Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mr. Womack, and I'm really excited to be working with you today.

I've just got one of those feelings, that we're going to do brilliantly.

Today's lesson is called Harvest Festival in the UK, and it comes from the unit festivals.

How do they celebrate the natural world? By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to explain how some Christians in the UK celebrate Harvest Festival.

So let's get started, shall we? These are the key words we're going to be using today.

We're going to practise saying them together now.

I'm going to say them, and then you are going to say them.

So let's try the first one.

Harvest.

Harvest.

Harvest, means gathering in crops that are ripe and ready.

The next one is, thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving means showing gratitude.

And finally, we have, stewardship.

Stewardship.

Well done for saying those key words with me and keep your eyes peeled because we're going to keep using them throughout the learning today.

Here, is the lesson outline.

In the first part of the lesson, we're going to look at what is a harvest festival, and in the second part we're going to look at how do Christians show care at harvest time.

We're going to begin with what is a harvest festival.

Here, is Sam and Andeep.

Sam and Andy are talking about religious education.

Sam says, "Religious education often seems to be about people and the things they do.

I wonder why? And Andeep says, "We can understand different worldviews by learning about how people behave.

People show what is important to them by the things they do and the ways they celebrate." In this lesson, we will be learning by talking to different Christians about the celebration of harvest Festival in the UK, to help us understand Christian worldviews.

Sam and Andy are talking about saying thank you.

Sam says, "After my birthday, my mum says I should write letters or emails to say thank you to people who gave me presents." Well, that's lovely, Sam.

Maybe some of us have done the same thing.

Andeep says, "When we had a new baby in my family, we all went to the Gurdwara to say thank you to God for the baby." I wonder what you are thankful for, and I bet you have quite a few things.

You might want to pause the video now, while you think and reflect on the things that you are thankful for.

Here is David.

David has a Christian worldview and attends an Anglican church.

David says, "When I pray, I often give thanks to God that I have somewhere safe to live and enough food for each day.

Prayers of thanksgiving are important to me.

I say thank you to God every day." So it's time to check out our understanding now with a quick true or false question.

So, true or false? Christians might pray to God to give thanks.

You're going to need to pause the video now.

What do you think? Is the answer true or false, and why? The answer is true.

Christians might pray to say thank you to God for the good things in their lives.

Well done if you got that one right.

Look carefully at this photograph.

What can you see? And where might this photograph have been taken? You're going to want to pause the video now, whilst you inspect that photograph to find out what you can see and consider where this might have been taken.

I wonder what you said.

I wonder if you noticed the big cross at the top there.

That's a bit of a clue, isn't it? As to where this photo might have been taken.

And perhaps you spotted all of the lovely, colourful fruit and veg on display along with flowers.

Let's find out a little bit more about harvest festival.

As Sophia.

Sophia has a Christian worldview, she goes with her family to an Anglican church.

Sophia says, "In my church, we celebrate harvest by decorating the church with fruit, vegetables, and flowers.

At the harvest festival service, we bring tins and packets of food to church to add to the colourful decorations.

It looks really bright and colourful." I think that Sophia's display might look something like the one that we just looked at and inspected together.

Although she says that her church also bring tins and packets of food, I wonder what they're for.

Perhaps we'll find out soon.

Here's David.

David explains how he celebrates harvest.

David says, "In my church, we celebrate the harvest by saying prayers and singing songs of thanksgiving to thank God for all His good gifts to us.

Sometimes we have a harvest lunch in the church hall after the Sunday service." That sounds fantastic, doesn't it? So let's take a moment to check how understanding with a multiple choice question.

Which of these might Christians do at a harvest festival? Choose two answers.

Will you choose, A, decorate the church with fruit and flowers or B, decorate the church with fairy lights or C, say, prayers of thanksgiving to God? You're going to want to pause the video now, whilst do you think, which two of these are the right answer? So the correct answers are A, decorate the church with fruit and flowers, and C, say prayers of thanksgiving to God.

Well done if you got that one right.

It is time for a task now.

It's Sophia again.

Sophia is telling a friend from school what a harvest festival is all about.

