Year 9 RE at STM

We have started the topic “The Spiritual Quest”. In our first lesson we will be planning our title page. Your homework is to finish this title page!

To help you, here are the Aims of this unit.

1) What are the Big Questions we have?
2) Why do some people believe that there is a God?
3) Is God a good designer?
4) What is free will?
5) What about other religions?
6) What are the similarities and the differences between Christianity and Islam?
7) What are the Five Pillars of Islam, and what can we learn from them?
Why does a good God allow suffering?
9) What is the purpose of life? Why are we here?
10) What happens when we die?

I hope this has given you some ideas – I will now add a link to some previous good examples of title pages on this topic!

It’s always good to reflect on the term just passed, and to look forward to the term to come.

My main concern during the term just passed is that I haven’t always given you the best homework, it has sometimes been rushed, and I haven’t always managed to post it on here! So my new term resolution is to post your homework on here so that you can get it all done!

Look here on a regular basis – hopefully by Sunday morning – to see what your homework is for that week! We are covering some Big Questions this half term – I hope you enjoy them!

Complete for Monday 21 September 2009.

Make another brick for the Peace Wall. Remember, the theme is “2012 Peace Games”. You could make a brick that illustrates the Olympic Games or the Olympic Values:

* Friendship
* Peace/Unity
* Striving
* Determination
* Fair Play
* Optimism
* Inspiration

To be completed by Friday 11 September.

Complete the Jesus of the Gospels front cover.

Include pictures and words related to Jesus; add some colour!

I did not set any new homework last week, since we missed a few days, and you had completed your assessment during Week 1. However, I hope this image helps you to prepare for this next week’s work! (Emmm … it’s a bit on the big side! But hopefully that means you can see it clearly!)

You could leave a comment answering the following questions as an extension task. A prize for the best answer!

1. Describe what is happening in this picture.
2. Who are the people in the image?
3. What symbols are used to represent the Holy Spirit?
4. What do these symbols teach us about the Holy Spirit?

Homework due in on Monday 28 April.

Although this week we will be completing the assessment for the unit of work, Jesus in the Gospels, your homework is to prepare for the new unit of work on the Holy Spirit, by producing the front page for this topic using key words and pictures – in colour! It is a pleasure to look through some of your books where the four topics we have already covered can be seen by each colourful frontispiece. Keep it up!

This half term we will be learning about: The Holy Spirit
By the end of the unit we will know:
• What is a mystery?
• What are mysteries of faith?
• How is God full of surprises?
• What are the difficulties of exploring the mystery of the Trinity?
• What are the images of the Holy Spirit?
• What exactly is The Holy Spirit?
• What happened at Pentecost?
• What is The Sacrament of Confirmation?
• What are the gifts of the Holy Spirit?

Here’s the latest – Holy Week Geography! I had wanted to make up a map based tour for you, but didn’t know what to do – so I asked around on the internet, and someone very kindly led me to a few very good sites!

Google Map of Passion Week.

From the OpenBible blog.

Another Google Map which includes Bethany.

Another blog that features the above Google Map.

A Catholic Geographer blog.

Task: I would like you to study the Google Map, and post a comment here with three things that you have noticed. There are no three things in mind that I am “fishing” for – I just want you to reflect on the last journeys that Jesus made in his life on earth. For example, I have noticed that Jesus must have travelled about 3.5km or so between being arrested and being crucified. What things catch your eye?

This is the post in which I will add some links to websites that are related to the study of Jesus in the Gospels. Remember, these websites are external links and do not necessarily follow Catholic beliefs. Bear that in mind when reading; consider bias and also position of faith.

Religion Facts: The Life of Jesus in the Gospels

What did Jesus look like? – Huge variety of images

Interpreting the Gospels: Gaining Insight into the Ministry of Jesus

Wiki article on Jesus

Wiki article on the Historicity of Jesus

Catholic Encyclopedia: Gospel and Gospels

I may add more to the list later!

Task: Read two or more of these websites. Write a comment below, summarising what you have learnt and whether or not you think the account is biased/unbiased and accurate/misleading.

DSC04528-G Of G, originally uploaded by lyng883.

What type of tree is this? Where is it? What scene might it have witnessed that involved Jesus?

Answers as comments below by 21 April! (I won’t reveal any answers until then, so don’t worry if it doesn’t show up! And if you post it twice by accident, don’t worry, I’ll only let one through!)

Homework due on Monday 17 March.

Complete the front page for the new unit, Jesus of the Gospels.

Special mentions for the last piece of homework go to Temi, Terri, Katrina and Joseph P. I’m definitely going bananas for FairTrade bananas …!