Table of Contents:
1. Teacher’s background information.
This world has been carefully designed to produce creatures, animals and plants in abundance.
And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.”
Genesis 1:25 ESV
So it is disgraceful to see humanity clearing forests on a colossal scale, polluting rivers and oceans, etc.
The children will look at how and why we should look after the world.
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2. Lesson plans and resources for Looking after our Planet.
[a] Looking After Our Planet. The lesson plan is a downloadable PDF document to present to the children. (Opens in a new tab.)
[b] Looking After Our Planet Lesson Plan is a PowerPoint presentation viewable or downloadable for teachers to show the children. (Opens in a new tab on www.slideshare.net) (Same material as the PDF above).
[c] Looking After Our Planet Lesson Planis a video based on a PowerPoint presentation. Created with 5-second slides, so pause the video to enable the children to study each slide. (Same material as the PowerPoint above).
[d] Free children’s songs:
‘One World’ song.
‘One World for us all to enjoy’ Song.
3. Children’s songs about our planet:
[a] ‘One World’ by Songs For School. (3.17 minutes long)
[b] One World for us all to Enjoy Song – One Home For Us All (2.37 minutes long)
Caring for and sharing planet Earth.
4. How to fulfil the locally agreed syllabus for ‘Looking after our planet lesson plan’
Hopefully, you will be able to match your local agreed syllabus with what is here.
This lesson plan is based on the UK RE Attainment Targets.
Here is the Mapping Grid for the Attainment Target Categories:
- Sacred Texts – stories, scriptures, parables, teachings
- Beliefs – ideas about God, truth, meaning, purpose
- Practices – worship, prayer, festivals, rituals, lifestyle
- Identity – belonging, community, worldview, personal reflection
- Values – moral ideas, attitudes, virtues
- Living – how beliefs affect actions and everyday life
🎯 Why This Grid Works for UK Schools
✔ Matches Agreed Syllabus expectations
✔ Supports progression from KS1 to KS2
✔ Aligns with Ofsted language (knowledge, understanding, impact)
✔ Works for lesson planning, assessment, and inspection evidence
✔ Non-political, non-denominational, UK-appropriate
For many local syllabi, in KS1, Christianity plus at least one other major religion is studied.
Effective RE should combine:
- knowledge (stories, beliefs, practices)
- understanding (why people believe/do what they do)
- reflection (personal response, values, empathy).
Typical Key Questions for KS1
Here are common “core/enquiry” questions or themes that appear in most KS1 agreed syllabi:
- “Who am I?” (Identity).
- “What does it mean to belong?” (Belonging).
- “What makes some people so important?” (Important people).
- “Where did we come from / how did the world begin?” (Simple beliefs).
- “What makes some stories so important to different people?” (Sacred books).
- “Why are festivals, symbols or special stories important?” (Stories & moral values).
- “Why are some places so important?” (Important places).
These then required merging within the Assessment Aims, but as can be seen, there had to be some overlapping of the themes/core questions:
- ASSESSMENT AIM: 1. SACRED TEXTS (Stories, Scriptures, parables & teachings) – [SACRED TEXTS & WHO AM I?]
- ASSESSMENT AIMS: 2. BELIEFS (Ideas about God, truth, meaning & purpose) – CREATION & IMPORTANT PEOPLE]
- ASSESSMENT AIM: 3. PRACTICES (worship, prayer, festivals, rituals & lifestyle) – [FESTIVALS & PLACES]
- ASSESSMENT AIM: 4. IDENTITY (belonging, community, worldview & personal reflection) – [BELONGING & IDENTITY]
- ASSESSMENT AIMS: 5. VALUES (moral ideas, attitudes, virtues, right & wrong) – [FESTIVALS & BELONGING]
- ASSESSMENT AIMS: 6. LIVING (how beliefs affect actions and everyday life) – [IMPORTANT PEOPLE & FESTIVALS]
Each assessment had its own set of questions to answer. These are included in each lesson plan, which is