Thursday 23 October 2014

Leven Valley School

This morning Sarah and I went over to Leven Valley School for an assembly.  After singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger Sarah asked for a small snack to eat before lunch, so I gave her a Satsuma.  She started to peel it and asked if anyone wanted to share it with her and a young lad came out to help, then as she ate the first piece saying how great it was she gave him the peel!  This brought a laugh and some comments from the children about what she had done.  Sarah look surprised at their reaction and repeated to them that she was sharing with the boy.  She then corrected her self and said that it wasn't the best bit and gave the boy the rest to eat.  The point was made that whenever we share things with other people we should share the best bits.  I then read and added my own bits as well the story from the Lion Storyteller Bible of the feeding of the 5000.  Following the story Sarah summed up what had happened saying that the boy shared what little he had and God used it through Jesus to feed a huge number of people and we to can be like that in sharing what little we have with other people.  Then she said when we do that we Shine from the inside out which cued us for the next song.  Following the song Sarah prayed and then as we had a bit of time left we sang God can do anything.

Our Lady's OCC assembly

This morning Sarah and I went into Our Lady's School to do an Operation Christmas Child assembly.  To start off the assembly we all sang God's love is Bigger than a Burger then I told the children that as I had been rushing about all morning I needed a mid morning snack and started to peel a Satsuma.  I did however offer to share it with someone and invited a girl out to share it with.  Having peeled it I took a piece commented on how lovely it was and promptly gave her the peel!  Much to her surprise and the amusement of the school.  I then sent the girl back to her place with some of the Satsuma.  At this point Sarah took over and explained that the fact that I wanted to share something was good but what I shared wasn't good, it was after all the bit I didn't want.  This then led to talking about sharing good things with other people like when we fill a shoe box full of goodies.  Sarah also talked about how nice it is to get presents at various times of the year and yet there are children than don't get anything.  I opened up a shoe box and lifted out the word LOVE and explained that when you fill a shoe box what you are really doing is filling it with love.  I then went through a power point showing what happens to a shoe box finishing by showing all the places boxes go to and how many we sent last year then I say a huge THANK YOU to the children.  Following this Sarah links to the song Shine in that we shine out love when we get involved with filling shoe boxes.  After the song Sarah close off the assembly with a prayer.

Wednesday 22 October 2014

Broughton School OCC assembly

This morning Sarah and I travelled over to Broughton School to do an Operation Christmas Child Assembly.  We started by singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger, then Sarah decided that she needed a mid morning snack so she started to peel a Satsuma.  She did offer to share it with someone though, so as she put the first piece into her mouth she gave the peel to her helper which made her look puzzled.  Sarah explained that she had shared part of the Satsuma with the helper, she asked if that was right - to share only the bit we didn't want - the answer was no of course.  Sarah then did share with the little girl and explained the point of it to the children.  We need to share good things with other people and not just the things we don't want or need anymore.  She asked if there was anyone in the room that had never ever been given a present - there was nobody.  As she continued she explained to the children that it is nice to get presents but there are children that never do get presents at all.  I then talked to the children about filling shoe boxes and how when we do fill the box what we are really doing is filling it with love.  I explained briefly what to do and what to put into a shoe box then followed this with the journey the box makes to get to a needy child.  I then showed pictures from all the areas that shoe boxes get sent to each year.  Sarah drew the assembly to a close by saying when we fill a box with love we Shine from the inside out which was a cue to our next song.  Sarah then closed with a prayer.

St Peters OCC assembly

This morning Sarah and I went over to St Peters to do an Operation Christmas Child Assembly.  It was great to see all the children again and they gave us a great welcome as we said hello.  To start off the assembly we sang God's Love is Bigger than a Burger then Sarah told the children that we had set off so early that she needed some more breakfast - a Satsuma.  She started to peel it and asked if anyone would like to share it with her.  Someone did and as Sarah tried the first piece and said how delightful it was she gave him the peel - much to his surprise!  Sarah asked if that was a nice thing to do she had done what she said she would do and gave him some.  Of course the answer was no it wasn't the best part of the Satsuma she did give the boy some to eat as she explained what it was about.  She wanted the children to realise that when we share things we should share the best parts of things and not the rubbish parts, this linked to shoe boxes in that we should put good things into them.  She continued and asked who had never ever had a birthday or Christmas present she reminded the children what it is like to get presents at special times.  I then talked about what goes into a shoe box and the first thing I showed to the children was the word love which I had taken out of a box.  I then continued to explain what to do with the shoe box, how to fill it and with what kinds of things to put into it.  I then showed pictures showing the journey of the box from local collection, to storing, processing , packing, shipping and giving out to needy children.  I also showed the countries to which we send the boxes pausing to point out a few things.  Sarah then continued by encouraging the children to fill a box and said that when we do it is us shining out God's love to others.  This led to us singing Shine after which Sarah closed the assembly with a prayer.

