Year 3: Preparing for Divali

Introduction

Here children learn more about the festival of Divali. The lesson uses website resources.

What will the children learn?

The children will learn about the preparations that are made by Hindus before they celebrate the festival of Divali.
What prior experience do the children need?

The children would benefit from a knowledge of the significance of symbols in other religions. The children will need to know the story of Rama and Sita.

Equipment

The Lesson

Discuss with the children times and events during the year when they look forward to something special happening. What things do we do to prepare for special occasions?

Watch this online video of a family from Leicester preparing for Divali:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/videonation/archive/a_f/dipak_joshi_my_diwali.shtml

Ask the children if they can work out why the man in this video, Dipak Joshi, is so excited? Tell the children that Divali is the Hindu New Year celebration. Consider what traditions we follow at New Year such as parties and New Year’s resolutions. Tell the children that preparing for Divali is important to a Hindu. Discuss how important this festival is to all his family.

Watch the video again, starting and stopping it, and make notes or a list or a mindmap of the preparations that Dipak and his family make.

Tell the children that Hindus all over the world celebrate Divali. Connect to the Snaith Primary school site at http://home.freeuk.com/elloughton13/india.htm.

Enter the site. Show the children where Jaipur is on the map of India and then enter the ‘Jaipur for Diwali’ section. Introduce the slide show and watch one or two slides. Ask the children to make notes, a list or a mindmap of all the things that are done to prepare for Divali.

In pairs or small groups working with an adult, allow the children to connect to this site and work through the slide show.

Why are we using ICT?

The video contains a very personal account of the importance of Divali to one man. The slide show provides a set of thought provoking photos and text to encourage a good level of discussion amongst the children.

References

QCA Schemes of Work ICT Unit 3A Combining text and graphics
http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/schemes2/it/?view=get

QCA Schemes of Work RE Unit 3B How and why do Hindus celebrate Divali? http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/schemes2/religion/?view=get

5-14 National Guidelines for the Curriculum in Scotland: *Religious Education 5-14 Roman Catholic Schools, Other World Religions – Celebrations, Festivals, Ceremonies and Customs; Sacred Writings, Stories and Key Figures, Level C – C1.1 and C2.1

ICT, Searching and researching; Creating and presenting, Level C
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/5to14/guidelines/index.asp
* RC guidelines were selected because they contain more detail than the guidelines for non-denominational schools.

Where do we go next?

The children can use their notes, lists or mindmaps to write about Divali. This could be done using a word processing package. They could decorate their writing and insert pictures into it.

Differentiating the activity

Some children will require more support with the reading and writing of their lists. You could create a cloze procedure for them or use a prepared mindmap

Some children could be asked to find out more about Divali by following the links from this page or by looking at other sites.

Some children could complete the online quiz about Divali then print out their results.

Reflecting on their work

What have the children learnt about preparing for Divali. Have they noticed any similarities or differences between the preparations in Jaipur and in Leicester? Why is Divali such a special time for Hindus?

Supporting Resources

Other useful sites include: