Awareness, Mystery and Value (AMV) 2011

Key Stage 2 Unit 10: What can we learn from the life and teaching of JesusThis unit explores aspects of the person, life and teaching of Jesus and how they relate to Christian life, practices, celebrations and

the pattern of Christian festivals

About this exampleThis example is intended to provide a set of learning activities for a Year 4 class (or may be adapted for a Y3 class). Teachers may decide to cover the Christmas and Easter aspects at the appropriate times in the year.

It was written by Katy Staples (Advisor to Bristol SACRE) and Sue Thompson, (AST and Y5 teacher at Elmlea Junior School, Bristol).

Where the example fits into the new primary curriculumThis example is likely to be used as a ‘stand-alone’ sequence of learning within a discrete unit of learning for RE or may be used to support PSHE activities.

Essentials for learning and life. This sample scheme will support pupils to learn how to listen attentively, talk clearly and confidently about their thoughts, opinions and ideas (Literacy), investigate and communicate (learning and thinking skills) and work collaboratively towards common goals (social skills).

Prior LearningPupils will have some experience of, and practice at being able to put forward a point of view and say why things are important, giving reasons.

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Featured Religions / Beliefs Areas of EnquiryChristianity AT 1: Learning ABOUT religion and belief AT 2: Learning FROM religion and belief

A. Beliefs, teachings and sources D. Identity and belonging

B. Practices and ways of life E. Meaning, purpose and truth

C. Forms of expression F. Values and commitments

Key Question: What can we learn from the life and teaching of Jesus?Supplementary Questionsa) Who is Jesus and what does it mean to follow him today? b) What did Jesus teach about:

Love Sin, forgiveness and redemption Revenge and peace/reconciliation Greed and giving Making a difference Prayer Faith and hope Life after death?

c) What do the narratives of Jesus’ miracles tell us about some of the big questions of life?d) Why might Christmas, Lent and Easter be important to ourselves as well as (other) Christians?

ResourcesThe following texts and e-resources have been used for the sample learning activities below. Teachers are, of course, free to vary the resources suggested here to suit their pupils. Picturing Jesus: Pack A and B and Fresh Ideas, The Christ we Serve CMS, USPG, Jesus His Importance to believers, Jesus Through Art, The parables Project, The Lion Storyteller Bible, The Animated Stories, The Prodigal Son, Opening Up Easter.These resources are available to loan from The All Saints Resources Centre, 1 All Saints Court, Bristol BS1 1JN. resource.centre@bristoldiocese.org

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Learning Outside the ClassroomPupils could have had the opportunity to visit a church or ask a Christian to speak about his/her beliefs about Jesus and what Jesus means to him/her

Expectations: ‘B & E’ are the focus areas of enquiry identified on the previous pageBy the end of this sequence of learning:All pupils: Most pupils (majority class expectation): Some pupils: (G & T Y4s)B2 talk about some of the things that are the same for different religious people

E2 talk about some things in stories that make people ask questions

B3 describe some of the things that are the same and different for religious people

E3 ask important questions about life and compare my ideas with those of other people

B4 use the religious language accurately to describe and compare what practices and experiences may be involved in belonging to different religious groups

E4 ask questions about the meaning and purpose of life, and suggest a range of answers, which might be given by me, as well as members of different religious groups

These statements are taken from the ‘Can-do’ levels published on the AMV website at: http://amv.somerset.gov.uk/syllabus/standards-and-assessment/

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Key Question: What can we learn from the life and teaching of Jesus?Key vocabulary: Redemption, sin, Lord, neighbour, parable, Samaritan, compassion, redemption, reconciliation, forgiveness, prodigal, greed, tax collector, prayer, Pharisee, Lord’s Prayer, miracle, incarnation

Learning objectives and

questions

Suggested activities for teaching and learning Outcomes References, points to note, resources

Lesson 1

Pupils will: begin to explore

who others think Jesus is?

begin to explore who they think Jesus is?

