Activity 9: Celebrations

Level

Middle and Upper Primary

Lesson overview

This lesson requires students to look closely at The Really Big Beliefs Project and use it as the basis of exploring celebrations in their own communities.

Main learning outcomes

English
Society and Environment
Mathematics

Materials required

Poster papers
Textas
The Really Big Beliefs Project

Procedure

Ask students to work in groups to brainstorm the things people celebrate in life, for example birthdays, marriage, birth of a baby, holy days, new seasons, taking religious vows, passing exams, growing up, etc.
Report back to the class.
In groups again, work out which of the celebrations is related to religion. Some may or may not be, for example, marriage.
Each group should take one celebration and find examples of how at least two religions celebrate this occasion. Students can use The Really Big Beliefs Project and the materials and links on the website as a resource.
Groups design posters to demonstrate their findings. These posters should emphasise the links or contrasts between the ways different religions celebrate these common special days. Discuss with students the ways they can graphically illustrate these links, for example with spider or cluster diagrams, Venn diagrams and carefully chosen or drawn illustrations.
Students present their posters to the class.
Discuss the similarities and differences in the celebrations: why do different religions celebrate the same things? Why do different religions celebrate different aspects of similar things? Why do different religions celebrate different things? (Some students may have found it difficult to find other religions celebrating their chosen celebration … Reasons for this are interesting to explore.)
Students write reflective responses to the whole activity using the following prompts:

I like the idea of …
I was surprised to find out that …
I was reminded of …
I was interested to find out that …
I was less interested in …
I would like to know more about…