P6 - Heritage
These exemplar narratives follow the core learning chosen by the Holy Cross cluster group/working group and contained in the diocesan planning exemplars:
P6 Faith Heritage short version (click to open)
P6 Faith Heritage long version (click to open)
Scottish Saint Presentations
Click on the Saint's name below for a powerpoint presentation written by Caroline Pitcathley as part of a Farmington Fellowship:
St Columba
St Ninian
St Margaret of Scotland
St John Ogilvie
St Mungo/Kentigern
Scottish Saints factcards
Exemplar narrative 1:
St Bartholomew’s, Coatbridge:
Planned activities:
- investigation about our diverse Catholic heritage through testimonials from people we know
- study and discuss the passage from the bible which highlighted and celebrated diversity in the early Christian church and compare with our faith today e.g. Acts 2: 1-4; Acts 2: 5-12; I Corinthians 12: 12-27
- map important Scottish sites of pilgrimage and work in groups to make information leaflets to share with others,
- choose a favourite Scottish Saint to research at home and present to others.
- organise a pilgrimage to Carfin Grotto.
We had a class discussion about the origin of some of our surnames. We noted that as well as Scottish, there were names of Polish, Irish and Lithuanian origin. We invited some of our relatives to our class to give testimonials about their families’ emigration to Scotland. We noted that a diversity in our Catholic society has added to its richness. We compared this diversity to the passage in the Bible after Pentecost when the disciples of Jesus were speaking in many tongues. We looked at some books and websites about some important Scottish Saints including St Margaret, St Ninian, St John Ogilvie, St Columba, St Cuthbert and St Enoch. We decided to do further research at home about our chosen saint. We presented our projects to the class and at the school assembly. We made a prominent display of our work in the school foyer.
We researched some significant Scottish sites of pilgrimage including Iona, Dunfermline and Carfin Grotto. We were able to identify these sites on a map. In co-operative groups, we wrote a leaflet about a chosen site, detailing which Saint the site is relevant to, when and why it became significant and how it is still important to Scottish Catholics today. We displayed our leaflets and shared them with the Pr 7. We decided that we would like to make our make our own pilgrimage to Carfin Grotto. We researched the Grotto website and wrote an email to arrange a visit. During the visit we celebrated Mass in the Glass Chapel then Joe took us on a guided tour of the Grotto. He told us about the history of the grotto and how it is dedicated to Our Lady, and showed us the different monuments donated by the national communities in Scotland e.g. Lithuanian, Irish.
Resources used:
Websites:
www.carfingrotto.org Carfin Grotto Official website (Tel:01698 263308)
www.sces.uk.com/papal-visit-resources.html Includes powerpoint about St Ninian
www.whithorn.com Information about St Ninian
www.catholic.org/saints Interesting facts about numerous Catholic Saints www.bbc.co.uk/history/scottish/earlychurch/index Information and learning games
Click here for Cross -curricular links employed
Exemplar narrative 2:
St Bride’s, Cambuslang:
Part one: St Ninian
The feast of St Ninian is on the 16th September, and this year it coincided with the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Scotland. The children in my class investigated the life of Ninian using ICT as a homework activity, and this information was used in a writing lesson to write a biography of St Ninian. I used a map of Europe to illustrate his journey of pilgrimage to Rome, and we measured the distance of his journey. We reflected on transport in those days, and in cooperative groups we discussed the hardships he faced.
Children could use atlases or ICT to find Whithorn on a map. They could research why it is a centre of pilgrimage, and reflect on the words of Ninian. An image of him can be found at http://www.allmercifulsavior.com/images/aa-StNinian.jpg .
The Diocese of Galloway organise a Mass on the beach at Whithorn on the last Sunday of August each year, and many parishes travel there to celebrate the life of St Ninian. I used photos to show the children the beach, but pictures are available on the websites given below. During an RE lesson we prayed to St Ninian for guidance, and we learned and sang the hymn, Ninian of Galloway.
Part two: Carfin Grotto
Another activity could be a class visit to Carfin Grotto, near Motherwell. Children will be able to see the monuments to the different nationalities who are remembered there, and they will see that migrants have always come to Scotland and have been welcomed. Perhaps there is a range of nationalities already in the class or school, and children have been involved in helping others with English. If not, children can investigate how they could help a new pupil to feel welcome in their class, through their reflection of Matthew 5: 13-16.
Assessment ideas:
Write: Biography of St Ninian to highlight main points/events in his life
A fact file on saints/the effect new migrant communities have had on Scotland
Say: Present/share in groups/whole class to rest of the school/another class what they have learned
Open discussion with teachers/peers
Make: Make a storyboard of what they have learned at Carfin Grotto
Make a powerpoint about St Ninian/his pilgrimage
Do: Take photographs of the Grotto
Design image of St Ninian and write facts to place around him (for display)
Carry out a survey of how many children in school are of different nationalities (link with unity)
Exemplar narrative 3:
Holy Cross cluster meeting working group
Pilgrimage Sites Planned Activities:
·Use the internet to research Scottish Pilgrimage sites. Focus on where they are, what you find there and why they were established.
·Locate pilgrimage sites on Google Maps/Google Earth/Atlas
·Create information poster (group task)
Scottish Saints Planned Activities:
·Use the internet and books to research a Scottish saint.
·Create information poster (group task)
Talents:
·Discussion of famous people who use their talents (sport/music/film stars .. .)
·Circle time discussion of God-given personal gifts and talents and talents spotted in others and their own
- Children recorded their gifts/talents on a pennant for display in class, and discussed the Parable of the Talents.
·Video about Mother Teresa and discussion of her talents and her aim to be 'God's love in action'.
Pupils create prayer/letter to God about what they have learned about their Scottish Faith Heritage and how they are going to use their talents to become 'Saints of the 21st Century'
(Editor's note 1: to complete the core learning some learning about Scottish Catholic migrant communities and their contribution to society would be important, as RERC 2-08a per core learning
Editor's note 2: the issue of talents in this theme is particularly in relation to using their gifts of welcome and hospitality to people from other countries [as per the bold highlighting of core learning], and extensive work about the children's talents might be better placed elsewhere)
Assessement ideas:
Write:
Children can complete travel brochure containing information about Scottish pilgrimage
Say:
Give personal talk on the Scottish saint of their choice (e.g. Confirmation saint): public speaking.
Make:
Children to make a Powerpoint about a chosen Scottish saint: must include picture, where they were born, their life, why they are a saint.
Children's interpretation of the image of a saint.
Collage of pilgrimage sites.
Do:
Research local monasteries.
Use liturgical calendar to research unfamiliar Scottish saints.
Cross curricular:
Personalsation & Choice: pupils chose which pilgrimage site and which saint they wanted to research.
Collaborative Learning: The children worked in teams of 4 to research the saints and pilgrimage sites and to create the information posters. This was a good opportunity to develop their talking/listening skills in addition to developing their ability to cooperate with others in their group.
Literacy: Several literacy skills were used in this work;
1) Talking/listening skills during group work
2) Writing skills when writing information onto posters
3) Reading skills, scanning and selecting important information from various information sources (internet and books) then writing notes in their own words.