Question:Who is Jesus?

Have 6-10 stations around the room with pictures and quotations of Jesus and what people think about Jesus (see p4 & 5 of “Jesus His Importance to his believers” for ideas for quotations). Pupils in pairs go around the stations and complete a KWL about Jesus (Know, want to know, learned).

Feedback their findings to the whole class and discuss what they want to know, know and have learned.

ACTIVITY: Write a poem entitled “Who is Jesus?”

Either free flowing, acrostic or cinquain form (an increasing syllable count in the

first four lines, namely two in the first, four in the second, six in the third, and eight in the fourth, before returning to two syllables on the last line).

Plenary : Those who have finished their poems read them out to the class and explain them.

Pupils: can explain that

different people have depicted Jesus in different ways and that people have different views about the person of Jesus and his impact on their lives.

express their own beliefs as to who Jesus was.

Picturing Jesus: Pack A and B and Fresh Ideas RE Today serviceshttp://shop.retoday.org.uk

The Christ we Serve CMS, USPG, Methodist Churchhttp://www.cms-shop.org.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/CMS/_W-Pack004/132343/The%20Christ%20we%20Share Jesus His Importance to believers Edited by Pamela Draycott http://shop.retoday.org.uk

Jesus Through Art: Margaret Cooling

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Lesson 2

Pupils will: begin to

understand that for Christians the love of God is expressed in loving one’s neighbour, regardless of barriers and boundaries

Question:What did Jesus teach about love?

Introduce the key question.

Show the Good Samaritan clip (recommended). During this, pupils should be trying to answer the question “Who does Jesus say we should love?”(The story could be read instead e.g. “The Kind Stranger” from the Lion Storyteller Bible.)

In pairs or groups, ask pupils to discuss the following questions:

Why do you think the Priest and Levite didn’t stop?

Was the Good Samaritan sensible? What would be a modern equivalent of The Good

Samaritan?Feedback responses as a class.

Show What Must I do? Explain that it is an artist’s portrayal of the story.Divide the class into 4 groups then in paired work talk about a different section of the picture. Then feedback.Discuss the style of the artist’s work and ask the pupils to talk about whether the key message of the story is portrayed.

ACTIVITY: Create own picture showing a key moment from the storyOR:Write a Good Samaritan Rap

(If the second option is chosen, it is recommended that What Must I do? is used as a plenary)

Pupils: know the story of the

Good Samaritan

understand that in this parable, religious, social and racial divides and priorities were put aside to help someone in need

will have explored how Christians might reflect God’s love and compassion in ways that might be costly, difficult or risky

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/the-good-samaritan/4445.html

The Parables Project

http://www.exeterccyp.org/schools/parables-project/the-parables-project

(Picture called What Must I do?)

The Lion Storyteller Bible

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Lesson 3Pupils will: understand how

the parable illustrates that forgiveness is a central aspect of God’s love

explore the concept of reconciliation and redemption

Question:What did Jesus teach about sin, forgiveness and redemption (coming back to God)?

Show the picture on the IWB and give pupils the opportunity to look in silence for 2-3 minutes, trying to answer the questions:

What can I see? What do I think is going on? Who are the main characters?

Share responses Tell the pupils that the picture is an artist’s representation of a Bible story. Tell them that it is a story told by Jesus to teach important lessons about forgiveness and coming back to God (redemption).

Show BBC clip (recommended) or DVD asking pupils to note what they think are the key messages in the story.

In pairs pupils discuss: Who does the father represent? (God) Who does the younger son represent? (people) Who could the eldest son represent? (The

Pharisees)

ACTIVITY: Imagine that you are the father in the parable. Write a letter to the elder son, explaining how you feel and inviting him to join the celebrations.

PLENARY:Listen to the artist talking about her work. (recommended)Return to the key question, discussing with the pupils what Jesus taught about sin, forgiveness and redemption.

