Key Question: What Are Some of the Ways People Celebrate Their Faith?

Unit 2:2 YEAR 2, Term 2: CELEBRATIONS Key Question: What are some of the ways people celebrate their faith?

Lesson 1 Celebrations

 Before the lesson alert to the children to the fact that they will be thinking about celebrations and ask them to bring photographs, cards etc to the lesson.  Talk to the children about the meaning of the word celebration. Show some pictures of people celebrating and discuss feelings of anticipation, excitement, enjoyment, happiness that you can see expressed in the pictures.  Can the children tell you about times when they have participated in celebratory events? What were they for? How did they have to prepare?  What special things happened at the celebrations?  Were there special food, clothes etc.  Make a list of things that are common to all celebrations e.g. special food, clothes, cards etc.  Make a display with children about many different families, community celebrations.

 Lesson 2 Hindu’s Celebrate Janmashtami, Krishna's birthday  Show pupils pictures of babies. Ask how parents usually feel when they know a baby is on the way. Discuss the needs that babies have and how vulnerable they are.  Generate words and phrases describing the many things that babies need / deserve for a good start in life, for example good food, drink, love, baths, fresh air… If you have a baby in the classroom talk about her/his needs, likes and dislikes.  Explain that the class are going to hear a story about a baby who needed a foster family to make sure he was safe.  Tell the story of Krishna’s birth and explain that Hindus believe that this special baby was God who came to earth for a special purpose. Explain that Hindus celebrate the birthday of Krishna as a special celebration called Janmashtami. Use the video clip to help. http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/janmashtami-krishnas- birthday/4800.html  Ask the pupils to remember what they saw in the Hindu temple – greetings, lights, bells, arti, offerings, a feast, rocking the baby Krishna’s cradle, retelling and acting out the story.  Talk about how the story is enacted and that the worshippers show their love of God in many ways including offering flowers, fruit etc.  Make a card to send to a friend for Krishna’s birthday, decorating with images of peacock feathers, cow, Krishna, images from the story, or Hindu symbols. Inside the card explain why you think this person is a good friend.

Lesson 3 Divali Introduce pupils to the Hindu festival of Diwali. Explain that Hinduism is a religion that began in India. Show and explain the Hindu symbol, Aum, linking it to the religion. Show pupils any Hindu artefacts you have in school and explain that the festival involves people sending cards, sharing special food and lighting divas.  Use the link to play the video clip http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/celebrating-diwali/3627.html to tell the story of Rama and Sita and the Hindu celebration of Divali.  What do pupils find, interesting / puzzling / exciting about this story? Pick up the themes of the story in your discussion: light vs dark; good overcoming evil.  Think of pairs of opposite words that illustrate good and evil e.g. anger/ gentleness / love /hate.  Why might this story have special meaning for Hindus? What meaning might this story have for today? Understand that Hindus still remember this story through a festival called Divali.  If possible, show a video of how Hindus celebrate Divali. Encourage discussion and questioning by children. Learn how Hindus celebrate Divali in their home e.g. cleaning home, preparing special food, lighting divas, Divali cards, presents, new clothes, fireworks (to chase away evil) rangoli patterns (made to celebrate the beauty of Laksmi). Divali is the start of a New Year for Hindus when the goddess Lakshmi is especially remembered. Hindus hope that she will visit their homes at Divali. Lights are used along the garden paths and in the windows to remember how Rama and Sita were welcomed home and to welcome the Goddess Lakshmi to Hindu homes.  Show murtis / pictures of Lakshimi and talk about why people might wish her to come to their homes (look at the gifts she is thought to bring).  Choose some typical Divali crafts to undertake eg cards, clay divas, mendhi and rangoli patterns

