Year 3 had a wonderful discussion in RE today. They looked at Unity in religion. They discussed where they find unity (togetherness) and came up with some fantastic responses. They noted school, home, friends, church and Mosque. All these places are so important, for so manty reasons. Some of the reasons people choose to be together are:

• when they are lonely
• when they want to learn
• when they celebrate marriages, christenings and festivals like Christmas, Easter, Eid
• when they are sad
• when they attend funerals or celebrate someone’s life

Today, the children also learnt that people come together and unite when they go on pilgrimages. Pilgrimages are when people visit holy sites that are important to them in their faith.

They tend to go in groups as they are usually a trip abroad and will last at least a few days. This makes the visit much more memorable.

The class then watched a video of an 11-year-old, girl who was preparing for a pilgrimage to Mecca with her family. The children really enjoyed watching how many thousands of people, from all over the world, unite to perform the Hajj. They all wear white, resulting in everyone looking identical. Everyone becomes equal, no differences, no divisions because of money, status (job), clothes, race or background- everyone looks and is treated the same. Everyone has the same aim- to complete the difficult pilgrimage, so they all work as one. They unite.

A lot of very good questions were asked and it showed the level of active listening and critical thinking that the children have.

Well done Year 3.

Today, Bluebirds learnt about Passover which is an important Jewish festival. This takes place in Spring, lasting 7-8 days and celebrates when Jewish people were freed from slavery in Egypt over 3000 years ago. They eat unleavened bread to remember when the Jewish people escaped from Egypt, not having time to make normal bread that rises in the oven. The Seder Meal with family and friends, has a special plate that has sections for symbolic food. Here are our plates which explain what food there is and what it represents.

Bluebirds discussed whether we actually needed photos to remember special people, places and events. We also talked about how much more we can remember about a person or a place than what we can see in a photograph. Mrs Parry shared photos with the class of important people in her life and also a photo of a special occasion. She recalled memories from the photos.

Dylan – I remember seeing my baby brother and had a photo taken, holding him for the first time.
Ava – I remember a trip to Thomas Land with my brother and sister.
Ibrahim – I have a photo from when we visited The London Eye.
Amaya – When I visit my family in New Zealand, we always have a big group photo together, at the end of the holiday.
Havana – I have a nice photo of my Mum holding me, whilst going down a slide, when I was little.
Paige – I have a photo album with memories of my holiday to Disneyland.

The children each drew or wrote about an important person, place or event in their lives.

Last week, Bluebirds discussed God/Allah being “all knowing” and knowing things people have done without them even admitting it. We talked about when we have been tempted not to tell the whole truth when we have been in trouble. There were lots of examples which we shared together. Here are some of the anonymous contributions, including the adults…!

►I let my sibling get the blame when it was me for a broken iPad.
►I broke a plant but eventually admitted it.
►I cut some clothing and the dog was blamed
►I took extra slices of cake.
►I pulled a curtain down and didn’t own up.
►I drew on the wall.
►I took some money once.
►I hid a butterfly in my doll’s house to keep as a pet. My Mum guessed.
►I drank a small amount of fizzy drink from each bottle and then topped them up with water.

Bluebirds heard the story of The Black Stone today, to understand that Muslims believe in being fair and just. Afterwards, Mrs Parry asked the class to think how to share 4 cakes between six people. Leah quickly solved the mystery that each person would get 2/3 of cake each!

Today, Bluebirds heard the Bible story of Esau and Jacob to understand more about fairness and found out that God’s view of fairness and justness is greater and longer lasting than our view as humans. Throughout the story, children identified aspects that did not seem fair.

Millie – It’s not fair that only Jacob got the blessing.
Havana – It was unfair that Esau paid for his food.
Jessica – It was not fair that each parent favoured one of their children over the other.
Pippa – It was not fair that the eldest child was in charge over everything.
Dylan – It wasn’t fair to trick the Dad because he was blind. Also I don’t think it was fair one had to be born hairy!

Mrs Parry explained that Esau had disappointed God by choosing food over his birthright and did not see the importance of his special gift he would get later on. She asked the children to think about the brothers making bad choices that they couldn’t change. They should have been careful with their choices as they didn’t realise how it would change their lives later on.

This week, Bluebirds watched a video telling the story of the Nativity. Afterwards, Bluebirds enjoyed making cartoon strips to retell the story.

Kenzie – There was no room at the inn.
Pippa – The baby was born in a manger.
Ava – Angel Gabriel told Mary she would have a baby and should call it Jesus.

Bluebirds have been learning about the Christian values of Harvest. Mrs Parry asked them what words could be made using the letters of HARVEST. There were quite a few!

Interestingly, some were very apt to the subject of harvest such as have, share and starve. The class talked about our Harvest assembly and where the donated food went to. The children then created acrostic poems using the word.

Bluebirds have been learning about sharing in RE and this week, they found out that Muslims have Zakah. They give away 2.5% of their savings. We worked this out using a 100 square and linked it to our knowledge of money as we haven’t learnt about percentages yet in Year 3!