will not take too long and will fun & informative ;) Childcare will be provided.

• UU Church of Long Beach will be hosting Our Whole Lives (OWL) for grades 5 & 6 this fall. OWL training teaches young people to be responsible and become knowledgeable about their sexual choices. Planning for OCUUC Sr. High OWL and Jr. High OWL is in the works.   Long Beach contact info: http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/ourwhole/

• October 15, Family Movie Night at OCUUC, 4-7 pm, save the date! The youth group movie nights have been discontinued through fall 2011. The youth will re-group after the holidays for movies.

Dear OCUUC Parents-

I hope everyone was able to attend our Going Green! Fair last Sunday. We had posters, displays and green items available for donation. I picked up some one-of-a-kind reusable bags decorated by our creative children. Our children and youth got out the message, reduce, renew, recycle! BIG thanks to Merrie Lee Wooten for putting together our Going Green! curriculum for the summer program. It was a big effort and we so appreciate her time and talents. Thanks to all who taught and assisted in our active RE program over the summer!

Once again, we need  to have FULL participation in RE registration this fall. This is crucial for your children’s safety and our records. Please take a minute to fill out the RE form:

http://ocuuc.org/wp-content/uploads/RE-OCUUC-form-2011.pdf

We do need everyone’s time and talents to keep our program diverse and vital. Please sign up to help out during the year either for the classroom or special events.

Thanks for all you do~~

Rayna Hamre   dreocuucorg

OCUUC Director of Religious Education

• Fall RE classes begin this Sunday, 9/11!! We look forward to seeing our families at our chruch home. This year’s curricula are listed below. Join us for another fun year exploring our UU values together!

• One more chance to help out with classroom clean-up and organization. Tomorrow, Sat. 9/10 in the RE classrooms, from 11 am – 1 pm. We really need your assistance!

• Join us for our Coastal Clean up Day event, September 17 from 9 am to noon at the Newport Beach Back Bay. http://www.backbaysciencecenter.org/coastalcleanup.html. To RSVP contact Merrie Lee at dreocuucorg

• UU Church of Long Beach will be hosting Our Whole Lives (OWL) for grades 5 & 6. OWL training teaches young people to be responsible and become knowledgeable about their sexual choices.       http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/ourwhole/

• Navigators meeting September 11 from 4-7 pm at OCUUC, Gillan 2 and 3. Contact Michelle Catlett for more information.  dreocuucorg

• All-church camp at de Benneville Pines October 7-9. Scholarship  money is available for families, children and youth. Please contact Rayna for more information dreocuucorg

• October 15, Family Movie Night at OCUUC, save the date! 4-7 p.m.

• CPR and AED (defibrillator) class on Saturday October 29 from 9 am – 2 pm. All RE teachers are strongly encouraged to attend. OCUUC is having an AED donated, but we want as many people as possible to be trained it its use. Contact Rayna for sign up dreocuucorg

RE Reminders:

•  Children need to WALK when out on the playground or church grounds. Someone smaller or more unsteady could be nearby or around a corner.
•  Teachers, please return any curricula you have at home to the RE table on Sunday. Help us keep costs down by keeping our collection of curricula intact.

Our curricula and grade levels for the coming year 2011-12 are the following:

• Grades PreSchool, Love Will Guide Us, Spring 2012 Faithful Journeys:
  • http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith/lovewill/index.shtml
  • http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith/faithfuljourneys/index.shtml
• Grades 4-6, Amazing Grace: Exploring Right and Wrong, possibly with added myths from around the world:
  • http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith/amazinggrace/index.shtml
• Grades 7-12, A Place of Wholeness:
  • http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith/aplace/index.shtml

Dear OCUUC Parents-

Labor Day weekend, barbecues and back-to-school are here. We are wrapping up our summer program and welcoming our new interim minister, Rev. Ed. Brock this Sunday 9/4. Our children have created a Going Green! Fair and they invite you to come to the Social Hall after the Sunday service and see what we have been up to in RE all summer. Reduce, renew, recycle! CLEAN UP our classrooms day this coming Monday, 9/5 between 10:00 am – 1:00 pm. Please help give our classrooms a good cleaning and going over to get us started for the year. Snack provided. We will whistle while we work and have some  fun, too! We will be scheduling this as a twice a year event to help keep our RE classrooms in good shape.

