Exemplar Unit of Work: KS1 NEW question What do some people believe about God?

Transcription

1 Exemplar Unit of Work: KS1 NEW question What do some people believe about God? This unit of work contributes towards the principal aim of RE in Gloucestershire: To engage pupils with questions arising from the study of religion and beliefs, so as to promote their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. This unit follows the 5-step planning process to help schools to devise their own key question and unit of work based, found in the 2011 Agreed Syllabus supplement, pages Step 1. Take theme and devise key question: Take syllabus theme (see page 61), or explore school theme and see what genuine links there are with RE themes (page 61) and expectations (page 60). Use the fields of enquiry to make sure there is a good RE focus for these questions (see supplement p.22). Devise suitably open key question to explore theme through RE, with links to other subjects. Theme: Believing Fields of Enquiry: a) Beliefs, teachings and sources e) questions of meaning, purpose and truth Where does this fit into our Key Stage planning? This unit introduces children to the concept of deity one that is central to many religions. Children are given the opportunity to explore some of the big and puzzling questions around the idea of God. They will have opportunities to study Christian and Hindu ideas about God and express their own ideas about God. The unit makes space for the ideas of children who have no belief in God. This unit prepares children for the KS2 unit What is God like? It has significant links with literacy through the strategies included in the unit. Step 2. Select/devise learning Look at the learning for other key questions ( So that they can... pages 63-69). Select some relevant, or use these as models for your own RE learning for your key question, as appropriate to the age and ability of your pupils, balancing learning about and learning from religion and beliefs. from syllabus: say why Christians think God is like a good parent use colour, words, actions and/or music to express their own feelings and ideas... about God retell Bible stories and stories from another faith about what God is like Additional learning : talk about some ways a Christian might describe God talk about some ways a Hindu might describe God talk about different words and art which are used to describe God ask their own puzzling or mysterious questions about life and share their ideas with others respond sensitively to other peoples ideas of God.

2 Step 3. Select specific content Look at the content for questions ( Children/pupils will learn... on pages 63-69). Where there are significant links, select relevant RE content to enable pupils to explore the key question. Where appropriate, select the best content or decide relevant content to help you to deliver the learning in an engaging way. Content selected from syllabus: stories which help people understand Christian ideas of God as loving and caring beliefs about God as creator in another religion stories about and opportunities to meet and talk to people who have a Christian faith, and someone belonging to another faith, and awareness that believing in God is the most important thing in life for many people. Additional relevant content: look at art that expresses ideas about God Hindu beliefs about God give opportunities for children to reflect on and express their own big questions about life and God in particular through discussion, art, music and drama e.g responding to the question Where is God? through art describe some of the beliefs that Christians hold about God e.g. all-powerful, loving explore what the concept of God means for the children themselves Step 4. Assessment: levelled pupil Turn the RE learning into pupilfriendly I can statements. Do this by using the levels of attainment (page 30-31) and work out just what it is that you want your pupils to be able to do as a result of their learning. Be clear about the skills they will develop. This process allows assessment to be integrated throughout the teaching unit, so that there is no need for an end of unit assessment activity. 5. opportunities Use some engaging stimuli and imaginative activities to enable your pupils to achieve the RE levelled. These learning are turned into levelled I can... statements in the teaching and learning activities below. Level 1 I can talk about some interesting and puzzling questions I d like to know about, to do with God (and religion and belief) I can recall the story of the Lost Sheep I can say what I think is good about caring for others I can give one reason why Christians think God is like a good parent I can recognise some names Hindus give to God I can use some religious words and symbols in my own artwork about ideas of God I can ask and respond to questions to do with God (and religion and belief) I can recognise the kinds of questions that make people wonder and are difficult to answer, including questions about God I can retell the story of the Lost sheep I can talk about three ways in which Christians describe what God is like I can identify two ways Hindus describe God I can suggest meanings for some art about God, including my own responses See examples below Please note that this unit of work is detailed in order to provide examples of a wide range of teaching and learning opportunities for pupils in schools. It is not expected that school planning will be as detailed as this; the key is to follow the planning process above to achieve the learning in the syllabus.