Tuesday 21 October 2014

Crosthwaite School

This afternoon I went over to Crosthwaite School to do an assembly.  Sarah decided to stay home due to the bad weather.  After saying hello and explaining that Sarah was at home we sang God's Love is Bigger than a Burger.  I then excused myself to the children as I took out a Satsuma and started to peel it ready to eat it.  I explained that I hadn't finished my lunch, I did offer to share it with someone and a little boy came out so I gave him the peel, which sparked a laugh from the rest of the children.  I did eventually share half of it with him.  I then explained my actions saying that it is good to share but when we do we should share the good bits not just the leftover rubbish bits.  I then retold the feeding of the 5000 story to them from the Lion Storyteller Bible.  after the story I encouraged the children to share like the boy had done in the story and as a result all the people got blessed because of it.  I did also point out that this was a miracle and that God can do Anything which brought us into a second song.  Following the song I closed the assembly with a short prayer.

Low Furness School

This morning Sarah and I went into Low Furness School for the assembly.  We started the assembly off by singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger then I went on to talk to the children on the theme given to us by the school which was St Luke.  So after giving a brief account of who he was I then talked about what he did and how what he did was so important, he wrote the gospel of Luke as well as the Acts of the Apostles.  We then played a bit of a game with two children.  I asked them to write a letter to someone about a celebrity they had met recently - but each time they wrote something down about the person they swapped letters with the other person, this then made for a very funny sounding letter once it was read.  The point was that details of events can sometimes get mixed up and then the account sounds funny, however in the opening sentence in Luke he tells us how he investigated everything from the beginning by talking to people that knew Jesus.  I told the children that because he had done just that then Luke's Gospel is probably more detailed than the other gospels.  I then encourage them to read some of the great stories Luke put into his gospel.  Sarah added her own thoughts to the assembly then we went on to sing the Chicken Dance song as it was raining outside and the children won't be going out to play so the song would help them to loose some energy.  I then closed with a prayer.

Monday 20 October 2014

BX OT 5 Vicarage Park

This afternoon I went over to Kendal again for the last lesson of Bible Explorer with the year 6 children.  It covered the stories of Israel being scattered and Judah taken into exile and stories such as Daniel and my all time favourite Esther.  The children willingly joined in as we went through the stories and acted out various scenes from the stories.  They also joined in with the hand signs as we recapped the previous weeks and learnt new ones finishing with a complete run through them all at the end.  I had a great time and I felt that the children did too.

St James' Catholic School Millom OCC assembly

This morning Sarah and I went over to Millom to St James' Catholic Primary School to do an Operation Christmas Child Assembly.  We had been asked to do two assemblies one for Key Stage 1 and one for Key Stage 2.  We did the same assembly to both groups.  We started by singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger then Sarah did her orange sharing talking and asked some children up to help share her orange with except she gave them the peel and not the orange.  She said that is wasn't very nice of her to do that and that we should share good things with each other like when we fill a shoe box of needy children, we should put good things into it.  She asked if the children liked to get presents at birthdays and Christmas and asked them to imagine what it would be like for a child to get a shoe box full of things.  I then did a short talk about the journey of a box finishing with the countries that the boxes go to and how many we sent last year.  I finished by saying on behalf of those that can't say it and on behalf of Samaritan's Purse - a very big THANK YOU.  Sarah then linked what I said to shining out God's love which led into Shine.  Sarah then closed in a prayer.

Friday 17 October 2014

BX OT5 Low Furness School

Had another great time this afternoon with the children of year 5 and 6 at Low Furness School.  It was the final lesson of Bible Explorer.  We had a number of stories to cover during the hour long lesson including Daniel and Esther.  A number of children willingly helped out as I worked my way through the various stories and acted events out as directed too.  We then ran through all the hand signs from start to finish before encouraging them to read some of the stories for themselves.

