Year 4 [Unit 4/d] 6 hours and 7 hours

This unit is about sharing foods as part of religious worship

• The Last Supper at the first Easter and for Christians now
• Why is it important to share food?
• How can food be part of worship?
• How did Jesus share his Last Supper?

Some of the first half term will be spent looking at Sikhism and the significance of the Karah Prashad.

Sharing Food

Note: We suggest that Communion is looked at in the context of thankfulness in the first half of the term and the Last Supper is considered during the second half as part of the Easter story.

Like people of other faiths, Christians think of God as their provider and thank him for their food. Recap on harvest from last term.

Why is it important to share? The Have a Banana Assembly from the Assemblies Website gives a strong visual example of how we often only give away what we don’t really want. Read the poem at the end of this assembly. Ask the children to write a poem about sharing and send them in to our Gallery (e-mail address on the home page).

Food in Worship

Discuss the symbolism of certain foods such as birthday cake, mince pies (the original ones had no lid and represented the manger), pancakes, hot cross buns and Easter Eggs.
Click here for some background information on Lent and Easter foods.

Investigate the symbolism of Holy Communion. Ask someone from your local church to come in to explain how the bread and wine is served in their church and what the service means to them. Watch the clip at the end of the BBC’s ‘Pathways of Belief - Church’ video. We have communion cups available for loan.

The Last Supper

‘Jesus Through Art’ has a painting, sculpture and related lesson activities on ‘Calling the Disciples’ and ‘The Upper Room’.

Watch clips from ‘The Miracle Maker’ video about calling the disciples and the Last Supper.

We have communion cups available for loan.

Look at the relevant page in ‘A Very Special Sunday’ Big Book, given to local schools.

Watch the ‘Messiah’ video clip of the Last Supper (available on request). Ask the pupils to imagine they are present. What can they see, smell, hear? How do they feel?

Activity: Use a keyhole shaped piece of paper or draw a keyhole outline. Ask the children to imagine they are looking into the Upper Room, where Jesus is sharing the last supper with his disciples. Draw what you can see through the keyhole.

The interactive Bible on CD ROM ‘Ilumina’ has a virtual reality tour of the Upper Room. You can watch an animation of the Last Supper, step onto the set, look around the room and go out of the room into Jerusalem to see the room in its context.

Servants usually washed the hot and dusty feet of guests before they reclined at a low table to eat. Look at paintings of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet - click here for a lesson plan based on the painting by Sieger Koder. Discuss Jesus’ example of servanthood.  Ask a Christian parent to explain to the class what his example means to them today.