SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

RE LESSON PLAN
Pre-Primary/ Primary

LESSON ORGANISATION
Unit of work: Together in Prayer Salvation topic: Prayer, Advent and Christmas Human person Topic: Gift of Families

Year Level: Students’ Prior Knowledge: (include faith situations/previous

4 lessons/Units)

Key Understanding:  In Year 2, students have explored how each person belongs

A1 Wondering at Families to a family.

 Family members:

Learning Point(s): • share together (e.g. surnames, home, food, pets, etc.)

A1.1 Explores the ways in which people can contribute to family life. 


• provide for each others needs (e.g. health, love,

discovering and learning the development of personal
gifts, etc.)
• cooperate together (e.g. sharing chores and work,

helping with needs, encouraging, forgiving, etc.). 


• In previous lessons, students have gone through and learnt

how to draw and construct a family tree

• Students are aware of what makes a ‘good’ poster

Spiritual and Religious Capabilities (that may potentially be covered in the lesson)
Prudence Justice Fortitude Temperance Faith Hope Charity
eg Right eg Right relationships eg Inner strength eg Moderation eg Prayer eg Reconciliation eg Service
choices

General Capabilities (that may potentially be covered in the lesson)

Personal and
ICT Critical and creative Ethical Intercultural
Literacy Numeracy Social
competence thinking behaviour understanding
competence
Cross-curriculum priorities (may be addressed in the lesson)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia Sustainability
histories and cultures

Lesson Objectives (i.e. anticipated outcomes of this lesson, in point form beginning with an action verb)
As a result of this lesson, students will be able to:
• Identify the ways in which people contribute to their own family life by stating the chores and jobs that they do for their own
family/at home in class activity.
• Display their understanding of contributing to family life by creating a family tree of all members, linking to their gifts and
creating a visual presentation of all the ways their family members work together to contribute to their family life.
• Compose a prayer of thanks to God for the gift of families.
Teacher’s Prior Preparation/Organisation: Provision for students at educational risk:
(include Teacher Witness) • Hearing impaired (Alex and Sierra)  when watching the
• Interactive White Board (IWB) story on the YouTube video ensure captions/subtitles are
• A3 paper for assessment activity on and ensure physical demonstrations of all aspects to the
• Textas poster are shown and instructions are on the board for
• Pencils reference with extra guidance from the EA.
• Piggybook by Anthony Browne on IWB or hard copy • Physical disability  When sitting on the ground in a circle
• Piggybook Worksheet on IWB or for story time, ensure Kynan is involved and considered
• How do I contribute to my family life e.g. doing the food by all students.
shopping, taking the dog for a walk, cooking for family • Low-level students
celebrations etc. - Offer guidance and assistance through one-on-one or
• Points to discuss: group work with teacher and breaking down the
o Family using their gifts to help concepts further where needed.
o Keeping family rules  High-level students
o Joining in family celebrations - Extension activity: Students create a simple prayer
o Co-operating with parents thanking God for the gift of Families.
• Implement extending and enabling prompts for each
question to cater for student capabilities.

