RE – Toftwood Infant and Junior School Federation

RE Spring Term 2024

Reception

In Reception this term we have enjoyed reading ‘A Kind Stranger’, a bible story about the importance of showing kindness to those around us. We thought about why it is important to make good choices and be kind to others. The children discussed how we can be kind in school and linked this to our school’s Golden rules.

As it got closer to the Easter holidays we read another bible story called ‘The Happy Day’. This story taught us how Christian people believe that Jesus rose from his tomb after three days and how joyful his friends and disciples were. We learnt that this is why many people celebrate Easter and that our chocolate Easter eggs symbolise new life.

Year 1

This term in RE, Marsha and Todd visited the children and told them all about the celebration of Shabbat. They were able to link this celebration to when they learnt about the Jewish celebration of Hannukah in December.

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In the later part of the term, the children also learnt about the Christian celebration of Easter and learned the Easter Story.

Year 2

This term the children have been learning about how we may belong to a faith family. The learnt about how christenings are important when belonging to a faith family. The children acted out, and made their own Christening scene.

The children have also learnt about Passover and how it is celebrated. Marsha and Todd visited the children to talk about the celebration of Passover.They thought about the celebrations they take part in, and the objects that are important to them. They then created their own Seder plate.

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Spring RE 2024

Year 3

In RE, Year 3 have been learning about Islam and what Muslims believe about God. This has been a very interesting and detailed unit in which the children have discussed who the Islamic god Allah is, how Muslims show their dedication and belief to Him, and why prayer is an important part of their religion (see the pictures of the children trying out the Islamic position for praying). It has been excellent to see the children enquiring about the similarities and differences between Islam and religions they have previously learned about, such as Christianity and Hinduism. Please find details of our previous March visit from Janet Marshall, in which she discussed many aspects of Islam and developed the children’s interest in exploring a new faith, under our Year 3 tab.

Year 4

This term in Year 4, the children have been learning about what a sacrifice is. This children have learnt about a variety of sacrifices such as giving up time and money in order to help someone else. All children were able to identify what different sacrifices have in common which helped them to answer our big question.

The children particularly enjoyed their role play activity where they decided how they would sacrifice their money to give it to organisations that need it most. All children were able to explain why they thought their organisation needed the money and how they would spend it to help others.

Year 5

In RE, Year 5 have been focusing on our enquiry question of ‘What does the Resurrection mean to Christians?’ They have been looking at what happens on Good Friday and Easter Sunday and have been making comparisons between the different Gospels.

On Thursday 21^st March, Reverent Laura delivered a workshop to each Year 5 class. The children started off by looking at a photograph of Jesus’ tomb, whereby the children discussed the photo, which depicts the Resurrection. The children commented how bright the picture was.

Reverent Laura asked the children why Good Friday had that name – the children thought it was because it was the end of the week! She explained that the day got its name because Christians believe that God loves us and is willing to die for us. The children discussed the meaning of names and Reverent Laura informed us that Jesus’ name means he saves. The children were very curious as to what their name meant and used the tablets to find the answer!

The last part of the workshop involved discussing the 5 meanings of Easter Eggs. The children were really fascinated that Easter Eggs are hollow, which illustrates the tomb being empty! Overall, the children discovered that the Resurrection is so important to Christians because it demonstrates a new life, a promise and a gift.

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Year 6

RE Spring Term 2024

In this half term, Year 6 considered the big question; Creation and Science – conflicting or complementary?

We began the unit by looking at some of the natural and manmade wonders of the world before recapping our learning from year 3 on the creation story in Judaism and Christianity, and how it may conflict or complement scientific theories of the beginning of the world; this also went alongside their science topic of evolution. The children wrote some lovely poems about different aspects of creation.

We had some fantastic discussions about how people interpret their religious texts and leads to differing viewpoints, even within the same religion.

Autumn 2 – RE Reception

This term we have looked at the story ‘A Good Shepherd’ from the bible. We found out that the bible is a book that is special to Christians. We learned that one day a shepherd counted his sheep to find that one was missing. Instead of forgetting about his sheep he looked everywhere for it until he found it. We talked about how this shows that all of the sheep were special to the shepherd. We then thought about how we were like the sheep and that we are all important.

