This morning, Year 5 had their very first ‘RE drop down morning’. We started off the morning by recapping key vocabulary: theist (a person who believes in God/Gods), atheist (a person who does not believe in the existence of God/Gods) and agnostic (a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known about the existence of God).
Did you know there are nearly 4,000 recognised faiths around the globe? Thankfully, I only asked the children to name the six major religions!
In this RE drop down morning, we focused on the religion of Hinduism. Hinduism is the oldest of the six major religions. It has no single founder. It’s a mix of various beliefs. The children were asked to create a fact file about this religion.
Then, we went on to learn about what Hindus believe. Hindu worship is called puja. Hindus can worship at their holy building, called a mandir, or in their home. The religious leader in a mandir is called a pujari.
Hindus believe in one supreme God, Brahman. Brahman is expressed through different deities. The most important of the deities are called the Trimurti. The Trimurti are the three aspects of the universal supreme God.
Hindus believe in karma and reincarnation; we watched a video which explained what this meant.
In our third and final session, we learnt what festivals do Hindus celebrate. Year 5 found out that Diwali is the five-day Festival of Lights, celebrated by millions of Hindus across the world. Diwali is a festival of new beginnings and the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness, and for some also coincides with harvest and new year celebrations. The festival falls between mid-October and mid-November but changes each year because it is set by the lunar calendar.
The children watched a video explaining the story of Rama and Sita. They then had to order the pictures in chronological order and re-tell the story to the class. The children used their oracy skills of voice projection, eye contact and prosody.
Help at home: Watch the story of Rama and Sita. Discuss the moral message of the story.