Welcome to the lesson plan section of the site. This is where you can find lesson plans to accompany the KS1 Encounter Christianity series. Eventually, there will be one for every double page of each of the four books.
This month we begin with 12 lesson plans for the book In Creation. You can view these online or download a PDF file of all 12 lesson plans. We have instructions about downloading PDF files. You will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. You can download this for free.
Each lesson plan provides background information, ideas, activities and a checklist at the end as a reminder of the things needed for the activities. Please remember that, like all good resources, the material has been provided as a starting point for your own ideas and imagination. Please adapt and change the lesson plans for your own situation.
To engage children in a discussion relating the Christian understanding of God to everyday life.
Genesis 1.26-27
Genesis 3.8
Christians use a range of different images and words to describe what God is like. An exploration of our own identity is an initial step in this search. On this page we begin with the identity of the child.
Mirror
A4 white paper
Pencils
Skin tone crayons
Talk about how we look on the outside.
Demonstrate drawing your own face.
Using a mirror, the children draw a portrait of their own face. Then they draw a portrait of a partner. Finally, they discuss with each other the ways they are alike and the ways they are different.
All together, look at some of the portraits, discussing similarities and differences of appearance.
Digital camera
Collage paper
Take digital photos of each other, and make a collage of the whole class.
With this wider group to look at, discuss again the differences and similarities.
Recap the theme of being all different and all the same. Label the faces on the collage, and add the questions: 'Are we all the same? Are we all different?'
Images of God (pictures of paintings, stained glass windows, sculpture, and so on)
A4 white paper
Paint or pencils
Discuss what God might look like.
Brainstorm the children's ideas.
Paint or draw a picture of what you think God looks like.
Look at images of God - both traditional and modern - from books, posters and so on.
Discuss the images and help the children to compare them.
Mirror
A4 white paper
Pencils
Skin tone crayons
Digital camera
Collage paper
Images of God (pictures of paintings, stained glass windows, sculpture, and so on)
A4 white paper
Paint or pencils
For further information, look at the links section of this site.
http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/
http://library.thinkquest.org/J002043/
© Marion Brooks, 2001
To engage children in a discussion relating the Christian understanding of God to everyday life.
Genesis 9.18
By moving on from human identity, pupils are encouraged to understand the ways in which Christians find God in the pattern of life and life's experiences. The rhythm and rituals of the day and of the week are soon recognized by young children.
Song/poem about days of the week
A4 white paper
Art resources
With the children, write a poem or song about what you do each day in class: 'Today's Monday, today's Monday, Monday is painting day . . . '
When you have an activity for each day of the week, make a visual diary, with a picture for each activity. Hang them on a washing line across the class.
Discuss which day is the favourite day.
Sing the song/say the poem again.
Reflect on why that day is a favourite.
Art materials
Crêpe paper for rainbow
Coloured card
Look at the visual diary from Activity one.
Discuss favourite days again.
Talk about colours - bright, dark, sunny, happy, sad, cold and warm.
Discuss which colours remind the children of each day and why.
Talk about the colour of children's favourite, and worst days.
Make a display under a crêpe paper rainbow, showing all the days of the week.
Reflect on what makes people happy or unhappy on different days.
Art materials
Discuss how you feel when you are on your own.
Paint a picture of a friend and list the activities you can do together.
Reflect on how you feel when you have a friend.
Some Christians believe God is their friend.
Christians believe God is always with them. How does this make them feel?
Song/poem about days of the week
A4 white paper
Art resources
Art materials
Crêpe paper for rainbow
Coloured card
Art materials
For further information, look at the links section of this site.
© Marion Brooks, 2001
To engage children in a discussion relating the Christian understanding of God to everyday life.
Matthew 1.20
Matthew 2.13-14
Dreams and dreaming are powerful religious images. Within the Bible, dreams are sometimes God's way of communicating with people; they are times of religious experience; they can offer guidance or foretell future events. Everyone dreams and wonders about them: the aim of using this picture is to help pupils to reflect on their own experience of dreaming.
Writing paper and pencils
Collage paper
Glue and collage materials
Talk about having dreams.
Do you have dreams? Do you like your dreams?
Make a large collage of a child in bed.
Surround the child with bubbles containing descriptions of children's dreams.
How do you feel in your dreams?
Are you alone in your dreams?
Do you ever dream about God? How would you know?