We need  to have full participation in RE registration this fall. This is crucial for your children’s safety and our records. Please take a minute to fill out the RE form.

Again, a reminder that we need everyone’s time and talents to keep our program diverse and vital. Please sign up to help out during the year either for the classroom or special events. Contact Rayna Hamre to sign up.

Thanks for all you do~~
Rayna Hamre
OCUUC Director of Religious Education

• Sunday September 4th RE will have a Going Green! Fair on the patio after the service to show the congregation what we have learned this summer and to better inform the adults about green options. Parents are encouraged to attend and assist!

• Monday September 5th RE will have a clean up day for the classrooms. We need to do some sorting, cleaning, to spiff up of our classrooms for our fall sessions. Please stop by OCUUC from 10 am – 1 pm on Labor Day Monday, 9/5.

• Join us for our Coastal Clean up Day event, September 17 from 9 am to noon at the Newport Beach Back Bay. They are requesting an RSVP, so follow the link to sign up and we will all meet at the event.

• Navigators meeting Sunday, September 11 from 4-7 pm at OCUUC, Gillan 2 and 3. Contact Michelle Catlett  (michellecatlettgmailcom)   for more information.

• October 15, Family Movie Night at OCUUC, save the date!

RE Reminders:

• Children need to walk when out on the playground or church grounds. Someone smaller or more unsteady could be nearby or around a corner.
• Teachers, please return any curricula you have at home to the RE table on Sunday. Help us keep costs down by keeping our collection of curricula intact.

Our curricula and grade levels for the coming year 2011-12 are the following:

• Grades PreSchool, Love Will Guide Us, Spring 2012 Faithful Journeys:
  • http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith/lovewill/index.shtml
  • http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith/faithfuljourneys/index.shtml
• Grades 4-6, Amazing Grace: Exploring Right and Wrong, possibly with added myths from around the world:
  • http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith/amazinggrace/index.shtml
• Grades 7-12, A Place of Wholeness:
  • http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith/aplace/index.shtml

Rayna Hamre

Dear OCUUC Parents-

Religious Education is going green for the next two Sundays! Our children will be preparing for the Going Green Fair on Sunday September 4. We invite you to come to the Social Hall after the Sunday service on 9/4 and see what we have been up to in RE all summer. Reduce, renew, recycle!

Also we need  to have full participation in RE registration this fall. This is crucial for your children’s safety and our records. Please take a minute to fill out the RE form: http://ocuuc.org/wp-content/uploads/RE-OCUUC-form-2011.pdf

A reminder that we need everyone’s time and talents to keep our program diverse and vital. Please sign up to help out during the year either for the classroom or special events. Contact Rayna Hamre to sign up.

Thanks for all you do~~
Rayna Hamre
OCUUC Director of Religious Education

• Sunday September 4th RE will have a Going Green! Fair on the patio after the service to show the congregation what we have learned this summer and to better inform the adults about green options. Parents are encouraged to attend and assist!

• After the Going Green Fair there will be a visit to the Discovery Museum’s Ecochallenge for those who are interested. More information below, and at the RE Table on Sunday 8/28 & 9/4.

• Monday September 5th RE will have a clean up day for the classrooms. We need to do some sorting, cleaning, to spiff up of our classrooms for our fall sessions. Please stop by OCUUC from 10 am – 1 pm on Labor Day Monday, 9/5.

• Join us for our Coastal Clean up Day event, September 17 from 9 am to noon at the Newport Beach Back Bay. They are requesting an RSVP, so follow the link to sign up and we will all meet at the event: http://www.backbaysciencecenter.org/coastalcleanup.html

• UU Church of Long Beach will be hosting Our Whole Lives (OWL) for grades 5 & 6. OWL training teaches young people to be responsible and become knowledgeable about their sexual choices.       http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/ourwhole/

• Navigators meeting September 11 from 4-7 pm at OCUUC, Gillan 2 and 3. Contact Michelle Catlett for more information @ dreocuucorg

• October 15, Family Movie Night at OCUUC, save the date!

