| Year Levels Focus: | Prayer is an expression of our relationship with God. (TCREK014) |
| Aims: |
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| Content Statement: |
Students will have the opportunity to explore their relationship with God. They will gain knowledge of how to develop this relationship, and investigate ways in which they can creatively express it. They will examine the nature of prayer, looking to Jesus and Mary as models of praying people. They will be introduced to simple practices and supports that help us enter into prayer, for example, silence, breathing focus, posture, music, movement, actions/gestures, the natural environment. They will identify and contribute to spaces specially set aside for prayer as well as experience that we can pray in any place. They will consider and compose some basic forms of informal prayer, for example, thanks, praise, petition, sorrow and engage with the formal prayers of the Sign of the Cross, the Our Father and the Hail Mary. |
Prayer is to Christianity what water is to the ocean, what breath is to life, what love is to life’s meaning. Prayer simply is our relationship with God become conscious, deliberate and concrete. It is more a way of being than something we do.
That is why prayer needs to permeate the entire Catholic curriculum; and function in the RE curriculum the way RE functions in the Catholic curriculum overall. Why? Because unless there is a lived experience of encounter with God on God’s terms—and that is what Christian prayer is—then it is simply impossible to talk meaningfully about God in a Catholic educational context.
Prayer is vital. That is why God wants us to pray: because God desires to draw us into a fuller relationship; and praying is simply how that is done consciously, deliberately and concretely in and for us.
At its most basic and essential, the word pray means “to ask”. Learning to ask for what we truly need, when we are ready to receive it, is the key to life and true happiness. Because everything that is, is a free and beautiful gift, grace, learning to ask and receive is the most important lesson we have to learn.
Asking and receiving the gift that is life, being and meaning is the heart of our relationship with God, because grace—God’s gift of himself to us—is the purpose and meaning of life. Prayer therefore points to the deepest truth about human nature itself: we are made for the gift of union with God.
In GNFL this understanding of prayer is developed with emphasis on these theological principles:
- Prayer is about desire—ultimate desire: the desire to become one with God. In prayer we enter into a relationship with the One who intensifies our desire for being. In prayer we find ourselves loved into being in a way that invites us to participate in our own coming-into-being by liberating our desire from all fear, rivalry, selfishness, violence and malice—and therefore, from the power of death itself. Prayer must always be honest if it is to be true prayer, because by praying honestly we discover ever more deeply the ultimate nature of our desire, the desire for God.
- Prayer is our way of participating in God’s work of uniting us with himself. The ultimate expression of that work is the liturgy, “the work of God”, the public act of the Church’s communal prayer as thanks and praise, “the source and summit of the Church’s actions”.
- The central prayer of the Church is the Eucharist. At the most profound level, the Eucharist has to do with Christ alone, who prays for us: he puts his prayer on our lips, for only he can say, “This is my Body … This is my Blood”.
URL link to Theological Conversation chapter (PDF).
- Prayer is about relationship with God, who is with us.
- We listen to God in prayer and are invited to respond in silence, in words, in action.
- Prayer nurtures our hearts and spirit and shapes our actions.
- Jesus prayed regularly and taught others how to pray.
- Jesus and Mary are models of prayers for us.
- Believers pray with the help of silence, words, music, action, breathing practices for stillness, images, symbols and nature.
Prayer is an expression of our relationship with God. (TCREK014)
Students will have the opportunity to explore their relationship with God. They will gain knowledge of how to develop this relationship, and investigate ways in which they can creatively express it. They will examine the nature of prayer, looking to Jesus and Mary as models of praying people. They will be introduced to simple practices and supports that help us enter into prayer, for example, silence, breathing focus, posture, music, movement, actions/gestures, the natural environment. They will identify and contribute to spaces specially set aside for prayer as well as experience that we can pray in any place. They will consider and compose some basic forms of informal prayer, for example, thanks, praise, petition, sorrow and engage with the formal prayers of the Sign of the Cross, the Our Father and the Hail Mary.
