Talking about God. A Unit of RE for St Albans Diocese, Year 1/2. 5 year old Bethan made this picture. Do you agree with her?

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1 Talking about God A Unit of RE for St Albans Diocese, Year 1/2 5 year old Bethan made this picture. Do you agree with her? Year 1/2 Diocese of St Albans & RE Today 2008

2 Talking about God Year Group 1/2 ABOUT THIS UNIT This unit of RE for 5-7 year olds provides activities learning ideas to enable children to talk about their ideas of God. Its place in the curriculum is central to good RE because it aims to get to the heart of the subject with young children. Stories of God are important in many religions in teaching children the faith, in Christianity, the creation stories of Genesis the stories of Jesus have very significant places. These stories are used in this unit particularly to provoke conversation about God. Prayer is an important activity in many faiths too for people not attached to religions. In this unit, it provides a focus for talking about God. Teachers may initially find it difficult to engage in theological talk with children, but accepting that speculation is good, final answers are not available, can free the teacher to enable exploration of ideas by the children. This is a very significant part of RE. The unit develops knowledge understing of stories which help people underst ideas of God as loving caring as the creator of the world. It provides activities which enable children to express their own ideas about the world God. An overview of the unit: The unit centres on Christian ideas about God the pupils own ideas. There are possible extensions for the study to other religions, through stories. The unit makes use of ideas, beliefs concepts in thoughtful potentially deep ways. It has natural links to Social Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL). Estimated time for this unit: Usually 8 10 hours of teaching time. Where this unit fits in: This unit will help teachers in fulfilling local Agreed Syllabus requirements. It has been designed to connect with the Agreed Syllabuses for Barnet, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire Luton in appropriate ways, reflects the learning model of the National Non-Statutory Framework for RE (QCA 2004). Many teachers find this unit difficult, but are pleased with the responses of pupils. In general, teaching need not be troubled by the big pupils ask. The best teacher replies root ground the God talk in particular communities (eg Many believe God is best seen in Jesus, but Muslims find God in their holy book, the Qur an ) Issues of continuity progression: This unit enables pupils to make progress particularly by organising learning around big in RE from the very start of school. KEY STRANDS ADDRESSED BY THIS UNIT knowledge understing of religious beliefs, teachings sources (AT1) knowledge understing of ways of expressing meaning (AT1) skill of asking responding to of truth, meaning purpose (AT2) ATTITUDES FOCUS Self-awareness: pupils become more aware of their own beliefs ideas Respect for all: pupils are encouraged to take account of different ideas points of view Appreciation wonder: pupils are enabled to use time, space silence for reflection on mysteries amazing things in the natural human world

3 RE IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND SCHOOL This unit makes an important contribution to the RE curriculum in the Church of Engl school, connects with the intention that RE should be excellent by enabling the spiritual development of all pupils through a reflective thoughtful study of Christianity of religious spiritual ideas. Quality RE in the Church of Engl school makes space for pupils to explore makes the resources of the Christian tradition available to them. It takes the personal worth of every child, the family culture of each seriously, seeking to explore religious ideas emotions in ways that are authentic have integrity It offers opportunities to children to think for themselves, be broad-minded openhearted in their encounters with faith. Prior learning Vocabulary Resources It is helpful if pupils have: the ability to work in classroom speaking listening in pairs the willingness to explore unusual fresh ideas In this unit, pupils will have an opportunity to use words phrases such as: God Bible Creation Creator World Humans Environment Responsibility Genesis Text The Solihull Hbooks of RE (Foundation Stage or Key Stage 1) are an excellent practical source for much of this work: from Solihull SACRE, , 25 each In the beginning - Steve Turner (poem about creation) (Lion) Reflective Story Telling: A manual for teachers by Helen Matter The World that God Made Jan Godfrey Peter Adderley (A D Publishing) The Creation Series (Diamond Books) The Creation (pop-up book) Brian Wildsmith (Oxford University Press) The Story of Creation Jane Ray (Orchard Books) Wonderful Earth - N Butterworth & M Inkpen (Hunt & Thorpe) Why do stars come out at night? - Annalena McAffee (Red Fox) - ISBN Developing Primary RE: Series from RE Today that addresses all major RE issues for 4-11s Lion publish a range of children s Bibles Don t just do thing, sit there Developing children s spiritual awareness - Mary K Stone - ISBN X Whose world is it anyway? Primary RE in Practice (RE Today/CEM) The Lion Story Teller Bible - Bob Hartman (Lion) - ISBN Stories about God (Developing Primary RE) pp 8-11 (RE Today) - ISBN ) The Lost Sheep - Butterworth Inkpen (Collins Picture Lion) - ISBN Artefacts Religious artefacts are available to purchase from: Articles of Faith (Tel: ) Religion in Evidence (Freephone ) The Diocese of St Albans has a number of Godly Play kits for loan that relate to this unit

