Year 4 The Romans: what is the story of Christianity's rise? worksheet

“Christianity's first steps” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 4 history unit “The Romans: what is the story of Christianity's rise?”, for children aged 8 to 9, and takes about 20 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 31 to 36 of the year, 6 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Christianity's first steps

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 4 · History · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can tell how Christianity began after Jesus died and spread through the Roman Empire.

A Look back3 min

1.
Write these in order, earliest first: Vesuvius erupts (AD 79), Romans invade Britain (AD 43), work on Hadrian's Wall begins (AD 122).
2.
50 BC comes ____ AD 50. Circle the right word.
beforeafter
3.
How many years are there from AD 20 to AD 75?

B Watch me, then you4 min

CE and AD mean the same years. A history book says Christianity began in the first century CE. Let us see what that means.

Watch me

The first century CE runs from AD 1 to AD 100.

The second century starts at AD 101.

So AD 150 is in the second century.

Now you

1.
The third century CE starts at AD 201 and lasts 100 years. Which year is the last one in it?
2.
AD 250 is in which century? Circle the right answer.
1st2nd3rd4th

C Your turn6 min

Each row moves on to the next century. Count carefully.

1.
The second century CE starts at AD 101 and lasts 100 years. Which year is the last one?
2.
The fourth century CE starts at AD 301 and lasts 100 years. Which year is the last one?
3.
The fifth century CE starts at AD 401 and lasts 100 years. Which year is the last one?
4.
The first, second and third centuries CE each last 100 years. How many years is that altogether?

Say it out loud: What changed from one row to the next, and what stayed the same?

D Spot the mistake3 min

Kit says: “Christianity started on the day Jesus was born.”

1.
What really happened? Write two sentences.

E Think deeper3 min

An empty Roman amphitheatre with curved stone seats and a sandy floor

1.
A martyr is someone who dies rather than give up their beliefs. Some early Christians became martyrs. Explain why this might have helped the religion grow. Use the word martyr.

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Christianity's first steps · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. Romans invade Britain (AD 43), Vesuvius erupts (AD 79), work on Hadrian's Wall begins (AD 122)

2. before

3. 55 They added 20 and 75 to get 95. Years between two dates are found by taking away. Ask your child which year is bigger, then count on from the smaller one.

B

1. 300 They added 100 to the first year, so they got 301, one year too many. Ask your child to count on from AD 201 and see which year is the last one.

2. 3rd

C

1. 200 They added 100 to the first year, so they got 201. A century is 100 years, so the last year is one less than their sum. Ask your child to count on from 101.

2. 400

3. 500

4. 300

D

1. Look for: Christianity grew after Jesus died, once followers passed on his ideas, not at his birth. Kit thinks it began at Jesus's birth. Ask your child what his followers did after he died, and whether they kept sharing his ideas.

E

1. Look for: An answer saying the martyrs' courage encouraged other believers to stay faithful, so more people joined and the religion grew.

Words to use

Say“Why did Christianity grow after Jesus died? What helped it spread across the Empire?”

Instead of“Just tell them the answer, or say 'that's wrong, read it again.'”

After the sheet

Draw a timeline from AD 1 to AD 400 on a strip of paper. Help your child mark three dates on it. Jesus died in about AD 30. Constantine let Christians worship in AD 313. Christianity became the Roman Empire's official religion in AD 380.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

5 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Constantine and the Empire(with a plan)
Church leaders and councils(with a plan)
The Eastern Empire lives on(with a plan)
Christianity in Aksum(with a plan)
Christianity's Big Moments(with a plan)

Every Year 4 history worksheet

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