3 Teaching should enable pupils to... ask their own puzzling or mysterious questions about life and share their ideas with others Teaching and learning are met and that pupils learning needs are addressed. Forming Questions Challenge pupils in groups to come up with some really big questions. Pupils can complete this frame on their own and their own and then discuss it in a group or pair. Discuss the responses as a class. Are there some things in life that we cannot know? What sort of questions have we got in the last box? Are they puzzling or mysterious? How might a person from a particular religion answer this? : say I can... to one or more of the statements below. I can talk about some interesting and puzzling questions I d like to know about, to do with God (and religion and belief) Things I know and others know Things I don t know but others do Things I know and others don t Things that I don t know and neither do others I can ask and respond to questions to do with God (and religion and belief) I can recognise the kinds of questions that make people wonder and are difficult to answer, including questions about God

4 Teaching should enable pupils to... say why Christians think God is like a good parent; talk about some ways a Christian might describe God; describe some of the beliefs that Christians hold about God e.g. allpowerful, loving; retell Bible stories and stories from another faith about what God is like Teaching and learning are met and that pupils learning needs are addressed. Understanding Christians ideas about God Ask the children what they know about Christian ideas about God? Create a class mindmap. Talk about the idea that Christians talk about God as three in one- father, son and holy spirit. Share the story of the lost sheep- this was a story told to show what God is like. Use a Godly play/creative story box approach to tell the story to the class: this communicates both the story s narrative and the value of the story to Christians. Use Nick Butterworth and Mick Inkpen s telling of the story to explore it again. The method includes I wonder... questions: I wonder what might be dangerous for this lost sheep? I wonder why the shepherd cares so much for the sheep? I wonder if the lost sheep matters more than the other sheep? I wonder what being lost feels like? Why? I wonder if there are things that are dangerous for us if we are lost? I wonder if being lost is always about not knowing where we are are there other kinds of lost too? Give the children four reasons why this story, 2000 years old, might be still told so much and so often. Why did Jesus tell this story? Was it... Because he liked sheep more than other animals Because he thinks God loves people like a shepherd loves the sheep. Because we all get lost sometimes, and need help Because breaking the rules can be dangerous. Choose the two best reasons, and think about why they are good reasons. Look at some paintings or stained glass images of the story. Think about how they were made, who by, and why. How long did they take? What does this tell you about how much the story matters to : say I can... to one or more of the statements below. I can recall the story of the Lost Sheep I can talk about what the story says God is like I can say what I think is good about caring for others I can retell the story of the Lost sheep I can suggest a meaning for the story or the lost sheep, and talk about why it is an important story for Christians I can respond, with thoughts of my own, to the story of the Lost Sheep and what

5 Christians? Many Christians call Jesus the good shepherd. There are even some churches called The Church of the Good Shepherd Why? Many activities facilitate this kind of linking. In this case we suggest: Give the children this list of words: Lost, Finder, Searcher, Carer, Looker, Brave, Strong, Weak, Scared/fearful, In danger, Like God, Like any person, Loving Ask them in turn which 3 words apply to the sheep, to the shepherd, to themselves and to God. No right answers this is all about helping children to be interpreters! Children could respond to the questions: What do you think the story of the Lost Sheep might be telling Christians about God? it teaches about looking after others

6 Key question: Teaching should enable pupils to... say why Christians think God is like a good parent; talk about some ways a Christian might describe God; describe some of the beliefs that Christians hold about God e.g. all-powerful, loving; Teaching and learning are met and that pupils learning needs are addressed. Explore these as separate themes relating to Christian beliefs about God: i. God as Loving. Talk with the pupils about the people in their lives who love them. What evidence do they have that someone loves them? How does it make them feel? How do they act and what do they do? Can we see love? How do we know it is there? Read the book Guess how much I love you? and discuss if love can be measured. Remind them of the story of the lost sheep to look at how Jesus explained the love and care of God. ii. God as Father. Show the pupils a bag with a collection of items a parent would use with a baby. Take the items out of the bag and discuss each in turn. How do parents care for their babies? Make a list of things that a baby needs. As well as the practical items, move pupils on to talking about babies needing love and care. Talk about Christians believing that God looks after them like a loving father (or parent). iii. God as Light. Show the pupils a collection of different sorts of candles. Talk about when candles are used birthday cakes, power cuts etc. Light the candles and talk about them shining in the dark. Fear of the dark might be introduced at this point and pupils encouraged to reflect on their fears and how important having something happy and positive is when you are, or have been afraid. Explain that people going to church often light candles and candles are used in church services. Show pictures of candles being used in church. Reflect by looking at candles and listening to music thinking peaceful thoughts and letting go of our fears. : say I can... to one or more of the statements below. I can give one reason why Christians think God is like a good parent I can talk about some interesting about ideas of God as loving, Father/parent and light I can talk about three ways in which Christians describe what God is like I can talk thoughtfully about ideas of love and light, in response to Christian ideas of God

