Planning RE using the Mind Friendly Framework for Learning

ENCOUNTER

Connect to previous learning: What do I already know? What do I want to know?

Can you remember the precious gifts you brought into school? Look at some of the photographs we took. Can you remember the gifts that the wise men brought to Jesus?

The Big Picture: What will I be finding out or learning about?

That giving gifts is important to Christians and that there are many different ways to give a gift.

Learning intentions: to know, to be able to do, to understand

Some gifts cost nothing but can be precious.

Achievable steps: What are we going to do? How are we going to do it?

We are going to listen to a story, think about things you can do to help other people and sing some songs.

Teacher input: engaging the learner and encouraging thinking through visual, auditory and kinaesthetic cues

• Read the story of “Badgers Party”. In pairs talk about the gifts which Mole brought to the party.
• Look at some pictures of people helping others, label them and talk about these things as gifts.
• Listen to the song “Peace perfect peace” and together make a list of the other “gifts” in that song.
• Show the children a collection of gift bags. Show them that they seem to be empty.
• Give the bags to the children (one between two or three) and ask them to talk together about the “invisible gift” that might be inside. Collect the bags and put labels on them as the children return them.
• Tell a friend about an invisible gift that you could give to someone in your family.
• Listen to the song “Give me joy in my heart”

RESPONSE

Main activity: children explore the learning and establish meaning through activities which take account of multiple intelligences.

• Make a box and put a secret invisible gift inside
• Design a card “My gift to you this Christmas is ..”
• Sort pictures of gifts that you can see and gifts that you can’t
• Write a Christmas prayer
• Choose some pictures (cut from magazines) to make a collage of invisible gifts
• Use the structure of the song “Give me joy in my heart ..” to make up a song about our invisible gifts

Show you know: practise, rehearse and memorise key points. What have I learned?

Remember the invisible gifts through actions decided by the children.

Reflection: How did I learn? What do I need to know next?

What did I do to think about the invisible gifts? Did I write, sing, or look at pictures, draw, make something, talk to a friend or just think by myself?