4 Teachers also need to relax about saying I don t know in answer to pupils in this unit, where RE s interest in unanswerable is to the fore. Treasuring the is as important as seeking the answers. Web is a very useful site for learning about Christianity. There is a section for infants. Music the arts feature here. is the Welsh Virtual Teacher Centre. It contains good materials for teaching to this age group. Christian artefacts (images) is a most useful gateway for Christianity other religions. is the gallery of the Art in Heaven competition. Here children can look at lots of works of art by other pupils from round the country answering the question Where is God? Staffordshire Learning Net Cumbria Lancashire Learning Online has excellent resources for RE: - look in Subjects, RE, KS1 DVD/Video/visual/audio Picturing Creation from RE Today: CD, book images from Kate Neal on Genesis 1 It s a wonderful world - Louis Armstrong Video book: The Snowman - Raymond Briggs Dottie Buzz The Creation (Channel 4 Learning) Places of worship: KS1 Watch series - Judaism pack (BBC) PCET, Folens Nelson publish useful photo/picture packs on particular religions. Leicestershire LA have a CD Rom picture pack of faith communities in Leicester. A visitor from the faith community prepared to bring show, talk answer children s. RE Today publish Say Hello to, a CD of flash books about six religions. Art depicting God(s) throughout the ages. Resources used in worship allow children first h sensory experiences. See Don t just do thing, sit there, Mary Stone pp18f (RMEP) - ISBN X Songs for the new millennium (Breaking the chains) (National Society Methodist Publishing House) - 4 -

5 Contributions to spiritual, moral, social cultural development of pupils: The unit enables pupils to develop Spiritually by thinking for themselves about puzzles mysteries Socially by working with children in pairs groups on interesting Culturally by learning that different ideas, stories point of view can all have value Pupils who can meet the early learning goals will: Recognise that religious beliefs can have an effect on what people do feel (Personal, Social Emotional Development) Communicate verbally feelings thoughts about God, people the world (Language Literacy) Become aware that people have beliefs which help them to answer puzzling about life (Knowledge Understing of the World) Listen to stories imaginative scenarios create make-believe characters stories of their own (Creative Development) EXPECTATIONS: At the end of this unit: Nearly all pupils will be able to (L1): Most pupils will be able to : Some pupils might be able to (L3): talk about they find interesting about God identify simple answers that give to about God recognise that people have different ideas about God identify simple Christian beliefs about God Jesus respond stories about God describe Christian beliefs about God make links between stories beliefs for themselves ASSESSMENT SUGGESTIONS RE needs an assessment for learning approach to gathering evidence of pupils achievements. There is not a particular need for every unit to produce assessment outcomes on paper, in the light of this. NB - Speak listen: Using verbal responses from children to weigh up evidence of achievement is more appropriate than seeking writing from this age group, as their progress in literacy may be behind their ability to hle the concepts ideas about God prayer this unit covers. Teaching assistants can make records as seems suitable to the team, for the purposes of continuous assessment for learning. Provide for the pupils to show what they learned by: A. Talking about God: What do different people say about God? What does God do in this story? What is God like? What makes me think about God? B. Expressing ideas about prayer Making a simple three part book on prayer focussing on a) an occasion in the Bible when Jesus prayed to God b) an occasion in their experience when a prayer has been said c) way(s) in which thing can be used to help people from a particular religion to pray Compile a list of important ingredients for an act of collective worship (school or other occasion for children who withdraw) giving reasons for their choices. Talk about the activity about prayer as talking to God

