Faith Curricula Library: Tapestry of Faith: Love Surrounds Us: A Program on the UU Principles and Beloved Community for Grades K-1

Stories in Love Surrounds Us

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Part of Love Surrounds Us, Grades K-1

  • A Journey of Forgiveness, Joseph and His Brothers

    Janeen K Grohsmeyer

    From Love Surrounds Us

    Have you ever felt as if some grown-ups liked another kid more than they liked you? Maybe your teacher lets someone else get away with stuff you would get in trouble for. Maybe your mom or dad doesn’t make your brother or sister do as much work as you have to do….

  • Barn School, Free School

    Janeen K Grohsmeyer

    From Love Surrounds Us

    A story of Dorothea Dix (1802-1887), Unitarian teacher and social reformer. “Finish eating your supper, Anna,” said Florence. “We mustn’t be late to school.” Anna nodded and ate another spoonful of soup. She was happy to get a piece of potato in the warm salty broth, instead of only cabbage….

  • Brave Enough

    Noreen Kimball

    From Love Surrounds Us

    There was once a girl who loved to write stories and poems. She often wrote about the land and birds around her home. Her name was Rachel Louise Carson and she was born in 1907. When Rachel grew up she became a writer and a scientist. Rachel wrote wonderful stories and she always explained the…

  • Jesus Teaches the Beatitudes
    From Love Surrounds Us

    An adaptation of Matthew 5:1-11, Christian scripture. Jesus was a teacher. He lived thousands of years ago, in the part of the world we now call the Middle East. Jesus taught people how to use words and actions in a loving manner. There are many different ideas about God….

  • Love Without Boundaries
    From Love Surrounds Us

    “I don’t want to go,” said six-year-old Ruben, with his hands placed firmly on his hips. “Don’t want to go where?” Ruben’s dad, Nic, asked as he rolled back on his heels from where he was kneeling in the rose bed. “To the family playground picnic,” Ruben said….

  • Many Paths to God

    Mary Ann Moore

    From Love Surrounds Us

    Adapted from “Many Paths to God” in Hide and Seek with God (Skinner House Books, 1994). Used with permission. Narrator: Once upon a time, four travelers from different lands met near a mountain. The travelers had been told that if they climbed the mountain, they would find God at the top….

  • Nathaniel Takes a Ride
    From Love Surrounds Us

    Hundreds of years ago, when America was still a very new country, Unitarianism and Universalism were also very new. They were actually two separate religions. By itself, Universalism was a loving and accepting religion. Universalists believed that God loved everyone and did not punish people. In…

  • Odd Velvet
    From Love Surrounds Us

    Odd Velvet by Mary E. Whitcomb, illustrated by Tara Calahan King (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1998). Permission pending. On the first day of school, Velvet’s classmates brought their teacher cinnamon tea, lace handkerchiefs, and heart shaped boxes of potpourri….

  • Ruby Bridges, Surrounded by Love

    Janeen K Grohsmeyer

    From Love Surrounds Us

    When Ruby Bridges was six years old and in the first grade, just like many other children, she went to a new school. Ruby’s school was called William Frantz Elementary School. It was in the City of New Orleans in the state of Louisiana.

  • Supriya's Bowl
    From Love Surrounds Us

    From The Broken Tusk by Uma Krishnaswami (Atlanta, GA: August House Publishers Inc.). Used by permission of the publishers. Hard times starve people’s spirits, as well as their bodies. (Play all instruments.) So it was once, when the Buddha lived and famine struck the land….

  • The Flower Ceremony, A Plain and Simple Beauty
    From Love Surrounds Us

    Adapted from a story by Janeen K. Grohsmeyer in her book Lamp in Every Corner: Our UU Storybook (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 2004). Used with permission. In the city of Prague, in the land of Czechoslovakia, in the year nineteen hundred and twenty three, there was a church….

  • The Great Kapok Tree, A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest
    From Love Surrounds Us

    Book by Lynne Cherry (A Gulliver Green Book), (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1990); permission pending. Two men walked into the rain forest. Moments before, the forest had been alive with the sounds of squawking birds and howling monkeys. Now all was quiet as the creatures watched the two men and…

  • The Talking Stick
    From Love Surrounds Us

    A retelling of a Sioux legend. This story was given to the native people many winters ago. When it was time for all of the young mothers in the village to go out to gather fruit and berries, the old grandmothers, whose legs could no longer walk quickly, were left to care for the young children of…

  • The Wise Sailimai, A Muslim Tale from China

    Sarah Conover, Freda Crane

    From Love Surrounds Us

    A Muslim folk tale from Ayat Jamilah: Beautiful Signs, A Treasury of Islamic Wisdom for Children and Parents collected and adapted by Sarah Conover and Freda Crane (Spokane: Eastern Washington University Press, 2004); originally from Mythology and Folklore. Begin by saying, “Today we will hear a…