Unit title	Year	Background notes
How might being Jewish affect how you live your life?	4	This unit explores some of the central influences on the Jewish way of life, including Shabbat, the Jewish home, food laws and the importance of the synagogue. It builds upon the Foundation Stage work on the Friday night Shabbat meal and also on work on the Torah in Year 2. Pupils will be first asked to identify the structures in their own lives which will provide a context for looking at the shape of the Jewish way of life. The use of Jewish visitors would help to show how seeming restrictions, such as Shabbat rules or food laws, can be seen as a positive way of affirming identity and commitment. Link with QCA Unit 1E How do Jewish People express their beliefs in practice?

Key questions	Concept/s	Learning outcomes	Suggested activities	Resources
What shapes the way I live my life?	Rules Routine Structure	To be able to identify some of the elements that shape their own lives To understand the importance of structure in their own and other people’s lives	· Make a list of things in school that happen at regular times eg collecting dinner money, playtime, lunchtime, PE time, assemblies, school day ending · Discuss why these routines are in our day and how we would feel if they were missing · Write about a day when all the daily routines change	School timetable Timings of the school day
What shapes the Jewish week?	Identity Shabbat Creation Havdala Symbolism	To understand why Shabbat is an important time in the week for Jewish people all over the world To explain some of the special elements of the Shabbat meal To be able to use symbols to create an end of the week ceremony	· Draw an image for ‘work’ and an image for ‘rest’, or collage pictures from magazines. Write a personal response to the difference between work and rest · Watch video about what Shabbat means to Jewish people and discuss how the meal is made special eg blessings, way of lighting the candles, having the family together, different food · Draw a picture of the table with the special items used during the Shabbat meal eg challah bread, candlesticks, kiddush cup, and write a sentence about each · Invite a Jewish visitor into the class to talk about what Shabbat means to him/her, or e-mail questions to Jewish children in other schools · Make a presentation, based on the havdala (end of Shabbat) ceremony, to end the school week	BBC ‘Pathways to Belief’ video on Shabbat Jewish visitor/s Scholastic Curriculum Bank RE, Bk 1, pp26-27, pp99-100 Artefacts eg Havdala candle Kiddush cup Spice box Challah cover
What significance does a mezuzah have for Jewish people?	Guidance Belief Shaddai Kosher	To understand the significance of the Shema prayer within the mezuzah To consider what words of advice can guide the class through the week at school	· Investigate examples of interesting mezuzot on sale, using the internet as a resource · Using this research, write a guide to accompany a new mezuzah bought for a Jewish home. It should explain why it is special, instructions about where and how it should be put up and how to check that it is kosher (fit and proper for use) · Write some words of advice that will help guide the class through the week. Design and make a special box to contain the words, with a symbol on the front to signify the class	Examples of mezuzot Internet sites eg jewishbazaar.com Scholastic Curriculum Bank RE, Bk 2, pp54 -55
How does keeping kosher affect someone's life?	Kosher Kashrut Treif Fit and proper	To understand what kosher means to Jewish people To discover what food products are suitable for people who keep kosher	· After watching a video about kosher food, or reading Jewish guides to kashrut, sort a selection of food products into kosher and non-kosher. More able pupils might like to look at the Bible (Leviticus 11) to read the source of Jewish food laws · Investigate what kosher food is available in local supermarkets, using supermarket websites if possible · Some children who keep kosher will be coming to a birthday party. Devise a menu for the party	Food boxes/packets BBC ‘Pathways to Belief’ programme 3 on Shabbat
What does a synagogue mean to Jewish people?	Special place Community Prayer Torah	To understand the place of the synagogue as a community centre as well as a place for prayer, celebrations and festivals To be able to describe the key features of a synagogue To be able to research a special event that happens in a synagogue eg a wedding, Purim or Simchat Torah celebration	· Revision, by mind-mapping/brainstorming, on what they remember about the synagogue. Where are the Torah scrolls kept? How are they treated? Is there any difference between synagogues (eg men and women sitting together, who reads from the Torah) · What else could take place in a synagogue building apart from prayer? List ideas. Design a new synagogue building that includes a prayer space but also rooms for children to learn the Torah, clubs for older Jewish people etc · Research, using RE books, visitors, CD-ROMs, internet etc a special aspect of Jewish life that takes place in a synagogue eg a wedding, Purim or Simchat Torah celebration	Curriculum Bank RE, Bk 2, pp83-85 For Simchat Torah: Curriculum Bank RE, Bk 1, pp54-55 Miniature Torah scroll Internet sites Book resources eg My Jewish Faith by Anne Clark (Evans Bros, ISBN 023751897X)

Glossary of Jewish terms used in this planning grid

Challah	Pronounced with a throaty ch, as in 'loch'. Plaited sweet bread, used for the Friday night Shabbat meal.
Havdala	Pronounced hav-dal-a which means 'separation'. The special ceremony (using a plaited candle and spice-box) that ends Shabbat and welcomes in the new week. The hope is that the spirit of Shabbat will spill into the rest of the week.
Kashrut	The laws relating to keeping a kosher home and lifestyle.
Kiddush	Pronounced kidd-oosh. The blessing said over wine.
Kosher	Pronounced koe-sher. Food that is considered 'fit and proper' for Jewish people to eat by the food laws. The term kosher can also be applied to other items: for example, a mezuzah would not be kosher to use if the prayer inside was rubbed away.
Mezuzah	Pronounced m-zoozah. A Hebrew word literally meaning ‘doorpost’. In Hebrew, the plural is mezuzot. The small scroll in a case placed on the right doorpost of all doors in the Jewish home, apart from bathroom and toilet. The handwritten scroll contains part of the Shema prayer.
Purim	The minor Jewish festival which recalls the story of how Esther saved the Jews in Persia.
Shabbat	Pronounced sha-bbat. Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest that begins at sunset on Friday evening and ends at sunset on the following day. So important has been keeping Shabbat for Jews down the ages that it has been said, ‘It is not so much that Jews have kept the Sabbath as that the Sabbath has kept the Jews’.
Shaddai	Pronounced shadd-eye. ‘Almighty’, a Hebrew term for God. The Hebrew letter ‘shin’ (a little like a W in appearance) which is usually found on the mezuzah signifies the beginning of this word.
Shema	Pronounced sh’mar. The key Jewish prayer which begins ‘Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and all your might’ (Torah: Deuteronomy, Chapter 6, verse 4). This states the central conviction of Judaism that there is one God who should be placed before everything else.
Simchat Torah	‘Rejoicing of the Law’. Festival which celebrates the ending of one cycle of Torah readings and the beginning of the next. During this festival, the mood of which has been compared to a wedding, the Torah scrolls are paraded around the synagogue. This is accompanies by singing, dancing etc.
Synagogue	Jewish place of worship and study.
Torah	Pronounced tor-ah (or, sometimes, toe-rah). The Hebrew word meaning ‘Instruction’ or ‘Teaching’ which is the Jewish name given to the first five books of Moses in the Bible. Christians speak of these as the first five books in the Bible.
Traif	Pronounced trayf. Any food that is not kosher eg pork, ham, oysters, shrimps.