What might Sophia tell her friend? Try to remember three things and you can use the photograph to help you.

You're going to want to pause the video now whilst you complete this task and I look forward to hearing what you put.

I wonder what you said.

Did you remember three things using the photograph to help you? You might have said something like this.

Christian celebrate harvest festival.

It is a time of thanksgiving.

Many churches are decorated with flowers, fruit and vegetables.

Some Christians bring tins and packets of food to church.

Christians give thanks for the harvest and for God's gifts.

Well done for putting in lots of effort to complete that task.

That means that we finished the first part of our lesson about what is a harvest festival.

We're now moving on to the second part of the lesson.

How do Christians show care at harvest time? Let's find out.

Harvest festival services are a time when many Christians think about the people who grow the food we eat.

Their Thanksgiving prayers might include giving thanks for people in other countries who work hard to grow crops such as rice and tea.

And you can see a picture here on the slide of people planting rice.

Without people in other countries producing food, we wouldn't have enough to eat.

So that's definitely something to be really thankful for, isn't it? Many churches use the harvest festival services to collect and distribute food and money to people in need.

Christians might collect food to donate to the local food bank.

And they might give money to help people in the UK and other countries.

Here's Sophia again.

Sophia explains more about harvest festival celebrations at her church.

Sophia says, "My dad told me that in the past, people usually brought fresh fruit and vegetables to church on harvest Sunday.

That was the tradition.

Now we bring tins and packets of food as well.

The tins and packets get donated to the food bank after the harvest service." So that's what those tins and packets were about.

So let's take a moment to check our understanding with a quick true or false question.

True or false? Christians might donate food to the food bank after the harvest service.

You're going to want to pause the video now, whilst you think, is the answer true or false and why? The answer is true.

Food from the harvest festival service might be donated to the food bank or to members of the local community who are in need.

Well done if you got that answer right.

Many Christians believe that they should be good stewards of the Earth because it was created by God.

Harvest services might include prayers and readings from the Bible about caring for the environment.

You can see the picture on the slide there of an environmental group planting trees.

And perhaps members of local churches have done similar things where they seek to care for nature.

Here's Niamh.

Niamh explains her ideas about harvest.

Niamh says, I don't go to church every week, but I like to go to a harvest festival service each year if I can.

I believe I have a responsibility to take care of the world.

Harvest celebrations remind me to take this stewardship of the earth seriously.

So let's check our understanding with a quick, true or false question.

Which of these is the best definition of stewardship? Is the answer A, planting fruit and vegetables? Is it B, saying thank you to God? Or is it C, looking after something carefully? You'll want to pause the video now whilst you think, which of these is the correct answer? The correct answer is C.

Stewardship means looking after something carefully.

Well done if you got that answer correct.

It's time for a task now.

Sam, thinks that harvest festival is all about decorating the church.

Andeep tells her that there is more to it than that.

Can you help Andy to tell Sam how Christians show care at harvest time? You're going to need to pause the video now, whilst you complete this task.

I look forward to seeing what you put.

Well done for completing that task.

I wonder what you said.

You might have said something like this.

Some Christians might show care at harvest time by, donating food for the food bank, being thankful for people who grow food in the UK and other countries.

Maybe you said, remembering to be good stewards of the world God created.

Or perhaps giving money to help people in need.

Maybe you said being thankful and sharing with others.

Or perhaps you said something else.

Did you think of any more ideas than the ones shown here? Well done for working really hard to complete that task.

That brings us to the end of this lesson.

So let's take a moment to reflect on what we've learned and summarise the work today.

We've learned that harvest is the gathering in of crops at the end of the growing season.

We've also found out that harvest festival celebrates this season through thanksgiving events in the church.

Special songs and prayers might be used.

And we found out that many churches use harvest festival services to collect and distribute food and money to those in need locally and overseas.

And finally, we've learned that Christians may also focus on stewardship by caring for the earth.

Well, I've had a really great time learning with you today, and I hope that you've enjoyed it too.

We've certainly learned a lot of different things about harvest festival in the UK.

That's the end of this lesson.

So I look forward to working with you again soon.

Well done.