Video of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
The story of Joseph's dreams in Genesis 37.5-10 and 42.6
Watch the extract from the video of Joseph's dreams as a boy, and/or read the account from the Bible.
Talk about Joseph's dreams. What did the two dreams mean?
Discuss whether Joseph's dreams really happened..
Do all dreams come true?
Writing materials
Drawing materials
Discuss whether the children have had bad dreams. (Don't press them to talk about anything they don't want to.)
How do you feel in a bad dream?
Do you wake up feeling sad and weary?
Draw a picture of, or write about, a sad dream.
How can you share your dreams?
Put the sad dream pictures and writing in a book or box to revisit later.
- Draw a picture
- Talk to someone
- Tell God
Writing paper and pencils
Collage paper
Glue and collage materials
Video of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
The story of Joseph's dreams in Genesis 37.5-10, and
42.6
Writing materials
Drawing materials
For further information, look at the links section of this site.
http://web.onramp.ca/rivernen/build_dc.htm
http://users.erols.com/brddwolf/dreamcatcher.html
http://www.mcs.csuhayward.edu/~malek/Klee.html
© Marion Brooks, 2001
To engage children in a discussion relating the Christian understanding of God to everyday life.
Genesis 1.2
Matthew 8.23-27
The word for wind in the Bible usually includes the implication of breath and life. Wind is powerful and destructive but can also be gentle and refreshing. Wind cannot be seen but it can be heard and felt. Christians often use qualities of the wind as a symbol for God; at other times biblical material speaks of God having power over natural forces.
The wind is often used to describe the Spirit of God. When the disciples are gathered together in the biblical account of Pentecost, the sound of the driving wind is a metaphor for the breath of God giving energy, purpose and new life to Jesus' followers after he had left them.
In this picture Jesus stills the violent wind and storm and calms the fears of his disciples. The Bible story identifies that Jesus has power over the elements and also the power to calm the anxieties of his followers. It ends with the question, 'What sort of man is this...?'
The story of Jesus and the storm (see Bible reference).
Tell the story very simply to the children.
Talk about how the fishermen felt when the wind was blowing and then when the wind stopped.
Did the fishermen feel alone?
What did the fishermen think about Jesus?
What did they expect Jesus to do?
Props for drama
Possibly music to accompany drama
Revisit the story of Jesus and the storm.
Discuss how the children could act out the story.
Groups of children can be wind, waves and fishermen.
How did you feel in the part that you played?
Did you feel alone?
The poem 'Have you seen the wind' by Christina Rossetti
Design technology materials
Read the poem (see above).
Discuss good things the wind does.
Discuss bad things the wind does.
Make a simple kite or windmill.
Discuss the question: 'Do you think God is in the wind?'
Refer back to the story of Jesus and the storm.
Refer back to the poem about the wind.
The story of Jesus and the storm (see Bible reference)
Props for drama
Possibly music to accompany drama
The poem 'Have you seen the wind' by Christina Rossetti
Design technology materials
For further information, look at the links section of this site.
http://www.brainpop.com/science/weather/
http://www.wildwildweather.com/wind.htm
© Marion Brooks, 2001
To engage children in a discussion relating the Christian understanding of God to everyday life.
Matthew 2.1-12
Fabriano's painting The Journey of the Magi (Wise Men) captures the essential elements of pilgrimage. Rich and poor, young and old, are drawn to a place or, as in this case, a person - Jesus. There is a lot to explore in the picture but it would help to focus your discussion on journeys undertaken for a purpose.
The significance of this story in Matthew's gospel is that God's promises to the Jewish people were fulfilled, and men and women of all nations came to pay tribute to Jesus. The Wise Men or astrologers are a metaphor for this.
The parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10.25-37
Writing materials
A local destination to visit in the future that the children can plan for
Talk about going on a journey.
Tell the story of the Good Samaritan.
Start preparing for your class journey.
What might happen that is good? What might happen that is bad?
What might you see along the way to help you? (signposts)
Reflect on the discussion. What is the purpose of our journey?
Pupils to write briefly about their hopes and fears for the trip.
A local map
Materials to make a plan
Revise the plans you have made for your trip.
Look on the map to see your route and destination.
Go on your trip listing the
On your return, make a plan of your journey using symbols to show the items listed.
Think about journeys themselves being important - not just destinations.
To arrange a visit to a local church.
Recap on your recent local trip.
