Friday 25th January 2019

Why do Christians call the day Jesus died 'Good Friday'?

LO -  Order Creation and Fall, Incarnation, Gospel and Salvation within a timeline of the Bible’s ‘big story’

Ask pupils to recall what they know about what happened to Jesus at Easter. Get them to come up with as many questions as they can about it.

Introduce the key question for the unit and see if their questions are linked. Prepare pupils to see the context by looking at the ‘big story’. Write concepts:

Gospel (means good news- Stories about Jesus), Incarnation (God is Jesus, God in human form = Jesus), Creation and Fall) from the ‘big story’ on cards.

Ask pupils to draw a quick symbol/picture for each of the concepts as you call them out. Find the concepts on the frieze. Agree on four good symbols for the concepts.

Use pupils to order them into a timeline and match them to the frieze. Introduce the concept for this work — Salvation — together with a picture of a cross. (use teacher resource in booklet to explain salvation)

Wednesday 14th November 2018

What can Christian learn from the Creation Story?

LO - Make clear links between Genesis 1 and what Christians believe about God and Creation

Read the Creation Story. Ask pupils to count the number of times that the words ‘good’ or ‘very good’ are used to describe how God sees creation. Discuss what parts of God’s creation in the story were good/very good (ensure that humans are one feature in the discussion). Add any extra ideas to the list describing what Christians think God must be like from this story.

Pupils share a time when they have created something they thought was good or really liked, for example, a story/picture/design/model/ poem. How did they care for their own ‘very good’ creation and how did they want others to treat it? Talk about how people look after the ‘wow’ objects humans created. Explain how many Christians believe that God cares for his own creation, including humans. Ask pupils to write instructions God might give to humans to make sure the world stays ‘very good’; for example, how to look after animals.

Wednesday 31st October 2018

What can Christians learn from the Creation Story?

LO - Make clear links between Genesis 1 and what Christians believe about God and Creation

After listening to Louis Armstrong’s ‘What A Wonderful World’ and reflecting upon the lyrics in our morning hymn 'Be still for the presence of the Lord' we decided to investigate our school grounds in the search of creation. Are we really too busy to notice any natural beauty in our school? Yes! Look at what we found!

Wednesday 23rd May 2018

Gospel

LO -Give examples of how Christians try to show love to all, including how members of the clergy follow Jesus’ teaching

Explore how far Christians are making the kind of world that Jesus wanted. Look at some signs from a church noticeboard or website showing what is happening in the community. List a range of these activities and ask pupils to decide which are the most important and why. There will obviously be lots of answers, as toddler groups are very important for young families, shelters very important for the homeless, and so on. Get pupils to offer reasons to say which are more important: worship services or caring for the elderly; celebrating a wedding, a baptism or a funeral; reading the Bible or giving to charity.

Wednesday 25th April 2018

What kind of world did Jesus want?

LO-Make clear links between the calling of the first disciples and how Christians today try to follow Jesus and be ‘fishers of people’

Share the start of the story of the calling of the first disciples (Matthew 4:18–19). Pupils pick out what Jesus asks Peter and Andrew to do. Explain that by following Jesus, Peter and Andrew would be giving up a lot. Remind pupils of their sketches and lists - how would they feel if asked to give up so much? Pupils imagine giving up so much by symbolically getting rid of their possessions and daily routines (for example, rubbing

sketches and lists out/giving them to the teacher/screwing the paper up).

Pupils take on role of Peter or Andrew and decide what they might have thought on hearing Jesus’ words - write thoughts on fish shapes/thought bubbles. The word ‘gospel’ means good news. They must have thought that Jesus was good news. In the work that follows, get pupils to look out for anything that might have seemed like good news to the disciples then and to Christians now about what Jesus said and did.

Finish the story (Matthew 4:20–22). What did James and John leave behind? Although they have given some things up, what special new job have the disciples gained once they follow Jesus? Ask pupils to think what Jesus might have meant by ‘fisher of people’. Together, create images of what a ‘fisher of people’ might do.

Wednesday 14^th March 2018

What is it like to follow God?

LO – Make simple links between promises in the story of Noah and promises that Christians make at a wedding ceremony or between adults and children of a family

Adults

I promise to raise my children up through the eyes of the church no matter what happens in life, even if we’re richer or poorer and even if they have struggles or success. I promise to stay and protect them from any harm. I will love them with my whole heart until the end of my days. I will educate them if it means sending them to an awesome school or teaching them at home.

Children

I promise to honour my Father and Mother and listen to them, to make them proud and to learn God’s rules and words. I promise to be curious, kind and caring towards others, I will love my Mum and Dad with all my heart. I will never lie or hurt them.

God

As a child of God, I will follow you all the days of my life, I will teach your word to others, I will love you with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. I will love my neighbour and family always!

By Hannah Keyte

15.12.17

How do festivals and family life show what matters to Jews?

LO – Describe how Jews show their beliefs through worship in festivals, both at home and in the wider communities

The Talmud code tells Jews to say ‘thank you’ 100 times a day. Children were tasked with keeping a ‘Gratitude Diary’ over the Christmas period to see if there are benefits of expressing gratitude regularly.

How do festivals and family life show what matters to Jews?

Passover Meal 29.11.17

After learning about the story of Moses and it's significance to the Jewish people, the class investigated the symbolic meaning of all the foods on the Seder plate used for the Passover meal.

Can you remember the symbolic meaning of the following items:

• Parsley dipped into salt water
• Horseradish
• Charoseth
• lamb shank bone
• Egg
• unleavened bread
• wine

Some of the foods didn't taste the best, which may explain the odd faces pulled in some the pictures.