RME - Paul and Barnabas

This session we've based our RME Christianity focus on the excellent scheme of work from Primary Vision. The activities have proven lively and stimulating for the children and the discussions arising have been far better than those I've normally been able to achieve with classes.

Today we looked again at the story of Paul & Barnabas. The aims of the lesson, according to the scheme of work were:

* To continue the story of Paul

* To reflect on the children's experiences of friendship

I chose a slightly different path for the class' activity than that suggested ("create a series of frozen tableaux to represent Paul and Barnabas' 'holiday photos' ") by giving the children 'frames' and asking them to create a Polaroid style holiday snap with accompanying caption of the missionary work of the men in the story.

The children came up with the following:

Feedback books

This is an idea we've been trialling since October last year. In an effort to increase partnership with parents and to facilitate pupils taking responsibility for their own learning, each week - on a Friday morning - all pupils in the school consider what they've learned and achieved that week in relation to the learning targets from the week's lessons and "experiences."

They can, of course, choose to write about something they've picked up which was in outwith the planned outcomes and in many cases this is where the really valuable comments are to be found.

HMIe seemed to quite like this idea and its real beauty is in its simplicity: a duplicate book for every child. The fill out their slip, the teacher writes a formative (or sometimes just a nice, general) comment and the pupil takes the top copy home with the book remaining in school.

I'll post some examples later but comments and thoughts would be appreciated in the meantime.