• Grades PreSchool, Love Will Guide Us, Spring 2012 Faithful Journeys:
  • http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith/lovewill/index.shtml
  • http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith/faithfuljourneys/index.shtml
• Grades 4-6, Amazing Grace: Exploring Right and Wrong, possibly with added myths from around the world:
  • http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith/amazinggrace/index.shtml
• Grades 7-12, A Place of Wholeness:
  • http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith/aplace/index.shtml

• The 3 R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
• Our Nature Neighbors
• Energy

In addition to Sunday classes, exploration will continue on field trips to local destinations such as the Environmental Nature Center and the Orange County Sanitation District.

This program is open to all families, so please share this information with any and all who might be interested. Contact Michelle Catlett or Rayna Hamre  (dreocuucorg)   for more information.

There is an error in the information sheet that was handed out with the Secret Pal assignments on March 6th. The Secret Pal reveal party will be held on April 3rd, after the second service. Look for further details in your Secret Pal basket, or on this blog.

If you have questions, contact Gabrielle Block or Jacques Kilchoer.

What is Secret Pals?

Secret Pals is a fun social activity for children, youth and adults. Pals will receive presents from one person and give to a different person. In general, adults will be matched with children and children with adults.  Pals will decorate paper bags for presents at the Bag Party on March 6th, and will be given their Secret Pal assignments on the same day.  Then on the following four Sundays, Pals secretly leave presents and notes in their recipient’s bag. On April 3rd, identities will be revealed and celebrated at the Reveal Party.

If you want to be a Secret Pal, sign up by Feb 27, either at the RE Table or by contacting Gabrielle Block  (gbpuzzleraolcom)  .

• A sense of purpose and recognition of self worth.
• A sense of belonging to a loving, caring, respectful community. A religious identity as Unitarian Universalists with an awareness of our Principles and Purposes, our history and the diverse sources from which we draw inspiration.
• A commitment to Unitarian Universalist values and a sense of how that commitment translates into action.
• A respect for other people and an understanding of the many religious traditions.
• An awareness of the interconnectedness of ourselves, our community and all inhabitants of the world.
• A sense of wonderment and recognition of the fullness of life—its challenges and its blessings.

We accomplish this by providing age appropriate, stimulating curricula in a nurturing and safe environment. We affirm our connection to the community by joining together in worship services and intergenerational activities. We provide children and youth with opportunities to put our faith into action. Recognizing that faith development is an on-going process, we support families by creating meaningful ties between the home and church.

Preschool – Kindergarten:

We Are Many, We Are One by Colleen M. McDonald.
Stories, games and projects encourage children to honor themselves, their religious community, nature and cultures from around the world.

1st – 3rd Grade:

Moral Tales by the Rev. Alice Anacheka-Nasemann and Elisa Davy Pearmain.

Every day our children go forth into a complex world where they are often faced with difficult decisions and situations. Moral Tales attempts to provide children with the spiritual and ethical tools they will need to make choices and take actions reflective of their Unitarian Universalist beliefs and values.

4th – 6th Grade:

Timeless Themes: Stories from the Hebrew and Christian Bibles by Marjorie Skwire, Mary Ann Moore, and Nannene Gowdy.

Introduces the rich biblical literature central to our UU heritage. 34 sessions with Bible stories, creative games and activities. Includes a glossary of biblical terms, resources and handouts.

7th – 12th Grade Youth Group: Messages in Music.

Provides a discussion framework for the seven Unitarian Universalist principles and their sources using contemporary music.

OCUUC youth also meet for a monthly movie night and other activities.

I would like to update you on some exciting changes to our RE program. I have been meeting with other RE Directors in our area, and found that many UU churches have an extended worship service for their children and youth once a month, as well as Social Justice and Six Source Sundays. The OCUUC Religious Education Committee and I, after much discussion, have agreed to try these activities at OCUUC. We feel these special Sundays will greatly benefit, our children, teachers and our church community.

First Sundays beginning in February, our children will meet in the Social Hall, after leaving the Sanctuary, for music, sharing and a craft activity. Judi Treble has graciously volunteered to plan and lead our craft activity on these Sundays. Amy Escobar, Scott Armstrong, Merrie Lee Wooten and I will be the regular First Sunday teaching team. Many thanks to these volunteers.

