KS2 - Year 4 by fertileheart.org.uk

Key Stage 2 Year 4

A Fertile Heart Receiving & Giving Creative Love

Love is creative. To have a fertile heart is to love, grow and make a positive difference.

04/07/2018

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Foreword His Grace George Stack, Archbishop of Cardiff Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel “The Glory of God is humanity fully alive”. Thus wrote St. Irenaeus in the 3rd century. His words remain true to this day. They mean that God is the creator of the gift of life. In that gift, each human person receives a share in His own creative love. His revelation in life and love, as well as through creation, is pure gift. This is the ‘grace’ of which we speak, in order that “we may have life and have it to the full” (Gospel of St. John 10:10). This truth lies at the heart of the Gospel. It is what it means to be truly human. The gift of life is bestowed by God in order that we may flourish and thrive. We do this in the first place simply by living with gratitude. We do it by responding to His love in a life of joyful communion with Him. We express it by actively engaging in the good of others so that mutual ‘flourishing’ may take place. The more we give, the more we receive. The ‘Gospel of Life’ outlined above is, indeed, ‘Good News’. It is revealed in every aspect of human nature and creation itself. This is the life-giving teaching we seek to hand on to our children who are “the messages we send to tomorrow”. The Rite of Baptism reminds us that parents are the first and best teachers of their children. The Catholic school exists primarily to educate children to receive and respond to God’s love for each one of them and for all. Our schools are designed to help parents fulfil their God given task of caring for their children in the school of love. The Catholic school is not just a place for professional education – existing for improvement in learning - important though that is. It is a place of formation, a place in which ‘lessons for life’ are imparted, received and shared. The whole school community teaches and learns these lessons in a truly Catholic environment. Human relationships are obviously at the heart of life and flourishing. We are made to relate to each other, body, mind and spirit. The physical, emotional and spiritual reality of our being are part and parcel of the ‘holy trinity’ of each one of us. Thus affective sexuality education is a crucial part of human formation. A Fertile Heart is the culmination of several years work of dedicated individuals [teachers, theologians, education advisers and parents] from within the dioceses of Birmingham, Cardiff, Clifton, Arundel and Brighton and Shrewsbury. They have worked tirelessly to create a resource which puts the human person and the flourishing of our pupils at the heart of the Catholic school. It is offered as an important aid to pupils, parents, teachers, governors and clergy to remind us all that “We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning God had meant us to live it” (Ephesians 2:10).

Contents: Year 4 In Y4 we focus more on reason - though in harmony with faith. From 4e to 6k there is a prayer session in each module, so that whatever is learnt enters the children into a deeper relationship with God, and his family - rather than it just being ‘learning facts’. NB There are alternative modules 4j and 4k for C of E schools. Module 4a: Made In the Image of God To understand that we are made in the image of God, and it is only by trying to understand what that means that we can truly understand ourselves. Our faith and our reason help us to do this. Module 4b: Happiness To understand what makes us happy: God; relationship - being loved and loving; things that make us grow, feel alive; making a difference. We call long-term happiness joy, and short term happiness pleasure. Pleasure should complement joy, not replace it. Module 4c: Happiness, Conscience and Emotions To further understand the difference between joy and pleasure. To understand that emotions often encourage us to seek pleasure; faith, reason and conscience encourage us to seek joy. Module 4d: God is Happy! Let’s be like God To understand more about who God is, and therefore, what we are truly like, since we are made in his image. Module 4e: Adopted by God: Receiving his Love We are made in the image of God, but we are not God - we reflect him. An important things for me to understand about myself is that, even regarding me, God is the initiator and I am the receiver-responder. Module 4f: Obedience in Jesus We are receivers and responders to the Father, in love. This is connected with obedience, and sometimes obedience can seem demeaning: Jesus shows that obedience to the Father is the way to happiness. He teaches us what true submission and dominion are - and how they only ‘work’ within loving unity. Module 4g: Life Cycles and Life Spirals To see how in all life there is growth and there are cycles. To understand how this applies to me. Module 4h: I don’t quite work correctly - and that’s okay! Initially, I know nothing about myself! However, I do have impulses and desires in me, even if I know nothing about them. Some of these, we discover, are not good for us - which can be hard to admit, and confusing. We need to understand where they come from, and how best to shape them into something good. Module 4i: God saves me from me! To reflect on our experience that although I and humanity are good, there is something self-destructive in us all. Nothing we can do by ourselves can put that right - we need saving, not primarily from bad things happening to us, but from ourselves. Jesus is that Saviour - thank God. Module 4j: Baptism, Holy Communion and Confirmation We are called to receivers and responders to the Father’s love, united in the Son. The Sacraments of Initiation - Baptism,Communion and Confirmation - are central to this. Baptism makes us children of God - receiving. Confirmation empowers us to fully live like children of God - responding. Holy Communion unites us fully to Christ, in whom we receive and respond. Module 4k: The Mass, the Sacraments and God’s Life To fully grow in the image of the Son; we must be perfectly united to him in receiving from and responding to God the Father. The Sacraments of Initiation give us the capacity to do this, but it is the Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Mass that uniquely brings it about. From this, all other sacraments help us too, as do all authentic, loving actions of the Church and her sons and daughters.

Year 4 Modules c

Happiness, Conscience and Emotions

Learning Objective

“Conscience is the inner voice in a man that moves him to do good under any circumstances and to avoid evil by all means. At the same time it is the ability to distinguish one from the other. In the conscience, God speaks to man.”

