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Durgamata's Shop

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A specialist Religious Education and Art Teacher - I retired a few years ago. Now I am an Entrepreneur. I have created a Programme called The Seven Steps to Happiness. It is all about Reducing Stress, Building Resilience and Increasing Happiness. Before Coronavirus came along I gave Workshops and Retreats from my home. Now I am moving my work online. I share resources on TES to support my wonderful Teacher-Colleagues. Most are free but I spend hours on these so I charge for some of them. Enjoy.

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A specialist Religious Education and Art Teacher - I retired a few years ago. Now I am an Entrepreneur. I have created a Programme called The Seven Steps to Happiness. It is all about Reducing Stress, Building Resilience and Increasing Happiness. Before Coronavirus came along I gave Workshops and Retreats from my home. Now I am moving my work online. I share resources on TES to support my wonderful Teacher-Colleagues. Most are free but I spend hours on these so I charge for some of them. Enjoy.
Lyrics for It's Christmas, Get Cracking,
durgamatadurgamata

Lyrics for It's Christmas, Get Cracking,

(2)
Here are the lyrics of another of Jill's songs from the aforementioned CD. I have used this a lot in teaching KS3 and KS4, it is funny and direct - engaging but very serious and quite soulful too. Please appreciate that my sister Jill has given me permission to share her songs - but only part of them. If she sees too many people downloading them free from here she may ask me to include only the first few lines of the music. She had to payva lot to get the recordings done. Once costs are covered all profits will go to charity. Contact - info@bluelotus.co (it is .co - not .com)
MP's list with contact details
durgamatadurgamata

MP's list with contact details

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I aim to list of all the MP's and members of the House of Lords - with their contact details. I have just found a couple of good lists on internet so I am uploading info about these too. Contact details added for all the A - G surnames so far - more to follow I’ve uploaded a copy of my email and am adding any replies and correspondence from this as a separate resource.
Village Community - based on a Bengali village
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Village Community - based on a Bengali village

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The slide show is in the process of development - to support a family member who is studying Early Years Childcare in Kolkata, Having been to Bengali villages I googled things that I remember seeing there and this is a complete jumble of images. I suggest you edit it, arrange the images you wish to use and add text as required. I googled India Village and found some very interesting bits of contemporary news which may be useful in citizenship and international studies. The Stories may be good for drama and to give insight into village life and characters past and present.
Love and money - a Valentine's Day reflection
durgamatadurgamata

Love and money - a Valentine's Day reflection

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Starting with an article from the Guardian 'A World Ruled by Money Has Failed. It's Time to Reclaim Love.' by Jeanette Winterson I will add other relevant articles as I find them. Please suggest your favourites.
The Problem of Evil and posters to aid reflection
durgamatadurgamata

The Problem of Evil and posters to aid reflection

(2)
A video shared on an RE Forum with my thoughts on the matter - ideas to stimulate thought and discussion. also links to more videos. I plan to add to this and create some activities to go with these resources. some pictures to print out as posters to encourage thought and reflection on this subject.
articles -  Villages in India -- progress + change
durgamatadurgamata

articles - Villages in India -- progress + change

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These articles cover many aspects of village life - including local democracy, provision of water, education and opportunities for women, caste problems etc. Useful in any international work, citizenship, community cohesion and Religious Education topics with KS3 KS4, GCSE etc.
Many of my most popular resouces for reference
durgamatadurgamata

Many of my most popular resouces for reference

(2)
In response to a non specialist asking about the best way of approaching teaching RE I have collected the web-addresses for some of my most popular resouces and listed them grouped under headings to hopefully make them easier to find. First are the Exploring Religion and Reflections on Life slide-shows which are most popular. Then there are the poems and quotations, some files grouped with others from that religion, and finally some role-play exercises. I hope this will be useful especially for nonspecialists and NQT's
Exploring Religion slide shows
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Exploring Religion slide shows

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Parts 1 - 4 are here. 3 also part 7 is up. parts 3, 4 and 7 are not yet finalised. see also Exploring Religion Conversation/Introduction - about 4 resources further on,145 slides you can use over 10 weeks, up to and including an 'activity&' each week. &';part 3 A Quest for Truth.' explores many concepts including science and religion and the great Eternal Questions + a section on poetry and symbolism with 10 selected poems. ? before or after part 4, the Religio / Relationships episode. This is a work still in progress and I would appreciate feedback.
Global Warming, UN Climate Conference
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Global Warming, UN Climate Conference

