Evaluation Lessons in RE

This report explores the thread of evaluation lessons throughout the subject curriculum. Evaluation is the third step within the new 4-step enquiry process that has been implemented this year. Once the children explore a concept in Step 1 and then investigate how this concept applies within a religion in Step 2, the children should then be able to answer the unit’s “big question” using their understanding from the subject knowledge gained. The pictures below show how the children have evaluated this term.

Learning from Stories in Reception

During the Summer term, Reception have been exploring the big question ‘What can we learn from stories?’. In this unit, they have listened to and discussed stories from different religions including ‘The Crocodile and The Priest’ from Sikhism and ‘Bilal and the Beautiful Butterfly’ from Islam. They have used this discussion to evaluate and reflect on topics such as how everyone is special and the beautiful things in the world.

The Easter Story in Year 2

In Year 2, the children finished off their learning on the Easter story, evaluating their big question ‘Why do Christians believe God gave Jesus to the world?’. After exploring the concept of resurrection and heaven and the Christian belief that Jesus came back to life, the children reflected on this and their own beliefs.

Buddhism in Year 4

In the unit ‘Could the Buddha’s teachings make the world a better place’, Year 4 children began the unit by discussing the concept of compassion and how this can make the world wonderful. Following lessons on different teachings of the Buddha, the children used their evaluation lesson to look back at a Buddhist story by illustrating it, reflect on what it teaches Buddhists and whether the teachings of the story could make the world a better place.

Big Questions in Year 6

In Year 6, the children evaluated the big question ‘How important is it for people to celebrate the lives of those they have lost?’. Earlier on in the unit, the children looked at significant milestones in peoples’ lives and how to get through difficult times. Using this, they then researched and presented how different religions celebrated and remembered the lives of those they have lost. Within the evaluation lesson, this child has shown how they have been able to use the subject knowledge to make comparisons between different religions and reflected on the importance of celebrating the lives of lost loved ones.