LESSON DELIVERY attach worksheets, examples, marking keys, etc. as relevant

Time Motivation and Introduction: Resources/References

10mins 1. Students make their way to the mat, sitting quietly ready for story time. Align these with the segment where
2. Teacher asks students the following focus questions to motivate thinking: they will be introduced.
o What are some things you like best about your family?
o What do you enjoy about contributing to your family? Do you like to help by
washing the dishes? Feeding the dog? Putting the washing out?
o Why do you do these things?
3. Today, we are going to read the book “Piggybook by Anthony Browne”  Piggybook by Anthony Browne
o Before reading the story Piggybook, discuss with students the following: - (Hard Copy or YouTube
o What does it mean to give someone a piggyback? (carry them on your Clip attached)
back).
o Do you think it is easy to give a piggyback to a large person or to a few
people at one time?
o Display the book cover. Invite students to describe the scene. (The
mother is carrying the father and two sons on her back)
o What is unusual about the cover picture? What might it mean that the
mother is carrying everyone on her back? Why might this be a problem?
4. Read the story to the class.
5. After reading the story, ask the students the following:
o Did the mother really carry the father and two children on her back?
o Why did the author show us this illustration on the front cover? (Inside the
book, we learn that the family members being carried on the mothers
back portrays they do no chores and she is left to do everything, thus,
carrying everyone around.)
 o Clarify that everyone understands why the mother left. (Discuss how the
illustrations show the family turning into “pigs” after mother leaves and
returning to humans when the uneven workload is resolved.)
o Was it fair that the mother did all the family chores?
6. Discuss ‘justice’ and what having respect for each other means in families. For
example: Relating to the story, explain how the children and father did not
have respect for their Mother and explain the ways in which we do show
respect for God and others, particularly our families.
7. Have the students stay seated, forming a circle facing inwards, for the next
activity.  Piggybook Worksheet on IWB
8. Teacher displays the Piggybook worksheet on the IWB to complete verbally
as a class.
9. Going around the circle the students will read the phrase from the board.
Students fill in the blank spaces by verbally finishing the statement,
describing the chores and jobs they do at home to help their families. Whilst
students list their ideas, the teacher writes or types these as they are said,
creating a class brainstorm of all the things we do to help at home.
10. Teacher starts by giving an example such as “I am NOT a pig!” I am
responsible and help out at home by doing the dishes after dinner during the
week, making my bed and taking the trash out every morning before school.
11. Go around the circle and ensure each student has a chance to speak and
encourage different responses from previous statements.
12. Once everyone has responded, the teacher will summarise a few of the points
made and link this to how we contribute to our families and why we do this.

Lesson Steps (Lesson content, structure, strategies & Key Questions):

1. Students return to their desks sitting quietly whilst teacher hands out an A3
piece of paper to each student and any required writing/drawing utensils
10mins
(textas, pencils, erasers etc.)  A3 paper, textas, pencils etc.
2. Discuss with students the gift of Families we have received from God and
their purpose:
o Using their gifts to help: If families are to provide for the needs of their members,
members need to work with each other. Just as the success of a sports team
depends upon members sharing their skills and cooperating. Therefore, family
members need to use their gifts to help in their families. Examples of such gifts
include those used to:

 cook 


 clean up 


 sing 


 tell jokes 


 help in the garden 


 make others laugh 


  care for younger children 


 help look after sick family members, etc. 


o Keeping family rules  To keep everyone safe and healthy, and to help their
homes to run smoothly, parents make rules. Family members contribute to

families by keeping these rules. These may include rules to: 


 keep family members from unsafe situations 


 ensure members show respect for each other (‘Don’t interrupt when others

are speaking’) 


 protect family health (‘Keep food scraps in a covered bin’, ‘wash your hands

before eating’) 


 protect property (‘No games in this room’ ‘Always ask before borrowing’). 


o By keeping family rules, family members contribute to the well–being of other family
members. In doing so, family members are showing love and care for each other.

o Joining in family celebrations  Family members celebrate when they are

happy, and when they want to help others to be happy. Also, family members
celebrate to show each other that they are special. The celebrations may be
birthdays or anniversaries, or they may be events all family members value, such as
Christmas and Easter.
o Co-operating with parents  Parents are responsible for the welfare of all family
members. It is their task to keep the family working together for everyone’s
welfare. Family members contribute to their families, therefore, whenever they
cooperate with their parents. As they do so, they help their parents with their
responsibility to care properly for themselves and for other family members. When
5mins they cooperate with their parents it then makes it easier for parents to help other

family members. 


