MANTLE OF THE EXPERT SCRIPT TO USE WITH FS AND KS1
CHILDREN ON THE SUBJECT OF “HOW AND WHY DO I AND OTHERS
CELEBRATE?”
This unit of work will address the following key questions from the South Glos
RE syllabus:
 What celebrations are important to me? (Meaning & Purpose)
 How do people (myself and others) celebrate? (MP)
 Why do people (myself and others) celebrate? (MP)
 What happens at Christmas? (Practices & Lifestyles)
 Which faith stories are linked with different festivals?/ How is the story
of Jesus’ birth celebrated at Christmas? (Expression & Language)
 Why is Christmas important to Christians? (MP)
The level statements which are addressed and could be assessed through
this unit of work are as follows:
LEVEL 1
 I can tell my teacher some things about a religious story I have heard.
 I can recognise some things that religious people do.
 I know about some words and objects used by religious people and
can talk about them
 I can talk about things that happen to me.
 I can talk about what is important to me and why.
 I can show how I feel about what I am learning.
 I can say what I find interesting or puzzling.
LEVEL 2
 I can retell some religious stories and talk about why they are important
to religious people.
 I can tell my teacher about some things religious people do and why
they do them.
 I can talk about some of the things that are the same for different
religions (if similar activity undertaken on e.g. Divali or Sukkoth)
 I can ask my own questions and I know that some questions are
difficult to answer.
 I can talk about feelings and experiences that are important to me and
others.
CHRISTMAS MANTLE OF THE EXPERT SCRIPT
Hello everyone and thank you for coming today. My friend Elizabeth here is
having a special party and she really wanted you to be here so that you could
share the excitement and the celebrations with her.
She is having a party because it is nearly Christmas and Christmas is an
important festival for her. Elizabeth is a Christian.
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You probably already know why Christians like to celebrate at Christmas time
but Elizabeth wants to tell you about it anyway because it is one of her
favourite stories and she likes telling it and talking about what happens. She
wants you to know that you can read the story of the first Christmas in the
Bible and she has brought a Bible with her today to show you. We can find the
story of Christmas in the Bible..here…but Elizabeth doesn’t want to read it to
you she wants to tell it to you because she knows it so well.
Because this is a story which is special for Christians, we are going to light a
candle to remind us of how special it is. When we have finished telling the
story we will blow out the candle.
Elizabeth gets a bit shy when there are lots of people around so she has
asked me to tell the story for her. She also asked me to ask you all to listen
very carefully and quietly. She thinks that some of you might find the story as
special as she does and she wants you to enjoy listening.
Light the candle.
A long, long time ago in a country quite different to ours a lady found out that
she was going to have a baby. She was very surprised when she found out
especially as it was an angel who told her! She was scared when she first saw
the angel because she had never seen one before but he told her not to be
afraid as he had very happy news for her. When she had got used to the
surprise, she was really excited because the angel had said that her baby was
going to be very special and important. He even said that her baby was going
to be the son of god!
The lady was called Mary and she was married to a man called Joseph. Mary
and Joseph had to go on a long journey not long before the baby was due to
be born. They had to walk for days and days to get to a town called
Bethlehem. Mary’s baby had grown very big inside her by this time and she
got very tired as she walked on the journey. Joseph looked after her and
made sure that she could ride on a donkey for a lot of the way. When they
finally got to Bethlehem there were lots and lots of other people there and
Mary and Joseph couldn’t find a hotel to stay in. They were very sad about
this but a kind man said that they could spend the night in his stable with his
animals! What a strange place to stay for a night but Mary and Joseph were
so tired by then that they said yes and got ready to spend the night on the
straw!
Although it felt odd at first with the noises and smells made by the cows and
horses and the donkey, Mary and Joseph felt safe and were grateful to the
kind man. They settled down to sleep because they were very very tired after
their long journey. But just as they were about to fall asleep, Mary felt that her
baby was going to be born. She was a bit worried because she wasn’t
expecting to have her baby in a stable but Joseph kept looking after her and
she knew that she would be ok.
