This week’s word is almsgiving. We heard that this means sharing what we have too much of with others. For example, this could be giving money to charity or food to the poor, but it could also be giving up our time.
We heard from the bible:
This tells us that when we help someone – when we give food to the hungry, clothes to those who need them or shelter to those who have none, we are doing it for Jesus.
We talked about what the children might have too much of which they could share:
- toys
- books
- shoes they have grown out of
By sharing these through a charity shop or directly, they are giving alms – one of the key things we should do during this season of Lent.
Let us know how you achieve this week’s mission in the comments below.
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The children in EYFS have discussed how they can give to others if they have too much of something. They have decided that during the time of Lent they are going to make an extra effort to give unwanted toys to charity, give up some of their time to help others and make and share some food with people that don’t have much.
Year 2 have discussed Almsgiving and they think it would be a wonderful idea to give up some of the electronical devices we use at home so that we can pray more. We could give up some of our own time to play with our brothers and sisters. Nicola said that we should spend more time together with our friends and families and play boardgames.
Year 4 are giving in a variety of ways this Lent. They are giving their time to complete laps of the playground everyday to raise money for CAFOD. Some are giving their time to help their parents or play with their siblings. Others have given something up like sweets, biscuits and crisps to be more like Jesus. We have talked about sacrifice and how it isn’t easy and that you need self discipline to stick to something for forty days and forty nights.
Year 3 spoke about how we could share food, clothes, toys with those who are less fortunate by donating them to charity. We also spoke about how giving up our time to help raise money for charity is a way of giving to others.
Year 5 discussed the vital importance of giving alms and decided to focus on giving unwanted clothing or toys to charity shops. We talked about how this helps the charity that runs the shop (which again is a form of alms giving) and the people who can then buy the things we donate much cheaper than they could in high street shops. We also talked about how giving to , and buying from charity shops helps in the fight against Climate Change, because clothes use a lot of natural resources to make and re-using them, avoids them going into landfill sites, and also reduces the amount of new clothes bought.
In Year One we talked about how we can give some of our old toys to charity. We also talked about how we are taking part in our walk every day so that hopefully our parents will give a small amount of money to CAFOD charity.
Year 6 have discussed giving up our time for our ‘Big Lent Walk’ and using this time to think about those in need. Children will also be looking at home and seeing which toys and clothes the could give to charity to help others. Maybe even supporting a food bank when they do shopping with their parents.