Religious Education lessons encourage deep thought and personal reflection on big questions; they can support children in developing an understanding of diversity and promote respectful attitudes. At Warden Park Primary, we teach children about a range of world religions - Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism. Within RE lessons, children learn about the main beliefs of these religions, gain information about how religious festivals/events are celebrated and begin to gain an insight into the impact that a faith can have on the lives of people that follow it. Furthermore, where we have children that follow a faith, we aim to use them as experts and allow them to share their experiences. Diversity is something that we celebrate within our curriculum!
Below you will find a range of possible activities that you may wish to complete with your children during our period of school closure:
KS1 - In years 1 and 2, children are taught about Christianity and Hinduism.
Special books - Most world religions have a special book, find out the names of these and write one fact about each of them. For Christianity, this would be The Bible.
Creation - What makes the world special? Find out about how Christians believe the world was created. Tip: it relates to the 7 days of the week
Christmas and Easter - These are two very special times of the year for Christians. Can you find out why? How do Christians celebrate them?
Holi - Holi is a special festival that is celebrated by Hindus. Can you find out why it is celebrated, when it takes places, how it is celebrated and what Holi means to Hindus?
Diwali - This is another extremely important festival for Hindus. Can you answer the following questions about it? When does it take place? What does Diwali mean? How is it celebrated? Why is it celebrated?
KS2
Year 3 and 4- Children are taught about Christianity, Hinduism and Islam.
Year 5 - Children are taught about Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
Year 6 - Children are taught about Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism.
Research - How do we celebrate religious festivals and what do they all have in common? Pick one of the religious festivals and find out: Which religion does it relate to? How long does the festival last? How do people celebrate it? Any other key or interesting information.
Research - Look at the creation stories for 2 different religions. Are there any similarities between them? What are the differences?
Places of worship - Why are places of worship important? What are they used for? What ceremonies take place there? Pick one and find out - what religious symbols would you find there?
Important people - In most faiths, there is one figure/ founder that is worshiped/ looked up to. Can you find out more about one of them? Some examples may be: Buddha, Jesus, Guru Nanak.
Commandments - Christians believe that there are 10 commandments. Can you find out what these are? Do other religions have rules/commandments that they follow?
Other resources
In addition to these possible activities, please find the links below which will take you to a range of websites that are offering various different free RE teaching resources or information that may help you to complete the tasks above:
http://www.natre.org.uk/about-natre/free-resources-for-you-and-your-pupils/