Year 5 and 6
How do Christians bring hope at Christmas?
ATT 1: Learning about religion and belief
ATT 2: Learning from religion and belief
How do Christians bring hope at Christmas?
How can you bring hope to others?
Engage
Children engage by setting up their own class soup kitchen. Children work together as a class to make homemade soup (see
How do Christians
recipe attached), posters, flyers and information leaflets to promote the Salvation Army.
bring hope at
Sell the soup on the playground after school to children and parents. All money raised goes to the Salvation Army
Christmas?
Introduce the idea of bringing hope.
When do people need hope? (in times of need, illness, bereavement, poverty etc)
Who provides help?
Suggested
Are there times of the year when people require more help?
Week 1 - 2
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
www.salvationarmy.org.uk
www.operationchristmaschild.org.uk (Samaritan’s Purse)
www.christianaid.org.uk/getinvolved/christmas/index.aspx
Investigating bibles and stories (Christmas Story, Moses saving Israelites)
Invite visitors in to school – Salvation Army, Vicar, Shoebox Appeal
Evaluate
Responding to,
analysing and
evaluating what
they have learned –
have we answered
our questions?
Suggested
Week 5
Express
Do some of the questions have more than one answer? Do different people have different views?
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?
The final task is introduced.
Expressing
knowledge and
understanding –
children answer the
key question
Suggested
Week 5/6
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 (www.salvationarmy.org.uk/uki/christmas-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.