Key Stage 2 Year 5
A Fertile Heart Receiving & Giving Creative Love
Love is creative. To have a fertile heart is to love, grow and make a positive difference.
04/07/2018
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Coat_of_arms_of_George_Stack.svg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Coat_of_arms_of_George_Stack.svg
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Foreword His Grace George Stack, Archbishop of Cardiff Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel “The Glory of God is humanity fully alive”. Thus wrote St. Irenaeus in the 3rd century. His words remain true to this day. They mean that God is the creator of the gift of life. In that gift, each human person receives a share in His own creative love. His revelation in life and love, as well as through creation, is pure gift. This is the ‘grace’ of which we speak, in order that “we may have life and have it to the full” (Gospel of St. John 10:10). This truth lies at the heart of the Gospel. It is what it means to be truly human. The gift of life is bestowed by God in order that we may flourish and thrive. We do this in the first place simply by living with gratitude. We do it by responding to His love in a life of joyful communion with Him. We express it by actively engaging in the good of others so that mutual ‘flourishing’ may take place. The more we give, the more we receive. The ‘Gospel of Life’ outlined above is, indeed, ‘Good News’. It is revealed in every aspect of human nature and creation itself. This is the life-giving teaching we seek to hand on to our children who are “the messages we send to tomorrow”. The Rite of Baptism reminds us that parents are the first and best teachers of their children. The Catholic school exists primarily to educate children to receive and respond to God’s love for each one of them and for all. Our schools are designed to help parents fulfil their God given task of caring for their children in the school of love. The Catholic school is not just a place for professional education – existing for improvement in learning - important though that is. It is a place of formation, a place in which ‘lessons for life’ are imparted, received and shared. The whole school community teaches and learns these lessons in a truly Catholic environment. Human relationships are obviously at the heart of life and flourishing. We are made to relate to each other, body, mind and spirit. The physical, emotional and spiritual reality of our being are part and parcel of the ‘holy trinity’ of each one of us. Thus affective sexuality education is a crucial part of human formation. A Fertile Heart is the culmination of several years work of dedicated individuals [teachers, theologians, education advisers and parents] from within the dioceses of Birmingham, Cardiff, Clifton, Arundel and Brighton and Shrewsbury. They have worked tirelessly to create a resource which puts the human person and the flourishing of our pupils at the heart of the Catholic school. It is offered as an important aid to pupils, parents, teachers, governors and clergy to remind us all that “We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning God had meant us to live it” (Ephesians 2:10).
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Contents: Year 5 Y5 focuses on key elements of relationship: its importance; self-development leading to self-giving; the reason we long for relationship; marriage and family; freedom, tolerance and solidarity; the logical reasoning of God’s existence; and understanding discernment, appropriate trust, and our impulses and influences. Module 5a: Life is Relational - especially for Persons! Reflecting on nature and experience, we see that everything is relational. Persons can relate in a deeper way than things and animals. In the light of this, it is important to think through what is needed to be a person. Module 5b: Self-knowledge, Self-Possession, Self-Gift As persons, relationship is central to us. In order to relate I need self-knowledge and self-possession, to then selfgive. Today’s objective is to understand what these mean and why they are so vital to being a person. Module 5c: God is Relationship: We Long to be like Him If God is a communion of three persons in one God, then relationship is at the heart of God, so it is not surprising that it is at the heart of us, made in his image. My deepest desires are, therefore, to be with God, to know, and love him, to be known and loved by him, and so be joyful. Module 5d: Marriage and Growing in Love To understand that marriage gives a home for children to grow. To see that marriage also helps the wife and husband grow. Module 5e: Freedom To understand the importance of freedom, and how it is linked to happiness. To understand the two ideas of freedom - one that is right, one that we often feel is right. Module 5f: Freedom in Christ Through looking at what Jesus teaches us, we back up the last module’s understanding how freedom is our ability to act in harmony with our God-given nature. Module 5g: Tolerance To understand that all human persons share an equal, immeasurable dignity - because we are all made in the image of God. There are differences between people, however there is no place in us, or in society, for prejudice or discrimination against any human person. Persons with differences should always be respected. With communication and right tolerance, differences often become important parts of relationship. Module 5h: Tolerance and Solidarity However a person acts, they are still a person, and should be treated with dignity. However, that is different from saying everything everyone does is good if that’s what they want, because persons relate to each other in solidarity, and so, alongside personal dignity is personal responsibility. Module 5i: God and Dominoes! Self-development and growing in love are strengthened if we can be sure that there is a God who is moving things and calling us to grow. From reason alone we can know there is a God who guides us. Module 5j: Discernment and Trust part one To further understand the many impulses we have inside us, even in reaction to the smallest things. To understand the importance of discerning whether they are good impulses, and which are more important. To learn which types of impulses are normally good for me and which are not. Module 5k: Discernment and Trust part two Continuing what we learnt last time about discernment and trust, to understand that we are influenced by others. We need to understand how they try to influence us, and discern who should be trusted and how.
Year 5 Module a
5a
Life is Relational – Especially for Persons
Learning Objective To understand that life is relational. This whole course urges us to use reason to reflect on experience, and then allow faith to deepen and guide our reasoning. This allows for our conclusions to be rational and very relevant to what is at the heart of life, rather than polarising reason and faith against each other.
