Lesson video

Hello, I'm Mr. Hutchinson.

And this is our RE, we've been learning all about the religion of Judaism, and we've covered six lessons, you've worked so hard.

If you haven't watched those lessons already, then you can go back and catch up on those.

For the rest of you who have already learned all of those amazing things about Judaism, you're ready to write an essay.

And that's what our lessons this week are going to be all about.

So, today, we're going to be planning and writing the first part of an essay about Judaism.

So today, make sure that you've got these different things, okay, you need to be really well organised, you have to be writing a lot.

So make sure you've got a nice quiet space somewhere.

You've got this screen in front of you and you've also got a pen, something to write on an exercise book or notebook or a piece of paper, or maybe a few pieces of paper and a ruler.

Okay, you need those different items. If you don't have them, you can pause grab those now.

All set? All ready? All organised ready to have a great lesson? Great.

So first of all, we're writing an essay today.

But what is an essay? What is this thing that we're doing? Well, an essay is just another name for a long piece of writing, that's about one subject.

So an essay is a really long piece of writing.

It's not a story, it's not made up is about one factual thing.

It's all full of facts.

And you can write essays about all sorts of things, okay.

You could write essay, an essay about sharks if you wanted to, and you knew lots about that.

You could write an essay about World War I, if you knew lots about that, you can write an essay about the Amazon rainforest, or about mediaeval monarchs, or like we are, you can write an essay about Judaism because lots about Judaism.

So you're going to write an essay about Judaism, and essays are really neat, and they're full of facts.

Here's an example of one here.

They're chunked into paragraphs, and they share everything that you've learned.

So good chance to apply and organise everything that you've learned.

And first to get started, we need to plan Okay, so don't just go straight into planning an essay to writing an essay because your ideas will be all over the place, we plan what's going to go to each paragraph first that makes your essay more organised and easier to write.

So your plan should look something like this.

Obviously, it's not full yet.

You can see that I've got the title at the top here.

And the title of our essay is going to be how is Judaism unique? Unique means special, unique means, unlike anything else.

So Judaism as a religion is similar in some ways to other religions, but also very different in many ways.

And for your essay, I want you to tell me what makes it unique? What's special about Judaism? And you know loads of stuff that's going to help you to answer that question.

So we're going to write our planning sheet, we need to make sure for our planning sheet that it's got three columns.

The key information section so this box here, this column is where you put the key information that should be the biggest section, 'cause that's where all of our facts are going to go.

You probably need about eight or 10, lines, something like that, for each of the paragraphs, to plan each of the paragraphs and have a little section here for key vocabulary, for the key things that you're going to write.

So I'll just quickly show you how I would do that.

Okay, I'm just going to quickly model that for you.

So I've got my sheet of paper here.

And the first thing that I'll do is write my title so I can remember what I'm writing all about.

So my title was, How is Judaism Unique? So let's write that at the top here.

How.

I going to make sure that my writing is as neat as it could be.

How is Judaism, the religion of Jewish people, Unique? I'm going to put all capital letters because it's a title, and a question mark, so, that's my question.

Except for is just a isn't a noun or a main word, so it doesn't need a capital letter.

How is Judaism Unique? I'll underline that 'cause it's my title, my ruler has got a bit messy, because I was doing some artwork with it.

How is Judaism Unique? And I'm going to use this line for my line on the left.

That's where I'll put that I'm going to write about paragraph one.

All of this planning is going to be about paragraph one.

And the first section will be this column here is going to be my key information, all of my facts that I've learned, I'm going to need to remember.

And if you want to, you might want to go back and look over your notes just to remind you of the different things that you've learned.

Just read them back.

You could do that if you wanted to do.

and on this side, I'm going to write it right over on this side of the page because this is going to be a smaller column and this is going to be key, vocabulary, the words that I use that are special about Judaism, that just about Judaism key vocabulary, and I'll draw a nice line to separate those two columns so that my vocabulary doesn't get muddled up with my facts.

I'm using my ruler to make sure that my line is nice and straight and neat.

It's always important to complete work to a high quality.

