Religious Education Mini Unit Plan

Title Of Unit: Living a Moral Life

Subject/Course/Grade: Grade 1
Dates of Unit:
November 23rd-30th

Designed by: Ginny

Callaghan
Stage 1- Desired Results

General Learner Outcome: ML2

Freedom and Responsibility, Reason, Conscience, and Conscience Formation
Specific Learner Outcomes:
ML2.1: Listen to Gospel narratives that reveal the consequences of choosing not to obey
Gods will.
ML2.2: Identify situations that call us to choose between doing actions, which are good, or those
actions which are harmful.
ML2.3: Identify the different actions that we are capable of doing as human beings (e.g. natural
actions such as eating, sleeping, running, etc.) and those actions that we are able to think about
(i.e. use our reason) before we act and that have consequences of being good or harmful to
others and to ourselves.
Big Ideas
Essential Questions:
God has created human persons with free
Why should I follow Gods will?
will and reason (the ability to choose to
How do my decisions affect me? My friends?
do what is good or what is not good).
What is a harmful decision? A good decision?
How can you be sure?
All human actions have consequences for
which we are responsible and that should
be considered when making a moral
decision.
Students will
Be able to recall various gospel narratives,
and their outcomes in relation to decision
making
Think in terms of how their decisions affect
their own lives and others.
Identify what makes a behavior or choice
good/bad.
Develop the tools to make a good decision.

Skills

Developed
Critical Thinking/Reasoning
Responsibility
Decision Making
Consideration for Others
Conscience Formation

Stage 2- Assessment Evidence

Formal Assessment:
A formal group evaluation will be done
during lesson 3.

Informal Assessments:
Assessments will take place in the form of
monitoring class discussions, dramatic skits,
and reading over exit slips.
Self evaluation for the students will take
place in the form of daily reflection and
growth throughout the unit.
Self-evaluation for the teacher will be
assessed when evaluating the students
comic strips, skits and in-class discussions. If
the majority of the students meet the
outcomes, I will feel that a successful unit
has taken place. Each of my daily personal
goals will also be reflected upon.

Stage 3- Learning Plan

Learning Activities:
Day 1: ML2.3 What decisions do humans make without thinking? Which ones do we need to
think about before doing? What kinds of decisions are easy/hard?
Day 2: ML2.2 Identify good/harmful choices activity. Create dramatic skit of scenarios where
good and bad choices are made.
Day 3: ML2.2 Comic Strips students create a story that involves a difficult choice and
consequences. How does God help us make these choices?
Day 4: ML2.1 Class Read Aloud and YouTube Videos- Listen to various biblical stories and discuss
consequences for not following Gods will.
Day 5: ML2.1, ML2.2, ML2.3 What decisions affect us? Our friends? Are they ones we think
about or do they come naturally? How is our relationship with God affected when we make a
good or harmful choice? Do we feel good/bad when we make good/harmful choices? Lesson
leads into forgiveness unit.

Prayer for the Unit

(Said at the beginning of each lesson)
Father, I pray that You might give me a heart of wisdom. I pray that I will always
make wise choices; and when two paths seem to be equal, I pray You will help me
to trust You even as I make my decision. Give me a heart that is willing to obey
You, to respond in faith to the wisdom You give me

Grade One Religion- Lesson One

Materials
Chart paper, markers.

Overview

Differentiated instruction

This 40-minute Religion lesson will introduce

For students who are

students to the topic of decision-making. They will

finding the task too

start thinking about what decisions are

challenging, or who are

conscious/unconscious.

off-task: Use prompting

Objectives
Learning Objective: ML2.3 : Identify the different
actions that we are capable of doing as human
beings (e.g.natural actions such as eating, sleeping,
running, etc.) and those actions that we are able to
think about (i.e. use our reason) before we act and
that have consequences of being good or harmful to
others and to ourselves.

questions to have them think

about all the different
decisions they make in a
day. Remind them of
dilemmas on the
playground, choosing what
to eat for breakfast, putting
their shoes on, etc.
For students who find this

Personal Goal: I hope to teach my lesson in a

manner that is engaging for the students. I think this
will minimize disruptions and behavioral issues,
while maximizing learning.

activity too easy or who

have completed quickly:
Hand them a piece of paper
with the word reason.
Have them try to figure out

Activities

what the word means in

Start with daily prayer listed in Unit Plan

relation to decision-making.