TCREI004
Responding to questions about religious ideas, events or rituals and recording our thoughts and feelings (TCREI004)
- developing questions about the Mass, its meaning, structure and symbols
- at a class/parish Mass making a photo story of the parts of the Mass using information and communications technology (ICT), and sharing this with parishioners at a morning tea
- brainstorming questions about how to pray, and inviting people from the parish to tell us how they pray
- remembering that whenever we pray, Jesus is praying within us through his Holy Spirit uniting us with God the Father in love
- researching the story of our parish church: using a photo time line, make a noticeboard display for the front office to tell the story of our parish
- using the “Explain Everything” app or equivalent to devise a question for God and give an answer in images and text drawing on Scripture or church teaching
TCREI005
Listening to and viewing stories from the Scriptures, and discussing characters (TCREI005)
- gathering Scripture quotations around a series of themes and making a class mural, story maps or a class big book
- using glossaries to learn the meaning of religious and theological terms
- choosing verses from the Psalms that inspire thanksgiving prayers
- exploring the first creation story (Genesis 1) as though it were a ritual (which it was!) and bringing out the symbolism in the numbers 3, 6 and 7 (first 3 days mirrored in the second 3 days; 6 days of creation; the 7th day, the Sabbath, as containing all time—past, present and future)
TCREI006
Expressing personal responses and ideas in various ways (TCREI006)
- creating Godly play dolls
- sharing Godly play with other classes
- creating artworks that reflect spiritual ideas or religious questions
- ritualising biblical stories and noting how they are full of symbolism
TCRED004
Cultivating a spirit of reflective silence and stillness, and naming important ideas or questions (TCRED004)
- using an icon or cross, inviting written prayers for the world on sticky labels and placing them under the cross or icon (to include in class prayer)
- asking hard questions and posting them on a “Mood Wall” in the classroom
- writing reflective responses to lines of Scripture (e.g., “be still and know that I am God”, “Speak Lord, I am listening”, “Come, follow me”, “ ‘I have called you by your name, you are mine’, says the Lord”)
- using Christian meditation to practise openness to God’s love
- expressing gratitude following meditation, e.g., by singing songs of thanks and praise
- learning to listen in silence and stillness to the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, minds and bodies, leading us to discover God’s loving purpose for us
TCRED005
Listening to and responding to others’ ideas and thoughts, and wondering and asking questions about ourselves and how we are connected to God and our world (TCRED005)
- examining individually and in small groups questions and thoughts about God
- being open to the Holy Spirit by listening to each other share ideas, thoughts and feelings in circle time
- singing songs that give thanks to God and acknowledging the connectedness of all things in his Holy Spirit
- resting in silence, pondering how God loves us and wants us to know him embraced by his Holy Spirit
TCRED006
Sharing some ideas and helping design plans of action that might lead to making loving choices towards improving specific situations at school or beyond (TCRED006)
- sharing and discussing how classroom rules and attitudes encourage, protect and guide everyone for the good of all
- constructing posters and signs to build a culture of gratitude in the classroom
- pondering how to be more loving, generous, forgiving, joyful, patient by relaxing into the loving embrace of the Holy Spirit
- creating affirmation paper bags / envelopes to affirm when others have made loving choices towards us as their response to God’s love for them
- exploring ways that the mystery of God’s love, the life-giving presence of the Holy Spirit, is revealed through the community of faith in the Church (e.g., by exploring, using the web, Pope Francis’ humility and kindness)
- creating a blessings meter or a gratitude box in the classroom to encourage kindness, positive attitudes and gratefulness
By the end of Year 2, students can identify God’s Holy Spirit as giver and sustainer of all life and recognise that his love for us is revealed in the Person of Jesus, the centre of faith for Christians. They can acknowledge that we experience God’s loving presence in prayer, in Scripture, in themselves and other people and in the world around us. They are aware that we are invited to grow in relationship with God and to care for ourselves, others and all of life. They can identify the Gospels as the Good News about Jesus, telling us about Jesus’ life and the people who believed in him. They can reflect on Jesus’ example in making loving choices that show care and respect for all life. They can describe the Church as a believing community that celebrates Jesus’ presence in the sacraments and witnesses to him by sharing his love. They can recognise the Sacrament of Baptism and identify its symbolic elements as the basis for the Christian life and as an invitation to live in friendship with Jesus.
Students can reflect on and respond to experiences of prayer, engagement with sacred texts and stories, their own experiences, people and the world around them and record observations, thoughts, feelings and ideas. In diverse ways they can express their emerging understanding of and engagement with religious events and rituals. They can practise stillness, reflect on their connection with God and their world and develop a response to apply at the personal level, within and beyond the school setting.
Pre-unit assessment
Brainstorm in response to the following questions:
- When can I pray?
- Where can I pray?
- What can I pray about?
- How can I pray?
- What can help me to pray?
Learning Hook
Picture storybook, Charlotte and the Quiet Place, by Deborah Sosin (on YouTube: read by the author, uploaded by Spellbound).
Surface
(Giving language, facts, and basic concepts structure to lead into deeper learning)
Key Vocabulary: blessing, praise, thanksgiving, asking (intercession, petition), genuflection, kneeling, posture, “praying hands”, downward gaze
How can I be in touch with God when I can’t see him?
Invite students to discuss relationships, connections and communication with friends, and with God, who is always with us.
- Give (and call for) examples of the reasons good friends spend time together, what they say to each other, how they take time to speak and time to listen, how relationships grow over time. Share ideas about where and when we get together, how we show we are really listening to our friends’ words. Talk about special times and places that help us share more easily, and about things/places that make it harder to do so.