And I'll draw a line across the top to show you that these are the titles of my columns.

And then I'm just going to count eight to 10 lines one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, I'll do 10 it doesn't have to be exact.

And this is going to be all of the planning space for my first paragraph.

Okay, so I've got my planning sheet.

Oh, it's got a bit squishy there, nevermind.

Maybe I can try to fix to that 'cause I want my work to be top quality.

Always have high standards of yourself, because you are so clever and so brilliant.

So make sure that you only complete work, that's the very best standard.

If that means you make a little mistake and need to redo it, that's absolutely fine.

Okay, that's looking a little bit better.

So I've got my planning sheet ready to go.

I'd like you please to get your piece of paper now and have a planning sheet just like that.

And it's really going to help you to write this essay.

So do take the time to get that organised, okay.

So I've got a picture there for you to look at, it should go through the same process as me.

Pause the video and write your planning sheet now.

Great, hopefully you've got a planning sheet.

So our first paragraph, what are we going to write about in our first paragraph, when we write our essay about Judaism, and how Judaism is unique? Well, we're going to go back to our first lesson and our first lesson was all about the covenant, the promise, the agreement between Abraham and God.

So can you remember what we learned about in that lesson? I wonder if before I show you what I'm going to put in that box, you could draw some pictures in the key information for Abraham and God, what did we learn about in that lesson? What was the promise? What was the covenant? What was the agreement? What happened in that lesson? It was 4000 years ago, this took place.

See what you can remember just by yourself, and what you can draw and write in key information and key vocabulary.

Pause the video and have a go.

Well done, great work.

I'm sure you've got lots of ideas down there, so have a look at that.

And I'm going to show you what I would write about and you might even have some extra ideas, but you should have said that we are in a land here Mesopotamia in Canaan, a long, long time ago about 4000 years ago in the Middle East.

And most people were polytheists, at this time, polytheists, poly, many, theist, God.

They believed that there were lots of different kinds of gods, they worshipped all sorts of different gods.

And God spoke to Abraham and said, "No, polytheism is wrong.

"There aren't lots of Gods there's just me.

"I'm the only God, so you can only worship me." And that means so that's monotheism, mono, one, theism, God.

So God said to Abraham, there's only one God and part of our covenant part of our agreement is that you should only worship me because I'm the only God.

God sent Abraham to Canaan.

And He said, "You'll have this Promised Land "and you'll have lots and lots descendants, "lots of children and great, great grandchildren, "and I'll give you a son, even though you're very old, "and your wife is old, "I'll give you a son." But then you'll see from this picture here, God tested Abraham and said, "You need to sacrifice your son, Isaac, "you need to kill Isaac on the mountain." And Abraham was ready to do it.

But God sent an angel and said, "No, don't sacrifice Isaac, I was only testing you "to see if you had faith in me, and you passed the test.

"So now, I will keep my promise to you.

"And you will have lots of descendants." And all those descendants, the descendants of Abraham, or that's the Jewish faith.

Those are people who are Jews, the descendants of Abraham.

That's the belief.

So I've got some key vocabulary words I want to use here.

I'm going to talk about where Abraham travelled from.

originally he was living in Ur, in Mesopotamia, that's where you travelled from, and lots of people were polytheists their.

God said, "No, you should be a monotheists "and I'll promise you a son, "and I promise you lots of descendants, "but you need to travel to Canaan with your wife Sarah." Then they have that son Isaac.

God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, but that was just a test.

And Abraham didn't need to do that.

So pause the video now add any pictures or any pieces of key vocabularies if you've missed them so that your plan is looking ready to go.

And make sure your plan is really complete.

Awesome work.

So we're going to now turn that plan into a paragraph, okay, so we're going to write our first paragraph of our essay, we've got our plan, I'm going to turn it into a paragraph.

The things need to remember is we need to write in full sentences, okay.

Good essays are not in note form, they're always in full sentences with a capital letter and a full stop.

Each sentence is a really important fact.

You're going to include all of the information or the vocabulary that you've learned.

When you start a new paragraph, you need to leave one blank line.