Pupils: retell the parable

showing an understanding of the main characters

show an understanding of the Christian view of forgiveness, reconciliation and redemption

Note that there is also teaching on love in this parable

www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/the-lost-son/4154.html

or

The Animated Stories The Prodigal Son (Nest Entertainment)

The Parables Project http://www.exeterccyp.org/schools/parables-project/the-parables-project

(Picture called The Foolish Father?) NB Teachers’ notes give good background information on the story

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Lesson 4Pupils will: begin to

understand what Jesus taught about giving and greed

think about their own responses to Jesus’ teachings about giving and greed .

Question:What did Jesus teach about greed and giving?

Pupils watch http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/zaccheus-meets-jesus/4465.html Ask half the class to watch it so they can explain what this story tells us about Jesus; the other half to watch it so they can explain what this story tells us about Zacchaeus.Feedback what they have noticed.Ask a child (or the teacher or TA) to be Zacchaeus and hot seat “him” about “his” experiences.Read The Widow’s Coins from The Lion Storyteller’s Bible p134+135(Invite class participation in the counting)Ask the class to discuss in pairs:

Who does Jesus say gave the most? Was Jesus right?

Feedback

PLENARY:Scenario:You have won the lottery and have 1 million pounds – you can just spend it all on a new house, holidays etc or you could give half away to help Oxfam and a local charity for children. What should you do?

Ask 14 of your class to form in a “Conscience Alley” (7 on each side) and ask 1 person to walk down the middle to receive advice that the children would give.Ask the children to swap over and those who have been observing form the conscience alley – this time the people are going to give the advice that they think Jesus would give.

Pupils: can explain

some of Jesus teachings about greed and giving

can express their own responses to greed and giving in the light of Jesus teachings

http://www.request.org.uk/unpacked/teachings/greed/greed.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/zaccheus-meets-jesus/4465.html

The Lion Storyteller’s Bible

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Lesson 5

Pupils will: understand Jesus’

teaching about how to pray

explore the Lord’s Prayer and begin to understand what it means

Question:What did Jesus teach about prayer?

Introduce the key question.In groups on one large piece of paper, note ideas on:

What prayer is What prayer isn’t Is there anywhere you can’t pray? Are there any words you can’t say?

Feedback findings. (Ensure that pupils understand that prayer is Talking to God)Then read the story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Discuss the following key ideas:

Being too big for your boots Humility and forgiveness

Ask pupils to role play the body language of both characters and say who the “hero” was.

Show copy of The Lord’s Prayer on IWBExplain that this was a “model” for praying that Jesus taught Read it through and explain any difficult words

ACTIVITY: Give a copy of The Lord’s Prayer to each pupil and alongside each line write own version of it(E.g. LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION...help us to avoid doing bad things) PLENARY: Ask some pupils to read their version of the prayer, then return to the key question noting if pupils’ versions help to answer it.Play a sung version of The Lord’s Prayer (e.g. Charlotte Church, available with many others on YouTube) or one from the churchschoolseast website perhaps sung in a different language.

Pupils: know the story of the

Pharisee and the tax collector praying and why Jesus told it

understand the different aspects of prayer as demonstrated in The Lord’s Prayer

Copy of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector story

www.churchschoolseast website has a resource to purchase called The Lord’s Prayer which includes a disc with songs, artwork, recordings of the prayer in different languages etc.

Copies of The Lord’s Prayer prepared so that there is space for the pupils to write their own version alongside each line

God’s Special Prayer: Marjory Francis and Helen Jenkins

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Lesson 6

Pupils will: describe and

show understanding of a miracle story

Questions:What is a miracle?

What do the narratives of Jesus’ miracles tell us about some of the big questions of life?