Using the same steps as above, plan with the pupils a trip to the local church.
Brainstorm about what the church visit might be like.
What will we see?
Who will we meet?
Reflect on whether Christians believe God can only be found in a church.
The parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10.25-37
Writing materials
A local destination to visit in the future that the children can plan for
A local map
Materials to make a plan
To arrange a visit to a local church
For further information, look at the links section of this site.
www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/g/gentile/
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/gentile/
http://sunsite.dk/cgfa/f/p-fabrian1.htm
http://sunsite.dk/cgfa/f/p-fabrian2.htm
© Pauline Davis, 2001
To engage children in a discussion relating the Christian understanding of God to everyday life.
Psalm 46.10
Psalm 150.3-6
Times of silence are often depicted as opportunities to feel close to God. This picture suggests that God may also be present in noise. This is a way of exploring the idea that, for Christians, God can be found in every situation. The Christian tradition worldwide is rich in examples of sound of one sort or another, which is used to express the power and glory of God. The sound can have its source in the natural elements - wind, volcanoes, earthquake and rain - and also in the great music of cultures around the world.
Recordings of both quiet and loud music
A range of percussion instruments
Investigate noises of a variety of percussion instruments.
Sort instruments into loud and soft.
Listen to everyday noises around the school.
Record some noises around the school.
Listen to the recordings, and some loud and soft music.
Reflect on what you have heard.
Tapes or video clips of big celebrations with lots of noise
Writing materials
Talk about noise in our lives.
Where is it, and how does it make us feel?
Discuss special times when there is noise, like firework night, thunderstorms, discos and parties, church.
Maybe watch videos or listen to tapes of such occasions.
List the noises from one of the above.
Can you think better when it's loud or quiet?
What noises frighten you? What noises make you feel happy?
Sample prayers
Musical instruments
Read two or three sample prayers, and then show how music can be added to the prayer.
In small groups, make up short prayers including noises or background musical accompaniment.
Reflect on the prayers. Do the noises or the music make the prayer better? Do they help you to understand it more?
Maybe finish by reading Psalm 150 and miming or making noises for all the instruments mentioned in it.
Recordings of both quiet and loud music
A range of percussion instruments
Tapes or video clips of big celebrations with lots of noise
Writing materials
Sample prayers
Musical instruments
For further information, look at the links section of this site.
http://www.soton.ac.uk/~engenvir/environment/
http://simscience.org/crackling/index.html
http://tea.rice.edu/tea_palopoems.html
© Pauline Davis, 2001
To engage children in a discussion relating the Christian understanding of God to everyday life.
Psalm 19.1
Psalm 121.1
Psalm 148.1
Awe and wonder have become over-familiar words, and yet there is something about the sky which can take our breath away. The experience of height and space creates that sense of awe which, for Christians, leads to feelings of being closer to God. This kind of experience is often used by Christian writers and thinkers.
Children may not have travelled in a hot-air balloon but they may well have experienced looking down from a great height e.g. on a fairground ride or from a tall building, or even riding on the top of a bus.
Pictures and other resources to show high places
Art materials
Use the picture of the hot-air balloons and brainstorm 'high' words - rise, sky clouds, mountains and so on.
Make a collage of hot-air balloons, adding the 'high' words above the balloons.
Reflect on high places. Who likes them, or would like to see them? Who's afraid of heights?
Art materials
Talk about where Christians believe God lives.
Draw or paint a picture of where you think Christians believe God lives.
Discuss the ideas from the children's pictures.
The list of 'high' words from the first activity.
A list of 'low' words (ground, earth, garden, grass, playground etc.)
Recap on the 'high' words. Develop the idea of looking up - at buildings, people, the sky and so on.
Look at the list of 'low' words - things that we could see by looking down.
Discuss again where you think Christians might find God. Why?
Talk about why Christians believe God is everywhere, high and looking down, low and looking up. Wherever Christians go, they believe that God is with them.
Pictures and other resources to show high places
Art materials
Art materials
The list of high words from the first activity
A list of low words (ground, earth, garden, grass, playground etc.)
For further information, look at the links section of this site.
http://www.free.mastersites.com/bennevis/
http://www.britannicchallenge.co.uk/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/balloon/
http://www.geocities.com/PicketFence/4191/index.html
© Pauline Davis, 2001
To engage children in a discussion relating the Christian understanding of God to everyday life.
