Christianity WHO WAS JESUS Y1/2 - KS1 (Spring 1B)

Christianity - Who was Jesus and why is he important to Christians today?

(Week 1)  Circle Time... Who is Jesus? Do you think he was important? Why do you think this?  Take a quick look at what He may have looked like...

Tell me about your friends. How many friends do you have? What do you do with your friends? Do your friends all have the same interests as you? How are you different and similar? Do you think Jesus had friends when he was a child?

STORY The Twelve Disciples I Animated Bible Story For Children | HolyTales Bible Stories - Bing video

Jesus' friends are called  ????  

(WEEK 2)  Why was Jesus a teacher and leader? The people we are pretending to be, today, wanted to hear Jesus teach. What sort of things do we think that Jesus taught them? We are going to have a long wait, is anyone feeling hungry or tired? Does anyone want to go home? You might not get a chance to see Jesus.  Who can ask someone help read this bible passage to them? John 6:1-14 

Next we are going to watch the story of the feeding of the 5000. 

Jesus Feeding the Five Thousand - This event is called a miracle by Christians. Discuss the meaning of a miracle with your adult. A miracle is something which cannot really be explained in our view of the world, so it is not the same as a magic trick which can be explained. Christians believe that God can do things which we can’t. The Miracles which Jesus did showed that he was special and had a relationship with God that everyone else didn’t have. 

Now for the fun part - Children to use playdough (or any art materials) to make the loaves and fishes then share their finished models with others

(Week 3) Why do Christians believe that Jesus was a healer?

People were often brought to Jesus to see if he would make them feel better. Who has ever felt ill? What was wrong? Who helped to make you better? What did you do to get better?

What do you think the word "Healer" means? How do Christians believe that Jesus could heal?   You are going to hear a story about a man called Jairus. He was a very important man and he lived at the same time as Jesus. Unfortunately, his daughter had become very poorly and he needed Jesus’ help to make her better. 

Discuss in pairs the idea that Jairus’ daughter was very poorly.

Story - Jairus' Daughter 

Ask the class for their opinions on the story. Explain that some people will say that the story is made up because if someone has died then they can’t come back to life. Explain that Christians believe that Jesus has the power to bring people back to life! Christians believe that it is a true story, written down in the Christian holy book, the Bible. They believe that Jesus can still help them today and many Christians talk to Jesus, through prayer, about the things that are worrying them. They ask for his help.

Explain that there were other stories about Jesus healing people.

 

(Week 4)  Why Jesus died - Why was Jesus’ death part of a bigger plan for Christians?

YOU WILL NEED SOME EASTER CARDS and EASTER PICTURES for todays Lesson plus faces of different emotions.

Look at some Easter cards and Easter pictures. Which tell us about what happened to Jesus. Use pictures of large faces showing different emotions, and ask pupils to see if they can guess the emotions being expressed – and what might have made the people feel that way?

Think about the fact Christians believe God made people to be like him – able to feel and express emotions. Talk about the things which make you sad and happy.

Explain the story behind the celebration of Easter has two parts – a sad part, and a happy part.

Make a set of large ‘stepping stones’ and physically ‘walk’ the whole story together till the end of Good Friday asking pupils to think about the differing emotions connected with the events.

Together with your adult, ‘dramatise’ each event using freeze-frame faces, focussing on their reactions from the points of view of different people (e.g. Mary, the disciples, the crowd, Jesus, God etc.; fear / loneliness / sadness /despair / disbelief / joy / etc.) Don’t act out the Crucifixion though.

Discuss with your adult why Jesus died especially as in the last lesson he brought someone back to life. Why did he not fight back? Explain that Jesus’ death was part of a much bigger plan, the happy part of the story which we will cover in the next lesson. What do you think the plan is about?  What do you think Good Friday means to Christians? 

This might help with the sequencing of the Easter  Story Easter story 

(Week 5)  What is resurrection? 

ADULT: Please read below for this weeks resources and to help your child.

Questions to ask your child - What’s the most powerful thing you’ve ever seen? What gives something or someone power? (muscles, steam, fuel, energy) How powerful do you think God is?

Watch the story of the empty tomb.

Have some eggs hidden around the room. Ask children to find them but do not open them. Contents of eggs to be found below these questions.

• Egg 1: What do you think Joseph believed about Jesus?
  • Egg 2: What were these women planning to do with their spices?
  • Egg 3: Have child with egg use his or her index finger and thumb to form a “hole” to the create the “tomb.” Push the clay “stone” to close the entrance of the “tomb.” Who moved the stone?
  • Egg 4: Why is this egg empty?
  • Egg 5: Where did these men come from?
  • Egg 6: What had happened by the third day Jesus was in the tomb?
  • Egg 7: What amazed Peter?
  (Lesson idea from davidccook.com)

 

CONTENTS OF EGGS :

• Egg 1: several toothpicks wrapped in linen cloth or paper towel
• Egg 2: whole spices such as cloves or cinnamon sticks
• Egg 3: clay or play dough
• Egg 4: leave empty
• Egg 5: bright white piece of cloth and piece of gold cording
• Egg 6: paper with “RISEN” written on it
• Egg 7: folded piece of linen cloth or paper towel

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/stories/lets-celebrate-easterperformance

  Children to retell each other the story of Easter and why it is both a happy and a sad time.

  http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/lets-celebrate-easter2

  Can you tell your adult  what most Christians do at Easter each year?

  If you are able to, try and create some happy and sad music to accompany pictures from the Easter story.

 

(Week 6) Why do Christians follow Jesus? 

Start with playing ‘Simon Says’ and have a discussion with your adult about "following" people. Should we follow people who are a bad example? What sort of things might these people do? Sometimes we have to make choices and this is not always an easy thing to do, but we all know right from wrong.

Christians believe that the Bible can show them the right sort of people to follow / learn from to become better people. In particular The New Testament teaches Christians about Jesus.  Sometimes when Christians are faced with problems they ask themselves ‘What would Jesus Do?’

Discuss with your adult  - Have you ever had a time when you have not known what to do? Where did you find help to make a decision?

Can you make some footprints drawing around your foot or shoe, with right and wrong decisions on them. Read them out then arrange as a track on the floor to step onto the footprints which they think are the right decisions.

Some Christians go on a special journey to visit the places where Jesus went, this is called a pilgrimage. Possibly have different places set up around the room or discuss, to include Bethlehem, Nazareth, Galilee, Jerusalem, Calgary and the Empty Tomb. Why might Christians feel that they want to follow footsteps to these places?  Make it into a game like ‘Corners’ to get the children more used to the place names. Include the game ‘Follow the leader’ around the different places. Print off and/or show some photos to show pilgrims in those places today to have around the room.

You could also show this clip about Jesus growing up in Nazareth to give a feeling of what the place was like.  https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/zfpvcdm

THE BIG QUESTION TO RECAP IS WHO WAS JESUS?

 

 

 

 

Year 2 Christianity Who was Jesus and why is he important to Christians today?
1	Who were the disciples?
2	Why was Jesus a teacher and leader? What happened at the feeding of the 5000?
3	Why do Christians believe that Jesus was a healer?
4	Why was Jesus’ death part of a bigger plan for Christians?
5	What is the resurrection?
6	Why do Christians follow Jesus?

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