(1)
This resource is to gather together articles and video links which relate to Global Warming and the UN Climate Conference. It relates to issues we explore in RE with GCSE and older students, stewardship etc. But it is also an important subject in Geography, Science, Citizenship, Politics and Economics etc. Do let me know if you have good resources which I can add here - and give reviews.
durgamata blog  - from Thursday 13th Oct
durgamatadurgamata

durgamata blog - from Thursday 13th Oct

(2)
Continuation of my Meditation Blog. This started on 28th September in New York and ends on 30th October back in England. I have some notes in my diary which still need to be written up to include in this so I will add a few more files over the next few days. Some friends say I should edit the whole record and make it into a book!!! Well we will see about that.
Miracles - GCSE RE
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Miracles - GCSE RE

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in haste, I just answered a question about miracles in relation of GCSE RE. My answer (here) may be helpful but I will improve on it soon. I want to add the model and examples of miracles with the Bible Refs on. plus a suggested questionnaire and how to analyse results (cross curricular maths.) but no time for that tonight.
Teaching Buddhism at AS / A'level (OCR)
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Teaching Buddhism at AS / A'level (OCR)

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This is a list of schools that teach the OCR Buddhism unit at AS / A'level. There is also a resource list. I will add to both of these as I get more info. The aim is to help those who are teaching this to present it in a lively and engaging way and prevent it becoming dry and boring. (This is in direct response to a request for help on the RE forum.)
Thinking about Christmas and contemporary society
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Thinking about Christmas and contemporary society

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Christmas is the time of year when Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus - but we do not know when Jesus was actually born. Why did Christians take mid-winter as the time for their celebration? How do Jews and Muslims feel about living in a society which is traditionally Christian? How is the current fashion for atheism affecting the way we celebrate Christmas? Can you trust a text which is attributed to someone well known and respected. The Ben Stein article is not all it seems. This resource includes a range of articles to get our pupils thinking.
Siddhartha Becomes the Buddha photos/youtube links
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Siddhartha Becomes the Buddha photos/youtube links

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A play about the life of Buddha, staged in a small Off Broadway theatre last year. I give a brief outline of each episode and links to the episodes found on Youtube. This is and amateur video but still manages to capture something of who Buddha was and what he taught. If anyone would like a copy of the full video I can supply it if they contact me on a pm. As always it would be great to get some good feedback, comments or rating etc - as a guide for anyone else who may be interested in this.
Belief in God, Spirtual Experience, science/Spirit
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Belief in God, Spirtual Experience, science/Spirit

(1)
A range of resources including personal anecdotes of some miracles and spiritual experiences in my life. I work as a free-lance RE consultant and will happily come in and talk about my own spiritual life or make a presentation on any aspect of RE (free - expences only)
Lyrics for God's Colours
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Lyrics for God's Colours

(1)
The most popular song from the CD All Shall Be Well by Jill Blackadder - my sister who is a Primary teacher in the Shetland Islands. for the CD and sheet music contact 'Jill Slee Blackadder' <Jill.blackadder@btinternet.com>, You can find a 'taster&' of this song and others on another resource on prev. page - http://www.tes.co.uk/ResourceUpload.aspx?storycode=6058026&navcode=98 This is a truly inspiring and very soulful song for all ages. It celebrates our world where the beauty is in the diversity. Great as a stimulus for art-work, too.
Some of my experiences as a Christian and beyond
durgamatadurgamata

Some of my experiences as a Christian and beyond

(1)
Hi guys, I sometimes go on a forum which is about spiritual experiences. This morning I read a message posted by a Christian who had been directed to their (contemporary) spiritual teacher by Jesus, in a moving way. I was inspired to share some experiences of my own which relate to Christianity. I couldn’t have shared this story with my classes, but please feel free to use it. I guess in relation to Religious Experience, pluralist and exclusivist views - and an example of why generalising removes you from reality. (Jackie – who meditates - and my ‘Old Lady’ are both Christians.)
Spirituality, What is it?
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Spirituality, What is it?

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Rachel Kemp is the RE Coordinator working in several Primary Schools in Manchester. She is well-known for her passion for exploring the spiritual aspect of life and her skill with engaging children of all ages with this elusive subject. Here Rachel shares some recent work done with year 6 pupils about the subject of spirituality. This resource is being created by Rachel Kemp in collaboration with DurgaMata at Blue Lotus Enterprises.
Group work strategies with example from Sikhism
durgamatadurgamata

Group work strategies with example from Sikhism

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thoughts about Groupwork with a nice example on the Guru Granth Sahib. The power point is in process - but offers some good visual material. You can save any slide you like. Just put save as jpeg and then current slide for the ones you want. You can then insert them on a publisher file and arrange to print out as resources for the group-work exercise - I've done a few. + info about Gurmurki and Shabad Guru (spiritual sound in the writings and songs of the Guru Granth.) Thanks to ballykl (TES)and the Oadby Punjabi School for added files on Mool Mantra