Genesis 1.20-21
Psalm 29.3
Psalm 135.6
The power of the sea, the crashing of the waves and the richness of the ocean are used by Christians to describe the greatness of God and God's creation. These pictures explore the idea that the sea is the home of so many living things and yet is also powerful and to be feared; the sea gives life and can also destroy it. Human beings are aware of their frailty and limitations when faced with a tempestuous sea. For Christians these images deepen their understanding of the nature of God.
A seaside story
Read the story of a visit to the seaside.
Talk about the children's own experiences of the seaside.
List the good things about the sea.
List the dangers of the sea.
Reflect on how those who have visited the sea felt about being there.
Art materials
Make a list of things that can be found under the sea.
Make a collage of an underwater scene.
Think about what it might be like to live under the sea.
The underwater scene
Look again at the underwater scene. Can the children try moving like a fish? Or like an octopus? Or like a crab.
Could God live under the sea? Why?
Talk again about whether God could be everywhere. Christians say there is nowhere they can go where God cannot be found.
A seaside story
Art materials
The underwater scene
For further information, look at the links section of this site.
http://www.abc.net.au/oceans/alive.htm
http://www.yoto98.noaa.gov/kids.htm
http://www.virtual-canyon.org/toolbox.html
© Pauline Davis, 2001
To engage children in a discussion relating the Christian understanding of God to everyday life.
Psalm 104.24
Psalm 105.31
The vastness of sky and ocean seen on the previous pages is contrasted here with life in miniature. 'Creepy-crawlies' can elicit a variety of reactions and can polarize our views and feelings. Christians find it easy to see God in beauty and yet they have to recognize and come to terms with their belief that God creates and loves all things, large and small.
This is a long-term activity with spin-offs into science and literacy.
Ants or caterpillars, materials necessary to keep them, and information on how to keep them properly
Decide what creatures to keep. Caterpillars are a good choice because there is the wonderful metamorphosis process. Ants provide a chance for children to see creatures living in a community. The children will need to prepare to keep the animals. This has parallels with creation. Christians believe God was preparing a place where creatures could live.
Make observations of the creatures. What do they do with the world you gave them? Eat it? Carry bits of it about? Why do they do this? Make a chart of the tasks needed to maintain the creatures' environment. Different sets of questions arise from the nature of the pupils' responsibilities. An option in the development of this activity is to discuss children's feelings towards the creatures at the beginning of the activity and at the end. Do the attitudes change with familiarity? For example, do children overcome feelings of, say, squeamishness? If you wish to extend the activity you could include visits to farms or zoos.
How do we release the creatures into freedom again? This will be different for butterflies or ants. What does it mean for the creatures to have freedom? What kinds of risks will they have to face? How much freedom do Christians believe God allows creation? Is God always watching ready to protect or do people have a degree of latitude? If so, how much?
Art materials
Magnifying glasses or microscopes
Leaves and crystals
Close-up pictures of tiny patterned things, such as snowflakes, spider's webs, insects, illustrated manuscripts, Celtic knotwork, cell structures, and so on.
Use magnifiers or microscopes to look at the tiny patterns in crystals or the veins of leaves. Look at photographs of snowflakes, spider's webs and the colourings and marking of insects. Another excellent resource would be pictures of old illuminated manuscripts, which have tiny patterns and drawings in them, and examples of Celtic knotwork, which is a little like the patterns on leaves and in spider's webs and so on. You may even like to use electron microscope pictures of cells and crystals. Encourage the children to make sketches of what you see.
Use the observations and sketches to generate ideas for miniature art work. Use small objects on which to create the work such as stones or pieces of wood bark. For children who find difficulties in using fine-tipped drawing instruments, encourage them to print with small objects. It may be helpful to use ink or inkpads rather than paint.
Create a display of the finished articles.
Enthusiasm for drama.
Discussion: what is weakness? What is fragility?
How often do we break or hurt things just because we can?
Encourage the children to be honest. When did they last pull
leaves off a tree? When did they last kill a spider? Is this a good way to behave?
How do we feel if someone breaks bits of something that we have
made?
How do the children feel about the tree when we pull off leaves?
Extend this discussion into the idea of goodness. What are good ways to behave as created beings? Develop this in two ways - you could make two columns of ideas. Think about what is good for people as individuals. What are our needs? Think about what is good for people living as a community. What are the group's needs? What happens when group needs come into conflict?
