Christmas Reflection Day
For a story that is so well known, it’s surprising how many misconceptions remain around the Christmas story. e.g. multiple times, KS2 pupils have asked where Father Christmas fits in. Christmas Reflection enables pupils to slow down and look afresh at the nativity story and consider how it might be relevant today.
Ingredients
What you'll need
Leaders
1-2
Children
Easily scalable to all group sizes
Prep
Read the teaching programme
Gather equipment
Delivery time
3 x 1 hour sessions
Equipment
Printed resource sheets (see downloads)
Session equipment (listed in the teaching programme)
A selection of Baptism cards (if you do not have any, ask your local churches or the pupils in your class)
Method
How to do it
- Session 1 (1 hour):
Retell the Christmas story, scrutinising it from a range of vantage points. - Session 2 (45 mins):
Consider what the nativity characters knew/did not know of Jesus' identity and what they expected from his life. - Session 3 (1-1.5 hours):
Notice the strangeness of Simeon and Anna's reaction to meeting Jesus and question what lay behind this. Use this to inform what Mary 'treasured and pondered in her heart'. Pupils to consider their personal response to the story.
Outcome
From completing this teaching programme, pupils will:
Be better able to retell the Christmas story and consider the implications of it for the protagonists at the time and for believers today.
Consider how many who encountered the infant Jesus only partially understood the story they were part of and held varied expectations for how his life would unfold.
Tips:
A collaborative approach works powerfully, delegating session delivery or resourcing to local church volunteers. This lightens the load for school staff and makes best use of the local church’s expertise. Many schools and churches report that residential collaboration feeds into greater partnership beyond the time away.
School residentials vary in length and programme structure. This material is written with flexibility so that you can adjust the sessions to suit your context and the time you have available. If short on time, you could complete sessions 1 and 2 on residential and session 3 back at school.
FAQs
Yes, but you could do sessions 1 and 2 on residential and complete the work with session 3 back at school.
We recommend allowing an hour for each session, though if the pace is kept high you may be able to cover the teaching in 45min.
The material can be delivered by school staff alone. However, working in partnership with your local church/other local Christians, will offer pupils a richer experience and build opportunities for ongoing collaboration.
No, but there are plenty of Christmas-themed suggestions free to download if you sign up on the Prayer Spaces for Schools website.