Year 5 and 6
How do Christians bring hope at Christmas?
ATT 1: Learning about religion and belief
How do Christians bring hope at Christmas? / ATT 2: Learning from religion and belief
How can you bring hope to others?
Engage
How do Christians bring hope at Christmas?
Suggested
Week 1 - 2 / Children engage by setting up their own class soup kitchen. Children work together as a class to make homemade soup (see recipe attached), posters, flyers and information leaflets to promote the Salvation Army.
Sell the soup on the playground after school to children and parents. All money raised goes to the Salvation Army
Introduce the idea of bringing hope.
When do people need hope? (in times of need, illness, bereavement, poverty etc)
Who provides help?
Are there times of the year when people require more help?
Introduce the key Question: How do Christians bring hope at Christmas?
Enquire
Develop questions with the children about how Christians bring hope at Christmas.
Suggested
Week 2 - 3 / T: What questions do we need to ask in order to better understand how Christians bring hope at Christmas?
Create enquiry questions with the children, ideally these questions should be generated by the children but could include the following:
E.g. What is the Salvation Army?
What do they do?
Is it just soup kitchens or do the SA offer more?
What does the Salvation Army believe?
What is the Samaritans Purse?
Have Christians always brought hope to others?
What does the Bible say about bringing hope?
Are there any other groups that help at Christmas time?
Do other Religions or World faiths help others in the same way?
Do Christians in our local area help others?
Is it only at Christmas?
Can we help children within our school / do they need help?
Pupils rework questions if appropriate and come to an agreement about what they need to find out.
Explore
How do Christians bring hope at Christmas?
Suggested
Week 4 / Split the children in to small groups or pairs. Each group to research the answers to the questions above.
Activities might include:
Reading parables (Good Samaritan)
Online research

(Samaritan’s Purse)

Investigating bibles and stories (Christmas Story, Moses saving Israelites)
Invite visitors in to school – Salvation Army, Vicar, Shoebox Appeal
Do some of the questions have more than one answer? Do different people have different views?
Evaluate
Responding to, analysing and evaluating what they have learned – have we answered our questions?
Suggested
Week 5 / Refer back to ‘enquire’ stage. Have we answered our questions?
Do we have an idea about how Christians bring hope at Christmas?
Do we know why they behave this way?
Do other religions have people who bring hope to others?
REFLECT:
Are there times in our lives when we could bring hope to others? Can we really make a difference?
Express
Expressing knowledge and understanding – children answer the key question
Suggested
Week 5/6 / The final task is introduced.
Children answer the Key question ‘how do Christians bring hope at Christmas?’ by filling and sending shoeboxes to the Operation Christmas Child appeal.
Children to bring in their own shoeboxes (plus £3 postage) or create them as a class and prepare them to be sent off. Posters and flyers could be made for the rest of the school so that they could donate too.
Alternative activities:
  • Salvation Army Present Appeal ( )
  • Visiting local residential homes and spending time with residents, singing carols etc)
Children might undertake peer assessment against the criteria established under ‘Enquire’.
Assessment
Using the level descriptors below, level each child using a best fit method over the whole of this unit.
Level 3 / Level 4 / Level 5
The following level descriptors are covered within this unit of work:
  • Describe simply what a believer might learn from religious stories, practices and world views.
  • Use some words and symbols from religions and beliefs appropriately and independently.
  • Ask questions about religion and belief and explore different answers to them.
  • Give reasons to say why their beliefs affect their lives and compare with other people’s experiences.
/ The following level descriptors are covered within this unit of work:
  • Describe the impact of religion and belief on peoples’ lives
  • Use words and symbols from religions and beliefs correctly when providing descriptions and explanations.
  • Use more than one reason to support their view and begin to make use of principles to support their view about religion or belief.
/ The following level descriptors are covered within this unit of work:
  • Develop their own line of enquiry and explain how religious sources and evidence are used by believers to provide answers to questions about life.
  • Use an increasingly wide range of vocabulary and symbolism from different religions when providing explanations
  • Explain the challenges a believer may have when following their religion or world view.
  • Explain their own views on life’s big questions, referring to who or what inspires and influences them.