Manor Primary SchoolRE. Year 1 Autumn term. Our Religions, our beliefs

Overview of the LearningIn this unit children will:In this unit of learning pupils will be learn about what religion is and why it is important to people. It will look at the religions most commonly followed in our community and why they are important to people. It will address some of the important festivals and celebrations that people of different religions celebrate. Core Aims

To understand what religion is and why it is important in our community

The know main features of the Christian harvest festival and understand it as a festival of thanksgiving to God and a time for sharing with those in need.

To Know why Divali is important to Hindus; know that some features of Hindu beliefs and practices are shown in this festival; give an account of the story of Rama and Sita; explain the meaning of symbols associated with Divali.

Retell the main events of the visit of the wise men to Jesus; understand the concept of a precious gift and relate the ideas of giving and receiving gifts to their own experience.

Pupils should be taught

To know why religion is important to people To identify some of the main religions in our community name and explore a range of celebrations, worship and

rituals in religion, noting similarities where appropriate identify the importance, for some people, of belonging to a

religion and recognise the difference this makes to their lives

explore how religious beliefs and ideas can be expressed through the arts and communicate their responses

ExpectationsChildren can: use a developing religious vocabulary to describe some key features of religions, recognising similarities and differences. Make links between beliefs and sources, including religious stories and sacred texts.

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use religious words and phrases to identify some features of religion and its importance for some people. begin to show awareness of similarities in religions. Pupils retell religious stories and suggest meanings for religious actions and symbols. They identify how religion is expressed in different ways.

Learning Objectives Suggested Learning Opportunities To know what the term religion means. To think about important things in our lives.

What is religion? What is important to people?

Show the word religion and ask the children what does this word mean? What religions are represented in our classroom? Why might religion be important to people?

Explain…1. Religion is different for different people and as part of our British Values

(mutual repoect, tolerance) we must understand the importance of different people and their religion. Religion can be a way of explaining many mysteries of life, such as How the world was created, Why it was created. How to lead a good life.

2. Religion can also be a form of worship or thanks. Ask the children to think about what they might be thankful for? Make a class list.

3. Religion gives people time to think about all the things happening in their lives through religious celebrations, holy festivals and ceremonies.

Suggested learning opportunities: Explain what the children might want to give thanks for in their lives and

why.

To know what it means to belong. To know what religions are in our community.

What does it mean to belong?

Show the word belong and ask the children what does this word mean? Create a class list – What do you belong to? (classes, clubs, teams, religions)

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what do you need to do to belong to these groups? How would somebody know if you belong to these groups? Explain that different people follow different religions. They are not all the same.Investigate what religions children are already familiar with. Do any of the children practise a religion? Can they share information about their religion? Explore what you need to do to belong to different religions. Introduce the idea that people who believe in God belong to a family too – a religious family. Explain that they do things together to show that they belong. Suggested learning opportunities: Children to write a definition of ‘belong’ in their books and either create

their own badge or uniform that reflects the groups that they belong to. Complete a pre-drawn family tree. They could add on other people who

are important to them in their lives. Talk again about what they do to be part of their family.

To know what it means to celebrate. To explore personal experiences of celebrating.

What does it mean to celebrate?

Show the word 'celebration' and ask the children what does this word mean?Explain that many celebrations recall an event in the past. Can they create a class list of celebrations and what they did when they celebrated (e.g. had a party, let of fireworks, ate a certain type of food, gathered in a place of worship, spent time with family, wore fancy clothes/religious clothes etc.)

Share with children a suitable story which either features a celebration or is the source of one (Harvest will be appropriate because of the time of year).

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Discuss – How do we prepare for a harvest festival? Why is food collected? Where does it go? Why is this of religious significance?

Suggested learning opportunities: Write about a celebration in which they have taken part. Plan a celebration of an important event in their lives or in the life of the

school Investigate other celebrations that take place throughout the year and

explain why these take place.

To understand the meaning of Harvest. To know why people celebrate Harvest.

Harvest

Explain that you are going to begin to focus on important festivals in different religions. Where do we get our food from? Explore how the food got to the shop. For the carrots, draw a flow chart, working from shop to farm. Introduce the story of 'The Little Red Hen'. Talk about what the hen is holding on the front cover picture, and what wheat makes. Read the story. Focus on the different stages in making bread - planting, cutting, harvesting, milling, baking, eating! Look at the moral of the story and how she is thankful of the food and others are not. Following discussion, children could: Show the children a variety of harvest pictures and introduce harvesting words, eg cutting, picking, gathering, collecting, netting.

Suggested learning opportunity:

Draw/write of a stage involved in 'making food' - planting, cutting, harvesting, fishing etc.

To know how Christians like to say thank you to God.

To understand that there are times in our own

What is a Christian Harvest Festival?

Harvest is a time of year when Christians say thank you to God. What do the children think Christians thank God for at Harvest? Show children some

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lives where we want to say thank you. pictures of Christian Harvest festivals. Talk about what they can see in photographs. Talk about the inside of the church building and the fruits, vegetables and flowers laid out.