Months with a fifth Sunday offer the opportunity for special activities. We will have a discussion and activity about a major world religion, one of our UU Six Sources, or a social justice activity. For our first 5th Sunday, January 30, I will be discussing Buddhism, and we are planning stories about the Buddha and craft activities. Merrie Lee and I will be coordinating 5th Sundays and asking guest speakers and craft leaders to help out. Volunteers for regular 5th Sundays assistant teachers would be most welcome.

We are always in need of assistant teachers, and I encourage parents to actively participate in our program in this way. New volunteers keep our program vibrant and growing, we need you. Many, many thanks to the 2010-2011 teachers and assistants for the hours they spend each month with our lovely children and youth.

We are excited about our upcoming programs, and we hope your children benefit and enjoy our 1st and 5th Sunday activities.

• we are arranging to stay at one of the Bay Area churches
• 24 youth maximum, 12 from OCUUC
• one lunch is provided at the soup kitchen on Saturday. We are responsible for providing the other meals.
• Faithful fools asks for a $500 donation, possibly split between LBUUC and OCUUC
• Long Beach will send several “shadowers” and will be sending their youth up in vehicles with the chaperons/shadowers
• the program starts at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday and lasts all day, ending at dinner time
• each church needs to solicit donations or arrange for funding for participants
• youth will need to miss one day of school, Friday April 8

I will be going up with OCUUC youth. If we have any parents who would like to be a chaperone, shadower or driver, please contact
Rayna Hamre  (dreocuucorg)   or Merrie Lee Wooten  (reocuucorg)  . All ideas for funding, advertising, transportation, etc., are very welcome at this early stage of planning, too!!

Sincerely,

Rayna Hamre
OCUUC Director of Religious Education
714 898-7183
dreocuucorg  (dreocuucorg)  

For more information:

http://www.zoominfo.com/search#search/profile/person?personId=634603169&targetid=profile

http://ncronline.org/news/faith-parish/faithful-fools-chip-away-boundaries

This session introduces the concept of responsibility. It reinforces the ideas in the seventh Unitarian Universalist Principle, respect for the interdependent web of all existence, by demonstrating the idea that our action or lack of action makes a difference in an interdependent world.

Our PreK-K Class will explore why ‘Black is Beautiful’ using their curriculum, “We Are Many, We Are One.” Our grades 4-6 will explore the teachings of Moses using their “Timeless Themes” lesson book.

This session introduces the concept of responsibility. It reinforces the ideas in the seventh Unitarian Universalist Principle, respect for the interdependent web of all existence, by demonstrating the idea that our action or lack of action makes a difference in an interdependent world. It encourages the children to feel empowered to take action when love, faith and conscience call. The session is woven around a folk tale from Thailand and Burma , “Not My Problem.” In this story a queen is repeatedly asked to take action on what she considers a matter too small for her attention. She continues to ignore it until the situation grows to the point that her whole kingdom is lost. During the session the children explore the concept and experience of responsibility through acknowledging ways that they already make a difference, considering through role play how to make a difference in real life scenarios.

Come and join us this week!

Whether you are a family with elementary aged children, or you have an elementary-aged camper who is longing for a weekend away from home, this is the place for you!

Snow angels, hot cocoa, inspired worship, sledding, talent show, wintery hikes – we have a perfect weekend planned for you and your family!

Our talented program staff puts together the program; you and your family enjoy it!

For the campers who want to come on their own, we have trained cabin counselors who supervise them throughout the weekend.

Come to camp and become Inspired UUs!

SESSION 11: DO NO HARM

Non-violence is not a garment to be put on and off at will. Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an inseparable part of our very being. — Mohandas K. Gandhi

This session introduces non-violence as an aspect of goodness which is integrally connected with justice.

Through hearing a story in which a boy holds the well being of a bird within his hands, and playing a game in which participants are encouraged to think about non-violent responses to conflict situations, the children will be encouraged to be peacemakers.

Reflecting the sixth Unitarian Universalist Principle, which promotes “the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all,” this session draws on the Buddhist and Hindu notion of non-harm, or ahimsa, and on Christian scripture: “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take the sword will perish by the sword.” (Matthew 26:52) The word “Non-violence” will be added to the Moral Compass poster.