Show the story from the BBC clip (recommended). Prior to viewing explain that this is a miracle story from the life of Jesus.Or read or re-tell the story from Luke Chapter 9 (or use Lion Story Teller Bible – “The Marvellous Picnic”)

1st ACTIVITY:In pairs or individually use the Miracle Definition Sheet to discuss how the pupils would define a miracle (Sheet 1)Collect feedback: Ask, as appropriate: What do pupils understand by the word

‘Miracle’? Can they give some examples of miracles? What kind of miracle is the Loaves and Fishes

story? Where would they place that miracle on the

miracles definition line?

2nd ACTIVITY:What did the different people do to make sure this miracle happened? The boy, disciples, Jesus, God, the crowd (Sheet 2)

PLENARY:Discuss the last 3 questions as a whole class.Reflect on the fact that the boy gave his lunch and what each person could do to make a difference to the world.Ask: If this miracle is an answer to a question, what might that question be?

Pupils:

describe the events of The Loaves and Fishes story

be able to define a miracle

understand what the story shows Christians believe about Jesus/God

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/the-ultimate-takeaway/2875.html

Lion Story teller Bible

Miracles – different definitions activity sheet (Sheet 1)

Who made the miracle happen? (Sheet 2)Both sheets may be downloaded from the Bristol Diocesan website: click here

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Lesson 7

Pupils will: read and

understand stories of Jesus’ miracles

know that the narratives of Jesus’ miracles tell us about some of the big questions of life

Question:What do the narratives of Jesus’ miracles tell us about some of the big questions of life?

1ST ACTIVITY:(RAINBOW ACTIVITY)Put children in groups of about 5Number each group member 1-5Then ask all the 1s, 2s, 3s etc. to group Give each new group a copy of a miracle storyEach group should read and discuss their story and become familiar with itThen the pupils return to their original groupPupil 1 will then tell his/her story to the group, then pupil 2 etc until all members have told their story2nd ACTIVITY Choose one of the stories (or another of own choice) and either: Make a story board of the main events or Choose one to draw and annotate EXT: Say How the miracle happened (touch, command, forgiveness etc.Try to explain why Jesus chose to perform the miracle

PLENARY:Watch Raising the Roof clip (the paralysed man lowered through the roof by his friends) and Looking Rough clip (the calming of the storm).Discuss the question:What do these stories tell us about Jesus and the big questions of life?

Pupils: show knowledge

and understanding of some of Jesus’ miracles

Jesus – His importance to believers: Pamela Draycott

Copies of miracles E.g. Jairus’ Daughter Mark 5 21-43 Ten Lepers Luke 17 11-19 A man at the pool at Bethesda John 5 1-15 Lazarus raised from the dead John 11 1-24

(Other stories listed in Jesus book)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/raising-the -roof/2876.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/looking-rough/2877.html

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Lesson 8

Pupils will: consider how the

birth of Jesus has a meaning far greater than the historical details of his birth for Christians

Question:Why is Christmas important to Christians?

Explain that although the pupils will probably already be familiar with the Christmas story, in today’s lesson they will be focusing, not so much on the events, but on the key question:

Why is Christmas important to Christians?

Then read the story The Greatest Gift - The story of the Other Wise Man telling the pupils that Artaban is a fictional Wise Man who is searching for the truth.

1st ACTIVITY:As the story is being read, make a story map, showing in words and pictures the key events (or make a rough “listening aid”)

Introduce the word Incarnation and ask the pupils to answer the following questions: What does incarnation mean for Christians? What does it tell Christians about Jesus? Why is Christmas important to Christians?

PLENARY/2nd Activity:Design a poster for outside a church at Christmas that will communicate to people walking past:Why Christmas is important to us

Pupils: know the story of The

Other Wise Man begin to understand

the meaning of the word Incarnation and its importance for Christians

Notes for teachers

For Christians, Jesus is both fully God and fully human. In other words, he is God incarnate. The fact of the incarnation is intimately bound up with the question of who Jesus is. Jesus is held to be the son of God, who came from God to be the saviour of the world.(Taken from Jesus by Pamela Draycott)http://shop.retoday.org.uk/9781904024224

The Greatest Gift – The Story of The Other Wise Man retold by Susan Summers

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Lessons 9 & 10

Pupils will: understand why

Lent is marked and Easter is celebrated

focus on what Jesus’ death and resurrection teaches Christians about life and death

Question:Why might Lent and Easter be important to ourselves and to Christians?

