Year 5

New Beginnings 

We held our first whole class collective worship today; it was a beautiful service of welcome and new beginnings.

Service of Blessing and Commitment

Today, we had our first assembly in class.  We listened to the Word of God and prayed for our school during this year ahead. We made a commitment today to do our best and try our hardest to use the gifts and talent God has given us, especially when times get tough. 

Exaltation of the Cross 

On Monday, our assembly was on the ‘Feast of Exaltation of the Holy Cross’. This is a special day when we remember the sacrifice Jesus made dying on the cross to save us. Afterwards, we designed a cross in our Prayer Journals to show how thankful we are for the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross. 

Liturgy Leaders

We would like to introduce you to our new Liturgy Leaders. They carried out their first task today: monitoring our Prayer Table.

Year Five’s ‘Pinky Promises’

We have been considering where we can use our gifts and talents in the service of other people. Each of us wrote a promise to use our gifts/talents to help someone and placed it in our ‘pinky-promise’ basket in our prayer corner.

The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo

We recreated a section of the famous painting on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam: Adam’s hand reaching to touch the mighty right hand of our Lord. We used the grid method to ensure our drawings were precise. Then, we used flesh tones to add colour; we focused on highlighting the areas where the light touches the hands and using a darker shadow to deepen the darkest areas making sure that the whole illustration was blended perfectly.

Saint Michael the Archangel

We celebrated our Class Saint on Thursday as it was his feast day. We learnt all about him at the start of term and enjoyed completing a fact file about the chief of all the angels and of the army of God.

Celebration Liturgy: Creation and Diversity

We held a celebration liturgy in class to conclude our topic. We focused on the diversity of people and creation and our understanding of God as the Creator. Megan, Aoife and Teddy led our service. We all wrote reflections, which we attached to our prayer tree.

Freeze Frames - Miracles

After using Bible references to find different Miracle stories, we worked in groups to create a freeze-frame for a chosen one. We explored the use of expression and the possible thoughts of the characters. We considered what the onlookers might have said about Jesus after the miracles took place and how the lives of those involved, either witnessing or experiencing, were changed after what Jesus did.

Sacrament of the Sick

First, we looked at photographs of the Sacrament of the Sick being administered. We explored the gestures of laying on of hands and anointing with the Oil of the Sick. We heard the words that are said to the sick person as they are anointed with the oil on their forehead and hands: “Through this holy anointing may the Lord in his love and mercy strengthen you by the grace of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord who frees you from sin, save you and raise you up.” We wrote prayers for the sick to give to Fr Sean to take to the sick when he next visits them.

Laudato Si

We looked at the Laudato Si prayer and discussed the meaning. We thought about the water crisis and pollution in Flint, Michigan, USA and wrote a prayer for the people who live there.

Baptism of Jesus

As part of our Baptism unit, we looked at a stunning piece of artwork based on the baptism of Jesus and recreated our own version using watercolour paint.

Red Wednesday

Linden class wore red to show their support for persecuted Christians around the world.

Advent Promises

We all made an Advent promise to show what we are going to do during this season to prepare for the coming of the Lord.

Advent Assembly

At the beginning of our collective worship, we lit the second Advent candle. After singing ‘Stay Awake’ at the end of our assembly, we discussed how we can prepare for Jesus, the light of the world, this Christmas.

Prayer Journals

Today, we took a moment of silent reflection to express our thoughts and feelings about Advent in our prayer journals through art, poems or prayers.

Advent Art

This afternoon, we created a piece of art using oil pastels and then took part in Advent meditation. We thought about the hope felt by Elizabeth and Mary as they awaited the birth of their children: John, who prepare the way for the Messiah; and Jesus, who would be the light to dispel the darkness.

Christmas Nativity Scene

We visited the crib scene in the church and discussed the celebration of the Epiphany.

Collective worship

To end our Christmas unit in RE, we held a class liturgy. After thinking about the Nativity of Jesus and how some people in today’s world have nowhere warm to stay, we wrote prayers for the homeless, refugees and asylum seekers. We all shared our reflections during open prayer.