Thursday 12 December 2013

Leven Valley School

This morning after doing the assembly at Our Lady's we went to Leven Valley School for what was our final assembly of the year that is our 130th in 2013.
We started by singing God can do anything and then went on to do our Christmas theme assembly as we have done to all our schools this month.  Telling the Christmas story from a slightly different view point can focus your mind in a slightly different way.  Sarah told the children that Jesus was in fact a shepherd as he was called the Good Shepherd and all good shepherds look after their sheep - they also carry a crook or a staff.  Sarah explained to the children the reason why they carry a staff and linked that back to Jesus in the following way.  Support - Jesus is always there to support us and help us as we journey through life.  Identity - Through his love for us, Jesus helps us to know that we belong to him.  Control - Jesus is in control and as his followers we need to trust in him.  Protection - Jesus helps us through good and difficult times. We often need to call out to him to save and protect us.  After this we sang Rejoice with us which is our Christmas song and I then said a prayer.

Our Lady's Dalton

This morning Sarah and I made our last visit of 2013 to Our Lady's School in Dalton.  We started the assembly by singing God can do Anything before Sarah introduced the theme - Christmas.  As we have done in all our schools this month we looked at Christmas from the shepherds point of view.  Sarah then focused on the shepherds crook or staff and explained how Jesus was called the Good Shepherd and how we should follow his example.  The crook was used for support, identity, protection and control and if we follow Jesus we too can know his protection, feel supported, sense his control and have identity with him.  Support - Jesus is always there to support us and help us as we journey through life.  Identity - Through his love for us, Jesus helps us to know that we belong to him.  Control - Jesus is in control and as his followers we need to trust in him.  Protection - Jesus helps us through good and difficult times. We often need to call out to him to save and protect us.  At the end we sang our Christmas song Rejoice with us before I closed the assembly with a prayer.

NT5 BX Crosthwaite

Following our assembly this afternoon I finished off Bible Explorer.  This weeks stories were all about Paul and his missionary journeys.  The children listened and interacted at the right times with the hand signs and took part in various parts of the story, like when Paul was asked to go down to Jerusalem to explain his actions to the council of Christians - 5 children acted this part out.  As the lesson moved on the children asked some very interesting questions about Jesus which was great.  They all finished it and everyone managed to complete the hand signs.  The class teach has even asked me to go back again next year and do the Old Testament again.

Crosthwaite School

Yesterday afternoon Sarah and I went over to Crosthwaite School to firstly do an assembly and then stay on as I did Bible Explorer.  The assembly we did is the one we have done in every school so far this month, looking at the Christmas story from the point of view of a shepherd.  Sarah took the lead so we started by singing God can do anything then I showed the video and Sarah explained the 4 things that shepherds used their crooks for and linked that with Jesus as the Good Shepherd.  Afterwards we sang our Christmas song Rejoice with us then I closed the assembly with a prayer.

Tuesday 10 December 2013

Croftlands Juniors

This morning Sarah and I were at Croftlands Juniors for our final assembly of the year.  Most of the school were in however year 3 had just left to go to see the infants nativity play.  We started the assembly by talking about Christmas then we showed the shepherds video clip that we have used in all our assemblies this Christmas time.  Sarah then talked about the shepherds and about their crooks and about how Jesus is known as the Good Shepherd.  The crook was used for support, control, identity and protection and in the same way Jesus can do that for us in that - Support - Jesus is always there to support us and help us as we journey through life.  Identity - Through his love for us, Jesus helps us to know that we belong to him.  Control - Jesus is in control and as his followers we need to trust in him.  Protection - Jesus helps us through good and difficult times. We often need to call out to him to save and protect us.  After the shepherds saw the baby Jesus they went off celebrating and praising God so to end the assembly we all sang Rejoice with Us this Christmas.  I then said a prayer to close.

Penny Bridge School

 This should have been posted yesterday but a computer error stopped it.

This afternoon Sarah and I were at Penny Bridge School for our final visit of 2013.  As in other schools we did a Christmas story - so we showed a video clip of the shepherds being told about the birth of Jesus.  Sarah then went on to talk to the children about shepherds and about what they do.  Then she asked the school what shepherds have sheep came back the answer as well as a stick or a crook.  She then reminded the children that Jesus was called the Good Shepherd and that we should follow his example.  Using the crook or staff I was holding and demonstrating with she told the children how the staff, is used for support, control, identity and protection then she referred to what Jesus does for us in that - Support - Jesus is always there to support us and help us as we journey through life.  Identity - Through his love for us, Jesus helps us to know that we belong to him.  Control - Jesus is in control and as his followers we need to trust in him.  Protection - Jesus helps us through good and difficult times. We often need to call out to him to save and protect us.  After I had said this we sang our Christmas song Rejoice with us this Christmas.  Then to finish I said a prayer.

