ARCHIVED Year 1 Blog 2024/25

  Vesak is the Buddhist festival that celebrates the birth, enlightment and death of Buddha. Wesak is a very colourful and happy celebration. Homes may be cleaned and decorated. In many countries, Buddhists will visit their local temple for services and teaching. They will give offerings to the monks of food, candles and flowers. Chanting and praying are an important part of Wesak. Today we made 3d lilies as this is an important symbol for Buddhists. When the man we now know as Buddha was born he was thought to walk 7 steps straight away and lilies grew under his feet, this was thought to be a sign that he was special and meant to lead his people. 

 Today we had RE day where we learnt about the concept of ‘welcoming’ and how we make others feel welcome. We then learnt about Palm Sunday when people made Jesus feel welcome by greeting him with cheers and waving palm leaves as he rode through a village. We acted this out and all our actors stated they felt very happy to be greeted in such a manner. We then considered how we would make others feel welcome and times when we ourselves have felt welcome. 

Today we looked at the Pagan festival of  Spring Equinox that is a celebration of new life.  It is held to mark the coming of spring and the daylight being equal to the night. Many pagans will celebrate by visiting monuments at sunrise or sunset, spending time quietly, making alters or singing. In this Pagan festival an egg is often seen to be a symbol of new life, so you may see nature themed decorated eggs around at this time, much the same as the traditional way Christians would have used eggs at Easter time. We had a go at decorating our very own eggs filled with nature and all the signs of spring.   

Today for RE day we looked at how remembering special things makes us feel.  We spoke about celebrations and special memories we had and drew pictures of them.   We then looked at the story of Passover and how Jews remember the Passover. We looked at the Seder plate and what the different parts remind Jews of.  Children then had the chance to think about their own special meal and design their own Seder plate for a celebration of their choice.  We ended the day thinking about other memories we have and how they make us feel. 

We have completed another RE day, and fitting with the time of the year, we have looked at the Nativity story and the journeys that are involved in the Nativity story. We also looked at journeys we’ve made ourselves, how we feel about the journeys and if journeys always have a good ending!

 Today we learnt about the festival of lights which is a religious festival for many people around the world this time of year. This festival is called the Diwali, but is know as the festival of lights as people use lights and candles as a way to decorate their homes  in hope of welcoming the Goddess of Wealth (Lakshmi) into their lives for the coming year. In recognition of this we decorated our very own Diya lamp and will bring it home today so we can perhaps light the way into our own lives.