“He called out to the sheep” – Matilda

“He was sad and he will miss the sheep” – Greyson

“It is kind to talk to others” – Darcy

We then learned about Diwali, the Hindu festival of light, and took part in a workshop with Miss Helen. We found out about the story of Rama and Sita and enjoyed retelling the story together, dressed in traditional clothing, danced to some music and made our own diva lamps out of clay.

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We have also looked at the bible again to read ‘The first Christmas’. We discovered that Christians believe that Jesus was born on the first Christmas and that this story is sometimes called The Nativity. We have enjoyed recreating the story and pretending to be all of the different characters we have learned about.

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Autumn 2 – RE Year 1

This half term, the children have discussed how a celebration can bring a community together. We thought about celebrations throughout the year and the upcoming celebration of Christmas. The children shared what Christmas meant to them and the traditions that happen in their household. We discussed how families can celebrate in different ways and took this opportunity to research how countries around the world celebrate Christmas and spoke about how some religions don’t celebrate Christmas. The children retold the Christmas story too. We also learnt about the Jewish celebration of Hannukah and the story behind the celebration and how Jewish people celebrate Hannukah. We brought our community together by inviting parents in to listen to Christmas songs and poems that we learnt to perform.

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Autumn 2 – RE Year 2

RE Year 2 2023

In Autumn 1, Year 2 were thinking about the symbol of light. They thought about why light is used, and why it is important to Christians, Jews and Hindus. The children looked at the Christingle, and learnt about the significance of each part and what they represent. The children also learnt about Diwali and the story of Rama and Sita.

In Autumn 2, the children explored the Christmas story and the significance of the nativity for Christians. They designed their own stained glass windows, made a stop animations based around the nativity and they also wrote a prayer.

RE in Autumn 2

Year 3

Following last half-term’s learning on Christianity, the children have been introduced to Hinduism and have enjoyed exploring how the religion compares to others. The children have learned where and when Hindus pray, and the many fascinating representations of the Hindu god Brahman. The children have then accurately compiled all of their learning to answer this half-term’s Big Question, ‘How do Hindus make sense of the world?’

Year 4

In Year 4, we have been working towards answering our big question “Where do religious beliefs come from?” The children have been focusing on Judaism and have enjoyed investigating different religious artefacts such as a Kippah and the Torah. They have been researching different Jewish festivals and why they are important. The children enjoyed discussing which Jewish festival they would like to take part in.

Year 5

In Year 5, we have been answering our big enquiry question “How do people express their faith through the arts?” We learnt about how religious messages are expressed through art and then produced their own religious icon. The children wrote a prayer to go with their religious icon. In addition to this, children listened to four music tracks from the Christian, Muslim and Jewish community. They were all able to evaluate the music and discussed how it made them feel and how it made them want to respond.

Year 6

This term year 6 combined our RE and history topics to answer the Big Question of “How does faith in God help people during times of suffering?” We learnt about the Jewish faith and how Jews suffered during the Holocaust in World War 2. We studied some passages from the Old Testament which promise God’s strength and presence during times of trouble. The children looked at the experiences of Anne Frank and Simon Winston during the war and how they each responded differently according to their faith in God.

In autumn 2 we have been learning about the Islamic faith in order to answer the Big Question of “What are the sources of authority for Muslims?”. We have been particularly thinking about the Qu’ran and teachings of the prophet Mohammed (PBUH). We learnt about how the Qu’ran should be treated and looked other sayings from the Hadith. The children thought about what they could mean and how Muslims can apply the teachings to their daily lives.

Autumn 2 – Ian Gardner assembly

Ian visited us to talk about the parable of The Good Shepherd. He talked about how different the sheep that he had brought in looked, and asked the children ‘did that matter?’ The children said no! When one of the sheep were lost, it didn’t matter that it was the little one. We would always treat everybody the same and it didn’t matter what they looked like or how they may be different.

RE throughout Autumn…

Year 3

Our theological focus this half term has been the Christianity and the Creation story. We have thought about what it teaches Christians and how it shapes their values. We have also compared the Christian Creation story to the Jewish Creation story in our learning.

Year 4

This term in RE we have been answering our big question “What difference does being a Muslim make to daily life?”. The children have explored the concept of the 5 pillars of Islam and the Islamic festivals, Eid and Ramadan.

We have learnt about the diversity within the religion and the children enjoyed watching videos about how different Islamic countries have a variety of traditions.

