Christmas: deeper meanings through art
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can understand how art is used to tell the nativity story.
Key learning points
- Over centuries, the nativity story has been drawn by many artists to express the idea of incarnation.
- Symbols such as a halo are used to show that Jesus and Mary are holy.
- The nativity scene can be presented in different ways depending on the cultural background of the artist.
Keywords
Icon - a person or thing regarded as worthy of worship
Halo - a glowing ring around someone's head, often seen in pictures of angels
Symbol - when something stands for something else, like a heart meaning love
Common misconception
Jesus was born in a European-looking stable and it was snowing outside.
We do not know what Jesus or Mary looked like but he was born in the Middle East. Many artists paint this scene in line with their own culture.
Teacher tip
If you have a local church with an image of the nativity in it, you could you arrange a class visit, or maybe share images of it with your class. Alternatively, pupils could go and find some other images of the nativity from around the world and compare these to the ones shown in this lesson.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
5 Questions
Q1.What is the Christmas story mainly about?
Q2.Why do Christians think the Christmas story is important?
Q3.Christians believe that Jesus was both human and the of God.
Q4.What does light help us do?
Q5.Where was Jesus born according to the Christmas story?
Assessment exit quiz
5 Questions
Q1.What is the nativity story about?
Q2.A halo is a sign that someone is .
Q3.Why might nativity scenes look different in different countries?
Q4.Where was Jesus born, according to the Bible?
Q5.Why do some Christians use icons to tell the nativity story?
To help you plan your 1 religious education lesson on: Christmas: deeper meanings through art, 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 through art, 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.