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Before the end of the night in the warmth of the stable and with the animals
looking on, Mary had a baby boy and she gave him the name Jesus, which is
what the angel had said he should be called.
On the same night some shepherds were looking after their sheep on the
nearby hills. Suddenly, the skies lit up as if there were bright lights shining
above them! They could hear singing as well and some of them thought they
could see angels. They were really scared because they had never seen
anything like this before and they didn’t know what was going on! Then they
heard a loud voice telling them not to be afraid but to be happy! The voice
said that in Bethlehem a special baby had been born and that he was going to
be a king. The angels told the shepherds that they could go and visit the baby
and be the first people who would see him. They were excited then. They
stopped feeling so frightened and hurried off to find the baby. The angel had
told them that they would find him in a stable under a bright star.
They found the stable and inside were Mary and Joseph and their new baby
boy, Jesus. They knew that this baby was going to be a very special person, a
king. Some even said that he was the son of God!
Blow out the candle.
Now that is one of Elizabeth’s favourite stories. She believes that Jesus was a
very special baby and her family still celebrate his birthday every year. This
celebration is called Christmas. She thinks that some of you might celebrate it
as well. Does anyone? Shall we see if the way that Elizabeth celebrates is the
same as the way that some of you celebrate?
Well, her family like to remember that Christmas was the time when Jesus
was born because they believe that Jesus was the son of God. They put in
their house a set of little models to remind them of the story. This is hers – do
any of you have one of these at home? Or have you seen one anywhere?
Shall we see if we can work out who the different people are?.... At Christmas
time, Elizabeth’s family put this in their lounge so that every time they go in
there they remember the story about when Jesus was born.
They also put up decorations like this…..around the house because they want
it to feel as if they are celebrating and having a party. Do any of you do that?
How do the decorations in your house make you feel? Elizabeth’s decorations
make her feel excited and happy. She thinks that Jesus would like people to
feel happy when they remember the time when he was born. What do you
think about this? How do you think that Jesus would feel about people putting
up decorations to celebrate his birthday?
Another thing that Elizabeth’s family does is to send cards to their family and
friends. They are called Christmas cards but Elizabeth likes to think that they
are birthday cards for Jesus. She wants you to think of reasons why they send
cards like this – what do you think? These are some of the cards that she and
her family send. She has seen ones like this in the shops as well…… why do
you think people send cards like this?
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On Christmas Day, Elizabeth wakes up feeling very excited! Do you know that
feeling? Why do you feel excited on Christmas morning? She is excited
because on Christmas Day she and her family give each other presents and
she loves this part of the celebration. She has saved one of her presents to
open with you. Shall we open it together? It says it’s from her mum. Let’s see
what’s inside…
Elizabeth’s family have fun together on Christmas Day and they have special
food. Do you have special food on Christmas Day?.... Why do you think
people celebrate Christmas with presents and special food? Elizabeth knows
why she does this but she wants to know what you think about it.
Elizabeth has shared with us some ideas about how and why she and her
family celebrate Christmas. What she would like us all to do now is to think of
some questions we would like to ask her. Maybe you would like to ask her
about why she and her family think that Christmas is such a special
celebration…. Or maybe you have some questions about the story of when
Jesus was born…
Now Elizabeth would like us to help her to celebrate by making something that
reminds us of the Christmas story and why people celebrate it. What ideas
can we come up with together for things that we can make or do? (Ideas to
include Christmas cards, decorations, picture of nativity scene, models of the
nativity characters and angels…)
Have available a selection of creative materials for the children to use to
show what they think is an important thing to remember when
celebrating Christmas.
RESOURCES
 Persona Dolls
 Nativity scene
 2 types of Christmas cards, various examples
 Decorations
 Wrapped present
 Candle and matches
 Party biscuits
 Creative materials e.g. paper, card, glue, pens, paints, glitter, pencils…
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