0-5 minutes: Task of the Day (On the board for when

If there is extra time: Have

students enter the classroom): List several different

students draw out

decisions you make in your day.

themselves making one of

5-12 minutes: Ask each student to share one or two

the decisions they listed in

of their responses, and begin writing them down on

the task of the day activity.

chart paper for the class to see.

12-25 minutes: Have the students find a partner that

Assessment of learning

is not in the same half of the room as them. (Gets

objective:

students up from desks and moving). In these

I will assess students prior

partners, they are to decide which decisions on the

knowledge by listening to

chart are the hardest and which are the easiest.

the types of responses

25-35 minutes: Have students return to their desks,

students give me during the

and begin a classroom discussion on which decisions

task of the day. I will pay

they thought were hard/easy. What made them

attention to how their ideas

hard/easy? Students should start suggesting answers

develop as they sort the

such as I do it everyday, or I dont have to think

easy/hard decisions and

about it before doing it. If students have difficulty,

what their reasoning is.

ask them what things they did to get ready before

Looking at the students exit

school this morning. Did they have to think about

slips will allow me to see

them? Why or why not?

what they learned, and

35-40 minutes: Exit ticket: Students must write one

assess whether or not more

thing they learned during the lesson and hand it in to

time is needed with this

me in order to exit the class for recess.

lesson. No formal
assessment will be done, as
this is an introductory
lesson.

Grade One Religion Lesson Two

Overview
This 40-minute Religion lesson will have students

Materials
Dramatic Props

thinking about scenarios in which they may choose to

make a good or harmful decision.
Objectives

Differentiated instruction
For students who are
finding the task too

Learning Objective: Day 2 ML2.2: Identify

situations that call us to choose between doing actions
which are good or those actions which are harmful.
Personal Goal: I hope to teach my lesson that allows
students to apply what is learned to their every day
lives.

challenging, or who are

off-task: Break down the
activity into small steps, and
consider assigning each
member of the group a
specific task to accomplish,

Activities

such as a writer, set creator,

Start with daily prayer given in the Unit Plan

director etc.

0-5 minutes: Task of the Day (On the board for when

For students who find this

students enter the classroom): What makes a good

activity too easy: Have

choice, good?

them thinking about the next

5-12 minutes: Organize students into predetermined

lesson by encouraging them

groups of 4 and give them 5 minutes to share their

to think about the follow the

task of the day responses.

decision in their skit.

12-40 minutes: Have the students create a scenario in

If there is extra time: Start

which a good or bad choice is made by at least one of

presenting the skits.

the characters. Give them the rest of the class to plan

a dramatic skit that will be presented in the following

Assessment of learning

class. Encourage the use of props, creativity, and also

objective:

encourage students to make the decision in the skit a

I will assess student by

tricky one.

observing their groups while

they create their skits. Are

Following Class/ Follow-Up

they contributing ideas? Are

During the following class, after the skits are

they creatively coming up

presented, I would have a class discussion as to the

with challenging scenarios?

consequences (both good and harmful) of each of the

decisions made in the skits. Who benefited? Who was
harmed? How can we prevent situations that have
harmful actions?
.

Grade One Religion Lesson Three

Overview
This 40-minute Religion lesson will have students

Materials
Paper, Coloring Crayons

making connections between the first two lessons,

and gets them thinking about how their relationship

Differentiated instruction

with God is affected when they make good or

For students who are

harmful decisions.

finding the task too

Objectives

challenging, or who are

off-task: Help them figure

Learning Objective: Day 2 ML2.2: Identify

situations that call us to choose between doing actions
which are good or those actions which are harmful.
Personal Goal: I hope to have my students understand
the connection between good/harmful choices and
their faith in Christ.

out which of the three jobs

they would be most
successful with, and
consider swapping roles
with other group members
so that everyone benefits. If

