Manor Primary School
RE. Year 6. Spring term.
Rites of Passage
Overview of the Learning:In this unit children learn the ages and stages of life and investigate and respond to the ways in which the Christian, Muslim, Sikh and Hindu faiths mark stages and special events in the human life cycle. They will have opportunities to consider similarities and differences between different ceremonies and relate their own experiences of these events. They will also have opportunities to consider the concepts of responsibility, guidance, faith, commitment, ceremony, and legacy.
Core Aims
· describe the key aspects of religions, especially the people, stories and traditions that influence the beliefs and values of others
· identify and begin to describe the similarities and differences within and between religions
· consider the meaning of a range of forms of religious expression, understand why they are important in religion and note links between them
· describe and begin to understand religious and other responses to ultimate and ethical questions
· use specialist vocabulary in communicating their knowledge and understanding
· use and interpret information about religions from a range of sources / Pupils should be taught to
Pupils should be taught to:
· reflect on what it means to belong to a faith community, communicating their own and others' responses
· respond to the challenges of commitment both in their own lives and within religious traditions, recognising how commitment to a religion is shown in a variety of ways
· discuss their own and others' views of religious truth and belief, expressing their own ideas
· reflect on sources of inspiration in their own and others' lives.
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Expectations
Pupils use an increasingly wide religious vocabulary to explain the impact of beliefs on individuals and communities. They describe why people belong to religions. They understand that similarities and differences illustrate distinctive beliefs within and between religions and suggest possible reasons for this. They explain how religious sources are used to provide answers to ultimate questions and ethical issues, recognising diversity in forms of religious, spiritual and moral expression, within and between religions.
Learning Objectives / Suggested Learning Opportunities
The Start of life.
· To know what happens at a Christian baptism
· To know the different roles and responsibilities at baptism and how people may feel
· To know how children are welcomed into Hindu families
· To know how children are welcomed into Sikh families
· To know what happens during Muslim Adhan ceremony at birth
· To know the importance of the Adhan ceremony to Muslim people / What happens when there is the birth of a baby?
Ask the children to share their experiences of a new baby being born into the family. How is this occasion marked? Over a series of lessons introduce the children to how the birth of a child is celebrated in different religions
Christian –Baptism ceremony Look at pictures of Christian baptism. What can children see? What do they think is happening? Encourage children to share knowledge of ceremony. Relate their own experiences if appropriate. Consider Why do Christians have baptism? Why is it important? How do Christians think of children growing up in Christianity? What is the role played by God parents? Children to produce a set of promises that could be given to a child from a Godparent
Hindu –Samskar ceremony Introduce the children to the Hindu birth Samskars. Share with the children images of the first three. What is happening? What do they signify? Tell the children the birth samskar might include a drawing up of a baby’s horoscope. The horoscope is used throughout life to indicate when the best time for important events to take place is. What do the children think about this? Can the time and place of a person's birth have some influence on their journey of life? Children to write a diary entry as parent discussing their feelings at a Hindu baby’s initiation.
Islamic –Adhan ceremony Share information about the Muslim naming ceremony the Adhan. What happens? What is said? Why are these first words that a Muslim child hears? Why are these important for a baby to hear? Discuss the meaning of these words. Children to write an explanation text to explain what happens at a Muslim Adhan ceremony to welcome the birth of a new baby into the Islamic faith.
Sikh –Naming ceremony Share information about the Sikh naming ceremony. What preparations are made for the birth of a baby? How is the new arrival celebrated? Children to create an article about what happens and why at the Sikh naming ceremony.
Children to reflect on the way a birth is celebrated across the religions. Are there any similarities or differences?
· To know what it means to be confirmed
· To know that confirmation can differ according to the denomination of Christianity / What is confirmation?
Introduce the children to confirmation as a Christian Rite of passage – what is it? Who can be confirmed? What happens? Provide the children with sources to investigate information about confirmation in the Catholic and Anglican church. Children to explain what confirmation is and how it is similar and different in the Catholic and Anglican church from the point of view of a witness at a confirmation ceremony.
· To know the Jewish ceremony where boys and girls become an adult within the faith.
· To make and draw comparison between a Jewish Bar/Bat mitzvah and that of a Christian conformation ceremony. / What is Bar/Bat mitzvah?
Ask the children when does a person become an adult?
