Download What this unit contains

Buddhism Part 1
Unit 1 Title: The Buddha and Buddhist Teaching
Year:
What this unit contains
This unit introduces pupils to the story of the Buddha’s life.
Where the unit fits and
how it builds upon
previous learning
This is the introductory unit on Buddhism, based on materials from two sections of Buddhism Part 1.
Extension activities and
further thinking
 Describe some of the thoughts and feelings involved in their own reflections.
 Describe key events in their own lives and explain why they are significant.
 Explore how the journey of life leads to an end on earth and find out what Buddhists believe about what happens
after death.
 Make a poster or booklet to raise the awareness of others about caring for the local community.
 Relate issues that were raised in stories to aspects of their own lives and explore through reflective writing.
Vocabulary
Buddha
Buddhism
Siddhartha
SMSC/Citizenship
change
Prince
mudra
Bodhi Tree
suffering
truth
holy
meditate
death
Southwark Education Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education
 Qualities of ‘good people’.
 Ultimate questions of meaning & purpose.
 Belonging to a community – roles & responsibilities.
Non-statutory units
Page: 1
Buddhism Part 1
Unit 1 Title: The Buddha and Buddhist Teaching
Year:
Unit 1 Session 1
Learning objectives
A
T
1
Pupils should:
 Know that hand
gestures and facial
expressions can
convey meaning;
 Share feelings
about the different
images of Buddha.
A
T
2


Suggested teaching activities
Focus for assessment
Talk about how faces and hands can show feelings.
Let pupils work in small groups / pairs to examine a
range of pictures from magazines or newspapers
expressing emotions / feelings through faces and
hands. Let each group feed back about one image
to the class, describing what they can deduce from
the picture.
Resources
Look at images of Buddha and particularly at his
facial expression and mudras. Explain that the
Buddha was an important teacher who lived many
years ago and that these images express something
about him.
Images of the Buddha
demonstrating a range of
symbolic hand positions.
Discuss the Buddha’s facial expressions and body
language in the images. How do the images make
pupils feel about the Buddha? Find out what the
different hand positions (mudras) mean.

Sensitivities, points to
note, resources

In pairs let pupils discuss how a variety of hand
gestures and facial expressions can convey positive
meanings.

Pupils should draw hands demonstrating a positive
message, e.g. peace, welcome, thank you and
record one ‘mudra’ explaining its meaning.
Southwark Education Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education
Non-statutory units
Pictures from magazines
or newspapers showing a
range of emotions
expressed through faces
and hands.
Video: Clearvision Trust –
Buddhism for Key Stage 2
programme 1 and
teacher’s book.
Page: 2
Buddhism Part 1
Unit 1 Title: The Buddha and Buddhist Teaching
Year:
Unit 1 Session 2
Learning objectives
A
T
1
Pupils should:
 know that Buddha
was a human being;

 know that the
Buddha was once a
prince who wanted
to find answers to
the problem of
suffering and
dissatisfaction in
life;

Suggested teaching activities
Focus for assessment
Recall work from previous lesson and explain that in
this lesson pupils will find out more about the
Buddha.
Watch a video or read the story of the Buddha
focussing on ‘The Four Sights,’ including the
wandering Holy Man searching for meaning.
Brainstorm the questions the Buddha might have
been asking. Point out to pupils that the Buddha
taught that ‘all things change’. How did the four
sights lead him to this teaching?

 be able to say
where they would
go/who to go to for
answers to
questions;
 know that reflection
and meditation are
important to
Buddhists.
A
T
2
How do we find the answers to questions? Talk
about getting answers from people, books, places
that are helpful. Talk about why the Buddha left
home looking for answers and why meditation is so
important to Buddhists.
Continue the story to find out about Buddha’s
meditation under the Bodhi tree – where the answer
came to him. He was ‘enlightened’.


Sensitivities, points to
note, resources
Resources
Video:
Clearvision Trust:
Buddhism for Key Stage 2
Espresso & LGfL Faiths 2
CD Rom: story – The
Buddha
Picture of the Buddha
meditating under the
Bodhi tree.
NB if pupils are concerned
about the Buddha leaving his
home and family, explain
that in the palace there were
many people who would
care for his family and that it
was accepted in their culture
that people would go on
spiritual journeys in their
lives.
Practice sitting quietly, thinking about someone who
has helped to find an answer to a problem or a
problem that is currently a worry.
Southwark Education Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education
Non-statutory units
Page: 3
Buddhism Part 1
Unit 1 Title: The Buddha and Buddhist Teaching
Year:
Unit 1 Session 3
Learning objectives
Pupils should:
 know that the
Buddha taught that
people should be
generous, kind,
truthful, helpful and
patient;
 describe ways in
which children can
use their hands in
positive ways.
A
T
1
A
T
2

Suggested teaching activities
Focus for assessment
Explain that the Buddha taught that people should
be generous, kind, truthful, helpful and patient. The
story that you are about to tell the class describes
this.
Sensitivities, points to
note, resources
Resources
Buddhism Key Stage 1
book, (Buddhist Education
Foundation UK).
Read / tell the story ‘The Crippled and the Blind Man’
and explore the issues of the story through role-play.



