Learning objective
- To explore the themes of forgiveness in the Easter story through texts and personal responses.
Success criteria
- I can explain what forgiveness means.
- I can connect forgiveness to Jesus’ death and coming back to life.
- I can reflect on how forgiveness can affect relationships.
Religious Education Council Curriculum Framework for RE in England (non-statutory guidance):
- A1: Describe and make connections between different features of the religions and worldviews they study, discovering more about celebrations, worship, pilgrimages and the rituals which mark important points in life, in order to reflect on their significance.
- C1: Discuss and present thoughtfully their own and others’ views on challenging questions about belonging, meaning, purpose and truth, applying ideas of their own in different forms including (e.g.) reasoning, music, art and poetry.
See REC Curriculum Framework for RE in England (non-statutory guidance) – Religious Education Council of England & Wales.
Cross-curricular links
English
Reading – comprehension
Pupils should be taught to:
- Understand what they read by checking that the text makes sense to them, discussing their understanding and explaining the meaning of words in context.
- Retrieve, record and present information from non-fiction.
Spoken language
Pupils should be taught to:
- Use spoken language to develop understanding through speculating, hypothesizing, imagining and exploring ideas.
See National curriculum - English - Key stages 1 and 2.
RSE
Caring friendships
Pupils should know:
- That most friendships have ups and downs, and that these can often be worked through so that the friendship is repaired or even strengthened
Respectful relationships
Pupils should know:
- The importance of respecting others, even when they are very different from them (for example, physically, in character, personality or backgrounds), or make different choices or have different preferences or beliefs.
- Practical steps they can take in a range of different contexts to improve or support respectful relationships
See RSE Statutory guidance – contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
British values
- Tolerance of those with different beliefs.
- Mutual respect.
See Promoting fundamental British values as part of SMSC in schools (non-statutory advice) – contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v2.0.
Before the lesson
Check all images, videos, links and presentation slides are suitable for your class.
- Presentation: Easter story recall.
- Presentation: Forgiveness.
- Presentation: Forgiveness scenarios.
- Presentation: Jesus and forgiveness.
- Presentation: Wrapping up words.
- A4 paper cut lengthways into 4cm strips (one strip each).
- Whiteboard and pens (one each).
The Knowledge organiser provides a visual summary of the key facts and vocabulary for the unit. The children can use it throughout the unit to check keyword meanings or spellings and to help them remember important information when completing an activity. Find further ideas for using the Knowledge organiser to support adaptive teaching here.
Subject knowledge
Easter
Most people who follow the Christian worldview believe:
- Jesus died on the cross on a day called Good Friday and came back to life (resurrection) three days later.
- Jesus’ death and resurrection were God’s plan to forgive people’s sins (wrongdoings) and restore the relationship between God and humanity.
- The idea of a forgiving God and Jesus’s actions and teachings on forgiveness inspire them to forgive others.
The Last Supper
- In English translations of the Bible, it explains how Jesus shared bread and wine with his disciples at the Passover meal.
- According to Jewish law, leavened food (food made with a raising agent such as yeast) would not have been eaten at Passover so it is likely that this was an unleavened bread similar to flatbread or crackers.
- In the Pupil video: Holy week just the word bread is used reflecting the language used in English translations of the Bible.
Misconceptions
The children may believe that:
- ‘Easter is about chocolate eggs and bunnies’ – it is important to explain that while Easter is celebrated in different ways across cultures, its religious significance for many Christians focuses on the death and resurrection of Jesus. The symbols of eggs and new life are often used to represent the Christian message of hope.
- ‘Easter is only celebrated by Christians’ – it is helpful to explain that while Easter is an important religious festival for many Christians, some people with different worldviews also participate in cultural or family traditions during this season, such as egg hunts or spring-themed celebrations.
Lesson organisation
Optional: invite local community members to discuss what they learn about forgiveness from the Easter story.
For further guidance, see the link: Teacher guidance: External visitors.
Sensitivities
If you know a child has specific issues, consider discussing the lesson with them in advance and adapting it as needed. They might benefit from adult support. If problems emerge during the lesson, consult your Senior Leadership Team. It is the teacher’s responsibility to check all resources and lesson content to ensure it is suitable for their class setting.
Jesus’ crucifixion
- This lesson explores Jesus’ crucifixion, death and resurrection.
- When teaching these themes, present them sensitively and age-appropriately, avoiding graphic details about death and punishment. Focus instead on the broader message of hope and forgiveness.
- Some children might find the topics of crucifixion, death and resurrection to be a source of worry. Teachers should approach these themes with caution and be prepared to offer reassurance and clear, gentle explanations.