And I want you to imagine explaining the topic to somebody that's never learned about it before.

So just imagine this somebody, who doesn't know about Judaism.

And now you're the teacher and you're saying, "Well, let me explain it to you." But instead of explaining it with your voice, you're explaining it by writing it down.

So you should be ready to write your first paragraph now.

You've got your plan with all of your ideas that you're going to write about.

You've got your key vocabulary that you will include, and you've got your steps to success.

You're going to write full sentences, use key vocabulary, write in paragraphs and explain clearly.

I'm just going to show you how I would turn it into a paragraph just if you're thinking, "I'm not quite sure how to do this." I'll show you.

If you think, "I'm ready to go, I can write my paragraph." Then you can just pause the video and go.

But if you want to see me do one, then you can watch me.

So I've got my plan here that I'm going to write with, and I'm going to get a new piece of paper.

So I've got a blank piece of paper, and this is what I'm going to use to write my essay.

So my essay, I'm going to write the title at the top.

How is Judaism Unique? I need to keep that question in my head, because I need to be answering this question throughout.

How is it special? Well, one of the ways that it is special is that it's a monotheistic religion, most of the religions were polytheistic, lots of gods.

So how is Judaism unique? I'll start with that.

I will say, a long time ago.

And I want to be specific.

So it was about 4000 years ago, a long time ago, around 4000 years ago, most people were polytheists, polytheists.

I'm going to explain what that term means because remember, I'm imagining that I'm explaining this to somebody who doesn't know anything about Judaism or the amazing language that you know.

So I'm going to explain what that means in my writing.

Most people were polytheists.

This means, what does it mean? This means they believed in and worshipped many gods.

Okay, so I've talked about polytheism.

Now I'm going to talk about monotheism.

One man called Abraham was living in, Where was he living? Can you remember? Awesome it was Ur, In Ur, Mesopotamia Ur, was in that ancient land of Mesopotamia when he was visited by God, who told him that there was only one God.

And what's the name of that? What's the special name for that one, there's only one God? Monotheism.

He wanted Abraham to be a monotheist.

Okay, so I've already written lots and lots of amazing facts and four big sentences using my plan.

And at the moment I've just talked about this bit here, I haven't even spoken about Abraham going on his journey to Canaan and having his son and being tested by God, and the promise that God made, the covenant that God made.

I can write down all of that as well.

So my next part might be God made a covenant or promise to Abraham.

God made a covenant with Abraham.

And this is what Jews believe.

I'm not going to write Jews believe at the start of every sentence, because we know that we're writing about the Jewish faith and what Jews believe.

God made a covenant with Abraham.

Not everybody believes this, but this is what Jewish people believe.

He promised Abraham.

What did he promise Abraham? Well done.

Many descendants and a son.

So you can see here, by using my plan, I'm writing lots and lots of interesting facts all about what makes Judaism unique, and you can do the same.

So I'm going to leave you to it now.

Use your plan to write all about what the first covenant between Abraham and God was, In your first paragraph.

Pause the video and do that now.

Excellent work, we're ready for paragraph two.

You're working so hard, your brain is probably overheating, but keep it up because you've got so much knowledge in there you need to get out, and every time you get it, it out actually strengthens your memories and makes you even smarter inside your brain because you're using it, and reconstructing it and teaching people which makes it even stronger in your brain, so you'll know it for longer, well done.

So paragraph two was all about Moses, do remember the story of Moses and Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt? Moses, a very important prophet and leader in the Jewish faith.

And Moses was left in a basket in the bullrushes by his mother, because the Pharaoh was killing all the babies at the time.

Moses then grew up and became a prince, but had to leave Egypt and become a shepherd.

And when he was a shepherd, he saw that burning bush where God spoke to him and said, "Go back to Egypt and free my people.

"Let my people go." And you can see that picture there what do you think that picture is of? Can you see this bit here? What's he doing with his staff? That shepherd staff, what's he doing? He's parting the Red Sea there as he leads the Israelites out of Egypt.

And then later in the desert on Mount Sinai, Moses receives The 10 Commandments from God, a new covenant, a new agreement with God, follow these Ten 10 commandments.