1st ACTIVITY: (Getting ready)(Before Easter Christians have a period of 40 days when they may give up eating rich foods, try to pray more and be kind and generous to others. This is to prepare themselves for the feast of Easter – a time when they remember the death of Jesus. This time is called Lent.) Put a selection of words and pictures on the board and ask the pupils to put them in two lists:Christians would do in Lent / Christians would not do in Lent(e.g. eat cake, be mean, eat simple food, read the Bible, lie and cheat, give money to charity)Discuss:What would it be like to live like this for 40 days?Why do Christians do this?2nd ACTIVITY:(Either use Grubby Grubb story from Opening Up Easter or Waterbugs and Dragonflies)Read the story.Then either follow Activity 2 from p13 of Opening Easter or ask pupils in groups to answer one of these questions: Why might Christians like this story? What might this story be trying to say about life after

death? What do you believe about life after death? What might this story tell us about Easter? Jesus?3rd ACTIVITY:Read the story of the death of Jesus from the Storyteller Bible or show scene 17 from The Miracle Maker(Follow Activity 3 from Opening Up Easter)Invent 3 questions to ask Mary, the mother of JesusHot Seat Mary

Pupils: describe some

aspects of Lent are able to explain the

belief about life after death that the Easter story brings for a Christian today

begin to describe their own beliefs about life after death

Opening Up Easter Edited by Fiona Moss RE Today Services p 13-15http://shop.retoday.org.uk/9781905893461

Waterbugs and Dragonflies story by Doris Stickney available on many websites

The Miracle Maker DVD scenes 17 and 18

The Lion Storyteller Bible p 106-109

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Lessons 9 & 10(Continued)

Read the story of the resurrection or show scene 18 fromThe Miracle MakerHot Seat Mary again after Easter Sunday morning

PLENARY:(see Activity 4 from Opening Up Easter)

OTHER RELATED ACTIVITIESWrite a Good Friday poemWhat did Jesus think …He must have …What did Mary think …She must have …What do you think …

This could also be done for Easter Sunday

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OTHER IDEAS:Invite a Christian in to answer the following questions:What do I believe about Jesus? andWhat does Jesus mean to me?

Invited speaker

Study the “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5-7) and ask the question:What important values of life did Jesus teach?

Homework tasks:Investigate a further miracle or parable and ask the question:What does this story teach me about God/Jesus

Enquiry Activity – Find out about some of Jesus’ friends and answer the question:Why were these people chosen by Jesus to be his friends?

Build up a timeline of Jesus’ life

Take an event from the life of Jesus, e.g. his baptism, healing miracles etc. and write a diary entry from someone else’s point of view orBullet 8-10 key Christian beliefs about Jesus, then say what you believe(POSSIBLE ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY)

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RECORD OF ATTAINMENTKS2 Unit 2: What can we learn from the life and teaching of Jesus? Christianity (B & E) Year 4 (possibly Y3)

All pupils: (Level 2) Most pupils - majority class expectation: (Level 3)

Some pupils: (Level 4)

B2 talk about some of the things that are the same for different religious people

E2 talk about some things in stories that make people ask questions

B3 describe some of the things that are the same and different for religious people

E3 ask important questions about life and compare my ideas with those of other people

B4 use the religious language accurately to describe and compare what practices and experiences may be involved in belonging to different religious groups

E4 ask questions about the meaning and purpose of life, and suggest a range of answers, which might be given by me, as well as members of different religious groups

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