PRIMARY FEATURE: CREATION TABLES HOW TO... HOLD A CREATION TABLE DAY Using REEP and Dottie and Buzz materials Developing vital RE, using church buildings, and introducing cross-curricular work on the environment - you can do all three at once quite easily, as this account by a primary teacher of a day's activity in Norwich shows: SETTING UP At 10 o'clock, on a bright Autumn morning, children from Creeting St Mary C of E Primary School arrived at St Mary-le-Tower church in the centre of Ipswich. They were a young group, ranging in age from 5 to 8 and had been doing work based on Programme 2 of the Dottie and Buzz material. We had decided to use the 4th Activity in the Primary Resource section of the REEP website as the focus for the morning. This was conceived with a slightly older age-group in mind and, because of the potential for chaotic activity, it had been headlined as 'An activity for the brave teacher!' So it was with some nervousness that we introduced the activity to these younger children. In the event the activity worked brilliantly well. It is designed to introduce children to the idea of inequality in the distribution of the world's resources - and to the need for sharing and co-operation. It can be used fairly flexibly - you don't need the exact complement of resources listed on the website - and, indeed, we made do without some and added others (e.g. various coloured and glittery pieces of card). It didn't take long to divide the class into groups and to outline the basic idea that each group, beginning with the resources assigned to them, had to create their own house - the bigger and more splendid the better. The idea of trade and bartering was also introduced. INTO ACTION Then they were off! We were using the western end of the church. Tables and chairs were limited - so the groups with the most initial resources had their status underlined by being given what tables and chairs were available! It didn't take these young children long to assess what material they had and what they needed - and within minutes children were all over the place, haggling and bargaining for what they felt they needed. Any worries that the idea of trading might be too difficult for some of the younger children were soon dispelled - no doubt they had learned the necessary talents required to drive a hard bargain dealing in Pokemon cards! One of the main pleasures of the activity, for both teachers and children, is that the children work autonomously. Of course, some of them need the occasional word of advice - and sometimes a dispute needs to be diffused - but on the whole they organise themselves. In an age where so many school activities are teacher dominated this can come as a welcome relief to everyone concerned. It also provides an occasion for some of the more generous sides of a child's personality to be given expression - and sometimes the darker, selfish impulses. On the whole, with this younger group, the desire to share things with less well-off groups was more evident than its opposite. There were several occasions where children with an abundance of glittery bits surreptitiously shared them with less fortunate friends - not a good reflection of the 'real' world, perhaps, but heartening all the same. Each group took great pleasure in designing and making their house. Soon various elaborate structures were taking shape. We had allowed three quarters of an hour for this part of the activity, but the children were so engrossed in what they were doing that it stretched for over an hour. It could easily have been allowed to go on for longer. In the end a halt was called by reminding everyone that it was time to eat! THINKING ON YOUR FEET After lunch break we had intended to review the morning's activities and to use Activity 3 as a way of underlying the need for sharing and co-operation. It was clear, though, that some of Activity 3 was too advanced for some of the children, as it demanded a grasp of world maps and an understanding of the idea of percentages. In the event we gathered together and each group presented the house that they had created and talked about any problems they had experienced. This in itself probably would have been enough, but we did adapt the sweet-eating part of Activity 3. After each group had presented their work, we divided the class along the lines of the distribution of world population and shared out the sweets following the distribution of world energy consumption. An abstract idea, of course, but the class decided that, following their morning's experiences, they wanted their rewards distributed on a more equal basis! WHAT MADE IT WORK The key to making the event work was flexibility. Although presented on the REEP website as a Primary activity, the day could have been adapted for a Secondary class. Perhaps the task could be made more technologically difficult - rather than a collage each group could be required to construct a 3D model house - but the opportunity for learning through group dynamics would have been equally evident. The use of Activity 3's maps and percentages would have been more appropriate for use by an older group - though I suspect they would have been equally keen to be rewarded by sharing sweets! After the activities, we were joined by older pupils from Brook Hall School and Peter Townley, vicar of St Mary's, led collective worship. He used children's work and the theme 'What did you have for breakfast?' to involve everyone in exploring ideas of interdependency and the implications of world trade. It had been a tiring day - but good fun - and definitely a day which the children would remember and, hopefully, learn from. Dr Graeme Watson (Primary specialist and leader of the session, who also devised the original materials.)

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY: Making your own creation table (Taking a closer look at the creation table)

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY: The amazing facts tree


FOR TEACHERS...

CASE STUDY: Creeting's Creation Table

HOW TO... Hold a Creation Table Day


Go to The Creation Table contents


This activity © REEP / Lazenby Education