And God promised them a land, a land of milk and honey, their own land, land of milk, honey, there's lots of amazing things, there'll be lots of amazing things there.

Can you remember anything else about Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt? Maybe you can add even more detail.

The vocabulary is I'm going to be writing about the pharaoh, and about how Moses became a prince then had to leave to become a shepherd.

Saw God in, why didn't see him, heard God in the burning bush.

He had to cover his eyes because God was too great and mighty.

10 plagues were then passed on to Egypt by God because the pharaoh wouldn't let the Israelites go.

So God sent 10 plagues and the last one was the angel of death, but it passed over the Israelites doors in their homes.

Moses parted the Red Sea as he led the Israelites out, on Mount Sinai received the 10 commandments.

So pause the video, make sure you got all of that language, that vocabulary, I ordered those pictures to help with writing your paragraph.

Great.

So now you're ready to write your next paragraph.

You've got your plan there, you can get started straightaway writing your sentences and I'm sure you're going to do a great job.

Pause the video and write your next paragraph, all about Moses and how the story of Moses help makes Judaism unique.

Phew! Cool, great work.

Maybe you need to get a little drink or a snack because your brains working so hard, you deserve it.

And we're almost done, our last paragraph now to plan and write.

So our last paragraph is all about where Jews worship, where Jews worship.

Now we know that Jews believe slightly different things.

And there's different types of Jewish people who interpret scripture in different ways.

They read scripture and think it means slightly different things.

So we're not going to say all Jews believe the same thing or all Jews worship in the same way or in the same place.

However, there are places of worship for Jewish people.

So there's different branches of Judaism all coming from Abraham.

But the Jewish place of worship is called a synagogue, and they come in all shapes and sizes and they're all over the world.

And inside a synagogue you'll find similar things.

You'll find the Ark of the Covenant, that special cupboard, you'll find the ner tamid, that eternal light.

And you will find a Torah, with the yad for reading that the rabbi will use.

So our key vocabulary about the different branches of Judaism, that they worship in a synagogue.

That synagogue will include an eternal light, and the Aron hakodesh, the ark, that's the Hebrew for Ark of the Covenant, the ark, the cupboard that keeps the covenant, the agreement between God and the Jews, which is the Torah.

The holy text, they've got that yad because it's disrespectful to touch that holy text with your fingers.

The rabbi might speak from the bimah, the speaking platform, and the rabbi is the teacher, the leader of the synagogue.

And in the synagogue, Jews might worship or sing.

And they might also listen to sermons, which are like lessons from the rabbi who's giving lessons based on the Torah.

So add any of that vocabulary to your plan so that you can use it in your paragraph and make your writing even better than it already is.

And once you've done that, sorry, I'll let you pause first.

I don't want to rush ahead.

So pause to add all of that vocabulary.

So you've got it all down, make sure you've got it.

Great, so I was rushing ahead.

I was so excited to get the third paragraph down.

Once you've got that you're ready to write that third paragraph.

So remember, use full sentences, include all that key vocabulary so that your paragraph answers the question of how Judaism is unique, and explain everything really, really clearly.

You are an expert so explain everything, expertly.

Awesome.

So you should now have three paragraphs all about why and how Judaism is unique.

You should have written about Abraham and the first covenant, you should have written about Moses and him leading the Israelites out of Egypt and back into Israel.

Eventually, Moses actually never gets into Israel but the people do get into Israel after wandering the desert.

and all about synagogues that place of worship for Jewish people.

Great work.

We're going to finish that essay off in the next lesson, but you've worked hard enough already, you've got one job left to do, which is to complete the quiz.

And if you'd like to send me what you've written so far, I would love to read it.

So you can do that by asking your parent or carer to take a photo of your essay and share it on Twitter.

And they'll just need to include the #ONAyeartwo, and #LearnWithOak and if they do that, then I will be able to see it.

Well done for working so hard.

I'm really proud of you, you rock.

You should feel proud of yourself that big piece of writing showing what an expert you are on another topic of Judaism.

I'll see you next time.

Bye.