Use these themes to form the basis of some situation dramas. Rather than just asking the children to 'make plays about...' set specific chains of events in motion such as: 'I like my little brother's toy so I decide to take it ...', 'Stephen is thirsty but his friends who have some lemonade won't let him have any ...', 'Theresa has broken her leg, David and Jane try to help her ...'.
Allow the children to add extra players to each drama such as (or especially) authority figures like parents or teachers.
The important thing about the dramas was not how good they were as pieces of theatre (though they may have been very good). It was how the children became involved and what they felt. How many of them became violent? Why? Did any of the pieces involve genuine attempts to communicate care? Which aspects of the dramas were examples of 'good', which were examples of 'bad'? Conclude by asking if it is good or right to impose ourselves on others just because we are stronger then them. What would Christians think that God would feel about our ideas?
Science links with food chain studies and lifestyles. PSHE - the construction of care in society and family.
Ants or caterpillars, the materials necessary to keep them, and information on how to keep them properly.
Art materials
Magnifying glasses or microscopes
Leaves and crystals
Close-up pictures of tiny patterned things, such as snowflakes,
spider's webs, insects, illustrated manuscripts, Celtic knotwork,
cell structures, and so on.
Enthusiasm for drama
For further information, look at the links section of this site.
http://www.pbrc.hawaii.edu/kunkel/wanted/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/reallywild/
© Robin Sharples
To engage children in a discussion relating the Christian understanding of God to everyday life.
Job 38 (probably verses 4-38)
Exodus 3.2
Exodus 13.21-22
Isaiah 6.6-7
Jeremiah 23.29
Ezekiel 1.4
John 8.12
Acts 2.3
Just as the elements of water and wind help Christians to think about the power of God, so fire is often used to represent God's power and God's presence in the world. Fire symbolizes the destructive, warming and creative force as examples of the many different dimensions of God, e.g. the column of fire that the Israelites followed by night as they escaped from slavery in Egypt or the story in Daniel (Daniel 3.12-30), where Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are thrown into a fiery furnace - the power of God protects them from harm. In the description of Pentecost in Acts, God's Spirit comes upon each of the disciples as a tongue of fire.
Pictures of road signs, sign language, logos and other symbols
What are symbols? Investigate road signs, hand signals used by teachers, sign language, corporate logos and so on.
Create agreed symbols for instructions such as stop, go, run, jump and so on.
Discuss with the children whether any of these symbols are ambiguous. How can we stop them being so? These can be put on to cards and then used to give instructions to groups of children moving round the hall, or held up in a kind of Simon says - or Simon signs - game.
Extend this more abstract ideas, and to creating symbols for peace, love, care and so on. Discuss what makes these appropriate symbols.
Introduce the possibility of symbols for God - is fire a good symbol? What symbols might the children use?
Create a directory of the symbols you have made. Older children could be introduced to the idea that this book has some parallels with the Bible in that both of them help us to understand things around us.
Use the symbols in the classroom.
Untuned percussion instruments
Means to record music
Writing materials
Discuss fire as being both dangerous and helpful. What other aspects of creation are both helpful and dangerous? (Water, wind ...)
Together, think of as many examples of the helpful aspects of creation as possible: fire for cooking, generating power, wind for flying kites, generating power, water for drinking, generating power ...
Likewise for the destructive possibilities: forest fires, floods, hurricanes ...
Working in groups, create short percussion pieces which illustrate the benevolent and destructive sides of the aspects of creation discussed.
There is no way of anticipating how these pieces will turn out - to do so would be to impose limits on the pupil's own creative powers. However, you may wish to guide a little by discussing the timbre of the various instruments and deciding on appropriate ones for, say, candle flames as opposed to a furnace. Similar guidance may be appropriate with regard to rhythms.
Depending on the children's previous experience, it may be necessary to introduce such terms as loud, soft, quick, slow, crescendo (getting louder) and diminuendo (getting softer). Older pupils should be encouraged to think of ways of writing their pieces down
These pieces can be developed into short dances by the children. It may be helpful to tape the music for this. As with the music, give the pupils as much freedom as possible within the bounds of safety.
If this becomes an extended activity, children may wish to think about appropriate costumes for their dance, fire masks perhaps.
Older children might like to create a dance based on the tale of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
Close with a discussion about how this work helps Christians to understand both God and our world.