Forgiveness
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The concept of forgiveness might be challenging for some children due to their personal experiences. It is important to acknowledge that everyone has different experiences and feelings.
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Monitor and guide discussions to ensure they remain focused on the learning outcomes of the lesson.
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Allow children space to talk about their experiences and feelings if they wish to, but with no pressure or expectations to do this.
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Encourage empathy, understanding and respecting the views and experiences of others.
The wonder box
- Remind children that they can use the wonder box if they have questions or concerns they would rather not share in front of the class.
- The wonder box gives the children the opportunity to share questions they may not feel comfortable asking in class. More challenging questions can be researched and additional time can be given to consider them. Children who may find writing questions challenging could either use a recording device or ask an adult to scribe for them.
- See: Teacher video: The wonder box for information on how to create and use this resource.
Lesson plan
1: Recap and recall
Display the Presentation: Easter story recall and ask the children to discuss with their partner what event each image shows and the correct order of the events. Take feedback and drag and drop the images into the correct order.
Ask the children which image they think best links to the word ‘hope’, asking some children to explain their ideas to the class.
Presentation: Easter story recall
2: Attention grabber
Display slide 1 of the Presentation: Forgiveness and ask the children what they think forgiveness means. Reveal the definition on slide 2 and ensure the children understand the meaning.
Presentation: Forgiveness
Display slide 1 of the Presentation: Forgiveness scenarios, showing a familiar scenario. Ask the children to discuss the following questions in pairs:
- Who might choose to forgive who? (Emily might forgive Jamie for pushing her.)
- How easy or difficult might it be to forgive? (Answers may include: it could be easy because she knows he did it out of frustration and is normally kind; it might be hard as it was an unkind response to her accidentally doing something.)
- What might be a benefit of forgiveness in this situation? (Possible answer: a benefit would be that they would be friends and could enjoy playing together next time.)
- What might be a challenge? (Possible answer: Emily might feel worried about getting something wrong in a game another day because of how Jamie treated her.)
Presentation: Forgiveness scenarios
Repeat with the scenarios on slides 2-4, taking feedback after each slide.
Explain that many Christians believe the Easter story can teach them about forgiveness and that this will be explored in the rest of the lesson.
Remind the children that the Easter story is written in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, which includes recounts about Jesus’ life. Point out that many Christians believe these events to be real events that happened around 2,000 years ago, whereas other people view them as stories that may not have actually happened as written.
3: Main event
Watch the Pupil video: Holy week and ask the children to note down on their whiteboards all the times someone did something unkind or upsetting to Jesus.
Pupil video: Holy week
Questions
- How would you expect Jesus to feel? (Answers may include: upset; hurt; angry; disappointed; sad.)
- How would most people react to these things being done to them? (Answers may include: be angry towards others; try to get revenge; not want to speak to the people involved.)
Display the Presentation: Jesus and forgiveness and read the quote on slide 1.
Presentation: Jesus and forgiveness
Use slide 2 to display the questions, asking children to discuss them in pairs before taking feedback briefly.
Questions
- Why is this surprising? (Answers may include: even though Jesus was being hurt, he asked for forgiveness for those hurting him; people usually ask for help or get angry when they are treated badly, but Jesus was kind and forgiving; Jesus showed love to those who were against him.)
- Who is Jesus talking to? (Jesus is talking to God, who he calls “Father”.)
- What do you think he meant? (Jesus wanted God to forgive the people who were crucifying him; He believed they did not fully understand he was the Son of God.)
- Christians generally believe that Jesus is God on earth, so if Jesus is forgiving, what might Christians believe about God and forgiveness? (Answers may include: since Jesus is forgiving, Christians might believe that God is also forgiving; God is kind and willing to forgive people when they do wrong; Christians should try to forgive others, just as God forgives them.)
Point out that Jesus forgave people although they did not say sorry or try to make things better.
Arrange the children into groups of three and hand out one quote from the Activity: Forgiveness to each group (there are seven quotes so some groups may have the same quote).
Ask the children to read their quote and discuss what it suggests some Christians might believe about forgiveness, what a Christian’s response might be in terms of how they live and what their personal thoughts are on the quote recording their ideas on the Activity: Forgiveness.
Questions
- What do these quotes suggest Christians believe about God? (Answers may include: God is forgiving; forgiveness is important to God; God wants to forgive people so the relationship between God and people is mended.)
- How might believing God will forgive them impact the way a Christian treats other people? (They may be more likely to forgive others.)