Hello RE Parents –

I’ve enjoyed teaching the kids “Here We Come A-Wassailing” in their RE classes for the last several weeks. In order to help them learn the song at home, here’s an instrumental version of the song that they can sing with:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtpAyklgxts

The children will need to WEAR WINTER SCARVES of any color, but preferably something that isn’t too modern-looking (no glittery yarn or neon, for example). We have a few extras here at church, and maybe some of you might have extras you could loan out? (Let me know).

There’s a dress rehearsal that the singers need to attend if at all possible — Thursday, December 23 at 6pm. Hopefully a parent could stay through the rehearsal so they could help the children remember what to do. They should wear their scarves to the dress rehearsal, over street clothes.

The festivities on December 24, Christmas Eve, will begin with a kids’ party with a visit from Santa at 6pm. Then the Christmas Eve Revels service will begin at 7pm.

Here are the words we’ll be using for “Here We Come A-Wassailing” so you can practice the song at home:

VERSE 1:

Here we come a-wassailing
Among the leaves so green,
Here we come a-wandering
So fair to be seen.

CHORUS:

Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail too,
And God bless you and send you a happy New Year,
And God send you a happy New Year.

VERSE 2:

We are not daily beggars
That beg from door to door,
We are your neighbor’s children
Whom you have seen before.

CHORUS

VERSE 3:

God bless the master of this house,
Likewise the mistress too,
And all the little children
That round the table go.

CHORUS

I hope your family will be able to participate in the Christmas Eve Revel this year! I’m looking forward to working with your child(ren)!

Contact me anytime with questions or concerns: Beth Syverson, musicdirectorocuucorg

Mosque Tour; Meet Muslim Neighbors; Experience Cultural Artifacts; Enjoy Food Sampling.

Address: 23581 Madero Dr., Suite 101, Mission Viejo CA 92691

Directions:

From 5 Freeway, exit Alicia. Head East. Go past Target.
After 4 traffic lights turn left at Via Linda
Turn left on Madero. The very first building on your left is OCIF.

Parking is limited. Please use street parking, also use Ball Park parking on Via Linda.

______________________

Halloween Mini-Con in San Dieguito October 22nd – 24th $10

Take a chance to meet other UU teens in the district. Activities include scary movie night, games, workshops and a ance complete with costumes. Starts Friday night around 6 to 7pm and ends on Sunday morning. Meals provided.

reocuucorg  (reocuucorg)  

Click here to access the registration form.

OOBLECK:

What is oobleck? Named for the ooey-gooey substance in Dr. Seuss’s story, “Bartholomew and the Oobleck”, it is a thick mixture of cornstarch and water. If you would like to experience the wonder of oobleck at home, then here’s the recipe:

• Take 1 16-oz box of cornstarch.
• Add ½ cup of water and mix.
• Continue mixing and adding small amounts of water and cornstarch until it is well mixed and about as thick as honey.

You should end up with a substance that acts like a solid if you tap on it quickly, but like a fluid if you touch it slowly.

We observed that you could punch it. It is hard.

You may be able to tear chunks off it. But when you hold them, the chunks slowly melt and run through your fingers. You can press on it slowly and your hand goes right in. Try to pull it out fast, and your hand sticks!

When we were done playing, we set up the “oobleck challenge”: A tub of oobleck that the kids (and any adventurous adults) could walk across. By walking at normal speed, you could step on the oobleck like a solid. Slow down (as some of the kids advised their parents to do!) and your shoe sinks slowly in and sticks in the oobleck. When recovered by slowly pulling it out, the shoe drips with liquid oobleck.

SLIME:

We had so much fun with oobleck that we ran out of time to do slime. But if you’d like to experience the wonder of slime, here’s the recipe:

1. Take a cup of water and add to it 1 Tbs. of borax (approx 4% solution). Stir until completely dissolved.
2. Make a 50% water 50% white glue solution. Take 1/4 cup of each and mix thoroughly.
3. In a Ziploc bag, add equal parts of the borax solution to equal parts of the glue solution. 1/2 cup of each will make a cup of slime.
4. Seal bag, knead the mixture and watch as it turns to slime before your very eyes!
5. Enjoy. (Probably best to wash your hands after your done.)

