Summer Term 2016 RE

In the Summer term, Year 1 turned to learning about Special Books.

To help us understand how someone might feel about their Holy Book, we brought in our own favourite books to share with our class. We explained why they were special to us and how we would want other people to respect them even if they weren’t special to them! 

Then we found out about stories which have been passed on orally before they were written down. Sometimes these might have been eye-witness accounts, where the writer has tried to tell the reader what they felt was the important message behind them. At other times, a story might be made up as a way of helping people to understand something important for their lives.

We then made our own special Class Book, with a portrait and information about each member of our class. We discussed how we would make it beautiful, and how to keep it safe, clean and available to read. We also made up rules so that visitors would know how to care for it too. We discovered that most faith communities have special, ‘holy’ books; we found out what these might contain and how they are treated with respect.

Next, we went on to learn about some of the Holy Books of different faiths.

We learned that the Christian Bible is actually a whole library containing 66 books with a variety of styles! For Christians it is also like a ‘light’ to help them on their journey through life, and like a ‘letter’ with messages from God. One of our class pretended to be an Eagle carrying a Bible message to several countries around the world, then the children in each country passed on the message they had heard. We had to listen very carefully so that we would remember it and pass it on accurately!

The Secretary of State for Education gave our school an enormous Bible, but it was written in very old English. So we were glad that lots of translations have been made into modern English that we can understand! When we heard a story from one of these – about a lost sheep – we suggested our own ideas as to what the story might want to teach us today.

For Christians, the most important person in the Bible is Jesus; so we then learned about an account in the Bible of when Jesus healed a blind man, called Bartimaeus. We mimed the changing feelings, or ‘stepping stones’, that Bartimaeus might have experienced as he went from fear to faith. 

We also heard an account of when Jesus calmed a storm which was frightening his friends in their boat. We acted out the story, and imagined how we might have felt if we had been there too.  We also played a blind-fold game to help us decide what makes someone trust-worthy.

Next, we learned about the Jewish Holy Book, the Torah. One of the children played the role of the Rabbi, and we all acted out the Simchat Torah celebrations, as if we had just finished a year’s cycle of reading from the Torah. Learning how precious the Torah is to Jews reminded us of how we too take great care of the Class Special Book we made. Some of us decided to make our own Torah scrolls at home, which we brought in to show our class.

Both Jews and Christians are grateful to a man called Moses: in the Torah and in the Bible they read about when God gave Moses some special rules called the Ten Commandments. We thought about why rules are useful - in games, at home, at school, on the road – then we devised our own rules for a board game. We tried playing our games to make sure our rules were clear, fair and fun! 

Next, we learned about Muhammad, who is very important to Muslims. We heard the story of how he was given messages from God which he had to remember carefully and pass on to other people. We played some memory games, and discussed what we do to help us remember. Some of us were even able to list thirty items from memory, when playing ‘I went to the market’!

 

We then went on to look at a Qur’an on its special stand, and learned why it is special to Muslims and how it should be treated with respect. We heard a story from the Qur’an about a Crying Camel, and discussed what that might teach Muslims today.

 

Our study of special books then led us to think about song books, poetry and psalms, and how some people use these to help them worship God. We heard a story from the Bible about David, who wrote and sang songs, first when he was a shepherd boy, and later when he became the king. We tried writing our own ‘psalms’ or poems, imitating David’s style.

His songs were a form of prayer, so we thought about why and how people might choose to pray. We heard the Bible account of when prayers helped to save Daniel from being eaten by lions!

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

Before starting this topic, we spent some time finding out about the festival of Pesach (Passover), which Jewish families celebrated in April. This linked well with our previous learning about Jesus’ Last Supper, remembered by Christians at Easter time. We shared a group activity, studying and drawing the various parts of the seder plate used for Pesach, and learned what each of the foods symbolises for Jewish families. We enjoyed hunting for the hidden half-Matzah – just as Jewish children do!

We began our ‘Special Places’ topic by going way back in time to when people built stone circles. We tried to solve the ‘Mystery’ of how and why they might be there. We went outside to re-create the Callanais Stone Circle, using children as the stones, and acting out some of the folklore stories which have been passed down through the years. We discussed what it is that makes a place ‘mysterious’, and decided that in RE there are many questions which can be asked to which even adults don’t have all the answers! We still found it fun to suggest our own conclusions!

Next, we thought about special places which we do know locally, especially those which belong to a group or community. To help us understand how it feels to share a special place, we worked in groups to consider what we appreciate about our own classroom and other shared areas in school, and how we share responsibility for them.

The Christian festival of Pentecost  took place in May, so we moved briefly  away from our ‘Special Places’ topic to find out what this is about. We learned that this is when Christians celebrate the Church’s birthday and the time when Jesus’ followers were given the ‘Helper’ he had promised, known as the Holy Spirit. We went outside to look for signs that the wind was there. Then we tried out several experiments which needed air or wind to make them work: even though we couldn’t see the air, we could see what it did! We learned that Christians believe God’s Spirit is like that: that he can’t be seen, but that people can see what he does. We thought about how we could show ‘invisible’ love to people by what we do.

 

Next, we thought about how some people choose special places for prayer. We ranked pictures of a range of places according to which we thought might be most conducive to thinking or prayer. We decided religious buildings could be helpful, but that quiet places such as deserts, mountains or gardens might be ideal too. Some of us thought it could even be good to pray in busy places like markets, playgrounds and even Big Space!

Hearing the Bible story of Martha and Mary helped us focus on the value some religions place on times of stillness. We sat quietly - or lay down - to listen to some peaceful music, then drew or wrote about how it felt to be still and quiet.

We then went on to look at some places of worship.

Before our visit to a synagogue, we learned about the features and use of both a Muslim Mosque and a Christian Cathedral. We noticed some differences and similarities between these different places of worship. We then sorted pictures to show which items we might find helpful if we wanted to worship in a Christian church building. It was interesting to discover how many different views we have about these, but we talked about the need to respect each others’ differences.

We then prepared for our visit to the synagogue.  We thought about how the design of a synagogue reminds Jews about the years their ancestors spent journeying to their new ‘Promised Land’, and how items in the synagogue are symbols to help them remember other aspects of their history.  We compared a synagogue with other places of worship we have visited ourselves.

Our visit to St Albans United Synagogue brought our learning about Judaism to life: we explored the synagogue, looking for the different features we had learned about beforehand. We also enjoyed looking at interactive displays about some important Jewish festivals. It became clear to us that a synagogue is a very Special Place to Jews, and we were so grateful for the friendly welcome we were given there!

Take a look at the Reception class blogs to find out what we have been learning about celebrations and religious festivals this term. Our PSHE work, using ‘Jigsaw’, has also continued to enhance our learning about values and beliefs.