Christmas: deeper meanings
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can explain deeper meanings of the Christmas story for Christians.
Key learning points
- Understanding the deeper meaning of the Christmas story can help better understand Christian worldviews.
- The story of Christmas asserts that Jesus was both a human being and the Son of God. This is called the Incarnation.
- The Bible describes Jesus as the light of the world because he came to bring hope and understanding to human beings.
- Many Christians interpret the story of Jesus’ birth to show that God is interested in the poor and marginalised.
Keywords
Incarnation - Christian belief that God became human in the person of Jesus
Christmas - a special festival for Christians celebrating the birth of Jesus
Poor - being short of food, money, clothing or a home
Nativity - the birth stories of Jesus
Common misconception
Jesus was a special baby born as a king.
For many Christians, Jesus is both God and human and was born in humble circumstances.
Teacher tip
You could invite a Christian visitor into your classroom to talk to the pupils about the deeper meanings of the Nativity story for them. You could make links with any Nativity plays in your school or in your local church.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
5 Questions
Q1.Mary had a baby called ...
Q2.Where was Jesus born?
Q3.Who told Mary the good news?
Q4.Why did the wise men visit Jesus?
Q5.Did the wise men and shepherds visit Jesus together?
Assessment exit quiz
5 Questions
Q1.Where was Jesus born, according to the story?
Q2.Match the word to its description.
a special festival for Christians
being short of food, money, clothing or a home
the birth stories of Jesus
Q3.What do Christians call Jesus being both God and human?
Q4.Who were the first people to hear about Jesus’ birth?
Q5.What does the Christmas story show Christians about God?
To help you plan your 1 religious education lesson on: Christmas: deeper meanings, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 1 religious education lesson on: Christmas: deeper meanings, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 1 religious education lessons from the Jesus: why is he so important to Christians? unit, dive into the full primary religious education curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.