3. Pose wonder questions about:

Family: Why do we have a family?
I wonder how different life would be without a family?
Contributions of Families: How do you contribute to your family?
I wonder why people contribute to the family life of other family members?
Rules: What rules do you follow at home?
I wonder why families have rules in place at home?
Using our gifts to help: What chores do you do at home?
I wonder why family members help around the house?
4. Relate students back to the Piggybook story read today.
o How might the lives of those in the Piggott family been different had the
family members besides the mother used their gifts to help each other?
o What rules might have been helpful to use in this family?
o How might the Piggotts have celebrated family celebrations before Mrs
Piggott left?
 o How might they have celebrated when she returned?
5. Discuss with students the Poster activity. Teacher first briefly revises with
students what makes a good poster.
o What do we usually make sure our posters have year 4’s?
o Answers such as:
- Border
- Colourful headings
- Coloured in pictures
- Size of font
- Whole paper is used (if paper is A3, I do not want small writing in the
corner, use your space wisely).
6. Teacher goes on to explain the elements of the poster required for this
assessment. Students are to first draw and create their own family trees on
15mins
the left half of the A3 paper, including those significant to them e.g. grand-
parents, siblings, parents, themselves etc. (consider those who come from
compromised family backgrounds such as adopted, loss of contact with
parents etc. and encourage to draw family tress of those closest to them
giving further examples of aunties, uncles, neighbours etc. Do not only list
parents and siblings for this reason.)
7. Discuss the following: Everyone belongs to a family. Most are born into their
families, though some are adopted. An adopted child has been loved twice.
Firstly, the parents who gave him or her life, wanted their child to have more
than they themselves could offer, and showed love by giving their children to
other parents who could offer better care. Secondly, the parents who have

adopted the child have shown special love by taking her or him as their own. 


8. Once the family trees have been created, beneath each member on the tree,
students brainstorm and write the ways in which that family member
contributes to family life by using their gifts to help.
9. Teacher will do a brief example on the IWB  Teacher draws a family tree of
 IWB
their chosen members. Under mother, they may dot point aspects such as:
cooks dinner every night, does the laundry every weekend, takes the Dog for
a walk etc. Teacher fills out a few other members as an example for students
till they grasp the concept.
10. Once the family tree is complete, using the knowledge revised above on the
gift of families’, students will display their family rules, celebrations and how
they co-operate with their parents.
11. Students may choose how they use the right half of the A3 paper to show this
by displaying the rules they have in their families, the events or times their
families celebrate together and how they co-operate with their parents. This
may be presented in any form, such as using pictures, brainstorming, writing a
journal etc.
12. Revise the details from above to activate thinking, briefly giving examples of
each: family rules, family celebrations and co-operating with parents.
 13. Whilst students go on with task, the teacher displays or writes up the  IWB with Poster Instructions
instructions on the whiteboard/smartboard ensuring students know what is  Rubric displayed on IWB or
expected along with the assessment rubric. Teacher then walks around and printed and displayed at the
monitors student work, observing work ethic etc. for anecdotal notes front of the class
assessment.
14. Students do not have to work in complete silence, a productive quiet buzz will
be allowed, however if off task and too noisy, silent work will be put forward.
15. For those students who finish early, encourage students to write a simple
prayer to God, thanking him for the gift of their Family.  Great Prayer Formula Sheet
16. Students are to collect the guide to writing a prayer of thanks and prayers  Some Prayer Beginnings and
starters from the teachers desk. Endings sheet

Lesson Closure:(Review lesson objectives with students)

1. To conclude the lesson, teacher asks everyone to pack up, hand in their poster
and remain seated at their desks.
2. If you have not finished your posters, you may spend time on these during silent
reading today.
3. Once students have handed their posters to the teacher to keep, the teacher
calls all students to pack away the used equipment, return to the mat and
sitting quietly.
4. At the conclusion of the lesson, teacher asks all students to take a minute to
think of something they have learnt today or to share their ideas they have
written about.
5. Go around the room and pick random people from each group to share their
idea.
6. Have a prayer of thanks created and printed on coloured card, place it on the
display to remind students of the wonderful gift of families.
7. Say the prayer of thanks together to conclude the lesson, then encourage
students to read the prayer of thanks they wrote to the class if they had time.

Transition: (What needs to happen prior to the next lesson?)

1. To transition to the next lesson, explain to the students that they are going to
Art so will have to get their art shirts and pencil cases and line up at the door
quietly. Point to one group at a time to move off and get their gear, lining up
ready to go.

Assessment: (Were the lesson objectives met? How will they be assessed?)
Mode of Assessment:
- Informal observation of students’ participation in Piggybook activity of
completing the statement with their contribution to family life.
- Formative Assessment: Rubric marking of poster once complete, assessing
the students’ demonstration of understanding and knowledge of the ways in
which people contribute to family life through gifts, rules, celebrations and
co-operation.  Anecdotal notes in Exercise
Assessment Strategy: book
- Anecdotal notes in exercise book of observations made throughout the lesson  Marking rubric
- Marking rubric of final assessment piece.