Job 38 (probably verses 4-38) is very helpful here. Point out that, for Christians, disrespect of God has its dangers, just as disrespect of the world has dangers, too. We must be respectful of fire, and sailors soon learn to respect the wind!
Bible verses to read
Materials for stained glass art work
This activity can be seen as a progression from the first activity, but will also stand alone. It is important that the children realize just how important fire was in ancient times, as the only controllable source of heat and light. The children in your class may not immediately think of flame when you mention light, but ancient children almost certainly would have done, after the sun and stars, of course.
Read examples of fire in the Bible:
- The burning bush - Exodus 3.2
- The pillar of fire and cloud - Exodus 13.21-22
- The confirmation of a prophet with fire - Isaiah 6.6-7
- God's word as fire - Jeremiah 23.29
- God's appearance heralded by fire - Ezekiel 1.4 (in some translations, especially the Good News version, 'fire' is rendered as 'lightning', but the effect is the same)
- 'I am the light of the world' - John 8.12
- Tongues of fire - Acts 2.3
You may wish to discuss with older children the emphasis that the symbol may carry in these examples, such as power and majesty (Exodus 3.2, Acts 2.3), guidance and light (Exodus 13.21 onwards), irresistibility (Jeremiah 23.29).
In this lesson, the stories themselves matter less than the function of fire. These examples are deliberately chosen to range across the Bible. Children too often hear only the same bits again and again.
The children are to create images that illustrate the function of fire in each case. The most striking way of doing this - especially with fire pictures - is by using stained glass effects.
There are several ways of creating stained glass effects:
- Using tissue paper shapes in black card outlines.
- Using glass paint on perspex or glass.
- Using OHP pens on OHP acetate sheets. This works but is not very effective.
- Using a computer graphics or DTP application and printing out onto an acetate (make sure you use the right type).
Present a son et lumière show, using an OHP to make projections or simply lighting each from behind with a torch while the appropriate Bible passage is read. The children may like to include music or other sounds as part of the presentation.
Pictures of road signs, sign language, logos and other symbols
Untuned percussion instruments
Means to record music
Writing materials
Bible verses to read
Materials for stained glass art work
Fire is a potent symbol in many cultures and faiths. Consider looking at examples such as the story of Hannukah, the punishment of Prometheus for stealing fire, Puja ceremonies in Hindu devotions, and diva lamps at Diwali.
For further information, look at the links section of this site.
http://simscience.org/crackling/index.html
http://www.worldbook.com/fun/fire/html/fighting.htm
http://www.pbs.org/testofcourage/
http://www.usfa.fema.gov/kids/
http://www.worldbook.com/fun/fire/html/london.htm
© Robin Sharples
To engage children in a discussion relating the Christian understanding of God to everyday life.
Luke 22.14-20
1 Corinthians 11.17-27
John 6.35
John 8.12
John 10.7
John 15.5
Central to Christian belief is an understanding of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit (the Trinity). Christians find this way of describing God helps them to refer to the wide range of their experience. Christians also believe that God cannot be limited by words or completely understood by humans. Nevertheless, they believe that God is most fully revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
The Chinese artist, He Qi, called this picture 'The Last Supper'. It is dominated by the figure of Jesus, with arms outstretched, representing not only the crucifixion but also the Christian's belief that God's love embraces all. This image is a powerful and emotive invitation to Christians to share in the Last Supper.
In the smaller images around the main figure, the story of the Last Supper is depicted. This is the event when Jesus ate bread and drank wine with his friends just before his death. He commanded his disciples to do this, when they met together, in order to remember him. For many Christians this shared meal of bread and wine is still the central part of their worship, as it recalls the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. By partaking in this meal, Christians thank God for the gift of his Son, Jesus.
Copies of well-known prayers - the Lord's prayer, the Grace, prayers from 'Common Worship' or other service books
Materials to make a decorated class prayer book
Read a familiar prayer - the Lord's Prayer perhaps - or possibly a special school prayer. Talk about how God is described in the prayer. Is it just as 'God', or is it Father, Spirit, Mother ... ?
Read other prayers and make a collection of them. There are various published collections around. Maybe use the prayers found in 'Common Worship'. Use the texts of the prayers to identify different understandings of God. The Lord's Prayer as such is a 'Father' prayer and has strong associations with Jewish monotheism. Contrast this with 'the Grace' (from 2 Corinthians 13.13) which is about the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Do all Christian prayers talk of the 'love' of God? Identify other attributes or work of God such as grace or mercy that often appear in Christian prayers. Discuss the need for work in all of these attributes.