Lesson 4 Advent Advent means 'coming towards' and is a time when Christians prepare for the presence on earth of Jesus and the coming of the long awaited Messiah. Advent marks the start of the Christian year and begins on the 4th Sunday before Christmas Day. In the Western church this is always the nearest Sunday to the feast of St. Andrew. In the Eastern Church, Advent begins in the middle of November.  Recap the Christmas story pupils learned in Year 1.  Use Christmas cards or the children's art work to make an Advent calendar showing the Christmas story unfolding.  Discuss the Jewish longing for a Messiah, God's promise to send one and how God sends messages (in prayers and dreams, through prophets and angels). Explore how Jesus' birth was announced (Annunciation - Luke 1:26-38.  Discuss promises, trust and surprises. Why make a promise? Why keep a promise? How does it feel making a promise?  Explore how people help those in need at Christmas e.g. the Salvation Army; ‘Crisis at Christmas’ providing food and shelter for the homeless; charity Christmas cards etc. Design a charity poster using an image from the nativity stories.  Discuss hopes and dreams. What are your hopes or longings for the future for you, your family, and the world? What might you dream about on Christmas Eve? Who knows and meets your needs? Lesson 5 Light

 Retell the Christmas story, drawing attention to references to light. Children could do imaginative writing of the nativity from a particular animal or human standpoint e.g. lamb, donkey, shepherd, innkeeper, angel, etc.  Tell the Teddy Horsley story Lights (ISBN 08517 0800)  Look at art postcards/Christmas cards depicting aspects of light (star, angels, light around the baby, halos, etc.). Discuss what the artist was trying to say about Jesus.  Use a torch to illustrate leading in the dark. Discuss the Christian belief in Jesus as 'the light of the world' - what might it mean? (he brightened people's lives and showed the way)  Discuss how light is used at Christmas - candles, tree lights, illuminations.  Make an Advent candle divided into 25 sections and decorated with symbols of the Christmas narrative. It is lit in some homes on each day leading up to Christmas Day. What does light mean in these symbols?  Explore feelings about light and dark. How does lighting a candle in a darkened room feel?  Role play responding as a Christian to the question 'If he was so great why wasn't he born in a palace?'  Each child writes ‘One way I could bring light to the world’ (e.g. doing a kind action, saying a kind thought, making someone happy, etc.)

Lesson 6: Christingle  Ask the class to form a large circle around the room. Turn off some of the lights if this is not a hazard, and stand in the circle with a lit Christingle, which can be made in advance. Ask the children if any of them can tell you what they think it is.  Tell your group that a Christingle is a symbol. Make sure that they understand that a symbol is something that represents something else, and give some examples.  See if the children can guess what each element of the Christingle symbolises. For each element of the Christingle, give three suggestions for what it could represent. For example; the orange – is it a spaceship, the world or a house? Designate three spaces in the classroom for each of your three suggestions and ask your children to move to the suggestion area they think is right. By the end of the activity the pupils should know the symbolism of the Christingle: a lighted candle – symbolising Jesus, the Light of the World an orange – representing the world the red tape – indicating the blood/ love of Christ four cocktail sticks bearing dried fruit or sweets – to signify the four seasons and the fruits of the earth.  Now the children can make their own Christingle. Each child will need their own orange, some red tape, a candle and a square of tin foil (both best cut to size before the session), four cocktail sticks and access to a bowl of dried fruit/sweets. Make a small cross in the top or the orange using a knife or apple corer.  Talk the children through these simple steps to making a Christingle: Take your orange and fasten a piece of red tape around the middle. Lay a square of silver foil (7.5cm/3” square) over the cross in the top. Place your wax candle on top of the foil and wedge it firmly into the orange. Load four cocktail sticks with the dried fruit/soft sweets, so the points are covered. Insert the sticks into the orange above the red tape.  Use the Christingle symbol in a special assembly or have a class time of reflection as you recap the past lessons and invite the pupils to think about what they have learned. You may like them to consider the following questions: What are some of the ways you can help to make this season a time of celebration for everyone? How can you help to make sure everyone is included? What are your hopes or longings for the future for you, your family, and the world?