6 KEY QUESTIONS LEARNING OBJECTIVES Pupils should learn: TEACHING AND LEARNING Practical classroom suggestions that will enable the teacher to see how to plan lessons LEARNING OUTCOMES Pupils will be able to: POINTS TO NOTE Are there that puzzle us are hard to answer? That are puzzling or interesting even when we don t know the answer To express their own ideas in a trusting atmosphere in RE Asking puzzling : Use riddles jokes which pose to encourage children to start to realise that times we just have to say, I don t know! when faced with a difficult question. Sometimes we can guess at possible answers, but remain puzzling. Then introduce the idea that times life makes us ask we don t know the answers to: encourage pupils to think of examples from their own experience eg How does a flower grow? Why did my hamster die? What is beyond the stars? Use a book such as Why do stars come out at night? as an aid: children could suggest answers to the on each page before turning over to reveal the answer : whose answers do pupils like best? Can they think of more? Can they think of that have lots of answers (eg how do we know if one loves us?) Talk about puzzling different answers to them Respond simple ideas about God SEAL: much of this work has connections with social emotional aspects of learning. It is important for personal develop ment that children feel secure. It is good for them to experience thanking being thanked, praising being praised

7 What would you like to ask God, if you could? To express puzzling of their own, think about them Asking God Speculate with pupils first of all: if they could know one thing about the future, what would it be? Next week s lottery numbers? If they will travel to the moon? Who will they marry? Ask them to think up three-five each that they would like to ask the person who knows everything. Give them a large question mark template to write these onto. Explain that believe this person is God. Where possible, get the children to write down the, or support each other to do so. Create a wall of from the pupils question mark templates invite the children to use it like a graffiti wall for answers as well This activity has a connection with the methods of Matthew Lipmann, called Philosophy for children/ P4C These are powerful methods in RE. Put all the on view - on the whiteboard, or on tables - invite the children to choose the ones they think are the best of all. Talk about which ones they chose why they are good. Talk about how God might answer them - get the children to speculate many different answers to each one if they can. Some will be factual (how many stars are there?), will be spiritual (where does the hate come from in the world? the love?) will be funny. All welcome

8 How do answer puzzling? That believe in God, who cannot be seen, but cares for all people. They believe that God made the world loves every person How do answer of these? Introduce which people ask which religions offer answers to: Who cares for me who do I care for? What makes each person special? What makes life happy? Ask pupils to suggest their answers. Pick up on any answers the children suggest which could come from a faith perspective or a Christian perspective in particular, explore these. Children may be able to say whether or not they believe in God, why/why not. As you introduce children to Christian beliefs ideas about God (including the idea of God in Jesus) draw attention to the beliefs of at least one other religion ideas of their God(s) (eg God of Love, God the carer, God is one, God has the truth). This can be done through stories, art, symbols, artefacts. Start to talk about (L1) such as: what makes life happy? Who do I care for who cares for me? What do I believe? Does God have all the answers? Respond different answers It is always good practice to set teaching about Christianity in the broad context of many religions. Tell pupils that Jews Muslims agree with things say, have different ideas too. What do learn about God from Bible stories? To connect ideas about God with stories from the Bible Stories of God Read a story about one who believes in God: use a story about a Biblical character such as Joseph or the boy Samuel from an early years Bible, for example. Then give the children Lego Playmobil people ask them to imagine that the Lego person is the person in the story: let them play with the figures, acting out parts of the story, imagining what sort of the figure might ask God. What answers might God give? Do the children think God has all the answers, or are still puzzling? What might their Lego figure say about the above? Engage imaginatively with stories that feature God, responding sensitively for themselves Godly Play is a structured formal method of connecting the child s life of play with the world of religion spirituality. There are many other ways of doing this too. Playing around with religion is an excellent learning activity

