Learning Outcomes:
Pupils will explore a range of celebrations, worship and rituals in religion noting
similarities and differences (AT1)
Pupils will explore how religious festivals express beliefs, feelings and emotions and
will be able to communicate their own responses to their study (AT2)
Week/
Sessions
Objective: to get pupils to reflect on the meaning
1
of religious festivals for believers
Resources
Pupils
experience/Christmas
cards
Activity: Get pupils to discuss Christmas and
why people celebrate it. Make a class list which
gives reasons why people celebrate Christmas.
Ask pupils to tell the Christmas story – get them
to discuss what Christians think God did which is
celebrated at Christmas.
Assessment activity: that pupils can distinguish
between Christmas cards which relate to the
religious significance of Christmas and those
which don’t.
Outcome: That pupils know and understand that
many festivals have a religious origin and a
special meaning for believers.
2
Objective: to know and understand religious
festivals for Hindus.
Activity: explain that they are going to be
learning about a festival called Divali which is
special for Hindus.
Books for children on
Hinduism that have
the festival of Divali in
them for pupils to
look at.
Recipes for food.
Identify for pupils when Divali will be this year so
they are able to know when it will or has
happened (see the Shap Calendar)
Look at customs associated with the festival as
celebrated in the UK: the making of Diva lamps,
the making of special sweets, the having of a
special meal including several vegetable dishes,
rice and rotis with side dishes of chutneys and
raita. The giving of prashad, The making of
Rangoi patterns with coloured rice or powder.
Plan with pupils activities for the coming weeks
on the making of Diva lamps, Rangoli patterns,
A list of things they
might want to
contribute to the
activities
sweets and a celebration meal
3
Outcome: they know that Divali is a special time
for Hindus, that they have a plan for what they
are going to do in the next lessons.
Objective: to understand that Divali is a festival
of lights
Air drying clay
Activity: To make Diva lamps with air drying clay
Discuss what will be needed, the process, how to
design a Diva lamp
Pupils make the lamps and then leave to dry
before painting at a later stage.
Explain the significance of the Diva lamp for
Hindus
4/5
Outcome: that each pupils has a Diva lamp and
understands something of its significance in a
Hindu context.
Objective: to appreciate the value of celebrating
Coloured rice/powder
for Rangoli patterns
Activity: Class is split into three groups:
Group one: to prepare vegetables for a meal and
do some cooking towards that meal in a style
common to Hindu families.
Vegetables and other
ingredients for food
Ghee for lighting Diva
lamp
Groups two: to make traditional Indian sweets
Groups three: to design and make Rangoli
patterns
Each group should be able to explain what they
have done and why to the other two groups.
Light Diva lamps
Eat the meal – if possible invite parents to share
the meal as an end of day activity with any
younger siblings.
Outcome: that pupils have experienced a meal
with others as a celebration of class life in a way
that Hindus might for Divali.
6
That pupils can appreciate the value of
celebrating and that this can be seen by their
involvement
Objective: that pupils understand why Hindus
The story of Rama
and Sita
celebrate in the way that they do at Divali time
Activity: tell the story of Rama and Sita in a brief
fashion
Explain that the story is about Rama who is really
the god Vishnu. That Vishnu comes to earth at
times to show people how to live. Rama is a
model of love and faithfulness. That Divali is a
celebration of their return home
The class makes a list of things that happen in
the story.
7
Outcome: that the class have an understanding
of the main elements of the story and how it links
to the festival
Objective: that pupils can identify why Hindus
celebrate Divali in a particular way in light of the
story.
Previous work, pupils
Activity: Pupils to match what they did in the
previous activities with parts of the story they
heard in the last lesson.
Pupils discuss in simple terms about what they
did in the activities and how it relates to a
particular part of the story.
Through questioning pupils identify the idea that
Hindus are celebrating an event which is about
God’s interaction with the world in the same way
that Christians are with Christmas
Outcome: pupils understand some of the
significance for Hindus in the festival of Divali
Learning outcomes
Pupils will explore a range of religious stories and sacred writings and talk about their
meanings (AT1)
Pupils will identify and use a range of religious words based on texts used (AT1)
Pupils will know which books and stories are special to them and why (AT2)
Pupils will recognise that religious teachings and ideas are linked to religious books (AT2)
Choose two of the above as a focus: here I’ve gone for one and four:
Week/
Session
1
Resources
Objective: pupils know which books are special to
Hindus
Activity: Pupils discuss which books they know are
Teacher resource
sheet
the important to Christians from previous work.
Pupils learn that Hindus have special books. They
have lots of them and they are divided into Sruti
and Smriti – define terms.
In the Sruti the main books are very ancient and are
called Vedas. These are used in worship.
In the Smriti one important book is the Ramayana.
Pupils to learn the names of the books as set out
above.
Ask pupils to recall work already done on the story
of Rama and Sita (if applicable)
Outcome: That pupils know that Hindus have
special books and the names of some of those
books
2
Objective: to know there is a book called the
Mahabharata and that it is the longest epic poem in
the world. It contains the Bhagavad-Gita which is a
special book on its own for Hindus. To know a story
from the Mahabharata
Activity: to learn a story from the Mahabharata
called The Enlightened Butcher (see below)
Discuss what the story is about and what message
it is giving.
