Carlong Primary Religious Education - Year 4.

The Carlong Primary Religious Education series is a completely new and exciting series comprising two (2) books (Grades 5 and 6 are combined into one book). The books are written as core texts and cover the provisions in Grades 4 to 6 of Jamaica’s primary religious education curriculum.

The Grade 4 text, the first in the series, is an attractive full-colour book that is very student-friendly and may be used at school or at home with parents or guardians. It focuses on four major world religions: Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism (whilst also touching on a few indigenous Caribbean religions e.g. Kumina, Revivalism and Rastafari. These and others are studied in more detail in Grade 5). The text does well in sensitizing students to the many different aspects of religion: worship, sacred texts, religious leaders, festivals, customs, rites and rituals. The book takes students’ on a ‘journey’ of how the four religions were developed and practised in the places of origin, how they came to Jamaica and how they have affected religious life in Jamaica.

This book takes a step beyond simply teaching students about different religions – it also helps to cement many life values – such as respect, obedience, trust, and tolerance of the views and beliefs of others. In relation to this, the text does well in introducing students to the idea of good citizenship and the characteristics of a good citizen.