9 Does believing in God make a difference to people s lives? That do various different things because they believe in God What do people who believe in God do? Fill a cloth bag with artefacts from Christianity: a Bible hymn book, a cross, a cle, a chalice, grape juice in a container, a rosary, an Advent calendar etc. Let the children feel the shapes inside the bag, then pull out each object in turn. Invite a local Christian, a Vicar perhaps, to show the children the different clerical vestments: children could try on the clothes explore the contents of the bag: allow time for pupils to familiarise themselves with these things through play, discuss any they raise so that they start to build up a simple picture of what do. Simple connections between beliefs actions can be made by the teacher. Talk about of the things do believe - of the things they believe (L1/2) Godly Play provides interesting effective ways of enabling children to get involved in spiritual thinking. What makes you think about God? What do you think? That it is interesting to think about puzzling to do with God That images symbols can help us to think about God Choosing things that make us think about God Set up several of these paired small group talking points/activities. Take a class walk, ask pupils to choose one leaf that makes them think about God. Show them lots of pictures of the natural world, ask them to choose one thing that makes them think about what God is like. Can they choose a sound or a piece of music that makes them think about God? Ask children to share their thoughts in twos or threes. Use lots of old calendars: if they were asked to make a calendar of 12 monthly pictures for (or Jews or Muslims), which pictures would they choose to make the think about God? Why? At Harvest time, get the children to think of many favourite foods, ask them which one makes them want to say thank you (not necessarily to God) the most. Discuss the pupils choices thoughts, keeping an open atmosphere where all ideas are welcome. Talk about images, symbols God (L1) Think for themselves respond about God Describe different things say about God (L3) Developing children s ability to use symbols images is a very important skill in RE. Pupils often surprise adults by the depth of their thoughts. Ask the children to use the stem I wonder why to gather a sense of where their curiosity takes them. A good circle time activity

10 What do do in a church? What do they think about? To think for themselves about puzzling of God to explore different possible answers to the Beginning to talk about, beliefs practices Remind them about the above, talk about of the answers might give, eg believe God cares for me, each person is special because God made them God loves them, life is happy when we love each other. Introduce the idea that people who believe in God show this by meeting up with other believers at places of worship, eg go to church on Sundays. Look at pictures of in church, including children. What might the people be thinking? Explore pupils about what they can see to build up an understing of what is happening in each picture. Some children may go to church regularly, or be a member of a different faith community, others may have been to weddings or baptisms: encourage children to talk about these times. What are these occasions like? Respond puzzling about God Recognise that worship prayer come from beliefs Recognise that although prayer can be seen in actions, worship prayer happens in people s hearts minds Inclusion: RE needs to develop model inclusive practice for the child in a religious family, the child in a nonreligious family. This makes the experience of each child important in the classroom. Teachers are generally very good at modelling practising this everyone is valuable approach. Aim to draw on every child s experience

11 Why do say that praying is like talking with God? Respond for themselves to ideas about talking to God Reflect on their own experience of praying Developing positive attitudes of respect towards other people who hold views beliefs that are different from their own Prayers talking to God. Tell two stories of examples in the Christian New Testament of occasions when Jesus prayed to God, eg temptation in the wilderness, blessing of children, a prayer to heal the sick, the Last Supper, in the Garden of Gethsemane, on the cross. Introduce the Lord s Prayer, explaining why it is important for. Talk about how it s used, what it means. Can children think of/create logos, pictures or illustrations for each phrase of the prayer? (A structured framework could be shown on the whiteboard.) Introduce simple prayers used by (school prayer, grace, blessing) discuss when they would be used. Which are the children s favourites? Using a collection of prayer cards for children, ask pupils to look at these imagine who a Vicar would give each one to. Can they design make one themselves? Begin to appreciate the many ways people pray worship Retell a story of prayer Begin to think for themselves about the importance of prayer to many people RE can make curricular use of the activity of assembly or collective worship, but it s important not to confuse the two: curricular RE works to underst worship prayer, but not to ask for participation in these activities. Explore use of senses in worship: sights, sounds, smells, taste, using a variety of artefacts - incense, a range of music, cles, flowers, food, art, bells. Teach pupils that praying is always voluntary, an alternative is reflecting or meditating. believe God hears all prayers, but not everyone thinks this is true. Ask pupils to choose a photograph from a range of pictures of animals, natural scenes people, to make up a prayer or reflection that goes with the picture. Give children short periods of silence to absorb the sensory experiences being offered to them, opportunities to talk about the that puzzle them the beliefs they are sure of about God

