Unit title	Year	Background notes
Why is Jesus important to Christians?	5	In this unit, pupils will begin by sharing what they already know about Jesus and exploring some of the terms that Christians have used in order to express the important of Jesus for their faith. They will analyse some of the images used in creative expression. Inviting Christians into the classroom to talk about their favourite hymns and songs and how they lead their lives will be an important way of understanding Christian life today. Visitors could be asked to bring in something that expresses Christianity to them eg a favourite picture, poem or hymn. Link with QCA unit 3C What do we know about Jesus?, unit 5D How do the beliefs of Christians influence their actions? and unit 6F How do people express their faith through the arts?

Key questions	Concept/s	Learning outcomes	Suggested activities	Resources
What was Jesus like?	Special Holy Prophet Son of God	To be able to share what they already know about Jesus To understand that there are different images of Jesus To understand the importance of Jesus to Christians To understand that Jesus is also important to people like Muslims and Hindus	· In groups discuss questions like: What would a perfect person be like? What qualities would he/she have? How would he/she behave towards others? What would he/she look like? Is it possible to have a perfect person at all? · Share and discuss ideas with whole class · Introduce idea of Jesus as the perfect person for Christian people. Also, special for others too eg a prophet for Muslims, a holy man for Hindus · What does the class already know about Jesus? If this idea has not been mentioned, introduce Christian image of Jesus as ‘Son of God’ (ie both human and God) · Though a historical figure, there is no authentic picture of Jesus. In groups, pupils can look at different artists’ images of Jesus. Try to get examples from a range of cultures and times. What messages about Jesus is each artist trying to portray about Jesus? · Listen to the only childhood story told about Jesus in the Christian Bible: when Jesus went to Jerusalem and became lost (Luke 2:41-52). If possible, show the Holman Hunt painting. Why have Christians told this story about Jesus? What clues are there in Hunt’s painting about Jesus’ future?	Pictures/images of Jesus eg Christmas cards, book illustrations, paintings, posters, statues, stained glass windows, icons Jesus through Art: A Resource for Teaching RE and Art by Margaret Cooling (RMEP, ISBN 185175119X) Holman’s Hunt’s painting ‘The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple’
What beliefs about Jesus do Christians hold?	Belief	To be able to raise questions about Jesus	· Using key questions such as What …? Why …? How …? Where …? Write on speech bubbles any questions that pupils would like to find out about Jesus · Watch Pathways of Belief video on Jesus. Discuss if there were any answers to the questions. Identify which ones will need further enquiry · Write a letter to a Christian asking the questions to which answers are still being sought · Invite a Christian visitor/s to share their ideas and beliefs about Jesus and to try to answer the questions raised by the pupils	BBC Pathways of Belief programme on Christianity
What beliefs about Jesus have been expressed in Christian hymns and songs?	Hymn Devotion Praise	To be able to pinpoint key beliefs about Jesus from different song sources	· Listen to a mixture of songs/hymns about Jesus from different traditions and cultures eg the Victorian ‘What a friend we have in Jesus’ by Joseph Medlicott Scriven, the mid-20^th century ‘Lord of the Dance’ by Sydney Carter, a modern gospel song by a Christian rock band · After listening to the song/hymn, pupils complete a response sheet eg What words are used to describe Jesus? What pictures/images are used to describe him? (eg ‘friend’, ‘Lord of the Dance’) What does the song say that Jesus can do? What does the music make you feel? Why do you think the song might be special for Christian believers? · A survey can be carried out asking Christian people for their favourite hymns/devotional songs. (A Christian visitor could develop this further.) Survey results could be presented in graphic form · Using ICT if possible, design a CD cover for one of the songs which has been explored, using symbols and images that link to the words or using a Victorian hymn, decorate each verse with images that link with the words and reflect Victorian design (like in a sampler)	Hymns/songs on CD/tape Words of hymns/songs
How do icons express Christian beliefs about Jesus?	Prayer Devotion Symbol	To be able to identify a particular piece of art as an ‘icon’ To be able to identify some of the symbolism in particular icons To know how an Orthodox Christian family might use an ‘icon corner’	· Look at some examples of Orthodox Christian icons and discuss their style (ie what is distinctive about a painting called an icon?) · Look at some icons that show Jesus · Analyse the images according to the ‘visual codes’: expression: what expression does Jesus have on his face? gesture: what can you say about hand and body positions? clothing: what do the clothes suggest about the person? background: what can you see in the background and why it is there? symbolism: what symbols are used and what do they suggest? objects: are there any objects in the picture? colour: what colours are used and why? · Discuss some of the rules for making an icon corner · Paint or draw an icon in the Greek or Russian Orthodox style and display the icons in a classroom icon corner or use printed out images of icons	Reproductions of icons, actual examples
How might Christians try to be like Jesus in their lives?	Model Value Rules Neighbour	To be able to express some of the reasons for making decisions and behaving in a certain way To be able to link Jesus’ qualities with the way that Christian believers might try to lead their lives	· Read or tell a story to the class with a moral dilemma and which ends before a decision is made. In pairs, discuss the ending to the story, then share with the whole class. Discuss how they came to their decisions about how to behave eg it would have upset their family, been against their religion, made them feel bad, hurt others · Discuss how Christians might try to follow the teaching of Jesus in their lives · Look at Jesus’ famous summing up of the commandments: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself’. Explore what the concept of ‘neighbour’ might mean in this context · Read together the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:9-37) pointing out that Jewish people and Samaritans were from different religious and racial groupings and kept separate. Stop at key points in the story to share ideas about what might happen · Discuss why the Samaritan helped the man and their views about Jesus’ answer in verses 36-37. Talk about how the Samaritan showed mercy and kindness and is presented as a good neighbour · Act out the story for modern times or produce art work/collage/writing based on the idea ‘Who is my neighbour?’ · Invite in a Christian who is involved with caring work to talk about how his/her faith affects their life and how he/she puts Jesus’ teachings into practice or cut out pictures from newspapers about problems in the world and talk about how Christians might respond to these problems. How might people from different religious traditions, or with no religious belief, respond?