Flookburgh School

This morning Sarah and I went down to Flookburgh School for an assembly.  Once again we had a warm welcome from the children.  To start off the assembly we sang So Many Ways to Praise the Lord so after showing the children the actions they all joined in and as the song continued they had really got into the swing of it.  Sarah then said she was hungry and as we had had such an early start this morning said she hadn't had breakfast.  So she took and orange and started to peel it and then asked the children if anyone would like to share it with her.  A girl came forward and as Sarah pop a piece into her mouth she gave the girl the peel - much to her surprise!  Sarah then did share the orange out.  The point was sharing put also being considerate towards others.  I then read the story of the feeding of the 5000 from the Lion Storyteller Bible and afterwards Sarah summed up the story and encouraged the children to think about ways they could be considerate towards other people like sharing their sweets, lunch, pencils and things but also holding doors open for people, helping to pick things up from the floor etc.  To finish we sang Shine and then I closed with a prayer.

Thursday 16 October 2014

Captain Shaw's CE School OCC assembly

This morning Sarah and I went over to Bootle (Cumbria) to the lovely little school - Captain Shaw's CE.  We went to do an Operation Christmas Child assembly and the whole school was in all 19 of them.  They joined in as we sang God's Love is Bigger than a Burger and listened as Sarah started to eat here breakfast and orange.  Sarah did ask if anyone wanted to come and share it with her and one little girl did so Sarah peeled it and gave her the peel!  The little girl was a bit shocked and went to sit down but Sarah explained as she did then share it with her that it is good to share good things and it isn't good to share bad things.  She continued that when we put things into a shoe box for OCC we are sharing good things with children that don't have very much if anything at all.  She talked about presents that we get for Christmas and birthdays and how it is nice to get lovely things.  I then talked about how when we fill a box we fill it with love and I lifted out the word love from a box.  I then went on to show how to fill a box and then to show what happens to it once it is filled and where the boxes get sent to.  Sarah then encouraged the children to take part this year and fill boxes again for OCC.  We then sang Shine before Sarah closed with a prayer.

Wednesday 15 October 2014

South Walney Juniors OCC assembly

This afternoon Sarah and I went over to Walney Island to take an assembly at South Walney Juniors on behalf of Operation Christmas Child.  We had a lovely welcome from the children.  After introducing ourselves we sang God's Love is Bigger than a Burger then Sarah talked about sharing.  She used the example of a banana and said if she had a banana and was to share it with a child and she only gave them the skin, then that wouldn't be very good would it.  She said that we should share the nice parts of the banana then she handed over to me and I talked about how when we fill a shoe box we can share something very special - and I took a shoe box and opened it and inside was the word love - this is what we can share when we fill a box  with all kind of good things.  I then ran through what happens to a shoe box from being wrapped to filled to collected, stored, processed packaged, warehoused, flown to a receiving country, delivered, received and finally open to let all the love that was put into burst out.  I then went through a showed pictures of children in all the different countries where shoe boxes got sent to last year and I encouraged the children to fill a box this year and send it to a needy child.  Sarah then said a short prayer and we then sang a final song Shine.

Croftlands Infants School OCC assembly

This afternoon Sarah and I went to Croftlands Infants School for an Operation Christmas Child assembly.  We started the assembly with God's Love is Bigger than a Burger then Sarah shared a banana with one of the children well I say shared she gave them the skin - the useless, left over part.  It was to demonstrate that we need to share good things with each other and not just the bits we don't want.  I talked to the children about a shoe box and about the very special thing that I had in my shoe box - it was the word love, I told the children that when we fill a shoe box we fill it full of our love and it is one way of sharing.  I then did a short talk without the visual aids from the power point about what happens when we fill a shoe box then talked about all the countries that boxes got sent to last year.  We closed the assembly with a prayer.

Croftlands Junior School OCC assembly

This morning Sarah and I went to Croftlands Junior School for an Operation Christmas Child assembly.  Just as the assembly started my computer decided that now was a good time to install some new updates which then crashed the thing.  So we started the assembly with out the computer, while I tried to fix it Sarah shared a banana with one of the children well I say shared she gave them the skin - the useless, left over part.  It was to demonstrate that we need to share good things with each other and not just the bits we don't want.  The computer was still updating so I played God's Love is Bigger than a Burger with my tablet then did a short talk without visual aids about what happens when we fill a shoe box then talked about all the countries that boxes got sent to last year.  We closed the assembly with a prayer.

Monday 13 October 2014

BX OT3 and OT4 Vicarage Park

This afternoon I was at Vicarage park school once again to do a double Bible Explorer lesson.  The school had another event on last Monday so asked if I would do the lesson 3 at a different time to that is what I did today.  The children were so pleased to se me again and had remembered all the hand signs from two weeks ago which was great so after a quick recap I went right into the lesson.  At the end of the lesson 3 we took a 5 minute break and then carry right on into lesson 4 which I finished just before 3pm.  The children were great and responded very well to both the lessons and even asked some interesting questions at the end of it.  Last lesson is next week.

