Christmas Year 6 Planning With Emphasis on Comparison of Gospels

Great planning.

Powerpoints and worksheets plus a week plan.

sample planning :

Ask children to think about their literacy lessons – TTYP and name the important details that are needed in telling a story
(e.g. time, place, characters and events).

Ask children to the recall names of the four main Gospels.
Do they all tell the same story? (Essentially yes but lead children towards idea that they are different versions of the same story).
Use analogy of an incident occurring on the playground – would each child tell the same incident in the same way? No they would tell their version of the same event – some details and word choices would differ.
Talk about today’s WALT and explain that we are going to be looking at some different Gospel accounts of the birth of Jesus Christ. Explain to ch that, in order to achieve their WALT, they will need to be comparing and contrasting everything which they read.
Explain briefly that three out of the four Gospels deal with the birth or Christ; there are many similarities and many differences in the way in which the Gospels record and explain the event.
For today’s lesson we are going to focus on Matthew’s Gospel and Luke’s Gospel.

Discuss possible reasons for the differences in the two accounts. They are coming from two different people; points of view; written at different times but the basic story is the same.
Briefly recap last lesson. Which two Gospels did we look at? Which story were we reading? Did both Gospels tell the story in exactly the same way?

Refer to the list which was made in the plenary last lesson - which other characters were involved in the Christmas story?

Re-read the story of the birth of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel. Continue to read until Chapter 2 verse 12.
Why did the message of Jesus’ birth first come to shepherds rather than King
Herod?
Why did Herod want to get rid of Jesus?
What words would you use to describe the threat that this baby was to Herod?
What do you think led men to come from the east by the light of a star to find this child?

Herod assumed the King of the Jews sought by the wise men was a conventional king and thus a rival to his throne.

TTYP – what were the names of the three gifts which the wise men brought to the baby Jesus?

Briefly recap the unit so far. Who are the main characters in the Christmas story? Which two Gospel accounts of the birth of Christ have we looked at? What are the similarities and differences between them?

Share the WALT and explain that this lesson will focus on the birth of Christ according to St John’s Gospel.

Explain that in St. John’s Gospel there is no account of the birth of Christ, but there is a poem at the beginning that speaks about him.
Use PPT to explain a prologue.