To test this, we cut a radish in half, scooped out some of the insides and pushed it against a plastic plate. The scooped out radish was supposed to be able to create enough suction to lift the plate. We tried it with different radishes, different plates, and different people doing the experiment. On one attempt (before class, of course!) it was observed that the radish held onto the plate briefly. But overall, no success.

A very logical young man pointed out that you could use the radish to lift the plate—all you had to do was put the radish underneath! The teachers felt that was missing the spirit of the myth—but we have to admit, it would work!

Since we had no joy with radishes, we next used a brand-new, never-before-been-used plunger to try lifting the plate. It worked brilliantly. We were able to lift the plate, a globe, a book, a wooden chair and a child (OK, we didn’t really lift the child, but he had fun pretending that we did!) The plunger was also able to stick to the wall.

Status of Radish Vaccuum: Busted (just like most of the radishes!)

Secondly, we tested the myth that you can carry water in a straw using air pressure.

To do this, we dipped a straw in water so that the straw partially filled with water. Then we placed a finger over the straw and lifted the straw out of the water. If youve ever waited in a restaurant with bored children, you will not be surprised by the result. As long as we held our finger over the straw, the water stayed in the straw and could be carried around the room. When we removed our finger from the straw, out fell the water!

Status of Carrying Water in a Straw: Confirmed.

Our last myth was that you can stick an eraser to your hand and have it stay, even if you turn your hand upside down.

To do this, we took the kind of eraser that you put on pencils to replace the original, squished it slightly, and pushed it onto a hand (or arm. . . or forehead). Voila! With a little practice, we could make the erasers stay. It was observed that if you leave them in place too long, it does make a small red mark on your skin, because they stay in place by suction.

Status of the Anti-Gravity eraser: Confirmed

Since we could not travel to the North Sea and measure a real oceanic iceberg, such as the one that sunk the Titanic, we did this small-scale. We made our “iceberg” by freezing a ice in a cylinder. We then put the ice into the small-scale North Sea (a large tub filled with water).

Total Height of Iceberg = 2-1/8″
Height of Iceberg above Water = ¼”
Percent of Iceberg above water = 11 percent.

Status of Iceberg Myth: Confirmed

But wait! Did we do it right?
As we were continuing to play with our mini-icebergs, one of the parents asked, “Doesn’t the ocean have salt in it? Wouldn’t this affect the results?” It might. Stay Tuned.

Secondly, we tested the myth that you can stay dry underwater by using a diving bell.

Once again, we had to go small-scale. We used a drinking glass and taped a plastic character (Robin Hood) to the bottom on the inside. We then turned it upside down and submerged it into the water. Robin Hood stayed dry!

Status of Diving Bell myth: Confirmed.

First, we tested the myth that if you have enough helium balloons, you can fly up.

We filled 33 helium balloons. It looked like a lot! The results of our tests were as follows.

These results are consistent with our research, which showed that it takes about 46 balloons to lift one pound. So, to lift a 50-lb child, we would have needed at least 46X50 or 2,300 balloons! We couldn’t achieve it, but if you’d like to see a child go up, check out http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mythbusters-balloon-girl.html.

And if you’d like to experience going up in a balloon yourself, check out the free balloon ride at the Orange County Great Park.

Status of Balloon Myth: Busted (for party balloons!)

Just for fun, we tried making home-made hovercraft using a CD and a balloon. To do this, we glued two small

cardboard squares to the center of a CD, pierced the cardboard and threaded a small plastic tube through the hole, positioning the tube so that it did not stick out on the bottom of the CD. We then blew up the balloon, put it on the tube and—oops!—the diameter of the balloon end was larger than the diameter of the plastic tube. The balloon zoomed off like a rocket! Minor technical fix—tie the balloon onto the plastic tube.

With this fix, the hovercraft did float slightly above the table. This was difficult to see, because the distance was small. However, when you pushed the hovercraft, it floated across the table like an air-hockey puck.

By popular demand, we also tested the myth that if you breathe in helium from a balloon, it will make you talk like Donald Duck.