How easy is it for us to love? Use examples of brothers and sisters here!
How hard is it for us to grant mercy?
How easy is it for us to offer forgiveness?
Encourage the children to think of these things as things that Christians believe God does. They require effort, just as all of us have to work to love people, or give mercy to them.
Having investigated some of the ways in which Christians understand or address God, move on to pupils' composition of their own prayers.
Make a definitive collection of children's prayers into a prayer book. You may like to use decorated letters and other illuminations in writing them out. Use the prayers in school worship.
Materials for poetry, art and modelling.
Discuss ways of showing love. Try to encourage as wide a range of ideas as possible, from broad generalizations about giving or caring, down to goodbye kisses and so on. Try to bring out the idea of children as being the ultimate expression of love. The instance of single parent families does not stand against this. The children in such cases are most often still the creation of such love, and, at the very least, need to feel so.
You might like to link this activity with activity three.
Talk about why Christians believe Jesus is the son of God, the child of God.
Talk about parents and the love they have for children, and bring in grandparents - how important is it that a child is like grandad, granny, aunt Sophie or whoever?
Children are like their progenitors, just as Christians believe Jesus was like his father. In Jesus Christians see God having been born as a human being.
For Christians God is love and reveals his love through Jesus and that he revealed different expressions of that love in his teaching, ministry and life.
Talk briefly about some of the 'I am' sayings from John's gospel and how they can be understood as loving.
- 'I am the bread of life' (John 6.35) - when we love someone, we do not let them become hungry.
- 'I am the light of the world' (John 8.12) - when we love someone, we do not abandon them to become lost.
- 'I am the gate for the sheep' (John 10.7) - when we love someone, we are willing to be open with them and to guard their secrets.
- 'I am the vine and you are the branches' (John 15.5) - when we love someone, we will sustain them and support them.
Do not try to draw out great theological themes from these images - their power lies in their simplicity.
There are many possibilities at this point:
- Drama - take each saying as the beginning of a short improvisation.
- Poetry - write pieces reflecting the image: vine, shepherd, gate and so on.
- Modelling - create model tableaux to represent each image.
- Art - create drawings, paintings or sculptures as representations.
Gather all of the work into a mini-festival. Watch the drama, look at the paintings and so on.
Ask the children what these things mean to them. Don't press meanings upon them, leave the discussion open at the end of the session.
To ask the children in advance to bring from home pictures of things they love
Pictures of your own - food, activities and someone special
Drawing materials - or digital camera
Newspaper and magazine pictures of modern life
What do we love? Ask the children to bring, from home, pictures of something that they love. Do not be too specific when asking them to do this.
Look at the pictures and ask the children to talk about them. Have some pictures of your own which include such things as food - ice cream is good - activities, possessions, and people. Point out the difference between loving someone and something. What does love of someone involve that love of something does not?
Expressing love. Activity two identified metaphors for the work of love. This activity is more concerned with practical expression, from our own perspective.
Create a 'Love is in...' exhibition or display. Use drawings to illustrate ways of showing love from simple facial expressions and other gestures to such large-scale endeavours as Children in Need, Comic Relief or Tear Fund. This will build up into a montage of material, possibly with captions such as 'Love is in holding hands', 'Love is in giving', 'Love is in helping' and so on.
Other forms of work such as sculpture or photography could equally well be used.
Collect a series of pictures from magazines and newspapers that reflect modern life. Present these to the children and ask them for each picture whether this picture represents love in action or not. Even if it does not, would they see it as love?
Divide your collection according to the children's views.
Copies of well-known prayers - the Lord's Prayer, the Grace, prayers from 'Common Worship' or other service books
Materials to make a decorated class prayer book
Materials for poetry, art and modelling
Ask the children in advance to bring from home pictures of things they love
Pictures of your own - food, activities and someone special
Drawing materials - or digital camera
Newspaper and magazine pictures of modern life.
For further information, look at the links section of this site.
http://christianbest.com/xian_art.html
http://www.holidays.net/passover/
http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/07243.html
© Robin Sharples
To engage children in a discussion relating the Christian understanding of God to everyday life.
