What Do You Believe? World Religion for Younger Students

This class will be done from a historic and secular perspective looking at each religion's beliefs in a respectful manner.     We will focus more on the commonalities than the differences regarding the religions we discuss.  Some of the religions that we will discuss will include but are not limited to the following: Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, and Sikhism.  Because this is a younger age student I will work to include many pictures and activities beyond lecture to help each student have both auditory and visual interaction with the course material.  I find that children need to see the festivals, countries, people, temples, mosques, and many other visuals to better understand each religion.  

This class is an introduction to Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, and Judaism.  We may also discuss Sikhism, and Atheism. We will discuss where each faith began and the basic tenets of each faith that we will build on throughout the class.  We will also talk about where the majority of followers live today.  How are different societies influenced by each religion?  

How different religions view God and if/when/how they connect with him.  Are they monotheistic or polytheistic?  What is God like in each religion?  

Are there any holy books, poems or songs that followers use in their understanding and worship?  Who wrote these books, songs or verses?  How are they used today?   Where does each religion worship?  Do they have a specific place of worship?   Is worship mainly done personally in the home or in a specific building or place?  

What are the holy days associated with and celebrated in each faith?  How are these festivals, holidays and holy days celebrated?    Is there food involved?  If so, what types of food?   We will wrap up our course by discussing what the students learned in the course and what they found most interesting.  

We will play a Bingo game to review the concepts that we have learned. I will have different Bingo cards sent out for each student before we begin class.  Parents would need to print off the card and have something to use as Bingo chips. 

We will also play a short Kahoot as a review halfway through the class.  Students may need help pulling up a new tab or opening Kahoot on a different device.  I will give the Kahoot game code after the start of class.  Once the game code is entered the students will be able to begin the game.  Parents may need to assist students that have not used Kahoot before in getting on the game.  

This class will also have coloring page print offs for each day of class.  I know that younger students do better when their hands are busy.  Please print off the pages for that day so that students can color and follow along.  Lastly, I have a couple coloring pages that can be turned into crafts.  For example, I will have a page that students can color and cut that can be made into a dreidel.  If we have time to cut the craft in class we will, but if time is limited students will have to cut and tape after class.  

Class may go over by a few minutes depending on how many questions the students may have about what was taught.