Wiltshire RE Starter Stimulus Starter ideas for the following key question from the 2011 Agreed Syllabus: KS1 02 The beginning of the world: what can we learn from Jewish and Christian stories? This resource aims to provide some stimulus images and ideas to help pupils begin to address the above question. It links to the following learning outcomes from p35 of the syllabus: Pupils can: Retell in simple terms the story of creation from the Bible and talk about how important this is for Christians and Jews Ask and respond to questions arising from the creation story Many of the slides have notes to give suggestions for use. Look at the slide show in Normal mode and look for the notes at the bottom of the page. Marked images © Focus Multimedia Photos, used under license

clever, tidy, patient, big, cold, imaginative, skilful, furry, friendly, caring, funny, shiny, strong, sad, worried, angry, technical, creative, loving, cuddly, slim, wise, helpful..? Images © RE Today

© Focus Multimedia Photos

The story at the start of the Jewish and Christian Bible tells about God creating the earth. Listen to the story and look at the pictures. From what you hear, what would you say this Creator might be like?

In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth. God said ‘let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day’ and he called the darkness ‘night’ and there was evening and morning – the first day. © Focus Multimedia Photos

And God said let ‘there be an expanse between the waters, to separate water from water’… And it was so. God called the expanse ‘sky’ and there was evening and morning – the second day. © Focus Multimedia Photos

And God said ‘let the water under the sky be gathered in one place, and let dry ground appear.’ And it was so. God saw that it was good. God said ‘let the land produce vegetation, plants, seeds and trees.’ And it was so. And God saw that it was good. and there was evening and morning – the third day. © Focus Multimedia Photos

And God said ‘let there be lights in the sky, marking day and night and the seasons of the year’ and it was so. God made a great light to rule the day, a lesser light to govern the night and the stars. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and morning – the fourth day. © Focus Multimedia Photos

And God said ‘let the water teem with living creatures, and birds fly in the sky.’ And it was so. God blessed them and said ‘be fruitful, increase in number, fill the waters and the sky’. And there was evening and morning – the fifth day. © Focus Multimedia Photos

And God said ‘let the water teem with living creatures, and birds fly in the sky.’ And it was so. God blessed them and said ‘be fruitful, increase in number, fill the waters and the sky’. And there was evening and morning – the fifth day. © Focus Multimedia Photos

And God said ‘let the dry land produce living creatures, animals, insects and wild creatures’. And it was so. Then God said ‘let us make humans in our own image.’ Male and female God created them. God blessed them, and gave them all the fruits of the earth for food. And it was so. And God saw all that was made, and it was very good. And there was evening and morning – the sixth day. © Focus Multimedia Photos

By the seventh day, God had finished the work he had been doing, and God rested. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Creative ideas for Genesis Chapter 1: 1.The last slide didn’t have a picture on. What picture might you use to show the 7 th day and God resting? Why? 2.In the story, God says several times that creation is good – even very good. Which part of creation do you think God would be most pleased with? 3.Have a look at 6-year old Laurence’s picture, showing the part he thinks God is most pleased with:

4.Ask children to draw/paint the part of the story showing where God is most pleased. 5.Choose some music to express the idea of creation. Some classical pieces work well (e.g. Ravel, Sunrise from Daphnis and Chloe ; or look at the suggestions on the NATRE site ) Get children to move and dance to the music, making up movements to reflect the different parts of the creation story Look at some the following images. How might your children express something of the content of the Genesis account? Can they express how this story is important to many believers because it talks about how amazing God must be?

In a Y3 / 4 class, the pupils made lego models to show one day of the story from Genesis 1. This is day 3: the dry land and the trees.

This is day 2: separating the waters from the land.

Here’s another child’s version of day 2 – painted in the style of Kate Neal, from the Biblical text.

Day 6: the creation of humans and animals