Storytelling, Teaching and Information

Countdown to Christmas with Timothy Bear
24 five-minute read-aloud bedtime stories for Advent
Brian Sears

For Timothy Bear, counting the days down to Christmas is full of excitement! At school there is the nativity play to get ready; at home there are decorations to put up, Christmas cards to write and tasty Christmas treats to prepare. It's no wonder Timothy sometimes finds himself daydreaming - floating through time and space, spinning but never dizzy, speeding but never frightened, until he lands with the slightest bump right in the middle of another adventure.

Looking forward to Christmas with Timothy Bear

18 five-minute stories and assembly outlines for Advent and Christmas

Brian Sears

Looking forward to Christmas with Timothy Bear contains 18 pick-up-and-use assembly programmes for KS1 teachers, complete with memorable easy-to-read stories, telling tips, Bible links, suggestions for songs, optional prayers, and questions and activities to explore and develop the theme of the story - ideal for collective worship and classroom follow-up.

The Barnabas Schools' Bible
Retold by Rhona Davies
Illustrated by Piwowarski

Ideal for reading aloud during collective worship, The Barnabas Schools' Bible retells Bible passages in chronological, rather than biblical, order, presenting a continuous thread from Genesis to Revelation. The clean, modern design brings the text to life, and KS2 pupils using the Barnabas Schools' Bible for their own study during RE will find the reference and encyclopedia section invaluable.

• KS1
• KS2

KS1

Through the Year with Timothy Bear
24 five-minute stories for special days and seasons of the year
Brian Sears

24 short stories devised to help those working with 5-7s to teach biblical and moral truths through storytelling. There is a story for each special day of the year, as well as stories for the four seasons. The stories can be used in collective worship and assemblies, PSHE and circle time, as an aid to the teaching of RE or purely for enjoyment at story-time.

KS2

Reflective Learning
Trevor Reader and Lilian Weatherley
Unpacking key Christian beliefs in RE and collective worship

Reflective Learning provides KS2 teachers with essential background information for key Christian beliefs and offers important tools to instil confidence in the teaching of RE. The eleven units focus on three key concepts related to the principal beliefs of the Christian faith - Who God is (the Trinity), What God has done (Salvation) and The Church today.

Living in a fragile world
Peter Privett

Living in a fragile world uses three-dimensional materials based on the methodology of Godly Play, an imaginative way of telling Bible stories, or presenting parables or lessons about Christian tradition following the Montessori principles of education. Week-by-week the sessions move from the wider planetary view, to the land, to the community, to the self. Each week as the story unfolds the group is invited to recapture the interconnectedness of all things and thereby something of the vision of God.

The Adventures of Naughty Nora

Stephen Cottrell

14 fun stories of everyday life for collective worship, assemblies and storytelling in the classroom

Naughty Nora is a mischievous girl who seems to get into all sorts of trouble every day! The stories of her adventures will appeal to Key Stage 2 children and tease out the message of God's grace present in everyday life. Rather than operating as definite teaching material, each story is designed to promote reflective thinking in an entertaining and fun way. With lively storytelling and Christian resonances, they are ideal for assembly and RE.

Eyewitness Assemblies
15 ready-to-use assemblies for Easter to Pentecost
Gaynor Cobb

Ideal for the late spring and early summer term, here are 15 imaginative 'first hand' accounts of the events from Easter to Pentecost, told from the perspective of someone who was there. Each assembly can stand alone, and the material is particularly suitable for schools planning project-based work over the period of Easter, or for teachers wishing to link the themes of Easter to topical issues covered in PSHE and Citizenship.

The Barnabas Schools' Bible
Retold by Rhona Davies
Illustrated by Piwowarski

Ideal for reading aloud during collective worship, The Barnabas Schools' Bible retells Bible passages in chronological, rather than biblical, order, presenting a continuous thread from Genesis to Revelation. The clean, modern design brings the text to life, and KS2 pupils using the Barnabas Schools' Bible for their own study during RE will find the reference and encyclopedia section invaluable.

Getting Ready for Christmas
Creative ideas for assemblies, drama and cross-curricular activities
Meg Harper

This book contains a wealth of ideas for cross-curricular teaching designed to give a host of fresh ideas for the last few weeks of the Christmas term. The material includes a mix of practical, literary and academic tasks, all linked to the National Curriculum.

Caring for Others Today
Exploring Christian belief in action
Sylvia Green

This book uses examples from the life and teaching of Jesus as a springboard to explore the work of 22 key charities, nationally and internationally. As well as classroom teaching, there are ideas to help children get actively involved in the work of the charities.

Living Church
A ready-to-use interactive learning experience for schools
Murray McBride

For many children, their first encounter with the local church is a school visit. This book provides everything you need to turn that visit into a memorable learning experience. Unlocking the building and the community of Christians it represents, the Living Church project encourages interactive learning through storytelling, re-enacting Christian celebrations, constructing a model of a church, completing activity sheets, and linking to other curriculum subjects.

Stories for Interactive Assemblies Currently out of stock
15 story-based assemblies to get children talking
Nigel Bishop

These easy-to-tell stories combine biblical teaching with contemporary storytelling. Set within the world of the classroom, each story has its roots in one of Jesus' parables. Primary school children will recognise themselves and their classmates in the stories and relate to the underlying message that is the essence of the parable. Nigel Bishop, a teacher for over 15 years, includes plenty of follow-up material and suggestions to think and talk about in the classroom.

A-cross the World (PDF Download)
An exploration of forty representations of the cross from the worldwide Christian church
Martyn Payne and Betty Pedley

Telling the stories behind forty crosses from a wide diversity of cultures and Christian faith traditions. It is packed full of ideas for activities, icebreakers, games, prayers, poems and crafts.
Age range: ideal for 5 - 11s

Special People, Special Places
Making connections between Christian pilgrimage and everyday life
Janet Marshall

This book seeks to enable Key Stage 2 teachers to introduce children to the exciting and challenging concept of pilgrimage as part of their RE lessons. All the material is curriculum-linked in order to supplement the teaching of various units of study in the QCA national framework for RE and QCA non-statutory guidelines. The book is divided into three separate, yet interdependent, sections, each containing teacher fact files, creative activities, photocopiable worksheets, questions for discussion, drama, and ideas for art and craft, dance and music.

Special People, Special Places

Special People, Special Places is now available as a PDF Download.