I have created four useful sheets for the children when they write to Father Christmas. Sheet 1 is an outline for the letter. Sheet 2 is a vocabulary of useful words. Sheet 3 for is a clip art sheet for writing their letter on. Sheets 4 and 5 pictures of gifts for boys and girls in 2024. I went on Google and found an address from the Post Office for writing letters to Father Christmas this year.

I have created 10 Bible word searches. 4 on the Old Testament, 4 on the New Testament, 1 about Animals and Birds and 1 about Plants and Trees. There are three word searches about the books of the Old Testament and one about Moses and the ten plagues. For the New Testament there are word searches about the 12 disciples and the books in the New Testament . I created only two word searches to go with St. Paul's three missionary journeys because two and three look very similar. Answers are included.

Martin Luther on 31st October, 1517 - 500 years ago - posted his 95 Thesis - the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Just some notes I found on Google. For the full explanation of the 95 Theses you need to go to the web site mentioned on the last sheet. On Easter Eve, 4th April 1523, aided by Leonhard Koppe, he helped his future wife Katherine von Bora, a nun, escape from a convent where she and other nuns were dissatisfied. They married about 2 years later. They had 6 children and raised 4 orphans including Katharina’s nephew, Fabian. Katherina managed the monastery and operated the hospital on site. Luther called her 'boss of Zulsdorf. ‘morning star’ for getting up at 4 am,and ‘My Lord Katie’. She respected him as a higher vessel and formally called him ‘Sir Doctor’ throughout her life The marriage was extremely important to the development of the Protestant Church specifically in regards to its stance on marriage and the role of each spouse.

C. S. Lewis, Clive Staple Lewis, Jack to his friends wrote more than 30 books. He is most famous for his The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of seven books written for children. The children visit the magical land of Narnia where Aslan, the Lion reigns. He takes the Pevensie children on a series of adventures where good eventually always over comes evil. To go with the series I have created seven sets of crosswords and word searches, answers included. HarperCollinspublishers have produced an excellent pop-up book to go with the series of seven books - Narnia Chronology -from the Archives of the Last King. ISBN 9780061240058 Wlkiepedia has a great deal of information about C.S. Lewis - biography notes and detailed book summaries (2 levels) about each of the books.

I start with St. Nicholas - history and legends, letter to Father Christmas ideas, clip art for best copy and word search and one page on Advent. Christmas has a list of nativity characters, poetry aid, three journeys, 'How many words can you find in Christmas' and Diary Aid. Epiphany has one page. There are several clip art pictures to use.

St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland, nine other countries, plus a number of different groups- from fishermen to farmworkers. He was one of Christ's original disciples so I have included Biblical references to him. There is a brief biography with a two gap sheets to fill in. There is also a crossword, a word search and 'How many words can you find in Andrew? ' There is a sheet about the history of the St. Andrew flag and the Union Jack plus some ideas for a Diary- this comes with a clipart sheet for final copy. I hope children find the work interesting

A vocabulary and poetry aid about rain and storms. Illustrations by David Woodroffe. Rain can create floods. Rain plus snow can create serious flooding

A vocabulary and poetry aid about Fog. Illustrations by David Woodroffe.

A simple blank diagram for showing the Beaufort Scale plus names of winds and a poetry aid.

One way to introduce a geography idea is to create a before/during/after picture. My pupils used to create a small example and then turn it into a large picture for display.

Earthquake word search written after Earthquake material.

There are 10 main sheets plus two answer sheets. David Woodroffe drew for me a very good outline of a volcano for the children to use. The first vocabulary sheet is a list of interesting useful words. The second sheet is a fuller vocabulary. There are two ‘crosswords’ and two word searches. The next three sheets are about Pompeii AD79. The first sheet encourages the children to think about the event and suggests the children read Willard Prices Volcano Adventure. Twice I wrote pieces for my pupils - once pretending I was there, the second I went back as an observer in a time machine. The final two sheets are poetry aids. The second one was created in 2010 following the eruption of Eyjafallokull in Iceland. 2 pictures added

Albert Schweitzer was undoubtedly one of the most gifted men of his generation. His strong faith took him to Africa. His 1931 autobiography, 'Out of My Life and Thought' described much of his work in Africa. His musical talent as an organist, giving benefit concerts, paid largely for the founding and running of the hospital. He wrote many books in his lifetime on different themes - theological, the organ works of J.S. Bach, how an organ works and anti nuclear. Unfortunately, in today's culture, the comments he made then about those he treated are seen as racist and having a colonialistic view of Africans. In the 50 years he worked there he positively influenced the lives of those he cared for as a doctor, surgeon and pastor. The hospital continues to be the primary source of healthcare for the surrounding region and in 2011 an African, for the first time, leads the hospital..

