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Year 2

Shared stories

I can explain that the Bible is a special book containing important stories.

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New
New
Year 2

Shared stories

I can explain that the Bible is a special book containing important stories.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. There are important shared stories with promises in for Christians and Jews.
  2. The Bible has two 'testaments': the Old Testament and the New Testament.
  3. The word 'testament' means covenant or 'solemn promise' by God.
  4. The Old Testament is made up of writings about Jewish tradition and beliefs which are also sacred to Jews today.

Keywords

  • Torah - Jewish law and scriptures, also called the Hebrew Bible

  • New Testament - the second part of the Christian Bible recording the life and teachings of Jesus and his earliest followers

  • Promise - an agreement to do or not do something

  • Old Testament - the first part of the Christian Bible covering the period before the life of Jesus

  • Testament - an agreement or statement of belief

Common misconception

The Bible is one book written by one person.

The Bible is made up from lots of books written by different authors over a long period of time.


To help you plan your year 2 religious education lesson on: Shared stories, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Show the children a Bible (not a children’s version). Look at the index to see all the books and notice the thin paper so that it fits in one volume. Show where the Old Testament and New Testament are found. You could show them the first 5 books (Genesis – Deuteronomy) that also make up the Torah.
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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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4 Questions

Q1.
What do Christians call a story Jesus told with a hidden meaning?
poem
gospel
Correct answer: parable
miracle
Q2.
Many Muslims tell stories from the life of the Prophet ...
Correct Answer: Muhammad, muhammad, Muhamad, muhamad
Q3.
__________ are people with a non-religious worldview that do not believe in God.
Christians
Peopleists
Worldists
Correct answer: Humanists
Q4.
Many Christians believe Jesus was God on earth. What is the special word for this?
Correct answer: incarnation
heaven
resurrection

4 Questions

Q1.
Which of these are promises?
Correct answer: I told my friend that I would play with her at lunchtime.
Correct answer: I told my mum that I would get my homework done before the weekend.
I told my brother to feed the dog.
Q2.
Match the word to the definition.
Correct Answer:Old Testament,the first part of the Christian Bible
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the first part of the Christian Bible

Correct Answer:New Testament,the second part of the Christian Bible
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the second part of the Christian Bible

Correct Answer:Torah,Jewish law and scriptures
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Jewish law and scriptures

Q3.
What is the name of the Christian holy book?
Correct answer: Bible
Qu’ran
Torah
Q4.
The Bible is made up of ...
Correct answer: lots of books
only stories
only poems
only letters