To understand that emotions often encourage us to seek pleasure; faith, reason and conscience encourage us to seek joy. We have learnt that we all want to be happy, we always choose things that make us happy, but sometimes we choose things that make us happy long-term and others short-term: joy and pleasure. Ultimately, seeking pleasure makes us unhappy because it doesn’t lead to loving or spiritual growth. An extraordinary thing about being human is that we start off knowing absolutely nothing, including nothing about ourselves. And yet we have lots of longings and impulses within us. Happiness comes from gradually understanding these longings, and ordering them and integrating them properly (Mt. 6:33). Every time we choose to follow an impulse we give it greater strength within us - this is the path of virtue or vice. The more I am patient, the more (slowly!) I become a patient person. The more often I eat chocolate, the more often I have an impulse to eat chocolate… Each of us has self-awareness. It’s an amazing thing! But I am much more immediately aware of my physical and emotional life than I am of my spiritual life. In fact, the only way I get in touch with my spiritual life is through my physical and emotional life. Initially, my emotions focus on the immediate: pleasure. They are important to me in getting to know myself better but they are not good guides! The trouble is, though our spiritual longings are more important and deeper, we don’t sense them so strongly. So much of life within us is a battle between choosing between my strongest desires and my deepest desires. God has given me a conscience, his inner voice within me which calls me to follow what is most important. Though too much for Y4 children, this is an important backdrop to teach the module. The “Happiness Graph” will be referred to in later modules , so it is important it is used. Step 1 Recall prior learning: We all want to be happy and every choice we make is guided by us wanting to be happy. Ask the children to recall, (using the flipchart and re-sorting if necessary) examples of short-, medium- and long-term pleasure/joy. Introduce the following scenario. You have been invited to your friend’s party on Saturday. You’re really looking forward to it. Why? Discuss and mind map - food, drink, games etc.

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Success Criteria 1. I can explain the difference between joy and pleasure. 2. I can understand that my emotions are not reliable guides. 3. I can explain what my conscience is and how it can help me to make good choices.

The Happiness Graph ing

A Fertile Heart | Receiving & Giving Creative Love

Happiness

And then on Saturday morning, you fall out with mum because you have been naughty. You go to the party, and although it’s as you’d hoped, you don’t really enjoy it, because deep down, you’re not at rights with mum. Half way through, mum turns up to bring your friend’s birthday present that you’d forgotten. When you see her, you run to her and say sorry. She gives you a big hug and all of a sudden you can enjoy everything about the party as well. Life is like this. We can pretend things that are important aren’t, or things that aren’t are. But it doesn’t make them so. If we are at rights, first with God, then our family, then other people we enjoy the rest of life more too. (Activity 1.)

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Step 2 Question: Why don’t we always choose what is best for us? We don’t always understand our deeper longings. Draw out that this is often because our emotions often make us react strongly but without reflecting. Our emotions are important, but they are not always good guides. Discuss (talking partners/small groups) to generate ideas. Explore the “Happiness Graph”: being good - often short-term not so happy, long-term happy; sin - short-term happy, long-term unhappy. Explain: Doing good things makes us happy long-term, but in the short-term it can be hard. Give examples and then ask the children for more suggestions. Maybe I have to turn the TV off so as to go and tidy my bedroom. Maybe I have to wait politely for my turn. But, over time, I’m glad I did it, and I have made other people happy too. Being selfish is often enjoyable in the short term. Maybe I keep watching TV, or am mean to my sister, or don’t go to bed. But afterwards, I feel bad, I’ve hurt others, and I’m tired now, or still have a messy bedroom etc. Longterm, it is obvious we should do good. But emotions focus on now, and the more we focus only on now, the more tempting being selfish is. Adults can help children to learn this, but also... Step 3 Explain: There is another voice to help. Question: What is this voice? It is called our conscience. Can anyone explain what that is? It is the voice of God. (The children may be familiar with the image of Jiminy Cricket from “Pinocchio”, or the image of the little angel/devil on the shoulder). Watch https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=DOZzNOkcEgM Always Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide (3:23) - a light-hearted way to capture something of today’s lesson. The main point is to help the children be aware that there are impulses within us - and outside influences - that try to sway our choices, and our conscience can protect us from these and keep us happy. Discussion/role play about occasions when the children might be guided by their conscience/tempted to ignore it. (Activities 2 and 3.)

Key Point

Suggested Activities 1. The children to use the birthday party scenario and, working in small groups, create a short drama which could be recorded. 2. Downloadable worksheet showing three different dilemmas; the children to create “thought bubbles” for each, showing the conscience at work. 3. Look at an example of an examination of conscience and then let the children write their own.

Suggested Resources 1. Flipchart from the last session, showing examples of short-, medium- and long-term happiness. 2. iPad (or similar) to record the “birthday party” drama. 3. Blank downloadable “thought bubble” worksheet to help. 4. Sample copy of an examination of conscience.

God calls to our minds and hearts to do what is good, so as to be happy and grow. If we listen to our conscience, it grows stronger. If we ignore it, it becomes quieter.

Summary To be truly happy we need to choose things that make us happy long-term, not short-term. In fact we can only enjoy pleasure when we are first joyful: like not enjoying the party until you’d made up with mum. Sin is tempting because we enjoy it, but only short-term. Question: What should guide us? Emotions are important, but are not good guides because they focus on now, not on long-term. Truth, reason and conscience all focus us on long-term, and help us make good choices.

Listen to your conscience! 39

A Fertile Heart Receiving & Giving Creative Love

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