7 Teaching should enable pupils to... talk about some ways a Hindu might describe God; retell stories from Hinduism about what God is like Teaching and learning are met and that pupils learning needs are addressed. Understanding Hindu ideas about god Two mysterious questions are who is God? And where is God? Hindus use stories to help them understand their ideas about God? Share the story of the story of the salt in the water and other stories about the Hindu belief in God. Discuss what these stories teach Hindus about God. Give the children a piece of paper with five circles, ask the children to draw their face when they are showing five different emotions e.g. sad, happy, angry, pleased and frightened. Ask the children which one is them? All of them are a bit of all of us. This is how Hindus portray god, each representation of god gives insight into an aspect of god. Hindus believe God has many faces but there is only one God. Show murtis/images of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva ask children in groups to take one of the murtis or picture of the murti and note what they can see e.g. Brahma- 4 heads. Ask them to think about what this might mean. Explain that each of these shows a Hindu idea of God; Brahma-creator, Vishnu-Keeps things going in the world, Shiva-destroys things. Why do you think Hindus have these three ideas about God? Together these are called the Trimurti. What is God like? Ask the children to create a picture showing one of the Hindu ideas of God at work in the worldcreator, keeping things going, destroyer OR Use playdough to show a Hindu idea of God. I think God can be a...because... : say I can... to one or more of the statements below. I can recognise some names Hindus give to God I can talk about some interesting and puzzling questions I d like to know about, to do with Hindu ideas of God I can identify two ways Hindus describe God I can ask and respond to questions to do with Hindu ideas of God Stories from Hinduism can be downloaded from the RE Today webshop, Click on Primary then Stories

8 Teaching should enable pupils to... talk about different words and art which are used to describe God; use colour, words, actions and/or music to express their own feelings and ideas... about God Teaching and learning are met and that pupils learning needs are addressed. Ideas about God? Show the children a selection of children s art about God. These can be found on the spirited art section of the NATRE website. Create a matching exercise with the pictures and the written ideas. Which picture and idea have you thought about before? Which idea have you never thought about? Which picture and idea do you like best? Why? Which do you like least? Why? Create a window for a place of worship, mandir or church that shows an idea about God e.g. God the father, God the Creator Collect together lots of old calendars: If they were asked to make a calendar of 12 monthly pictures for Christians (or Jews or Hindus or Muslims), which pictures would they choose to make the Christians think about God? Why? Responding with art Ask the children to draw a picture, write or make a model to show their own idea about Where is god? You could organise a class competition with prizes linked to the spirited arts competition on click on spirited arts. : say I can... to one or more of the statements below. I can use some religious words and symbols in my own artwork about ideas of God I can suggest meanings for some art about God, including my own responses

9 Resources Teachers might use: Spirited poetry: reflections about God, life and faith (RE Today, 2006) Developing primary RE: Symbols of faith: conveying meaning (RE Today, 2004) Developing primary RE: Stories about God (RE Today, 2005) What do signs & symbols mean in religion? J Mead (Evans, 2008) How do people express their faith through the arts? J Mead (Evans, 2008) Exploring Puzzling Questions (RE Today 2006) Opening up Hinduism (RE Today 2011) Christianity Encounter Christianity in creation A Brown (National Society, 2001) Father and Son G. McCaughrean (Hodder, 2006) Jesus, the Word M Bozzuti-Jones (USA: Augsberg Books, 2005) Hinduism Hindu Gods & Goddesses (Delhi: Star Publications, 2004) Hindu art & writing L Magloff (Curriculum Visions, 2008) Primary Hinduism S Lakhani (Vivekanda Centre, 2001) Religious signs & symbols: Hinduism C Senker (Hodder Wayland, 2008) Stories from faiths: Hinduism A Ganeri (Heinemann, 2009) Krishna steals the butter and other stories A Ganeri (QED, 2007) The heart of Hinduism: a resource pack for primary teachers (Pack includes, CD, CD-ROM, pictures etc) (ISKCON, 2002) Murtis: borrow murtis or posters of deities from the RE Resource Centre, College Green, Gloucester Web: The National Association of Teachers of RE (NATRE) has an excellent web starting point for these issues: enables pupils to view and judge numerous works of pupil art on key Biblical stories and spiritual ideas from young people. RE Today has 50 stories to download from different religions. See Click on Primary and then Stories Online searchable sacred texts from different religions at: Try for a good general gateway to RE materials. annotated slide show of Hindu deities Fiona Moss/ RE Today Services 2011