Year 1 and 2
Why is Light an important Symbol to Christians and Jews?
(You need to use the PowerPoint on the downloads page in conjunction with this plan)
ATT 1: Learning about religion and belief
ATT 2: Learning from religion and belief
What does ‘Light’ symbolise to Christians and Jews?
What ‘Light’ symbols are important to you and those around you?
Engage
Children engage with the concept of Light
How and why is
Use first few slides of Power Point (1-4) and play the story of ‘Can’t you Sleep Little Bear?’ Children to try and guide one
Light important to
blindfolded child around the room to stress the importance of being able to see where you’re going.
us?
In a carpet session, discuss the importance of light and how they felt/might feel without light to be able to guide them.
(week one-two)
Were they scared? Did they feel they needed to be able to see? Did they trust their friends to guide them? How did the
Use Power point
children feel who were guiding them? Was it hard to guide them without them being able to see? Did they need their trust?
slides 1-8.
Using slides 5-8 talk about the different lights we have around us and their uses in guiding us and what sort of disasters
could happen without them.
Discuss at length, the purpose of a Light House and how important its job is. (activity on PowerPoint)
Children colour in ‘Lighthouse’ pictures and then share their thoughts on how they would feel if they were in a boat searching
for the coastline. Link to the feeling of being blindfolded.
Enquire
Develop questions
with the children
about the four
photos of different
symbolic lights.
Start to link it to the Christian theory of how Jesus was sent to guide us.
Why is it symbolised by ‘light’?
T: What questions do we need to ask in order to better understand these different symbolic lights?
Display slide 9 of Power Point. Ask children the question of ‘why do we light a candle at the start of our ‘collective worship’?
What does it mean? What are the special words the year 4’s say? What do they mean?(Homefiled collective worship ritual)
Display slide 10 (different light symbols in both Jewish and Christian faiths)
(week two-three)
Slide 9.
Encourage the children to share ideas of what these lights mean and where they come from. Have they seen any of these
before?
Encourage the children to develop questions to identify which religious belief traditions use these symbolic lights and what is
their importance.
The teacher may model some questions, but encourage the children to ask their own questions. List questions on IWB. Give the
children the opportunity to take some questions home to research if they wish to.
E.g. Which faiths do these light symbols belong to?
Are they part of a particular festival or celebration?
Are they seen in a place of worship?
Do you recognise any of these lights?
How could we find out what these light symbols mean?
Explore
What can we find
out about other
symbolic lights and
their meaning to
different faiths?
(week three-four)
Evaluate
Responding to,
analysing and
evaluating what
they have learned –
have we answered
our questions?
(week five-six)
Focus on each of the different light symbols.
Use slides 11-14 to help the children to understand where each of these light symbols can be seen and why. Link the
information to the enquiry questions.
Suggested activities on the relevant slides.
(Feelings chart attached).
Express
Expressing
In what ways have we answered our ‘enquiry questions’? Refer to slide 15.
Discuss what they have learnt and recap over the activities they have taken part in.
Keep in mind assessment criteria.
What have we learned about what the light symbol means to Jews and Christians?
Talk about the differences between Jewish light symbols and Christian.
Encourage the children to think about what light means to them. Using slides 16-17.
Questions:
Att 1 What important celebrations do Christians take part in and why?
Att2 What celebrations are important to you and your family?
The final task is introduced. Children to make a candle holder using clay or Salt dough. Encourage them to explain what their
candle will mean to them. Use slide 18 for explanation of task and discussions required. This is to be a personal choice for
knowledge and
understanding –
children answer the
key question
(week six-seven)
each child.
Children may wish to show their creations and explain their choice of meaning, to the rest of the class. Again to be their own
choice.
Children might undertake peer assessment against the criteria established under ‘enquire’ (see assessment below)
*note week divisions are only guidelines. Lessons can be carried over 2 weeks if necessary*
FEELINGS CHART.
Special time when you saw a candle
being lit.
This can be a picture if you wish.
How did it make you feel?