Christian celebrations: Advent and Christmas
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can explain the significance of Advent and Christmas for Christians.
Key learning points
- Many Christian Churches follow the liturgical cycle as a way of organising the year into seasons.
- The liturgical cycle identifies important festivals; a festival is a day or period of celebration.
- Advent is a four week period of preparation before the birth of Jesus.
- Christmas is a Christian festival celebrating the birth of Jesus; most Christians celebrate this on the 25th December.
- Many Christians celebrate Christmas by attending church services, singing carols, and exchanging gifts.
Keywords
Advent - a season observed in many Christian churches as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus
Christmas - a Christian festival celebrating the birth of Jesus
Festival - a day or period of celebration, typically for religious reasons
Common misconception
All Christians celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December.
Some Christians, for example Eastern Orthodox Christians, celebrate Christmas on the 7th of January.
Teacher tip
You may wish to remind students of the meaning and importance of the incarnation prior to beginning this lesson.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Christians believe God is omnipotent, which means all- .
Q2.The Apostles’ is a summary of Christian beliefs, including belief in the Trinity.
Q3.What is the Christian belief about the Trinity?
Q4.What do some Christians believe about the story of the Fall in Genesis?
Q5.What do Christians believe will happen on Judgement Day?
Q6.What is the meaning of grace in Christianity?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.The liturgical cycle organises the year into different which include special festivals.
Q2.What is the main purpose of Advent for most Christians?
Q3.How long does the season of Advent last for most Christians?
Q4.The white in the centre of the Advent wreath symbolises Jesus as the light of the world.
Q5.At Christmas, Christians celebrate the , when God became human in the person of Jesus.
Q6.When do many Eastern Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas?
To help you plan your 10 religious education lesson on: Christian celebrations: Advent and Christmas, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 10 religious education lesson on: Christian celebrations: Advent and Christmas, 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 4 religious education lessons from the Living the Christian life unit, dive into the full secondary religious education curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.