Classroomsecrets.Com Differentiated Easter © Classroom Secrets Limited 2016 Easter Festival – Y2m/Y3d/Y4e (White/Silver) – Text Activities Here

Easter Festival Easter is a Christian festival celebrated in the springtime. It is a time of new life. Baby animals such as lambs are being born, birds are nesting and flowers are beginning to bloom. Although the celebrations of Easter such as Easter eggs, hot cross buns and Easter egg hunts are lovely, Christians make sure they do not forget why Easter is celebrated. It is to remember the special time when Jesus died and came back to life – the Resurrection. Christians believe that God sent Jesus to Earth to teach people about God. They also believe that Jesus died to make the world a better place for everyone. The Easter story is told in the special book for Christians – the Bible.

Special Times Before Easter • Lent – the forty days before Easter are called Lent. People often give up something they like to eat for Lent to remember when Jesus fasted in the wilderness thinking about how he could do God’s work. • Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day) – It is the day before the start of Lent. Christians didn’t eat eggs, meat or milk during Lent so they made pancakes to use up their butter and eggs. • Ash Wednesday – the first day of Lent. Many people attend a special church service when the priest uses ash to draw a cross on the forehead of each person there. It is a way of saying sorry to God for things that have been done wrong. • Palm Sunday – the first day of Holy Week, a week before Easter Sunday. Palm crosses are made from palm leaves to remember when Jesus arrived in Jerusalem. Lots of people had waved palm branches to welcome him.

Like this? Find more classroomsecrets.com differentiated Easter © Classroom Secrets Limited 2016 Easter Festival – Y2m/Y3d/Y4e (White/Silver) – Text activities here. Easter Bonnets Did you know? It is a custom for children to make Easter bonnets. Hot cross buns are eaten These are often decorated with chicks, flowers, around Good Friday. The cross on top of the bun is a rabbits, butterflies and feathers. Sometimes children reminder of the cross on enter a parade and wear their bonnets. Competitions which Jesus died. are held and the owner of the best bonnet may win a prize!

Good Friday After eating a final meal with his disciples on the Thursday of Holy Week, Jesus told them not to forget about him. Good Friday is a sad day when the death of Jesus is remembered. The government of Palestine became angry because Jesus was saying that he was the Son of God and they became worried that he might challenge their leadership. Jesus was arrested and forced to carry a large heavy wooden cross through the streets of Jerusalem. Then he was nailed to the cross and left to die. This is called the Crucifixion.

Like this? Find more classroomsecrets.com differentiated Easter © Classroom Secrets Limited 2016 Easter Festival – Y2m/Y3d/Y4e (White/Silver) – Text activities here. FACT! Chocolate eggs are very popular at Easter and many children search for them in Easter egg hunts. Eggs are a symbol of new life and remind people of the new life of Jesus and the new life of animals in the springtime.

Ethiopia In Ethiopia, Christians do not eat meat or dairy foods for 55 days. The Easter festival is called Fasika. Families eat a special Fasika meal of chicken or lamb. It is accompanied by special bread called injera.

Easter Sunday After his death on Good Friday, Jesus’s friends laid his body in a tomb. However, when they returned two days later, they found the tomb was empty! An angel reported that Jesus had come back to life. This is called the Resurrection.

Jesus appeared before some of his friends. He told them not to be scared but to tell everyone that they had seen him and to tell them the Good News. The Good News meant that everyone who believed Jesus was the Son of God would be saved from their sins. Before he went to Heaven, Jesus appeared a few times. His followers told everyone about the miracle and knew that Jesus would be remembered for ever. By Jane Harvey

What are Christians remembering at Easter?

______

Where can you read about the Easter story?

______

Which food that you enjoy might you be able to give up for Lent?

______

Why do you think bullet points are used in the ‘Special Times Before Easter’ section?

______

How do you think Palm Sunday got its name?

______

How do children decorate their Easter bonnets?

______

Why did the government of Palestine become angry with Jesus?

______

Why do you think some details in the text are presented in boxes?

______

What happened that the followers of Jesus called a miracle?

______

How does Lent in Ethiopia differ from Lent in the UK?

______

Why do hot cross buns have a cross on the top?

______

Like this? Find more classroomsecrets.com differentiated Easter © Classroom Secrets Limited 2016 Easter Festival – Y2m/Y3d/Y4e (White/Silver) – Follow-Up Work activities here. Easter Festival – Vocab 1

The following words were highlighted in the text. Use a dictionary or thesaurus to find out their meanings and write them below.

festival ______celebrated ______

Resurrection ______fasted ______attend ______bonnets ______disciples ______government ______arrested ______tomb ______miracle ______

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Use the words below to complete the sentences.

celebrated fasted attend festival bonnets disciples government arrested tomb miracle

Jesus spoke to all of his ______about what happened.

All children have to ______school.

The ______is in charge of the country.

Easter is a Christian festival ______in the springtime.

People may be ______if they break the law.

The followers of Jesus believed that they had seen a ______.

After his death on Good Friday, Jesus’s friends laid his body in a ______.

The children all decorated their own ______for the parade.

Some people give up something they enjoy for Lent to remember when Jesus

______in the wilderness.

Easter is a ______that is celebrated by many Christians.