“No man is an island.” John Donne, Meditation XVII.
Success Criteria
Reflecting on how I experience, I realise that everything I know is founded on sense perception. This is a relational process. When I see something, there is me, the seer, there is the seeing and there is the thing seen. This is true of every sense. When I think, when I love, when I act - in everything there is the subject, the action and the object.
1. I can explore relationships in nature.
When we look at nature, particularly how plants and animals so often work in harmony, we see how relational nature is. (Yes, there are predators and prey, and these don’t obviously come under “relational”. We shouldn’t ignore this, but it does highlight the wisdom of Genesis, where without sin there are no such issues. Sin brings disorder into the world, and part of that is the lack of harmony we do see in some dimensions of nature, but these are far outweighed by the harmony and beauty that is still present.)
3. I can explain what it is that makes me a “person”.
We only have to look at ourselves and our lives to realise I wouldn’t last very long without other people - not just for companionship but for the basics of life too. All life is relational.
2. I can identify characteristics that set humans apart from other beings.
4. I can highlight how persons can relate in a deeper way than things and animals.
From this, we can then reflect that persons are different because they can choose to relate, they can communicate on a much different level than even animals communicating of themselves, receiving and responding to each other. This can lead us to think through what is fundamentally necessary to be a person - which in turn gives us a real sense of the dignity, beauty and uniqueness of every person. Step 1 Explain: Throughout nature we see lots and lots of relationships.
Clown fish and anemones.
Clown fish and anemones: These live in what we call a symbiotic relationship. The fish protect and feed the anemones; the anemones do likewise for the fish. We still don’t really understand how the clown fish isn’t stung by the anemone’s poisonous tentacles, like other fish are (it is probably by being coated in a membrane of mucus - yuk!). The plover bird: Picks food off the crocodile’s teeth! This seems to help keep the crocodile’s teeth clean, protecting them from infection!
The plover bird and the crocodile.
Bees: Collect nectar from flowers, and in so doing transfer pollen from one flower to another, allowing for more flowers! Watch https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=2vpkOvlZJqs 5 of the Coolest Animal Partnerships (4:39). Step 2 Ask: Who has a pet? What is your relationship with your pet like? How is it different from your relationships with your family? Discuss and feedback. Feeling safe and lots of cuddles and never being judged is nice. But does it compare with a bedtime story, or a special shared moment? (Activity 1.) 58
A Fertile Heart | Receiving & Giving Creative Love
Bees and flowers.
Key Point
Suggested Activities
As persons, relationship is central to who we are.
1. Spot the difference – in pairs/ small groups , make a comparison between various living things and humans: similarities and differences.
Step 3 Explain: We are persons. Animals are not. Being a person means we don’t just act on instinct, we also choose to act. We can do this because we can think, and say yes or no to our instincts. No dog has ever wondered whether to wait and save the food put before him, for later. So to be a person, there has to be the following: 1. I have to exist – okay, this might seem too obvious, but it becomes helpful later on… 2. I have to be aware of myself – everything I consciously do, I am aware that I am doing, and can reflect on it later. 3. From this, I get to know and understand myself – you children will know yourselves better than you did in Y2, and in five years’ time, you will know yourselves even better. 4. I have to be able to choose – some things you can just tell about me, as soon as you see that I am a human - you know I need food for example. But to really know me, I have to choose to tell you about me. 5. There has to be something in common between us – if there wasn’t, I wouldn’t be able to communicate with you. If we weren’t human, how would I know how you communicate? If we haven’t got the same language, it is a lot harder to communicate. 6. There has to be something different about us – if we were exactly the same, I’d have nothing to tell you! 7. From this we can see that every person has to be unique – we instinctively know this, e.g. when I am thinking, I know it is me that is thinking and no-one else. I would be very alarmed if I thought something and you immediately told me what I was thinking! (Activities 2 and 3.)
2. Write 3 short paragraphs to explain what we receive from family, pets and nature. 3. Write prayers of thanks for nature, creation and, most of all, for the persons in our life.
Suggested Resources 1. Calming music for periods of reflection e.g. Stunning Aquarium (YouTube). 2. Images representing nature, human relationships and abstract qualities e.g. happiness, love etc.
Summary So, we can see how it is no simple matter being a person: it’s amazing! Your most important and interesting dimension is your spiritual life - what you are thinking and hoping etc., what it is to be you - but you communicate it through the physical. As humans we communicate through our senses - mainly hearing, but also seeing and touching (animals tend to use taste and smell more than we do - thankfully!) Therefore, so much of what it is to be human is geared to relating. It is central to us. We can’t live without it. And when we relate by receiving and giving, we call it love.
What unites us as humans? 59
A Fertile Heart Receiving & Giving Creative Love
Want to know more? Give us a call, email us or complete the form on the website, see details below. 1 Newcastle Street, Stone, Staffordshire STl 5 8JU Phone: +44 (0) 1785 815110 Email: hello@fertileheart.org.uk Contact: www.fertileheart.org.uk/contact