Ask pupils to discuss what they understand the
term ‘duty’ to mean.
Get them to write out what they think their duties
are at home and at school
3
Outcome:
Pupils will know that one special book for Hindus is
called the Mahabharata and that it contains
important stories for Hindus
Objective: to understand that some books are used
for guidance by believers
Activity: to recap the story of the Enlightened
Butcher and where it comes from.
Recap what they think the story is about and to
http://www.indolink.com/
Kidz/mythology.html
review what they said about duty.
Get pupils to imagine what this story might mean to
a Hindu child living in Britain and especially the idea
that parents are gods – discuss how that would
affect your relationship with your parents if you
believed this
4
Outcome: pupils know and understand the story
and how it could be used for guidance in difficult
situation
Objective: that pupils understand that many stories
are told because they contain important messages.
Activity: Pupils compare two stories that they
know: Goldilocks and Jack and the Bean Stalk
Get them to tell the stories in their own words and
then to try to work out the meanings of the stories
Get them to record their opinions
5
Outcome: that pupils know that common stories
often have complex meanings and messages
Objective: that pupils can use their own creative
abilities to produce stories which have meaning
Activity: in groups pupils develop a story that can
be told to the class in about five minutes.
The stories should have a message that other
children can understand and may be around
themes such as:
Loyalty/respect/love/being safe/taking
chances/being kind
Pupils to prepare to tell these to the class in the
next lesson – it useful to remind pupils that most
stories we have were told and passed on by word
of mouth and not written. They can use toys to help
develop the story if it helps
6
Outcome: pupils are able to tell a group story with
a meaning
Objective: pupils to tell their stories in groups and
to discern the meaning in the stories of others
Activity: pupils tell their stories to each other. Each
group has to work out the meaning of the story of
each other story – see how good they are in
interpreting meaning
Conclusions to be recorded and evidence to be
Traditional stories
gathered of what they feel they have learned in RE
during the last half-term
7
Outcome: that pupils recognise their own learning
and can identify it to others
Objective: pupils to record their learning from the
last half term and reflect on their performance
Activity: pupils to identify the books that are
important to Hindus, name one book and identify a
story from it. They recap the meaning of the story of
the Enlightened Butcher
Pupils then reflect on the work they did in producing
a story with a meaning and the effort that they put
into their work, both in developing the story and
performing it for others
Their reflections should be recorded and kept for
monitoring and evaluating of RE
Outcome: that pupils have a clear idea of how well
they did in the last half-term in RE
Here is an idea for a scheme of work around Hindu creation stories and care for the
world. Remember these are the areas of learning from the Agreed Syllabus to be
focused on:
Special World
Learning outcomes
Pupils will be able to recall accounts of creation and talk about their meanings (AT1)
Pupils will understand and know reasons for caring for their local environment (AT1)
Pupils will reflect about their own response to their environment and that of those
around them (AT2)
Pupils will reflect upon and appreciate the world around them (AT2)
Week/
session
1
Resources
Objective: pupils know and understand reasons for
caring for the world
Paper
Activity: Pupils to make lists in table groups on why
we should care for the world in which we live.
Explore some of the reasons given and make (a)
class poster(s) which gives clear messages that we
should care for our world and why.
2
Outcome: a poster containing their views as a result
of discussion
Objective: to know and understand that some
people have special stories which help them to care
for their world
Copy of a Hindu
creation story
Activity: To listen to a Hindu story of creation and to
discuss the events of the story and its possible
meaning.
Emphasise to pupils that Hindus do not necessarily
believe things happened this way but this is a story
which helps them to understand the world we live in.
Pupils to note down key features of the story
Outcome: that pupils know and understand that
Hindus have a special story which helps them
understand the world
3
Objective: to retell the story in the form of a collage
Materials for a collage
Activity: recap the story using their notes from last
week
Organise the class in such a way as to produce a
story board. This will allow different groups to work
on the story and to choose the materials to make the
collage
Start making the collage
4
Outcome: the production of the collage is underway
Objective: to retell the story in the form of a collage
Materials for collage
Activity: to complete the collage and to retell the
story as now presented
5
Outcome: to know a Hindu creation story
Objective: to link the Hindu story of creation studied
to care for the environment
Activity: recap the story and ask the question: if you
believed the world was created from the body of the
god Brahma how would that affect the way you
treated the world?
Discuss this question in groups
Then discuss the idea in the story that Brahma gave
feelings to all that was created. How would the belief
that all things have feelings affect the way you would
treat them
Pupils
Discuss this question in groups
Let pupils know that many Hindus would not hurt or
eat an animal because it would hurt their feelings
Outcome: that pupils have made a clear link
between the story for Hindus and how Hindus might
treat the world
6
Objective: that pupils use their knowledge and
understanding and communicate this to others
Pupils
Activity: pupils to prepare an act of collective
worship where they can tell others:
 reasons for caring for the world
 a Hindu story of creation and how that story
might help Hindus care for the world
 sing a hymn/song which talks about caring for
the world
Outcome: to have an act of collective worship
prepared
7
Objective: to perform an act of collective worship
and reflect on their learning
Activity: perform the act of collective worship
In class to reflect on what they learned, how they
contributed to the act of collective worship (they don’t
all have to participate in the same way!)
Outcome: their learning is celebrated and reinforced
Pupils