- How do you feel about forgiveness – being forgiven and forgiving others? (Answers may include: being forgiven feels good because you have a fresh start and can stop worrying about what you did wrong; both are important to show you love and care for others; if you want to be forgiven you need to forgive others.)
- Jesus doesn’t mention saying sorry. Does someone have to say sorry to be forgiven? (Answers may include: yes because it shows you wish you had not hurt the other person and will try not to do it again; no, the person forgiving can choose to forgive without knowing whether or not the person is sorry; they do not have to but it might make forgiving easier if someone says sorry.)
Ensure the children understand that many Christians believe Jesus’ sacrifice allows people to be forgiven and have a relationship with God, with his death and resurrection symbolising God’s forgiveness.
Forgiveness chain
Ask the children to suggest words they associate with forgiveness and record these on the whiteboard (for example: sorry, friends, relationship, love, kind, repair, strong, etc.).
Give each child a 4cm wide strip of paper. Ask them to write examples of forgiveness or words associated with forgiveness using colours they might associate with those feelings.
Once completed, ask each child to join their strip to another child’s in a link to form a whole class chain.
Questions
- How is forgiveness like a chain? (Answers may include: when one person forgives, it can encourage others to do the same, like links in a chain; if no one forgives, the chain of anger or hurt continues, but forgiveness can break it; just like a chain holds things together, forgiveness can bring people closer; a chain can be strong and hold people together, just like forgiveness strengthens relationships.)
- How do you feel when you forgive or when someone forgives you? (Answers may include: happy, because it feels good to let go of bad feelings; relieved, as it helps the bad feelings go away; peaceful, because anger and sadness go away; thankful for getting a second chance.)
- Do you always have to forgive someone for doing wrong? (Answers may include: some Christians believe they should always forgive because God forgives them; forgiving can help people feel better, but it can be very difficult in some situations; it is okay if forgiveness takes time, especially if the hurt was very big; forgiving does not mean forgetting, you can forgive but it doesn’t mean the bad thing goes away; sometimes people may choose not to forgive straight away, but may do over time.)
4: Wrapping up
Remind the children of the unit question ‘Why and how is Easter celebrated?’
Ask the children which part of the question they have learnt about in this lesson (Why is Easter celebrated?).
Ask the children to try to say one sentence to their partner answering the question using a word from the Presentation: Wrapping up words. Then ask them to find a new partner and tell their new partner the sentence their first partner said.
Repeat the activity with new partners, asking them to try and use a different word in their sentences.
Presentation: Wrapping up words
Extended-mode explainer videos
How to extend your display to view the lesson page and preseantion mode simultaneously. Choose your operating system below to watch the video
If you need further support with extending your display,
please contact [email protected].
Extended-mode explainer video: For Mac
Extended-mode explainer video: For Windows
Adaptive teaching
Pupils needing support:
Could pre-watch the Pupil video: Holy week to recap the story prior to the lesson; sentence starters; should use the Resource: Forgiveness words when completing their forgiveness chain strip; could focus on one of the shorter quotes from the Activity: Forgiveness and discuss their answers verbally rather than recording in writing.
Pupils working at greater depth:
Should explain how non-Christians could learn from Jesus’ teachings and actions; could consider the role of the wrongdoer in forgiveness e.g. saying sorry for their actions; could look up and read the bible quotes from the Activity: Forgiveness in a physical or online bible.
Assessing progress and understanding
Pupils with secure understanding indicated by: explaining what forgiveness means; identifying links between the Easter story and forgiveness; reflecting on how forgiveness can affect relationships.
Pupils working at greater depth indicated by: describing the benefits and challenges of forgiveness in relationships; discussing how Jesus’ teachings and actions impact Christian beliefs about God; discussing how the concept of forgiveness is relevant to non-Christians.
Vocabulary definitions
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betray
To hurt someone who trusts you.
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crucified
Being executed by being nailed or tied to a cross.
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forgiveness
Letting go of angry or hurt feelings and giving someone another chance.
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New Testament
Part of the Christian Bible that include the stories about Jesus and his teachings.
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sacrifice
Giving up something valued for the sake of something else.
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sin
An action or behaviour which is believed to break the laws given by God or a Higher Power.
In this unit
Assessment - R&W Y3: What happens if we do wrong?
Lesson 1: Who decides what happens after we do wrong?
Lesson 2: Why might confession be important after wrongdoing?
Lesson 3: How do some people seek God’s forgiveness?
Lesson 4: How can wrongdoing affect the soul?
Lesson 5: How do some Christians ‘cleanse’ the soul from wrongdoing?
Lesson 6: How might karma affect the soul?
Optional: What can Easter teach about forgiveness?
