Topic:
Belief Systems – Buddhism
LT focus:
- Understand and appreciate the origin of Buddhism.
- Understand where Buddhism originated from, and locate it on a world map.
- Begin to understand the 4 Noble Truths and Eightfold path.
Introduction
To begin the lesson I will ask to children to remind me of the various world religions we have discussed already this year. I will then ask the children to write down a list of the main world religions. We will then list the major world religions until Buddhism is elicited.
I will then display a world map on the interactive whiteboard and will question the class on where they think Buddhism is most prevalent, South East Asia.
Development
We will have a short discussion on Buddhism and discuss what aspects of the children are already familiar with. Next we will work on a KWL chart where students will work in pairs and write what they already know, followed by what they would like to discover about the religion. We will engage again with the KWL charts again at the end of our lesson.
The story of the origins of Buddhism will be read to the children, as well as the life of Siddhartha Gautama. After the first section of the story, I will ask the children to reflect on the life of the Buddha and to imagine being in his situation and what thoughts the story provokes with questions such as “would you have done anything differently/ how do you think you would have reacted?”
Continuing the story, questions will be posed about the 4 Noble Truths and Eightfold path.
Plenary
Upon completion of the story / PowerPoint, the children will be asked to discuss in pairs, the new knowledge they have obtained on Buddhism. They will then be given a chance to add this new information to their KWL charts.
Other teacher resources for teaching this topic:
This lesson plan is accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation which can be referred to throughout the story. KWL charts must also be distributed to the class at the beginning of the lesson.
Also required: PowerPoint, world map, KWL chart, various coloured whiteboard markers.