Year 5

During autumn 1, Year 5 have studied Humanism and their beliefs. They have carefully considered what a Humanist is. In addition to this, they have understood that Humanism believe in three main things: science, logic and reason. After, the children answered our ethical enquiry question of ‘Is life a journey and do Humanists believe it ever ends?’.

Year 6

This half term we have combined our RE with our history to look at the treatment of Jews during World War 2 and the Holocaust. Our question was: How can belief in God help people in times of trouble?

We started off by reminding ourselves of the main beliefs of Judaism and its history. We then learnt about the treatment of Jews by the Nazis and some of the words of comfort and encouragement that are found in the Old Testament of the Bible. After this we learnt about the attitude of Anne Frank and how her faith in God helped her to keep strong while she was in hiding. Finally, we wrote a response to our question, referring to our lessons, and added how we find strength when we are going through hard times.

RE Summer Term 2023

Reception

This term we have been looking at the continents of the world and learnt about many of the animals that live there. In RE we have listened to the story of ‘A special promise’ from the Bible and talked about how Noah was able to save the animals from a flood because God had instructed him to make a boat. We also linked this to our SAW activities and experimented with how much salt we needed to make something float, just like Noah’s boat did.

Year 1

This term in RE, the children thought about how the universe was created. They learned about Christian and Hindu views and beliefs and used this to think about their own views on the universe. The children made pictures to show the different days in the Christian creation story and then made lotus flowers to represent the lotus in the Hindu creation story. The children took time to think about what the universe is made up of and looked carefully at the nature around them to appreciate the beauty of the world.

Year 2

This term, the children have recapped their previous RE learning by retrieving facts and ideas from their previous enquiry questions. They have also looked at a variety of religions as part of a philosophy focus, listening to videos from Ian Gardner and Marsha Parker about why people have different ideas of God. The children thought about morals, and if different scenarios were right or wrong, and thought about how they could be nice to each other in different ways. The children wrote notes to each other about what they liked about them, and why they were a nice person. They ended their RE learning this year by drawing their own Rangoli patterns on the playground!

14.6.23 – Ian Gardner Assembly

Ian Gardner came in to speak to the children about the theme of teamwork in their assembly this week.

He started by teaching the children some sign language “Jesus says love one another”. The children enjoyed learning the signs for each of these words, Erin in Year 2 said “I thought it was really interesting to learn some of the sign language”.

Ian then asked two children to help him. They were to start a competition to see who could get their medal (on the opposite of the room to one another) the quickest. The children had to hold either end of a stick and pull to get their stick. They found this really tricky, and in the end neither where able to get their reward!

Ian then came up with a solution, if they worked together, and took it turns to collect their medal they could both win their prize!

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19^th April 2023 – Marsha and Todd visit to Year 2

The children enjoyed their visit from Marsha and Todd this half term. When the children arrived into the classroom, a Passover table, set ready for the Jewish celebration, greeted them. Marsha and Todd gave each child a kippar, which they wore throughout the session. The children were able to retrieve from their RE learning about the story of Passover, and Marsha and Todd were very impressed with their accurate knowledge. Marsha and Todd went through the story of Passover again and told the children the relevance of each of the parts of the Seder plate. The children were then able to try a traditional Passover Seder plate, trying Matzah bread, grape juice, parsley with salt water and more. Harley said “the bread is flat because the Jews had to leave the city quickly, the dough wasn’t able to rise”. Kendra said “I really enjoyed trying the Matzah”.

RE Spring term 2023

Reception

Year 1

This term in RE, Marsha and Todd visited the children and told them all about the celebration of Purim. The children were able to make masks for a Purim party and retold the Story of Esther using finger puppets. The children also made Hamuntaschen biscuits and learned some Purim songs. They were able to link this celebration to when they learnt about the Jewish celebration of Hannukah in December.

In the later part of the term, the children also learnt about the Christian celebration of Easter and learned the Easter Story.

Year 2

This term the children have been learning about how we may belong to a faith family. Clare from Norwich Cathedral visited us for a day to talk to us about the Cathedral and how christenings are important when belonging to a faith family. The children acted out, and made their own Christening scene.

The children have also learnt about Passover and how it is celebrated. They thought about the celebrations they take part in, and the objects that are important to them. They then created their own Seder plate.