.
Activities
Start with daily prayer listed on Unit Plan
0-5 minutes: Task of the Day (On the board for when
students enter the classroom): How does God help us
make difficult choices?
5-12 minutes: Discuss the question for the day as a
class, asking for volunteers to share their answers.
12-40 minutes: Create groups of three, and assign

further changes are needed,

help the student with
guiding questions.
For students who find this
activity too easy: Have
them work on creating an
alternate ending to their
comic strip. How does this

each child either the role of artist, storyteller, or

affect the character? God?

connector. Have the groups collaborate in making a

If there is extra time: Have

comic strip that reflects the question of the day. One

the groups explain their

person will be in charge of drawing the animation,

comic strips to the class.

another for narrating the story both on paper and to

the class, and the other student will be responsible for
Assessment of learning
ensuring that the narration and artwork connect back
objective:
to God and how He helps us. Collaboration will be
I will assess student by
needed for all three jobs, as it is the responsibility of
observing their groups
the entire group to have awareness of all components
while they create their
of their comic strip. However, these jobs allow the
comic strips. Are they
students to focus on a specific task, and feel as
contributing ideas? Are they
though they have an important responsibility.
creatively coming up with
Following Class/ Follow Up
difficult choices? This task
During the following class, groups will share their
will be formally assessed
comic strips with the class in a small presentation,
with a group mark following
explaining their difficult choice, and the journey that
the presentation. Rubric
the character took with God to make their choice.
below.
.

Living a Moral Life Rubric

Teacher Name: Miss Callaghan
Group Members:
CATEGORY

________________________________________

0 points

1 point

2 points

3 points

Connection
Between Faith
and Decision
Making

Group does not

make a
connection
between faith and
decision making
in their
presentation and
comic strip, rather
it is solely based
on decisionmaking.

Group recognizes
that faith plays a
role in decisionmaking, but
cannot identify
how.

Group recognizes
that faith plays a
role in decision
making, and can
accurately explain
this connection

Groups can accurately

and in depth, describe
how faith plays a role in
decision-making. They
go above and beyond to
make this clear in both
their comic strip and
presentation

Identification of
a Situation
Where a Difficult
Decision is Made

Group has not

identified a
difficult or
challenging
situation.

Group has
identified a
minimally
difficult or
challenging
situation.

Group has
identified a
difficult or
challenging
situation.

Group has identified a

particularly difficult or
challenging situation.
The group has gone
above and beyond in
selecting a challenging
scenario.

Understanding of
Decisions
Requiring
Reasoning

The group bases

their comic
strip/presentation
on a situation that
requires no
reasoning skills.

The group bases

their comic
strip/presentation
on a situation that
is made with few
reasoning skills.

The group bases

their comic
strip/presentation
is based on a
situation that
requires reasoning
skills.

The group bases their

comic strip/presentation
on a situation that
requires complex, more
time consuming and
mentally challenging
reasoning skills.

Respect During
Others
Presentations

Group members
are disruptive
throughout other
group's
presentations.

Group members
quietly listen to
other group's
presentations.

Group members
quietly listen to
other group's
presentations, and
are actively
engaged in asking
questions
afterwards.

Grade One Religion Lesson Four

Overview

Materials

This 40-minute Religion lesson will introduce

- The Holy Catholic Bible-

students to various biblical stories that will help them

Lk. 16:19-31 and Matt.

understand the consequences of not following Gods

26:69-75

will.

- Four Youtube Videos

Objectives
Learning Objective: ML2.1: Listen to Gospel
narratives that reveal the consequences of choosing
not to obey Gods will.
Personal Goal: I hope to have my students
understand the consequences of not following Gods
will, but in a modern day context.

(Provided in Reference List)

Differentiated instruction
For students who are
finding the task too
challenging, or who are
off-task: Have them go to a
supervised quiet study room

Activities

or area in the school and

Start with daily prayer listed on Unit Plan

have them read the

0-5 minutes: Task of the Day (On the board for when

narratives individually.

students enter the classroom): What consequences

For students who find this

occur regarding our relationship with God when we

activity too easy: N/A

make harmful choices.