12 Does the world we live in inspire feelings of wonder appreciation? To reflect for themselves on the beauty of nature Reflecting on the wonder of the world Take the children for a walk to observe experience the world around us; notice the differences between living non-living things that the children can see; encourage a sense of awe wonder by listening noticing tiny detail in aspects of the living world colour patterns on a leaf, a flower, a beautiful insect. Use a creative visualisation activity using objects from the natural world to help pupils to appreciate enter into the natural world. Make a Creation Table to which the children could contribute their own natural objects. The table could be divided into three areas Earth, Sea Sky, linking with the KS1 science curriculum. Respond the natural environment Think about that the natural world makes us ask Describe the answers give to of these (L3) There are obvious connections to the science curriculum in this activity, to the ELGs of knowledge understing of the world. What can we learn from the story of creation that Jews tell? Retell, in simple terms, using religious words, a story of the creation from the Bible Ask respond to arising out of the Biblical creation story Express of their own ideas about the creation story about God A creation story for Jews Tell a story about God as creator of the world Introduce a Biblical creation story (shared by both Jews ) through the use of an attractive text, such as a Big Book or a pop-up book. Read aloud a children s Bible account. Talk about the story use a storyboard format for the children to retell the story using their own ideas. Ask children to create pictures of their own for their favourite day of the story. Ask children to pick their favourite moment in the story, make a painting of it write/dictate a few words about why they picked it. Make a large class display illustrating the creation story children s ideas. Recount the outline of the story (L1) Identify the main moments in the story the it answers Respond the meaning of the story Kate Neal has produced a beautiful set of seven paintings to accompany the story of Genesis 1. Picturing Creation from RE Today. This work links well to the new beginnings theme in the science curriculum, to SEAL programmes. Read Steve Turner s poem In the Beginning mime actions to each verse. If possible, put actions to the music version of the poem. Big Book versions are available of In the beginning

13 What does Jesus story of the Lost Sheep mean? Retell, in simple terms using religious words, another story about God Ask respond to arising out of the Biblical story of the Lost Sheep Express of their own ideas about the creation story about God Stories which help people underst God Christian ideas of God as loving caring can be seen in Jesus story of the Lost Sheep (Luke 5:3-7). Talk to the children about how believe that God not only made the world but continues to look after it with our help. This story says God is like a Good Shepherd or farmer who cares for every single sheep in his flock. Use a story board format for the children to retell this story. Divide the children into small groups to explore the feelings of the Lost Sheep the Shepherd at the end of the story, through role-play freeze frame. Children could make faces for wering off, feeling scared, despair, being found or rejoicing, feeling safe. Name Jesus story of the Lost Sheep (L1) Sequence the story simply (L1) Suggest a meaning for the story This work links to the programme for social emotional aspects of learning (SEAL). There are entertaining versions of the story of the Lost Sheep on YouTube select them carefully for your pupils. Use digital photography to capture freeze frames for display on white board talk about the feelings using a feeling box containing words of feelings/emotions to support children s language development. Talk about times children may have lost thing precious how they felt when they found it. Children could respond to the : What do you think the story of the Lost Sheep might be telling about God? What might God be like? What do you think about God? What might he be like? Children could express their ideas using words, colours, shapes, pictures in a class book or collage display

14 What have we learned in this unit of RE? To express ideas more deeply as a result of thinking about God prayer To be able to respond Christian ideas about God prayer Cles meanings Set the classroom out so that pupils can sit in a circle around a low table with cles on it. Put one large cle in the middle lots of smaller ones around it, unlit ( Blutack is good to hold them). Get an assistant (or do this yourself) to have a lighter ready. Recap with the children the highlights of the unit of work on talking about God, reminding them of the puzzling, the creation stories stories of Jesus the discussions they have had. Remind the class of the first thing God says in the creation story: let there be light talk about how light helps us. Good ideas are like light: why is that? Ask the children to think quietly for one minute, try to think of their best ideas about God. After the minute s silence, receive the ideas one by one, without comment, light a cle for each one. Talk about about God prayer that they have thought of (L1) Respond other children s Gathering evidence of achievement in RE should be professional, but not burden. Some units will include a formal task assessing pupils work, but not all. Unseen learning can be profound. Teachers in RE should welcome the possibility. Finish the activity with a short time silent for pupils to look at the cles be thoughtful. Lat Blaylock for the Diocese of St Albans, February