Human beings can use hands for good or bad
purposes. Discuss some of these as a class.
Kind hands – using outlines of hands, through
selecting/adding words/pictures, pupils should show
how to be generous, helpful, and truthful.
Southwark Education Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education
Non-statutory units
Page: 4
Buddhism Part 1
Unit 1 Title: The Buddha and Buddhist Teaching
Year:
Unit 1 Session 4
Learning objectives
Pupils should:
 know that the
Buddha taught
respect for all living
things and not to
hurt them;
 describe how to
take care of class
equipment and
school grounds.
A
T
1
A
T
2
Suggested teaching activities
Focus for assessment
Watch a video version or read the story ‘Prince
Siddhartha and the Swan’.

Resources
In small groups talk about why Siddhartha looked
after the swan and feed back to the class or hot seat
the story with pupils being characters from the story.

Sensitivities, points to
note, resources
Clearvision Trust
storybook
'Siddartha and the Swan'
Swan shaped paper

On swan-shaped paper write down why Siddartha
was looking after the swan.
In small groups discuss how to look after school
areas, grounds, school, insects, animals, and plants.
Each group should record a statement of how
everyone should behave in order to make their
improvements happen.
Unit 1 Session 5
Southwark Education Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education
Non-statutory units
Page: 5
Learning objectives
A
T
1
A
T
2
Suggested teaching activities
Focus for assessment
Sensitivities, points to
note, resources
Assessment Levels
Pupils should:
 know that Buddhists
believe that all
things change;


 identify changes in
their own lives.

Recall the story of the Buddha and the four sights.
What the Buddha was realising was that nothing
stays the same and everything changes. Recall what
the Buddha found out about life from the 4 sights
and the questions he was asking.
Level 1 Attainment target 1
Pupils will recall the story of the Buddha
and recognise the symbols, of change in
the story.
Attainment target 2
Pupils talk about their own experiences
and feelings, what they find interesting
or puzzling about change in the world.
As a class make a list of as many changes in lives of
humans that they can think of up to the age of
members of the class e.g. height, teeth.
Level 2 Attainment target 1
Pupils retell the story of the Buddha and
suggest meanings for the four sights.
Attainment target 2
Pupils ask, and respond sensitively to,
questions about their own and others’
experiences and feelings in relation to
suffering, life and death. They recognise
that some questions cause people to
wonder and are difficult to answer.
Make individual timelines of pupils’ lives to date.

Discussing other changes such as seasons,
lifecycles etc. introduce the fact that Buddhists
believe in the cycle of life - death - rebirth.

Assessment task
Pupils should
 describe three examples of how the Buddha's
teaching that 'all things change' can be seen in
everyday life
 and describe how the ‘4 sights’ demonstrated
this to the Buddha.
Southwark Education Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education
Non-statutory units
Resources
‘Beginnings and endings
with lifetimes in between’
by Mellonie & Ingpen.
ISBN: 1855617609, Paperback
Publisher: Chrysalis Books
Page: 6
Buddhism Part 1
Unit 1 Title: The Buddha and Buddhist Teaching
Year:
Unit 1 Session 6
Learning objectives
Pupils should:
 know that Buddhists
teach that actions
have
consequences;
 be aware of
thoughts and
feelings and how
these can lead to
actions, which also
have
consequences.
A
T
1
A
T
2

Suggested teaching activities
Focus for assessment
Resources
Camera or digital camera
Explain that the Buddha taught that actions have
consequences. The class are going to see if they
always agree with that.



Sensitivities, points to
note, resources
Set out a series of situations appropriate to the class
where actions result in different types of outcomes.
In small groups role-play one situation each
exploring a number of different outcomes, to same
situation. These examples should include ways that
people sometimes speak or act thoughtlessly. Share
outcomes with the class.
Discuss how actions have consequences using
topical, school / classroom, national / international
examples. Take one topical situation and suggest a
range of outcomes that may occur from proposed
actions.
Record using digital camera ICT or make a poster
warning of the consequences of an action.
Southwark Education Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education
Non-statutory units
Page: 7