Spring Term 2016

In Year 1, during the Spring term, we have been focusing on the theme of ‘New Life’.

As we were starting a new calendar year, we thought about new beginnings, including New Year traditions. 

We made up our own New Year’s resolutions and explained why they were a good idea. As an example of someone who made a fresh start in his life, we heard the Bible story of Zacchaeus.

 

Then we looked at what Christians and Jews read in the Bible about the beginning of the world. We went outside to see what was 'natural' or 'man-made'. 

Whilst making models and paper-craft, we imagined what it might be like to be ‘Creators’ and how we would want people to care for our creations.

 

We went on to think about caring for the wider world. Having heard the Bible story of Noah, we made rainbows containing our seven ‘hopes for a better world’, and thought about how we could play our part to help them come true.

We then heard a Buddhist story about a swan, and learned how important Buddhists believe it is to care for animals. We decided all animals are valuable in some way, even those we aren’t keen on!!

Thinking about life-cycles in the animal world, and in the days and seasons, led us to consider patterns in a human life. We mimed significant activities from different stages of life, and discussed good and bad aspects of each stage. Then we learned about the Buddhist belief in life as a circle. Can you guess which stage of life we were miming?

We then focused on Christian thoughts about Heaven. In groups, we brainstormed our ideas as to what we thought heaven might be like, whilst recognising that, even for Christians, this remains a mystery for now! We discussed the question, ‘What should someone do to go to Heaven?’ and learned that Christians believe it is a free gift (‘grace’).

Next, we moved onto considering how new babies are special, and how they are welcomed into Christian churches. Some children shared their own experiences of baptism, including that of their own siblings. We acted out an Infant Baptismal service, including some of the promises parents and friends make to God about their child. We looked at the variety of symbols which help Christians to understand the meaning of this special ceremony.

New life has been appearing in our own school grounds! We went outside to look for signs of new shoots, blossom and potential fruit. 

We then found out how some people try to show good sides to their character by what they do and how they behave. We learned that Christians call these ‘the Fruits of the Spirit’. We tried to guess what ‘fruits’ our friends were showing when they acted them out with partners. We heard about Mother Teresa who tried to live her life in this way.

Spring is a great time to learn about religious festivals!

First, we learned about the Hindu festival of Holi. We began by greeting each other, saying ‘Namaste!’ 

After hearing the story of Prahlad and Holika, we wrote down the bad things we would like to get rid of from our behaviour, and ‘burned’ them on pretend fires, walking around the ‘fires’ just as Hindus might at Holi. We learned that fire is used as a symbol of purifying, in several religions.

Next came the Jewish festival of Purim. We acted out the story of Esther, and whenever we heard the name of the evil ‘Haman’ we hissed, booed, stamped our feet and rattled our graggers to drown out his name  – just as Jewish children do!

We decided that the Christian festival of Easter has both sad and happy sides to it. We enjoyed a happy ‘parade into Jerusalem’ waving the palm branches we made. 

But we also thought about which sad and happy parts there are in the rest of the story. We asked ourselves why some people eat pancakes, hot cross buns and Easter eggs, and why there are so many pictures of chicks, bunnies and flowers at Easter time. We matched symbols to events remembered by Christians during Holy Week leading to Easter.

Our understanding of the Christian celebration of Easter was brought to life when we visited the ‘Easter Experience’ at St Nicholas’ Church. Have a look at the Year 1 Blog for more photos of our visit.

After Easter, we will be starting our new RE topic, focusing on Special Books.

In Year 2, during the Spring term, we have been focusing on ‘Special People’.

We began by thinking about famous people who do special things for our country or our town. But we decided that special people aren’t always famous: there are even people in our own families who set us a good example! We worked in groups using ‘diamond ranking’ to show which qualities we thought make a good leader.

We then went on to find out about the role of an Anglican minister. We discovered that s/he has lots to do during the week, as well as on Sundays, leading and caring for people! 

An Anglican minister follows the example of Jesus, so next we learned about some of the things which Christians read in the Bible about what Jesus did. We heard the stories of Jairus’ daughter and another lady who was healed by Jesus, and had a lively discussion about what we think about ‘miracles’! There were lots of different views, so it was great that we can all listen respectfully to each other! We used a ‘freeze-frame’ drama activity to help us consider how people might have felt if they had been there. 

We also learned how Jesus is important for Christians not just as a Healer, but also as a Teacher. We thought about all the people who have taught us or given us advice, and the sorts of things we have learned from them. We looked at some of the teaching of Jesus:  the Sermon on the Mount; trying to love enemies; and Jesus’ two Great Commandments. We tried to invent one or two rules which might cover all our Crabtree Golden Rules, just as Jesus gave two to cover the Ten Commandments. 

The next special person we learned about was Moses. Having found out about some of his experiences, we imagined what we would want to ask him if he came as a guest to Crabtree Infants’ School! … We still keep thinking of more questions  – an important part of RE!

We then spent time focusing on some seasonal festivals. We learned what Christians are remembering when they eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday or give something up for Lent. Having heard the Bible account of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness, we wrote down some temptations to which we would want to say, ‘No!’ 

Returning to our ‘Special People’ theme, we then learned about two people who are special to Sikhs. Firstly, Guru Nanak, the first Sikh guru, who spent time meditating on the important things of life, and wrote songs to teach people about them. We went outside where we could think more peacefully, then came back inside to write our own verses to songs.

We thought the story of Guru Gobindh Singh was going to be much less peaceful, but it actually had a happy ending! We enjoyed dressing up in the Five Ks and playing a ‘5 ‘K’s Kim’s Game, where we had to describe the item which was missing, for the class to guess.  We thought about promises we make in Beavers, Rainbows, etc., and learned about the promises Sikhs make.

Next, we found out about the Mu’adhin, who calls Muslims to prayer. We started by listening to lots of recorded sounds, guessed what message each one tells us and acted out our responses. 

Then we thought of messages we believe are important enough to shout from the top of a tall tower, and shouted them from our own make-shift ‘minaret’!

As Easter approached, we turned to focus on Jesus’ Last Supper. We looked at a chalice and paten and guessed what they were for - Holy Communion - and learned how, for Christians, this commemorates the events of Easter. We used ‘Godly Play’ figures and props to tell the Easter story in a thoughtful way, which led us to share our own comments and questions afterwards.

After Easter, we will be starting our new RE topic, focusing on Special Places.

Take a look at the Reception Blog to find out about our Easter activities and our beautiful little chicks!