Notes on relevant websites

www.artmagick.com/paintingSearch.aspx Holman Hunt’s ‘The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple’

http://museoprado.mcu.es/prado/html/icuadro agosto.html Paolo Veronese’s ‘Jesus with the Doctors in the Temple’

www.stainer.co.uk/lotd.html Information about and words of Sydney Carter’s ‘Lord of the Dance’

http://camalott.com/~ckirk/whatafriend.htm The words of ‘What a friend we have in Jesus’ + notes on Joseph Scriven (1819-1886)

http://orthodox.truepath .com/articles/orthodox/family/iconcorner.htm Information about how to make an icon corner

www.stapleford-centre.org The Stapleford Centre through which Margaret Cooling’s excellent Jesus Through Art can be ordered

Notes on a resource provider

A good Christian bookshop from which to order resources for work like this is: Wesley Owen Books, South Woodford E18 2NA

Tel 020 8530 4244; Fax 020 8518 8924; Email south-woodford@wesley-owen.com

Glossary of religious and cultural terms used in the planning grid

Hunt, William Holman (1827-1910)	One of the nineteenth century British school of painters called the ‘Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood’. They put great detail into their paintings. Holman Hunt visited the Holy Land on a number of occasions in order to paint a number of paintings with religious themes. His ‘The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple’ was painted between 1854-1856 and hangs in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, England. ‘The Light of the World’ (showing Jesus, holding a lantern, knocking on a door) is probably his most famous painting
Hymn	Sacred poetry set to music has always formed part of Christian worship. Many parents will remember hymns that they sung during school assemblies. Many collections of hymns have been made over the years
Icon	A flat painting, usually on wood, representing Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary or a Christian saint. The focus is on the person depicted and there is usually little, if any, background scenery. Icons are rich in symbolism. They are a form of devotional art associated with the Orthodox family of churches (Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox etc) though many are now found in the Western world. For Orthodox Christians, icons are an aid to devotion and prayer. For a wonderful story involving an icon, see Rumer Godden’s The Kitchen Madonna
Icon corner	Christian Orthodox families will often have a corner of the house in which icons, or an icon (perhaps of the patron saint of the family – like St George) is hung and in front of which family members will pray
Light of the Word	The phrase is one of the ‘I am’ sayings – statements which, according to John, Jesus made about himself - from John’s Gospel in the Christian New Testament: ‘I am the light of the world’