John 11.25
Luke 24.13-35
The painting by Stanley Spencer, 'The Resurrection at Cookham', is possibly the most challenging image in the book. Although it is set in a graveyard, this picture is all about life - new life. Christians believe that they can take up the promise of eternal life which was given to them through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Stanley Spencer illustrates this by juxtaposing the graves and graveyard (the home of the dead) with characters who burst forth with life in every part of the picture.
Newspapers, magazines and so on
A5 card to stick pictures on
Collage paper and marker pens
Discuss some of the attributes Christians believe God has, such as powerful, patient, caring, wrathful, and so on.
Try to avoid simple adjectives for God, such as 'big' or 'strong'. It is important to use active terms. These come quite easily to KS1 children and are considerably more fecund in terms of developing ideas in RE. They are much more akin to biblical terms than the simple ones. Make a list of the ideas.
Identify where in the world these Christian attributes of God can be found: in thunderstorms, in motherhood, in forest fires, in hospitals and so on.
With older children you may wish to look out into space as well, this can lead to very rich discussions.
Create collage images of these attributes onto smaller pieces of card or paper and then assemble them into a mosaic of images. Keep each image quite small, A5 at the biggest. Use a variety of sources if possible, books, magazines and newspapers. TV listing magazines such as Radio Times often carry such images and also illustrate how important these aspects of creation are in the media.
Call the display 'Where Christians believe God can be found.'
Discuss the captions the pupils would like for their display.
You are likely to end up with a series of captions such as:
'God is found in the rain of storms.'
'God is found in the love of a mother.'
Write up the captions and stick them over the display.
News stories of hope
Writing materials
Discuss hope as a Christian expectation.
Hope of being with God
Hope of healing.
Hope of being saved from oppression.
What other forms of hope are there?
Would they be appropriate for Christians?You may wish to bring in aspects of resurrection, such as those depicted in the Spencer painting.
Identify how hope manifests itself in Christianity today, for example, in the Liberation Theology of the later twentieth century, or in the work of such people as Mother Teresa and Jackie Pullinger in offering hope.Identify that hope is always directed into the future.
Bring out the children's own hopes - it may be appropriate to make a list of these.
Illustrate these hopes with examples from the children's own lives and with news cuttings and so on.
Gather all the ideas and assemble them informally.
Discuss with the children whether these hopes might be fulfilled in their lives. Then think about other children in the world and whether these hopes will be fulfilled everywhere.
With younger children it is probable that you may have to stop here. This is OK. Do not be tempted to bring everything to a neat conclusion. It is fine for the children to be left with unanswered questions, that of itself is the matter of hope.
Older children could be drawn on to see that for many people the only hope is in a world beyond this one, heaven. You may wish to discuss what heaven is like. Again, do not try to gather a tidy ending - after all, our limited understanding of heaven is not very tidy either.
Bible verses to read.
Charades. Play a 'Who am I?' type game. The children must choose to be types of professionals/workers, say, fireman, doctor, nurse, farmer, footballer and so on.
Ask how we could tell what it was that these people were. What was it that the children did to give the right clues? Next, discuss what clues Jesus gave as to who and what he was.
Read examples:
Miracles
- Matthew 8.1-4
- Matthew 15.29-31
- Mark 8.22-26
- Luke 7.1-10
- John 11.1-44 (the story of the raising of Lazarus - it might be best told from a Children's Bible)
Feel free to find more.
The declarations of disciples
- Matthew 16.16
- John 21.24-28
(There are, of course, many declarations in the epistles (e.g. 2 Peter 1.16-21). It may be appropriate to introduce these. This would have the effect of demonstrating to the children that the epistles came from disciples of Jesus.)
And the resurrection
- Matthew 28.1ff
- Mark 16.1ff
- Luke 24.1ff
- John 20.1ff
Continue the dramatic 'charade' theme by asking children to act out some of these scenarios. After each one, discuss the responses of those around Jesus. How do they understand what he is doing?
Talk again about why Christians believe God is everywhere. There is nowhere, they believe, they can go where God is not present.
Newspapers, magazines and so on
A5 card to stick pictures on
Collage paper and marker pens
News stories of hope
Writing materials.
Bible verses to read
Geography links to catastrophes.
For further information, look at the links section of this site.
http://www.cookham.com/spencerindex.htm
http://stanleyspencer.cjb.net/
http://www.stanleyspencer.co.uk
http://www.tate.org.uk/home/default.htm
© Robin Sharples