If there is extra time:

5-12 minutes: Discuss the question for the day as a

Discuss the narratives with

class, asking for volunteers to share their answers.

the students. Which ones did

12-29 minutes: Organize a class read-aloud, where

they like/dislike? Why?

each student will take a turn reading a portion of The

What did they notice in the

Rich Man and the Beggar and Peter Denies Jesus 3

videos? Do they have any

Times narratives from the bible.

questions?

29-40 minutes: Watch the YouTube videos for both

the narratives read in class, as well as for The Faithful

Assessment of learning

Servant and The Consequences of Solomon. This

objective:

introduces two more stories for a follow up lesson,

I will assess students by

and summarizes the ones read in class today.

making sure they are

listening to the narratives

Following Class/ Follow-Up

and videos. If students can

The following class can be spent learning and reading

retell the stories back to me

Solomons story, and the story of the Faithful Servant

in a following lesson, I will

to follow up with the YouTube Videos.

know they understood the

narratives. In addition, if

.
they can retell the modern
day examples, or explain the
story in a modern context, I
will have met my personal
goal.

Grade One Religion Lesson Five

Materials

Overview
This 40-minute Religion lesson will allow students to

None

put together their knowledge from this mini unit in

preparation for the next mini unit of forgiveness.

Differentiated instruction
For students who are

Objectives

finding the task too

Learning Objective(s):

challenging: Have them

ML2.1: Listen to Gospel narratives that reveal the

consequences of choosing not to obey Gods will.

discussion questions with a

ML2.2: Identify situations that call us to choose

buddy (if possible) outside

between doing actions which are good or those

of the classroom. There are

actions which are harmful.

a lot of ideas here, and they

ML2.3: Identify the different actions that we are

could become

capable of doing as human beings and those actions

that we are able to think about (i.e. use our reason)
before we act and that have consequences of being
good or harmful to others and to ourselves.

confident in their knowledge of decision-making and

faith in order to proceed into a mini unit regarding

Look for signs of confusion

or overwhelmed students

discussion questions today,

and save the rest for another
lesson.

st

lesson in the forgiveness mini unit to be noticeably

tied together.

overwhelming to students.

and then focus on a few

Personal Goal: I hope to have my students feeling

forgiveness. I would like for this lesson and the 1

focus on just a few of the

For students who find this

activity too easy: Have
them tutor/help a friend who

Activities

is struggling with this lesson

by quietly discussing the

Start with daily prayer listen in Unit Plan

0-5 minutes: Task of the Day (On the board for when
students enter the classroom): Who suffers when you
make a bad choice? Who benefits when you make a
good choice?
5-12 minutes: Discuss the question for the day as a
class, asking for volunteers to share their answers.
12-25 minutes: Describe a scenario in which a
handful of students wont listen to their Religion
teacher. The teacher decides to take away the

discussion questions in
another room or quiet area
of the class.
If there is extra time:
Continue leading into the
forgiveness mini-unit by
asking students to describe a
time when they were
forgiven or forgave someone
else.

privilege of recess for the entire class. Ask the class

questions such as Who misses out? Who
benefits?, Did the students get to spend quality
time learning about God?, How is your
relationship with God affected if you were
misbehaving/behaving? Was this choice to listen
one that required reasoning? See what answers
students can put together, but try to lead them into
realizing that all parties suffer when people choose to
not follow Gods will, and that we hurt ourselves, our
friends, and our relationship with God. Also ensure
students realize that it is usually decisions that require
reasoning that can lead to choosing to either follow,
or not follow Gods will.
25-35 minutes: In pairs, have the students come up

Assessment of learning
objective:
I will assess students by
informally evaluating their
discussion responses. Based
on the answers I get, I can
decide whether the students
are ready to move on, or
need an extra lesson or two
on moral decision-making.

with two or three things that someone who has not

followed Gods will can do to try and repent. Students
are welcome to think about the characters in last
class narratives and what they could have done, or
make up their own scenario.
35-40 minutes: Exit slip (must be handed to the
teacher to leave the class for recess): What do you
think forgiveness is? This question is not evaluated,
but gives me an idea of students prior knowledge of
the topic of forgiveness. Using this, I can more
effectively plan my next mini-unit.