Penny Bridge School OCC assembly

This morning we went along to Penny Bridge School to do an Operation Christmas Child Assembly.  After singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger, Lisa talked and demonstrated how love can be shared by using some sunflower seeds.  The seed like love is small yet when it is planted great things happen and it produces a beautiful flower and more seeds to pass on.  It is a bit like that with the things we put into a shoe box,  those little things then are kept in the dark of the box and when they are opened at the receiving end by a child all that love bursts out like the sun flower flowering.  I then went on to explain what to do when filling a shoe box then what happens to it once it is collected, processed and then sent abroad to needy children.  I then showed photos and places names of children who got boxes last year.  Then told the children how many boxes got sent from the UK and how many from this area then said a big THANK YOU to all the children for their help last year.  Sarah ended the assembly with a prayer.

Friday 10 October 2014

BX OT4 Low Furness School

This afternoon I went and did lesson 4 of Bible Explorer to the year 5/6 class at Low Furness School.  As always the children were excited to hear the next part of the story line from the Old Testament.  The stories today took us into the reign of the kings Saul, David and Solomon.  We also covered the story of Samuel as well.  The lesson ended with the kingdom that was united under the three kings being divided for the next 400 years into Judah in the south and Israel in the north.  Next week we will focus on the exile of the people and then the return to the land.

Monday 6 October 2014

Pennington School

After the assembly at Church Walk I went up to Pennington School to do it again.  Lisa Smith joined me for this assembly.  So after singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger Lisa talked about sharing and used a banana to explain.  She asked for a helper who liked banana's and said that she would share the banana with them so Lisa took a bit and gave the skin to the helper.  After all it was a bit of the banana - not the good bit though.  The helper did go away with some banana.  Lisa used this to explain that we should share good things with each other and talked about how the children can do that by helping to fill a shoe box.  One of our boxes had the word love inside it so Lisa said that we can share love when we fill the boxes as God loves us so much.  I then went on to show what happens to the shoe box once the children have filled it and showed pictures of places the boxes go to before closing the assembly with a prayer.

Church Walk Primary School

This morning I went to Church Walk Primary School to do an assembly for Samaritan's Purse and Operation Christmas Child.  After singing God's love is bigger than a Burger I talked about how good it is to share things in love.  I opened a shoe box and brought out some love (wooden cut out of the word), I also said how it is good to share love and share what we have.  I opened a packet of sweets and asked if anyone would like part of this packet of sweets - one little girl was picked and I reminded her that I was going to give her part of the packet of sweets so I gave her the empty wrapper - it was exactly what I said I would give her part of the packet of sweets.  (I did give her a sweet too)  It was a simple illustration of sharing and how we should share good things with each other.  I then went through the power point that explains what happens to a shoe box and showed which countries the boxes go to before ending by saying how many boxes went last year both in the UK and in South Cumbria then I say a big Thank You to the children for the help last year.  I closed the assembly with a prayer.

BX OT3 Low Furness School

This afternoon I was at Low Furness school for the third lesson of Bible Explorer.  This lesson covers over 400 years of history and starts with Joshua and ends with Ruth.  We discover what happened after Moses died and Joshua takes over as the leader of the people, then as he secures the land the leadership passes to the judges who judge Israel for over 400 years.  The final story is the story of Ruth and how she helped her mother in law, and how she is a key person in the bible as she is in the family tree of both King David and Jesus through his mother Mary.  Next week we start to look at the kings.

Yarlside Prmary School Operation Christmas Child

This morning Sarah and I went to Yarlside Primary School to do and assembly for Operation Christmas Child.  It was our first ever visit to the school so we were quite excited at being able to have a new audience.  After introducing ourselves we sang God's Love is Bigger than A Burger, then as Sarah was about to start talking about shoe boxes I started to prepare my breakfast.  Sarah promptly stopped me and asked what I was doing - so I explained, we had and early start etc and I was hungry.  I was cutting up an apple, I offered to share it with her and promptly gave her the apple core.  This led Sarah to talk to the children about how good it is to share - good things with each other, which in turn led to me talking about filling shoe boxes full of goodies for needy children.  Sarah concluded the assembly with an encouragement to the children to try and fill shoe boxes this year and if they couldn't then we left an empty box that they could put a few bits into.  Sarah then prayed and the assembly ended.