1. Core knowledge for pupils
RE expects some tough thinking.
You will learn to use some key words such as Blessed, Bible, Gospel, Beatitudes, justice, mercy. Can you apply these ideas for yourself? Try to use the words and explain how and why Christians try to put the teaching of Jesus into action.
RE always encourages you to be thoughtful and imaginative Can you learn to:
Respond thoughtfully to some ‘wise words’ from long ago, thinking for yourself about Jesus’ teachings.
Explore and describe some Christian beliefs and sources of wisdom so that you can say how and why Christians try to follow Jesus.

2. Which sentences won? Which ones did you think should have done better?

3. 32 Sentence Knockout
We are going to play a knockout discussion, to decide on the winning ideas about what makes us happy. You will have to think!
The ‘knockout’ activity, works like a sports draw: each of the sentences is ‘drawn against’ one other, and you have to decide by discussion which one is most likely to make us happy. That one goes through to the next round.
By the time you get to the quarter finals, semis and final, the sentences left will probably include some of the major things which make us happy
After the discussion, then you will be asked to create your own ‘8 sentences for the road to happiness.’

4. 32 Sentence Knockout: You are happy if…
You are happy if you are loved
You are happy if you have a friend
You are happy if school is over
You are happy if you have no worries
You are happy if there is peace in your country
You are happy if your family is together
You are happy if there is chocolate in your hand
You are happy if you have plenty of money
You are happy if you are helping someone else
You are happy if you have love in your life
You are happy if you are safe
You are happy if nothing scares you
You are happy if you get the joke
You are happy if you can forget tomorrow and yesterday
You are happy if you feel God near you
You are happy if you don’t expect much
You are happy if the sun shines on you
You are happy if you don’t let the rain get to you
You are happy if you are together with your mates
You are happy if you are together with your family
You are happy if you feel thankful, and say it!
You are happy if your pet loves you
You are happy if you make peace in your life
You are happy if you have a new games console and phone
You are happy if you know your mum loves you
You are happy if you are dancing to your favourite song
You are happy if you forget your troubles
You are happy if you take time to notice the beauty of the earth
You are happy if your pray
You are happy if you win
You are happy if you are loved by God
You are happy if you can be alone, but never lonely

5. Make a cartoon to show what Jesus meant by one of his 8 sentences for happy life.
This activity takes some difficult teaching of Jesus – the Beatitudes, from the Sermon on the Mount, and asks pupils to create a cartoon-style drawing that expresses the teaching.
Look at three other children’s work.
Look at the sayings of Jesus and decide which one you could turn into a cartoon. Think hard!

6. 9 year olds made these cartoons of their own beatitudes.
Do you think being happy with what you have is important? Why?
How would you draw a cartoon to show your ideas?

7. What do you think Christians mean by ‘having your heart right with God’? How would you draw this one?

8. Dan, 10, shows what he thinks about how you should react if people pick on you for no good reason.
Sometimes Christians have been picked on like this: it is called ‘persecution.’
Can you create cartoons for some more of Jesus’ surprising sayings? Try to get at the real meaning of the teaching.
On the next side is a simplified version of Jesus’ 8 Beatitudes or Blessings

9. The road to happiness: Jesus said:
You are happy if you rely on God, not yourself
God’s kingdom belongs to you
You are happy if you wish things were better
You will be comforted.
You are happy if you think you are low down
God will give you all the Earth
You are happy if you long for justice.
One day you will be satisfied
You are happy if you are full of mercy
Others will then show mercy to you
You are happy if your heart is pure
You will see God
You are happy if you make peace
You will be known as a child of God
You are happy if you are picked on for doing good
God’s kingdom belongs to you.

10. 8 sentences for the road to happiness
My sentences for the road to happiness
I think this makes people happy because…
I try to put this into practice by… 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

11. My Beatitudes Aiden Tompkins, age 8
Blessed are those who starve and thirst For they understand God's feeling.
Blessed are those who appreciate others' respect and love For they will respect and love back.
Blessed are those who tolerate the world For they listen to each other.
Blessed are those who are responsible for their actions For they are responsible to God.
Blessed are those who care for their neighbours For they care for God's love.
Blessed are those who trust their neighbours For they trust God and the world.
Blessed are those who feel friendship in others For they will be friends with the world and God.
Blessed are those who show happiness to the world For they show happiness to God.

12. Well done! Here are some things you may have achieved in this work
Working towards the expected outcomes for 11 year olds, pupils working at level 3 will be able to:
Describe simply what Jesus taught his followers in the Beatitudes;
Make links between ‘ancient wisdom’ and modern life, talking thoughtfully about what makes us happy;
Give a simple reaction to one or more of Jesus’ sayings, asking their own good questions about what makes us happy.
Working at the expected outcomes for 11 year olds, pupils working at level 4 will be able to:
Use words like ‘blessing’. ‘beatitudes’, justice and mercy to show they understand some meanings of Jesus’ teaching
Show their understanding of Jesus’ ideas about blessings and happiness, in a cartoon, discussion or piece of writing
Apply ideas from the Beatitudes to a story of Christian action in the contemporary world (from SUNARMA in Ethiopia).
Working beyond the expected outcomes for 11 year olds, pupils working at level 5 will be able to:
Explain what some of the Beatitudes mean, giving examples
Explain why these ‘8 Sentences’ are so important for Christian people, giving reasons for their own ideas
Express their own ideas and views about ‘the way to happiness’ in the light of the learning from religion they have been doing.