Are they looking forward to being an adult? What will be the best/worst things? Tell the children in the Jewish faith; a boy becomes an adult at 13, a girl at 12. From that age, they are called Bar/Bat Mitzvah. (A son / daughter of the Commandment)
The Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremony takes place in a synagogue. Share with children the details of the ceremony.
Share images of the ceremony. How might the Bar/Bat Mitzvah feel? Have they ever been in a similar type of situation? Children to use text and illustrations to explain what happens during the Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremony
Ask the children to reflect back on their learning on a Christian conformation ceremony and compare that to a Bar/Bat mitzvah. How are they similar / different?
· To know how weddings are celebrated across a faiths and religions.
· To know what happens at Christian wedding
· To understand the reasons why people want to get married in church
· To consider what happens at a Sikh wedding
· To know happens at a Jewish weddings and why
· To know happens at a Muslim wedding and why
· To draw similarities and differences between wedding ceremonies from different faiths. / How are weddings celebrated?
Show the children some wedding photographs from Weddings from different religions. Ask the children what is being celebrated? How do they know? What is their experience of weddings?
Ask the children to think about why people get married? How do people celebrate getting married? What do wedding ceremonies contain? Do all people from different faiths have the same wedding ceremony? Why? Why not? How do you know? Over a series of lessons- introduce the children to how the Weddings are celebrated in different religions.
Christian wedding
Share artefacts from a Christian Wedding e.g. dress, order of service, rings, veil, pictures of cakes, pictures of churches, bridesmaids. What can we learn about weddings from these? Share with the children information about weddings. Do all weddings take place in church? Why do people want to get married in church? Introduce idea that people want God to bless their marriage. Encourage children to talk about their own experiences of attending a wedding and their perceptions of what happened. What are marriage vows? Why do couples recite them? What do they mean? Share information about wedding service, reading/prayers, hymns, outfits, vows, invitations, food. Children to write a letter to a friend recounting a Church wedding they may have been to. Talk about different parts of the wedding.
Sikh wedding
Look at pictures of Sikh weddings. What is happening? What can we learnt about different parts of the ceremony from the pictures?
Ask the children to generate their own questions that they would like to investigate and find out about a Sikh wedding.
Provide the children with a range of Sikh wedding artefacts including – a turban and an Indian groom traditional suit, bangles and so on for the children to investigate and draw conclusions about what the artefacts tell them about what happens at a Sikh wedding.
Allow the children to investigate a range of secondary sources as well as explore the internet to find out what happens at a Sikh wedding. Children to read and investigate using the Q1’s, the following website: http://www.sikhs.org/wedding/
Children to recount the key events of a Sikh wedding using text and illustration. Ask the children to reflect on the similarities and differences between Christian and Sikh weddings.
A Jewish and Muslim wedding
Share with the children the rituals of a Jewish Wedding celebration. What are the key events? What preparations take place? What happens in the synagogue? What happens during the service? Share information about wedding service, reading/prayers, hymns, outfits, vows, invitations, food.
Discuss similarities and differences between a Sikh, Christian, Islamic and Jewish wedding. Children to record the similarities and differences in different ways. Discuss with the children other places where people might get married. Introduce the children to non traditional weddings
Children to research non traditional weddings. Why do people choose a non traditional wedding? Where can people get married?
· To know the duties of a parent
· To understand that we all have a legacy to leave
· To consider what they would hope to leave behind
/ How does our life journey continue?
Share with the children information about the four stages of life or ashramas as Hindus call them, these are - student, householder, retired person and 'renouncer'. Hindus believe that during each of the four stages, a person has certain duties to perform. Hindus call this dharma. Discuss with the children what are their duties relating to themselves and those of their parents.
Tell the children as we all move through out life we will find ourselves a retired person. Do they know any 'retired' people? What have they retired from? Does retirement appear to the children to be a pleasant or unpleasant stage of life?
Ask the children to consider their retirement. What would they have liked to achieve by the time they retire? Children to consider their legacy what would they most like to be remembered for? Explain the concept of legacy. Children can describe what legacy they would like to leave at school
· To consider what different religions believe happens, when people die. / *Be aware of any children who may be uncomfortable with this lesson, due to personal circumstances.*
Explain that death can be an extremely sensitive issue, but it is something that happens to everyone, and it is important to understand that different religions mark the death of a loved one in different ways.
Discuss with children any experiences of how a death is marked in different religions. How is death marked by different religions? What do different religions believe happens once people die? How can the death of someone important be remembered/marked? How do people move on when a loved one passes away?