Suggested learning opportunity: Write a prayer describe a traditional Harvest celebration

To understand the term 'festival' How can we show thankfulness in our school?

Talk about their school's harvest festival. What is the theme? What are we saying thank you for? Where will the festival be held? Introduce the idea of a festival as a special celebration that has a special religious meaning to some people. Ask the children to help with the preparations for the school's harvest festival Talk about preparations, decorations and invitations.

Suggested learning opportunities: Make plaited bread/food collage for a harvest display in the

classroom/hall. Create a ‘Thank You’ tree for children to put thank you sentences on

(ongoing activity)

To know what happens during the festival Divali?To consider how the New Year is celebrated in our own homes.

Divali

Move on from the festival of harvest to the festival of Divali. . Discuss how it is about new beginnings. Ask how a new calendar year is celebrated in their own homes. Do they get to stay up late? Do their parents light fireworks? Do they have a party? Is this a time of the year that they enjoy? List their hopes and fears for the coming school year.

Suggested learning opportunities: Draw a picture / write about a New Year celebration in which they have

taken part.

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Make a list of all the new things that they have got at the beginning of this new school year, e.g. new shoes, new exercise books, a new teacher

To know the Hindu version of DivaliTo know the story of Rama and Sita

How do Hindu’s celebrate Divali?

Recap how Indian people celebrate the start of their new year with the festival known as Divali. Explain that during the celebration of Divali, Hindus also remember the story of Rama and Sita. Following discussion children could:Role play different parts of the story.Talk/write about their favourite character.

Suggested learning opportunity: Make a storyboard/ cartoon strip of the story. Make a newspaper report of the key events of the story.

To know what happens during the Christian celebration of Advent.

What is Advent?

Begin by revising what was taught in the previous lesson about the celebration of Divali. Focus on the lighting of the candles. Inform children that, during December, Hindus are not the only people who light a series of candles, Christians do as well.Use images, artefacts to inform children about the season of Advent.

Suggested learning opportunities: Write about their feelings leading up to Christmas day Contribute a picture towards an Advent calendar

To know why Christians remember Mary during Advent.

Who is Mary? Why is she important in Advent?

Recap what Advent is. Can the children remember the person or the event which each candle brings to mind? Focus on Mary. Christians believe that

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God could have chosen anyone to be the mother of His son, but He chose someone who was young, ordinary and poor.Share with children the story of the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38). Discuss Mary's feelings and her response.

Suggested learning opportunities: Find out about the rosary, and the words of the 'Hail Mary' Write about Mary.

To know how Mary received good news.To know why Mary received good news.

Mary’s Good News

Ask children what they think good news is. What good news would they like to receive? Why would you want to receive this good news? Who would send them this good news? Why might they get this good news?

Explain that God sent an angel to tell Mary that she had been chosen to be the mother of His son. After Jesus was born, God sent angels to spread the 'good news' to other people.

Share with children the story of Jesus' birth and of the shepherds who came to worship Him. (Luke 2:1-21). Discuss why the angel describes the birth of Jesus as 'good news'.

Suggested learning opportunities: Interview a Christian on why the story of Christmas is 'good news'

To understand the story of the birth of Jesus Why do people give gifts at Christmas?Read or tell the story of the birth of Jesus. Discuss the wise men and the gifts they brought to Jesus. (Expresso website). Some children may have gifts that they were given as babies – talk about these. What gifts do people give to babies today? What gift do you think a Christian might take to Jesus in the stable? Why did you choose this gift? Ask the children to draw the gift they

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chose, and write a sentence saying why they chose it.

Suggested learning opportunities: Make a story book of the key events in the Christmas story. (Use pictures

from Expresso website)

To know that Christians believe that Jesus is God's gift to the world

Why do Christians think Jesus is God’s gift to the world?

Christians believe that Jesus is God’s son and that God gave him as a gift to the world. Discuss what the children think this might mean, and write down their responses. Introduce some of the qualities that Christians believe Jesus brought to the world, eg hope, happiness, joy, peace, safety.

Read Matthew Chapter 15 V29 – 39. Jesus feeds the four thousand. Discuss the qualities that Jesus has in the story e.g caring, loving, generous.

Suggested learning opportunities: Act out the story and hot seat different characters.

To investigate how different countries celebrate Christmas.

How do we celebrate Christmas around the world?

Begin by asking chn for their experiences about Christmas and how they celebrate it. Where does it take place? What does your home look like? How would someone know you were celebrating Christmas? What happens in your home on Christmas Eve? Day?

How is Christmas celebrated in other countries? Choose 2/3 different countries to see how it is celebrated: http://www.santas.net/aroundtheworld.htm

Suggested learning opportunities: Use ICT to research how Christmas is celebrated in other countries Write a description of how a country celebrates Christmas.

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Useful Links.Story of Rama and Sitahttp://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/re/b-dag/ngfl-container/re-unit3-en.html

Christmas around the world.http://www.santas.net/aroundtheworld.htm

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