Status of Talking like a Cartoon Character Myth: Confirmed—and a lot of fun!

First, we tested the myth that potatoes can generate electricity!

We stuck a galvanized steel nail into one side of the potato and a copper wire into the other. The two wires sticking out of the potato are the terminals. We then measured across the terminals with a volt meter (unfortunately not digital!). We were able to observe a voltage of approximately .5 volts! We made a potato battery!

Since inquiring minds wished to know, we tested other vegetables also.

Status of Potato Electricity Myth: Confirmed (but not practical!)

Our second myth was that a pickle can glow if you pass electricity through it.

Unfortunately, the amount of electricity required is more than kids can safely handle, so this was done as a demonstration. We also discussed how to be safe around electricity. Don’t try this at home!

Nevertheless, when we passed an electric current through the pickle, it emitted eerie flashes of light. (It also smoked a bit!) Very cool.

Status of Glowing Pickle Myth: Confirmed.

First, we tested the myth that water can sometimes defy gravity!

The first experiment was “The Paper Towel Climb”. We held a paper towel strip above a cup of water so that only the bottom inch or two of the paper towel was in the water. We could see the water rise up into the paper towel. But what about yarn? What about cloth? We tried them, too. When we checked back about ten minutes later—it was a bit of a snail race!—the paper towel was the clear winner, followed by the cloth. The yarn came in last.

The second experiment was “Escape from the Cup.” We filled a cup with water and draped several paper towel strips over the rim. The water climbed up the paper towel, over the top of the cup and dripped into a larger container. When we checked back, we saw that half the water had escaped!

The third experiment was “The Wedge.” We took two clear plastic panes, held slightly open on one side and put them in colored water. On the wider gap side, the water stayed in the bowl. On the narrow gap side, the water climbed up (a little bit). The kids discovered that this effect could be enhanced by “squishing” the water between the two panes!

Status of Climbing Water Myth: Confirmed.

Just for fun, we also made a siphon with a straw and a glass of water. Put the straw into the water the wrong way (with the long end hanging out), get it started by sucking on the straw, and—hey presto!—the water will continue to drain out all by itself until it is level with the short end of the straw.

Our second myth is that you can bend water using static electricity. First we blew up a balloon. Then we charged it by rubbing against clothes or hair. (Test for sufficient charge, see if it pulls your hair towards it!) We turned on the faucet, using a thin stream of water. When the balloon is charged it pulls the stream of water towards it.

Status of the Water Bending Myth: Confirmed.

Our last myth—which we ran out of time for but I did it anyway just for fun—was that you can separate food coloring and ink into different colors by letting water “climb” through it.

Status of Color Separation Myth: Plausible.

We tested the “myth” that adding Mentos to Diet Coke makes a fountain of soda shoot up into the air.

We used 2-liter bottles of Soda (Diet Sam’s Cola). We drilled a hole in the bottle-cap. Then we drilled holes in four mentos, strung them on a paper-clip, and threaded the end of the paper through the hole in the bottle-cap. This assembly was held in place by a binder clip. Open the binder clip, the mentos fall into the soda, and (hopefully) ka-boom! A geyser of soda erupts!

As a control, we tested water and mentos. Nothing happened. Just as we expected!

We had read that the fruit-flavor mentos don’t work. Surprise! A geyser of soda shot 12-15 feet into the air, and 3/8 of the bottle was exploded! Exactly the same as mint mentos! (Compare to #2 hole diameter below.)

We suspected that a smaller diameter hole would cause higher pressure within the bottle and therefore a higher fountain of spray. (Note that heights and volumes were estimated.)

Oops! Upon measuring more carefully, hole #3 and hole #4 are really the same diameter! So we would expect them to give the same results, and within our measurement ability, they did.

We also guessed that any carbonated drink would give about the same results. This was true for Regular Sam’s Cola, Caffeine-free Diet Sam’s Cola, brand-name Diet Coke, and generic Sprite. However, Manzanilla (generic Apple soda) gave a much smaller six foot geyser and exploded only ¼ of the mint.

We wanted to shoot off some soda fountains for the 4th of July—and we did it!

Conclusion: Myth Confirmed.