Like this? Find more classroomsecrets.com differentiated Easter © Classroom Secrets Limited 2016 Easter Festival – Y2m/Y3d/Y4e (White/Silver) – Vocab activities here. Easter Festival – SPAG 1

Rewrite the following sentences correctly, remembering capitals, full stops, exclamation marks, apostrophes and question marks. Use inverted commas (speech marks) to show which were the actual words spoken.

E.g. “What time are your friends arriving?” asked Bobby.

Task 1

1. are you coming to lunch on easter sunday sue asked

______

2. wow what an enormous chocolate egg billy exclaimed

______

3. marie said i think fran will win the easter bonnet competition

______

4. the teacher said quickly put on your bonnets the parade is starting

______

5. mrs hopson said i am really pleased that the weather is getting warmer

______

6. did you eat all the hot cross buns sams mum asked him

______

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Task 2

In these sentences, the verbs are in the present tense. Change each verb to the past tense.

Ruby loves eating chocolate.

______

Billy goes to church on Easter Sunday.

______

After lunch, the children join in an Easter egg hunt.

______

Harry sees some rabbits in the field.

______

Hayden runs to look for eggs.

______

Lewis grabs the first egg.

______

Claire feeds the chicks.

______

Like this? Find more classroomsecrets.com differentiated Easter © Classroom Secrets Limited 2016 Easter Festival – Y2m/Y3d/Y4e (White/Silver) – SPAG activities here. Easter Festival – Oral Teacher Questions

What are Christians remembering at Easter? That Jesus died and came back to life.

Where can you read about the Easter story? In the Bible.

Which food that you enjoy might you be able to give up for Lent? Personal response.

Why do you think bullet points are used in the ‘Special Times Before Easter’ section? To make the individual points stand out.

How do you think Palm Sunday got its name? People waved palm leaves to welcome Jesus into Jerusalem.

How do children decorate their Easter bonnets? With chicks, flowers, rabbits, butterflies, feathers etc.

Why did the government of Palestine become angry with Jesus? He said he was the Son of God and they were worried that he would challenge their leadership.

Why do you think some details in the text are presented in boxes? To make these points stand out from the rest of the text.

What happened that the followers of Jesus called a miracle? Jesus came back to life after his death.

How does Lent in Ethiopia differ from Lent in the UK? It lasts 55 days compared with 40 days. No dairy foods or meat are eaten for the whole time.

Why do hot cross buns have a cross on the top? As a reminder that Jesus died on the cross.

Like this? Find more classroomsecrets.com differentiated Easter © Classroom Secrets Limited 2016 Easter Festival – Y2m/Y3d/Y4e (White/Silver) – Teacher Questions activities here. Easter Festival – Vocab 1

The following words were highlighted in the text. Use a dictionary or thesaurus to find out their meanings and write them below.

festival – a time of celebration, usually religious celebrated – marked or remembered with festivities or special events

Resurrection – the rising of Jesus, from death fasted – not to have certain or all food/drink for a period of time attend – go along to bonnets – fancy hats disciples – followers government – people ruling the country arrested – seized by police or soldiers tomb – underground chamber for burial of the dead miracle – remarkable event which does not seem possible

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Use the words below to complete the sentences.

celebrated fasted attend festival bonnets disciples government arrested tomb miracle

Jesus spoke to all of his disciples about what happened.

All children have to attend school.

The government is in charge of the country.

Easter is a Christian festival celebrated in the springtime.

People may be arrested if they break the law.

The followers of Jesus believed that they had seen a miracle.

After his death on Good Friday, Jesus’s friends laid his body in a tomb.

The children all decorated their own bonnets for the parade.

Some people give up something they enjoy for Lent to remember when Jesus fasted in the wilderness.

Easter is a festival that is celebrated by many Christians.

E.g. “What time are your friends arriving?” asked Bobby.

Task 1

1. are you coming to lunch on easter sunday sue asked

“Are you coming to lunch on Easter Sunday?” Sue asked.

2. wow what an enormous chocolate egg billy exclaimed

“Wow, what an enormous chocolate egg!” Billy exclaimed.

3. marie said i think fran will win the easter bonnet competition

Marie said, “I think Fran will win the Easter bonnet competition.”

4. the teacher shouted quickly put on your bonnets the parade is starting

The teacher shouted, “Quickly put on your bonnets. The parade is starting!”

5. mrs hopson said i am really pleased that the weather is getting warmer

Mrs. Hopson said, “I am really pleased that the weather is getting warmer.”

6. did you eat all the hot cross buns sams mum asked him

“Did you eat all the hot cross buns?” Sam’s mum asked him.

Like this? Find more classroomsecrets.com differentiated Easter © Classroom Secrets Limited 2016 Easter Festival – Y2m/Y3d/Y4e (White/Silver) – SPAG ANSWERS activities here. Easter Festival – SPAG 2

Task 2

In these sentences, the verbs are in the present tense. Change each verb to the past tense.

Ruby loves eating chocolate.

Ruby loved eating chocolate.

Billy goes to church on Easter Sunday.

Billy went to church on Easter Sunday.

After lunch, the children join in an Easter egg hunt.

After lunch, the children joined in an Easter egg hunt.

Harry sees some rabbits in the field.

Harry saw some rabbits in the field.

Hayden runs to look for eggs.

Hayden ran to look for eggs.

Lewis grabs the first egg.

Lewis grabbed the first egg.

Claire feeds the chicks.

Claire fed the chicks.

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