1. To learn about the ceremonies that take place in Islam & in Judaism when a baby is born. Last RE lesson we talked about the ceremonies in Christianity that take place when a baby is born. What things can you remember? There is a passage in the Bible (the Christian Holy Book) that says: ‘Train a child in the way he should go, & when he is old he will not turn from it.’ (Proverbs 22:6) What do you think?  Should children be brought up learning about their parent’s religion or should they have no religious teaching & be free to choose their religion when they are older?  Explain what you think…

2. You need to find out about what Jews & Muslims do when babies are born.  You will work in pairs – each pair needs a sheet of A4 plain paper & a coloured pen.  Pairs will either look at what Jews do or what Muslims do – I will tell you which religion you are going to look at!  If you are looking at Jews, draw a brainstorm & write in the centre: What do Jews do when a baby is born?  If you are looking at Muslims, draw a brainstorm & write in the centre: What do Muslims do when a baby is born?  These text books will help you with your research: Jews ‘Discovering Religions: Judaism’, page 44 ‘The Jewish Experience’, page 31 Muslims ‘Discovering Religions: Islam’, page 44  You need to write down, in your own words, as much as you can find out.

3. Your task was: You need to find out what Jews & Muslims do when babies are born.  In your pair you have found out about one of the two religions’ ceremonies when a baby is born.  Now you need to join another pair who have found out about the other religion – I will tell you which pair you’re going to join.  Now, as a group of 4 you need to look at both of your brainstorms & look at the differences & similarities between the two religions. What did you find out?  Now, in your exercise books you need to draw a Venn diagram – what is a Venn diagram?  You need to label one side of the diagram: What Jews do when babies are born.  You need to label the other side of the diagram: What Muslims do when babies are born.  The centre of the diagram is where you record the things that are the same in the 2 religions.  The two sides of the diagram are where you record the things that are different about the 2 religions.  You can either write your facts as bullet points or as paragraphs.

4.  You could sum up ceremonies that celebrate babies being born in Christianity, Judaism & Islam as being about: Willies, Water & Whispering (!)  Can you explain what this means?