PR-2850IRE Religious Education in the Classroom - Book 1

Christianity
Teachers Notes
1. Birthdays
Before doing the worksheet discuss how the children
celebrate their own birthdays. Encourage them to
see the reasons behind the parties and presents – a
celebration of the life of someone who is much loved.
Draw a parallel with Christmas Day, the birthday of Jesus.
2. and 3. The Nativity
Prim-Ed Publishing
There is useful
information in
Celebrate Christian
Festivals by Jan
Thompson, pub.
Heinemann 1995.
The stable picutre on Worksheet 3 and the figures on
Worksheet 4 need to be stuck onto cardboard for
strength. If children stick the background sheet
onto the side of a complete cereal packet it will
stand up easily and the nativity figures can be
stored and taken home safely inside the box.
4. The Christmas Story
Read and discuss the Bible story of the birth of Jesus
with the class then ask them to arrange the story in
order. If you use long strips of paper they can be
folded to make a concertina book.
Suitable books to read to the class include The
Christmas Story by Enid Blyton, republished by Red Fox
1993 or The First Christmas by Georgie Adams, pub.
Orion 1996.
5. My Christmas Alphabet
Encourage the children to think of a
word or picture beginning with each
letter of the alphabet that reminds
them of the Christmas story.
Younger children may need to be given
words to copy before drawing their
own picture.
Ll
For example: Advent, Bethlehem,
Carol, Donkey, Eve, Frankincense,
Gold, Holly, Ivy, Jesus, Kings, Lights,
Mary, Nazareth, Oxen, Presents, the
Queen (on TV!), Reindeer, Shepherds,
Tree, Uncle, Visitors, Wenceslas,
Xmas, Yule, Zzzzz.
Zz
6. Shrove Tuesday
Explain to the class about the kind of food that
people would have eaten long ago, and why they
chose to give up some foods for Lent. Permitted
foods would have included bread, fish, beans and root
vegetable (but no potatoes).
Discuss the children’s favourite ‘treat’ foods and
which of these a Christian might choose to give up
for Lent.
Useful books include I am a Roman Catholic by
Brenda Pettenuzzo publ. Watts 1985 and The Easter
Story by Brian Wildsmith pub. OUP 1993.
7. Holy Week
Tell the class about the events of the last week of
Jesus’ life from the Gospels of Matthew, Ch.21 v. 1-13
and Ch.26 v. 17-29, and Luke Ch.21 v. 1-4.
Children can either cut out the pictures and text
and glue them into their books in the correct
sequence, or draw lines to link the pictures with the
correct text.
8. Easter Words
Viewing Sample
Aa
Use a children’s version
such as The Easter Story
by David Hately pub.
Ladybird 1990.
Point out to the children that all the words in the
crossword are symbols of new life in the Spring and
the Easter message –␣ daffodils, lambs, chicks, eggs
and the Cross.
Read Easter by Gail Gibbons pub. Hodder and
Stoughton 1990.
9. Easter Garden
Read a simple version of the Easter story to the class
and point out the different locations mentioned.
If the local church has an Easter garden take the
class to see it. Alternatively, the class could make
an Easter garden either from plants and natural
materials or using junk modelling techniques.
Read Brian Wildsmith’s The Easter Story pub. OUP 1993 or
The Easter Story by David Hately publ. Ladybird 1990.
Religious Education in the Classroom 1 - iii