Monday 9 December 2013

Broughton School

This morning I went over to see the children at Broughton school and to do a Christmas Assembly.  As we had plenty of time we sang Shine to begin with before I played the little video clip about the shepherds.  I then explained a little about shepherds and how in the gospels Jesus is described as the Good Shepherd.  I had my toy stuffed sheep and my staff with me as I was talking to the children.  I asked the children what shepherds needed one answer was sheep and someone else said a stick what they meant was a crook.  Using my staff/crook I demonstrated what a shepherd might do with them - support, control, identity, protect then I displayed a picture of a crook on the screen and added the following descriptions as they relate to Jesus.  Support - Jesus is always there to support us and help us as we journey through life.  Identity - Through his love for us, Jesus helps us to know that we belong to him.  Control - Jesus is in control and as his followers we need to trust in him.  Protection - Jesus helps us through good and difficult times. We often need to call out to him to save and protect us.  After I had said this we sang our Christmas song Rejoice with us this Christmas.  Then to finish I said a prayer.

Wednesday 4 December 2013

NT4 BX Crosthwaite

Over at Crosthwaite school again today for lesson 4 of New Testament.  The children came into the lesson very excited that I was there again - which is encouraging for me at least I know I'm not boring them.  To start we went to the beginning and did all the hand signs up to the end of lesson 3, which was Jesus crucified and resurrected.  I told the children that in order to get the sequence of hand signs together we would today repeat the last two from week 3 each time.  So with a great enthusiastic class I launched into the lesson for the day, covering the day of Pentecost, Phillips preaching, Pauls conversion and Peter's vision of unclean and clean animals.  Which sets us up ready for next week when we look at the journeys of Paul.  I had a great time and I hope the children did too.

St Peters Ireleth

This morning Sarah and I went over to St Peters for the last assembly of the year.  We started the assembly by singing Shine but the hall was set out for their nativity we couldn't project the words for our songs or show the short shepherds video we had taken however we read the story for the children out of the children's bible.  We focused on the shepherds because they were the first people to hear the good news after Jesus was born.  Also Jesus during his adult life and ministry was called the Good Shepherd and sheep follow good shepherds as they look after them.  Sarah talked (while I demonstrated) about the shepherds crook, it was used to identify the shepherds, to control the sheep, support the shepherd and also protect the sheep.  And Jesus does that for us like this - Support - Jesus is always there to support us and help us as we journey through life.  Identity - Through his love for us, Jesus helps us to know that we belong to him.  Control - Jesus is in control and as his followers we need to trust in him.  Protection - Jesus helps us through good and difficult times. We often need to call out to him to save and protect us.  We then sang a Christmas song Rejoice with us this Christmas and then I concluded the assembly with a prayer followed by the Lord's Prayer.

Tuesday 3 December 2013

Croftlands Infants School

This afternoon we did our Christmas assembly to Croftlands Infants.  We decided to sing a song to start but asked the children which one they would like - Shine was the favourite.  Following the song I told the shepherds story from a children's bible.  Sarah then talked about the shepherds while I acted out some actions to what she was saying.  She reminded them that in the New Testament Jesus is referred to as the Good Shepherd who looks after his flock.  Sarah pointed out that in order for him to do that he needed a staff or a crook.  I demonstrated the actions as Sarah told the children the following points - Support - Jesus is always there to support us and help us as we journey through life.  Identity - Through his love for us, Jesus helps us to know that we belong to him.  Control - Jesus is in control and as his followers we need to trust in him.  Protection - Jesus helps us through good and difficult times. We often need to call out to him to save and protect us.  We then sang a Christmas song Rejoice with us this Christmas and then I concluded the assembly with a prayer.

Low Furness School

This morning we were also at Low Furness School for the final assembly of this year.  The theme was Advent but we decided to tell part of the Christmas Story from a different view point - the shepherds.  After watching a short video clip about the shepherds Sarah talked about them and about how Jesus in the New Testament is sometimes referred to as the good shepherd.  She explained that all good shepherds carry crooks to help them and the sheep.  I had taken my crook with me and was leaning on it as Sarah was speaking.  The crook was used to support the shepherd, he also used it to control the sheep as well as protecting them from danger and it would show others that he was a shepherd so it identified him as such.  Then she explained that with Jesus all those things he does for us, Support - Jesus is always there to support us and help us as we journey through life.
Identity - Through his love for us, Jesus helps us to know that we belong to him.
Control - Jesus is in control and as his followers we need to trust in him.
Protection - Jesus helps us through good and difficult times. We often need to call out to him to save and protect us.
We then sang a Christmas song Rejoice with us this Christmas and then Sarah said a prayer.

 

Church Walk Primary

This morning Sarah and I went to Church Walk Primary for the first of our Christmas themed assemblies.  We introduced the assembly by saying that we all know the Christmas story so today we would look at it from a different view point.  We showed a video clip of the shepherds story and then Sarah talked about the shepherds and how Jesus is the Good Shepherd and how we should follow him.  We displayed a picture of a crook and explained that the shepherd would use it for support, I demonstrated using my crook prop, he would also use it to control the sheep, again I demonstrated this by pushing a stuff sheep toy along the floor, he also uses it as protection from wild animals again I demonstrated this and finally it identifies him as a shepherd.  Sarah expanded on these points explaining how Jesus supports, controls, protects and gives us an identity.  Following the talk we sang Rejoice with us this Christmas.  Sarah concluded the assembly with a prayer.