Thank you for using this resource. We hope it

Thank you for using this resource. We hope it helps you, and your pupils! This advice may help.

PowerPoints cover more than one lesson
The PowerPoint presentation matches a section in the planning provided for this unit of work. This is likely to contain material for more than one lesson. It is important not to speed through the slides without completing suggested activities or discussion. Some sections in the planning, and the matching PowerPoints, may provide sufficient material for two or more lessons.

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We recommend you use the detailed planning as well as this PowerPoint
This PowerPoint is designed to be used with the detailed planning written to support the RE syllabus ‘Believing and Belonging’. We strongly recommend that you use the PowerPoint in conjunction with the planning. Please ask us how to access this if you do not have it.
To feed back and for further support and to access webinar training please email enquiries@penninelearning.com. Dear Teacher<br>

Where this lesson fits: This is the eighth session of the Pathway 5 unit – Influence and Authority. Please note that it is not necessary to teach every celebration in this sequence. Once the concept of festivals has been introduced, teachers are free to select a sequence of festivals over the year which are deemed appropriate to their class.
Children may already have explored the Harvest festival, Rosh Hashanah, the Mid-Autumn Festival, Diwali (Bandi Chhor Divas) and Hannukah. Links have been made between the festivals of light studied. In this session, we explore the meaning of Christmas for Christians and how it is also celebrated as part of the culture of the UK.

Points to note: Show sensitivity to children of different faiths during discussions. Talk about how Christmas is a cultural as well as a religious celebration in the UK. Discussions will take place over several sessions and as part of continuous provision. Links can be developed between this RE unit and the prime area of Communication and Language. Anglican Diocese of Leeds and York/Schools using Understanding Christianity: this lesson can be explored further using F2 Incarnation: Why do Christians perform nativity plays at Christmas?

Enrichment ideas: Lived experience: Make contact with a local church to see it “dressed” for Christmas, invite a Christian to talk about why Christmas is important to them.  

Outdoor learning: Use large construction to create a stable in the outdoor area for role playing the nativity story.
Further lesson notes and additional ideas may be found in the ‘Notes’ section of some slides. Refer to the full unit plan for more activities and resources. Notes for teachers<br>

Recommended texts: Christmas is special (Anita Ganeri, Wayland ISBN-10: 0750283602)

Slide 8: Print the cards on the following slide (9) onto A3. Copy enough for 2 per child. Spread the cards out in the hall.

Slide 10: Have a baby doll in the middle of the circle with objects used to care for babies around it.

Slide 11: If you have a manger prop from a nativity performance, put it in the middle of the circle with the baby doll as Jesus.
Slide 12: If the children are part of a nativity performance, they can explore the story through taking part. Alternatively, there is a beautiful retelling using sand drawings on CBeebies: Nativity Story | Christmas Story - CBeebies
Slide 14: Ideally, make contact with a local church to see it “dressed” for Christmas or invite a Christian to talk about why Christmas is important to them. Alternatively, another Cbeebies video gives a lived example of Christmas preparations: Celebrating Christmas - CBeebies.
Slide 18: Resources for adult led activities (select from list): story sack or persona dolls, examples of advent calendars including 'reverse' advent calendar, Invite a new baby and Mum into class, different nativity sets, story of St. Francis
Slide 19: Resources for continuous provision (select from list): Nativity costumes / props, baby pictures for ‘Guess the baby’, playdough, Christmas cards, baby items - cot, bath, blankets etc.

Slide 22: Use the speech bubble template on the following slide to record any questions that children ask and look back at them in subsequent sessions. Resources to support this presentation<br>