Unit title	Year	Background notes
What makes us wonder about the world?	2	In this unit, pupils will explore a number of stories, both secular and religious, which raise questions about humankind's relationship with the environment. They will be encouraged to respond to the various issues raised and to draw parallels with their own experience. This unit will build upon experiences of exploring stories during the Foundation stage. There is an obvious PSHE/Citizenship dimension to this unit and the element of wonder (in the sense of both curiosity and response to mystery) could help to promote pupils’ spiritual development. The work also links with units suggested in An RE curriculum for Global Citizenship (Christian Aid, 2000).

Key questions	Concept/s	Learning outcomes	Suggested activities	Resources
How did the world come to be?	Creation Destruction	To understand what it means to create something To be able to link their experiences to the Jewish/Christian story of the Creation	· Choose a child to make a model, explaining that you will later break it up in front of the class. · Ask the child why they are proud of it, which was the hardest part to make and if they followed a plan · Drop the model and see how the children react · Read an account of the creation story from the Bible (Genesis 1-2), in original or storybook form, explaining that it is special to Jewish and Christian people · Reflect on what ideas about God and creation are conveyed in the story · Pupils make their own special model or art work and afterwards write about how they felt when they created something special	Scholastic Curriculum Bank RE, Bk 1, pp46-47 In the Beginning by Jane Ray (Orchard Books, ISBN 1860394566) Construction materials
In what ways do we help or harm the world?	Nature Relationship	To understand that human beings have a relationship with the natural world as well as with each other	· Sit in silence looking at a vase of flowers, preferably blue, and ask the children to say what thoughts come into their mind · Read the Native American story ‘The Girl who Saved the People’ and discuss what the Comanches might have done wrong which led to the rain not falling eg making the river dirty, pulling up flowers · On a folded piece of paper, on one half write 'If we look after the world it would look like this' and, on the other half, 'If we did not look after the world it would look like this’. Illustrate each half	Scholastic Curriculum Bank RE, Bk 1, pp41-42
How can we look after the world?	Responsibility Protection	To be able to understand how we can have a positive impact on our environment	· Discuss aspects of the outdoor school environment or the environment outside the school that they like and dislike. Walk around the school site or local area encouraging them to point out features that spoil the environment eg litter, graffiti, trampled flowers. Take photographs or make sketches of these problems · Ask children what they would do to improve the school site or local environment eg picking up litter, asking for graffiti to be removed, writing to the council or MP, talking to others in assembly, classes planting more flowers or taking responsibility for part of the school · Read One World and talk about the ways in which children can look after the planet · Design a poster for display in school, reminding the school community to look after their environment	Scholastic Curriculum Bank RE, Bk 1, pp45-46 One World by Michael Foreman (Red Fox, ISBN 0099834804)
What is wonderful about …?	Mystery Relationship Wonder	To be able to reflect on the importance of living things To be able to convey the wonder of the world through creative work	· Show the children a picture of a living creature (eg a whale, as in this example) and discuss what they know about it · Explain that they will listen to a story and then be asked to draw a picture of how it makes them feel · Read the story The Whales Song showing the illustrations. When the story ends, fade in whale music, allowing them time to listen before drawing · Share drawings and ask questions about the story eg what would they throw into the sea? · Find pictures of whales using the computer, and create a display using these pictures, words from the story and children's ideas and poems	The Whales Song by Dyan Sheldon (Red Fox, ISBN 0099737604) ICT