Caroline Chisholm is a woman spent a great deal of her time trying to help others get on in life -especially other women. With her husband Archibald she spent time in both India and Australia. In India where she opened a school. In Australia she wanted to help emigrants settle successfully there- she set up the Female Immigration Home and also helped set up a safe route for the gold pioneers to follow. She also helped migrants wanting to go to Australia from the UK. It has been suggested that Charles Dickens, in his book Hard Times, wrote his character Mrs. Jellyby as a criticism of female activists like Caroline Chisholm.

James Hudson Taylor was the founder of the interdenominational China Inland Mission. He dreamed as a child of going to China as a missionary. He fulfilled his dream but he had to set up his own mission to make it successful. He was frustrated the first time he went out because he had little support from the mission which sent him out. He did such a good job setting up his own mission for China that other faith missions followed his methods. His chief emphases were to identify with the local people by dressing 'native', direction to come from the mission field not home, efficient administration and wanting a deepening of Christian life in the home churches to encourage more to go into the mission field. He was happily married twice and both his wives Maria and Jane supported him in his endeavours to evangelise China. He spent 50 years as a missionary and went 11 times to China. Through a lifetime of ministry he fulfilled his calling.

This is the story of how Gladys Aylward, a missionary in China during the second World War, helped Chinese orphans safely across a mountain. When she returned to England she realised a film had been written showing her life and a book called The Small Woman had been published. On Google, and Youtube there is a great deal of information about how from her humble beginnings as a housemaid/domestic help became a successful missionary.

Looking for interesting missionaries and evangelists to write about I came across this lady. Incredible, as it might seem, Amanda Berry Smith started life as a slave but ended up becoming an evangelist going to both India and then to Africa. Later in life she ended up funding and opening up a children's orphanage.

William Carey is regarded by many as the founder of the modern missionary movement and as one of the most important church missionaries in world history. He believed in going to the heathen not waiting for God to do it. 'Expect Great Things- Attempt Great Things.' He began life as a cobbler. After he was converted he taught himself New Testament Greek. He spent 50 years as a pastor/minister. He founded the Baptist Missionary Society. He spent 40 whole years in India, not having a furlough. He was responsible for the Bible being translated into all the major languages of the Indian subcontinent and many dialects and wrote a number of books. In 1818 William Carey and the Marshmans founded Scrampore college - today it offers theological and liberal arts education for some 2,500 students. The powerful, and now famous book , 'An Enquiry into the obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of Heathens' - along with many others, can be found, in full, on the internet. I have found several pieces of useful information. There is a chronology of his life, a short, readable, history of his life, plus a short crossword and word search. A 'typical day' reveals he must have used at least SIX different languages on that one day!! There is a vast amount of information about William Carey on the internet. God's extraordinary 'plodder' changed the course of history.

The simple youth from the hills may have seemed most unlikely material for an evangelist, but he probably won more people to Christ than anyone else in southern Ethiopia - during the time of tremendous persecution. The missionaries who had been forced out of the country in 1937 were allowed back into Ethiopia in 1942and feared what they would find. They had left a small 'community' of just 48 Christians. They were amazed to find it had multiplied to 10,000. Among them they found Wandaro - his body covered with scars but his face wreathed in a smile. Wandaro, the evangelist, whose father had been a witch doctor, had been made an 'example of' by the authorities .He had been flogged, in public, by 5 men continuously for 3 hours with a hippo hide whip. For several days they feared he would die but thanks to the prayer of family and friends he eventually recovered. He was imprisoned for a year. He was such a model prisoner that the guards left him in charge when they went off duty. For 55 years Wandaro preached the Christian message. 8,000 people, each carrying a flower in appreciation, attended his funeral in 1991.

David Tsutada and his son Joshua are both Japanese missionaries. David is probably the least well known of the two but he is referred to as being the 'John Wesley' of Japan. He studied law at Cambridge and King's College London and at one stage envisioned himself as one day becoming Japan's prime minister. He also felt a calling to the church. He wrote a 14 page letter to his father who took his letter to an all night prayer meeting.The following day he received a cable with just two words' Obey God'. Joshua, his son, is referred to being the 'voice of emerging evangelical leaders'. He followed his father into the ministry and spent seventeen years working in India. Both David and Joshua had held high posts in several Christian organisations. Joshua has been chairman of the Japan Evangelical Association and the Evangelical Fellowship Asia.