- Brainstorm the many ways and places in which we pray, the kinds of words we use, the actions we include.
- Consider posture and gestures used in prayer (cf. To Know, Worship and Love [TKWL], Book 2, chap. 17, p. 169, “Time with God”; Understanding Faith [UF], Stage 1, Unit 4, pp. 3, 9).
- Daily introduce students to practices supportive of quiet prayer (slow deep breathing, relaxation, meditation, quiet music, gestures, slow mindful walking/movement, indoor/outdoor reflections on creation). Support with the picture storybook, Silence: Lemniscates, by Sylvia Miller-Mutia (also on Youtube), which highlights listening.
- Introduce praying in our own words, anywhere, any time. Develop a chart of sample “Prayer Starters” and together develop some sample prayers for different purposes.
- Refer to the prayers of the Christian tradition, planning to explore the sign of the cross with students as the unit progresses.
- Expose students to the printed texts of the sign of the cross, the Our Father and the Hail Mary, a blessing on food, a morning blessing, a going home blessing or an evening prayer.
Deep
(Learning experiences that lead on from beginning experiences to questioning more deeply and exploring ideas in different ways to lead to making connections between faith and life)
What can help me pray?—I wonder how we learn to pray.
Support students to compare and contrast different aspects and experiences of prayer and a variety of prayer practices.
- Investigate the stories/practices/views of different people for whom prayer is important. Meet up with different people to discuss with them: why they pray, how they pray, when they pray, how they learned to pray. Do they use formal prayers or their own words? Do they have a favourite kind of prayer?—if so, why that kind?
- Investigate the practice of the sign of the cross as a prayer in the Christian tradition (cf. UF, Stage 1, Unit 4, Part 2, p. 9).
- Continue to offer opportunities for students to experience a variety of prayer practices: alone, together, with words, in silence, indoors, outdoors, in stillness, through movement, with images, music, etc. Draw on the songs, I Light a Candle, by Andrew Chinn; Hello, My God, by Monica Brown; Thank You, Jesus (YouTube); and Five Finger Prayer (Twinkle Time Books, YouTube).
What did Jesus teach us about praying?
Examine Scripture accounts of Jesus at prayer; analyse and arrange findings. Examine traditional prayers, including the Our Father.
- Investigate the times, places and ways in which Jesus prayed (cf. “Time with God”; UF, Stage 1, Unit 4, Part 2, pp. 1–3).
- Draw up a chart to support growing understandings about Jesus’ prayer, using headings such as Why? When? Where? How? With whom?
- To support students’ imitation of Jesus’ example, engage students in guided meditation experiences linked to some of the unit’s Scripture passages relating to Jesus at prayer.
- Explore the concept of tradition and special prayers, and present the Our Father as a special prayer in the Christian tradition (UF, Stage 1, Unit 4, Part 3, p. 4).
- Support students to follow the text while it is read and to begin to memorise the words.
Transfer
(Learning experiences that help students engage with deeper understandings that can be applied in their own lives)
How does prayer make a difference in our lives?
Support students towards drawing conclusions about the way Jesus' practice of prayer can inform our own practice. Challenge them to compose personal prayers and to commit to adopting practices of prayer.
- Develop the similarities between when, why, where, how Jesus prayed and prayer’s place and potential in our own lives. Identify practical links with the pattern of students’ lives and experiences.
- Connect with the prayer starters developed by the group, and develop prayers related to specific experiences and needs.
Resources
Brown, Monica. Hello, My God. Song.
Chinn, Andrew. I Light a Candle. Song.
Chinn, Andrew. I Light a Candle. YouTube.
Five Finger Prayer. Twinkle Time Books. YouTube.
Miller-Mutia, Sylvia. Silence: Lemniscates.
Miller-Mutia, Sylvia. Silence: Lemniscates. YouTube.
“The Our Father”. In Understanding Faith. Stage 1, Unit 4, Part 3, p. 4. Online Subscription.
“The Sign of the Cross”. In Understanding Faith. Stage 1, Unit 4, Part 2, p. 9. Online Subscription.
Sosin, Deborah. Charlotte and the Quiet Place. Picture Storybook.
Sosin, Deborah. Charlotte and the Quiet Place. Reading by the Author. Spellbound. YouTube.
Thank You, Jesus. YouTube.
“Time with God”. In To Know, Worship and Love, Book 2, chap. 17, p. 169.
Understanding Faith. Stage 1, Unit 4, pp. 3, 9. Online Subscription.
Understanding Faith. Stage 1, Unit 4, Part 2, pp. 1–3, 9. Online Subscription.
* Unless otherwise noted, items listed under “Resources” are books.