Following Class/Follow Up
The following class will be spent starting a new miniunit on forgiveness.
.

Reflection

For my unit plan, I chose to focus on Grade One Religion: Living a Moral Life.
Specifically, I wanted to make my lessons in order to meet the learner outcome regarding
decision-making. I chose to focus on just this outcome, as I think that students being able
to understand their role in decision-making, along with how it affects others and
themselves, is vital in going forward in any Religious Education unit. Having a strong
basis of knowledge and more fully developed reasoning skills, in my opinion, will allow
students to make connections with any future lessons, and within their daily life as well.
I outlined 5 lessons, that including the continuation portion of the lesson, would
take 8 days, provided that the students understood key concepts as expected. This unit
would also lead into a forgiveness unit, which students briefly start to think about by the
end of this unit. All of the lessons I included were based off of my own ideas, however I
researched several different videos to help students better understand some more
complicated narratives. I also found a prayer to be said at the beginning of each lesson.
This helps tie Religion into all the lessons, but more specifically, the first two lessons
which dont seem outwardly religious. I also researched ways to add to my lesson, such
as how to maximize student engagement (i.e., breaking up the lesson into activities,
discussing questions with a partner, YouTube videos, and having group work). I included
a formal evaluation in my third lesson, as I felt that this was the most appropriate time to
assess what had already been learned, without jumping into any new material.
Teaching preschool as a part-time job means that lesson planning is something
that isnt very new to me, and I do feel fairly comfortable with it. However, planning a
religion lesson is something I have no experience with, so I was able to learn quite a bit
through the process of creating my lessons. The first thing that surprised me was that
there isnt a formal guide for Alberta for religious education. I always assumed there was,
so I realized that along with all the other challenges Catholic Education teachers face that

I have learned about in this course, they have much fewer resources available to them
than I thought. This must be a huge struggle for them! I also learned how to tie religion
into lessons that may not be overly religious sounding, by simply using a prayer, or
adding in an extra discussion question that ties faith into the lesson. This brought me to
the understanding that the Catholic faith can always be tied into lessons, and it doesnt
always take a ton of work. While going above and beyond in every lesson would be ideal,
there are most certainly ways to do it when you are teaching and are short on time or run
into any unforeseen circumstances, which without question, will happen from time to
time. All in all, completing this unit plan has made me feel much more confident in my
ability to plan lessons and unit plans for Religious Education, and has made me very
appreciate of all the hard work the teachers in my Catholic schools did in order to ensure
a strong faith for me.

Reference List

A prayer for the discernment needed to make wise choices. (2013, September 8). In The
Moody Church. Retrieved from http://www.moodychurch.org/news/prayerdiscernment-needed-make-wise-choices/

Hurst, S. (2013, September 18). Seven ways to increase student engagement in the
classroom. In Reading Horizons. Retrieved from
http://www.readinghorizons.com/blog/seven-ways-to-increase-student-engagementin-the-classroom

KidsClassroom. (2013, October 19). The rich man and the beggar: bible stories. [video

file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oDXM_mhLmE

KidsQuestVideoss channel. (2010, April 19). Parable of the faithful servant. [video
file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjyhWdTJZGo

Kidswise. (2013, Auguast 13). Peter gets it wrong. [video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjxU8TDtyWA

Ontario Catholic Elementary Curriculum Policy Document for Religious Education.

(2012). In The Ontario Catholic Curriculum: Religious Education for Grades 1-8 .
Retrieved from http://www.tncdsb.on.ca/new/resources/CAT%20Elem%20Rel
%20Ed%20Policy%202012.pdf

Tanner, K. D. (n.d.). Structure matters: twenty-one teaching strategies to promote student

engagement and cultivate classroom equity. In Life Sciences Education. Retrieved

from http://www.lifescied.org/content/12/3/322.full

Whats in the Bible?. (2011, September 16). The consequences of Solomons sin. [video
file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn77cgLQmDQ