Learning Through Story

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Overview

Lesson Duration: 50 minutes
Class Size: 9 students
Age Group: Year 7 (working at a Year 3 level)
Subject: Religious Education
Curriculum Focus:
Key Stage 3 (adapted to Key Stage 2 Level: Working towards Expected Standard)
Based on the SACRE (Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education) model syllabuses commonly used in UK schools.

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Curriculum Area

Key Stage 3 RE (Year 7), adapted to Key Stage 2 Level:
Christianity – Beliefs and Teachings: How and why do people use sacred texts; how do they apply them in real life?

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Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

• Recognise that the Bible is a special book for Christians.
• Understand what a parable is and why Jesus used them.
• Retell a simple parable in their own words.
• Relate the message of a parable to everyday life.
• Handle a Bible with respect and identify it as a sacred text.

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Resources Required

• Printed simplified version of the Parable of the Good Samaritan
• A large story mat with felt characters and props (road, traveller, Samaritan, priest, Levite)
• Set of simplified Bibles or children’s Bibles
• Heart stickers
• Paper footprints for each pupil
• Whiteboard & markers
• Sound clip of street noise (optional to create immersion)
• A treasure box labelled "What's Inside the Bible?"

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Key Vocabulary

• Bible
• Parable
• Jesus
• Good Samaritan
• Neighbour
• Kindness
• Sacred

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Lesson Breakdown

Starter (5 minutes) – “What’s in the Box?”

Objective: Introduce the Bible as a sacred and special book.

• Present the class with a decorated "treasure box" labelled: “What’s Inside the Bible?”
• Dramatically open the box to reveal a large children's Bible.
• Pass it around with gentle music playing. Ask the students to describe how it feels and looks.
• Prompt with questions such as:
  • Why might this book be important to Christians?
  • What do people use books for?
  • What do you think is inside this one?

🔍 Tip: Reinforce the idea that this book is treated with respect like a treasure.

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Main Activity Part 1 (15 minutes) – Storytelling with Immersion

Objective: Learn the Parable of the Good Samaritan in a multisensory, age-appropriate way.

• Use a large felt story mat on the floor with props to recreate the road to Jericho.
• Act out the story of the Good Samaritan using felt characters, encouraging students to help move the figures.
• Keep the story language simple and pause to ask:
  • “What’s happening now?”
  • “How do you think he feels?”
• Play a quiet street sounds audio clip to set the scene.
• Emphasise the message: “Be kind to anyone – even if they are different from us.”

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Main Activity Part 2 (25 minutes) – Walk of Kindness

Objective: Connect parable learning to real life using movement and creativity.

Introduction to Activity (2 mins):

• Lay down a pathway of paper footprints across the classroom.
• Each footprint leads students to a different “Kindness Station.”

Stations (5 mins per station):

1. 💬 Retell Station – Use comic-strip blank sheets to draw the story of the Good Samaritan using stickers and speech bubbles.

2. 💖 Kindness Heart Station – Decorate a heart sticker with words or pictures of a kind moment they had or saw.

3. 🔍 Bible Discovery Station – Look in simplified Bibles to find parables. Use a magnifying glass to “hunt” for the name Jesus in pages. (Pre-marked pages ready)

4. 🧍 Role Play Station – With support, re-enact parts of the story using props. Students choose "Who were you helping today?"

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Plenary (5 minutes) – Path of Purpose

Objective: Reflection and consolidation

• Gather all the paper footprints into a ‘Path of Purpose’ on the floor.
• One by one, students place their heart sticker on a footprint and share:
  • “I can show kindness by…”
• Teacher sticks all footprints to a large poster board titled: “Walking in Kindness – Just like the Good Samaritan”

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Adaptations for SEN

• Use visuals and symbols throughout the lesson
• Offer support scaffolding with drawing or scribing
• Use PECS or communication boards where needed
• Allow non-verbal students to signal choices using thumbs up/down or pointing
• Provide sentence starters: “I can be kind by…” or “The Bible says…”

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Assessment for Learning (AfL)

• Observational assessment during storytelling and stations
• Check understanding through prompted questions: “Who helped the man?”, “Why do you think Jesus told this story?”
• Children’s contributions added to class display show engagement and understanding

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Extension Opportunities

• Create a class "Book of Parables" throughout the term
• Invite a local vicar for a “What’s in my Bible?” session
• Set a kindness challenge for the week: students earn a heart sticker when caught being kind

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Reflection for Teacher

• Did the students engage with the parable story?
• Were they able to apply the message to themselves?
• Did props and sensory approaches support better understanding?

⭐️ This lesson is designed to be fully inclusive, hands-on and emotionally resonant – showing students that sacred stories like parables have power beyond the page.