Easter overview

Ideas for progression through Key Stages 1 and 2

Year 1

• Customs associated with Lent and Easter … Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday), Ash Wednesday … eggs … hot cross buns … signs of new life …
• What signs tell us that Easter is coming?
• What do our senses tell us about Easter coming?
• What feelings do we have about Easter and springtime?
• How do Christians prepare for Easter?
• Easter Story surprises, using Storyteller Bible or similar
• Plan a surprise for Mothering Sunday
• Decorate hard boiled eggs for Easter; new life as a surprise
• Jesus’ resurrection as a ‘big surprise’; how did friends of Jesus feel when he came back to life?
  

Year 2

• What is the storyline of the Easter story?
• What do we think about when we hear the story?
• How do different books (picture books, text books etc.) show the Easter story?
• How can we tell the Easter story to others?
• Artefacts and symbols associated with Easter
• Palm Sunday story as the beginning of the end of Jesus’ earthly life; act out Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19
• Faith members talk about the blessing of palm leaves, palm crosses
• Palm celebration including songs, story, palms and hot cross buns
• Contrast sadness of Good Friday with the joy of ‘new beginnings’ on Easter morning
• Present a 'happy ending' using stories from Easter

Year 3

• Easter cards … decorated eggs … famous Easter paintings … the Last Supper … Stations of the Cross … the crucifix and different kinds of cross … Handel’s Messiah …
• What special symbols are used at Easter and why?
• What do Easter cards tell us about the festival?
• How is the crucifixion of Jesus shown in art?
• How does Christian music communicate the feelings of Easter?
• Significance of bread and wine in Last Supper Matthew 26:17-35, Mark 14:12-31
• Easter visualisations
• Celebrate in the style of a religious festival through drama and dance, music and food; contrast food and fasting in other religions

Year 4

• Palm Sunday … Maundy Thursday … Good Friday … Easter Saturday … Easter Sunday 
• What are the key events associated with Holy Week?
• How are these events shown in images and words?
• How do Christians today remember and relive these events?
• Betrayal, trial, death and resurrection of Jesus - link suffering with hope Psalm 22
• Plan and share a celebratory Easter meal and talk about symbolism of food
• Why is Easter the most important festival for Christians?

Year 5

• Speaking to Christians about their beliefs … exploring responses to the crucifix and empty cross … designing a picture/mural/model to symbolise new life …
• What does Jesus’ death and resurrection mean to Christians?
• How do artists show the themes of Jesus’ death and resurrection?
• How do Christians around the world remember Easter?
• What images can we create to symbolise the theme of resurrection or new life?
• What is the symbolic meaning of an Easter festival ritual such as the washing of feet on Maundy Thursday? John 13:1-17
• Compare rituals and artefacts in Spring festivals; how does the Jewish festival of Pesach fit with the story of Easter - the plagues of Egypt, Passover and the journey of the Jewish people Exodus 24:8
  

Year 6

• How each of the Gospels tells the Easter story … other stories which have developed from the source stories e.g. The Three Trees … legend of how the donkey got the cross on its back ... legend of the ‘True Cross’ …
• How do the different Gospels tell the Easter story?
• What other stories explore Easter themes?
• What stories can we create together which use the themes and symbols of Easter?
• Hopes and fears of Jesus’ friends in the Easter story – the Last Supper, the crucifixion, resurrection, the road to Emmaus? Matthew 26-28, Mark 14-16, Luke 22-24, John 18-21
• Express the power and hope in the Easter story in dance/drama; look towards Ascension and Pentecost

Easter overview (pdf 294kb opens in new window)