13. The visions of Saint Bernadette of Lourdes
14 year old Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes saw a series of 18 visions of Mary, the Mother of Jesus in a cave in A spring of water gushed up from the ground during one of these visions, and still flows today. She was amazed and overwhelmed by her visions. She was mocked and ridiculed, but she maintained her story, and the visions were eventually affirmed as genuine. Lourdes became famous because the appearances of the Virgin Mary there, and it became a centre for Christian prayer for healing. Over 160 years later, about 4 million pilgrims visit the grotto at Lourdes every year: it is a major place of Catholic pilgrimage in Europe. The children who did the work in this RE example had studied her life. They were asked to consider whether she is a good example of a person who put Jesus’ teaching, in the Beatitudes, into action. They created some pictures to illustrate ways in which Bernadette put Jesus’ teaching into action. Have a look, and see if you can do the same with another key Christian leader.

14. Jesus taught his followers: Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.’
Bernadette forgave people who wronged her even if they never said they were sorry.
In this work you will learn about the story of Saint Bernadette and about Jesus teachings. You can think for yourself: was she a good follower of Jesus?
Does her story help us to understand some of Jesus’ teachings better?

15. “Bernadette didn’t react to the police man or anyone else who was mean to her.”
Children were invited to choose one of Jesus’ 8 Beatitudes and apply it to the story of Saint Bernadette. Did she follow Jesus teachings? How?
This hard task enables lots of good thinking and real engagement with the meaning of Jesus’ words. Simple version on the next slide>

16. The road to happiness: Simple versions of what Jesus said in Matthew 5
You are happy if you rely on God, not yourself
God’s kingdom belongs to you
You are happy if you wish things were better
You will be comforted.
You are happy if you think you are low down
God will give you all the Earth
You are happy if you long for justice.
One day you will be satisfied
You are happy if you are full of mercy
Others will then show mercy to you
You are happy if your heart is pure
You will see God
You are happy if you make peace
You will be known as a child of God
You are happy if you are picked on for doing good
God’s kingdom belongs to you.

17. For Catholic Christians, Saint Bernadette is famous because she saw 18 visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. People did not believe her, and laughed at her. But she had faith in what she saw.
Jesus said: “Blessed are the merciful. They will receive mercy.”
“Bernadette forgave those who laughed at her.”

18. In this work, Year 4 teacher Trish Ebbrell of St. Werburgh's & St
In this work, Year 4 teacher Trish Ebbrell of St. Werburgh's & St. Columba's Catholic Primary School, Chester, wanted her pupils to get to grips with the Beatitudes. These are tough texts for 9 year olds, so she tried an approach which linked the sayings of Jesus to the life of Saint Bernadette. She asked the class:
Did Saint Bernadette live out the Beatitudes of Jesus? What do you think?

19. Saint Bernadette loved to take Holy Communion
Saint Bernadette loved to take Holy Communion. The children here think this shows she was hungry for righteousness, for God’s rule of justice in her life.

20. This child interprets the modern version of the Beatitude: “God will give you all the Earth: you are happy if you long for justice. Bernadette really wanted Holy Communion: that is how much she loved God.”

21. Jesus said: You are happy if you are poor in spirit
Jesus said: You are happy if you are poor in spirit. God’s kingdom belongs to you.
Saint Bernadette was not proud. She knew she was just one person, but she never gave up. Do you think God rewarded her?
Today, Lourdes, where she had her vision, is visited by over 4 million Christians each summer.

22. This pupil’s idea is that Saint Bernadette was poor in spirit
This pupil’s idea is that Saint Bernadette was poor in spirit. She may not have believed in herself, but she did believe in God, always.
“Bernadette: The Kingdom is everybody’s if in God.’

23. “Bernadette got slapped in the face by a lady
“Bernadette got slapped in the face by a lady. The lady was not happy with Bernadette because she kept going to the grotto.’
Did this make her a good follower of Jesus?

24. “Saint Bernadette still believed in what she saw even though lots of people laughed at her.”
Did this show that she was a good follower of Jesus? How?

25. Task: Can pupils write some blessings of their own?
Remind pupils that Beatitudes cane begin ‘Blessed are those…’ or ‘You are happy if…’
The second line says what will happen if a person follows the wisdom of the first line:
‘You are happy if you forgive other people. Then they will forgive you when you go wrong.’
Invite the pupils to discuss and then write 4 ‘Beatitudes; of their own, with spiritually wise ideas in them.
Topics could include: love, forgiveness, prayer, money, pride and humility, having an open heart or a pure heart, kindness, enemies and many more.
The next slide, by 9-year old Holly, shows how it’s done.

27. Task: More teachings, more inspiring lives
Take another story of a leader from a religious community and your teaching will give you some sayings from the scriptures of that religion.
Consider: did this leader put the scripture teachings into action? Draw a picture and show how the teachings were put into action by the leader you have been learning about. Was this leader a good follower?

28. Well done… did you show that you can…
Think carefully about the meaning of some sentences from the Bible.
Make a link between a famous life story and what Jesus taught.
Think of a simple ‘Beatitude’ of my own and illustrate it with a picture. (Expected for most 9 year olds)
Suggest different possible meanings for some of the Beatitudes.
Apply Jesus’ ideas about blessing and happiness to a famous life story for myself.
Express my own ideas about blessing and happiness in a clear and well thought out way. (Expected for some 11 year olds)