Our Lady's School

This morning Sarah and I went to Our Lady's School for the assembly - it was our last assembly of 2019.  We of course did our Christmas assembly.  Sarah started  by asking who had had chocolate for breakfast then she asked why - the answer was because it is the season of Advent.  Someone did answer Sarah's next question before she even asked it which was what Advent is.  So Sarah said as we wait for Christmas what really is it - she handed over to me to do my Christmas torn and restore illusion.  As each letter was removed from the word Christmas I asked if the children could give me a word about Christmas that started with that letter.  We had Santa, snow, stocking, Advent and angels, Mince pies, Mary and manger, tree, turkey and tinsel.  Which just left us with Chris - but who is that I asked.  So I gathered all the pieces together and started to fold them back into Christmas dropping a large piece on the floor as I did so which generated a laugh.  Then after making Christmas whole again I looked at the bit on the floor and got a child to pick it up and unfold it - it said Happy Birthday Jesus.  I got a great reaction from the children following this.  Sarah then pointed out that all the things the children had said are part of Christmas but the real reason for the season is the birth of Jesus and without him there would be no Christmas to celebrate.  Sarah asked the children on Christmas day when the open up their presents to not only say thank you to the person giving the present to them but to say thank you to God for sending Jesus into the world.  We then sang Rejoice with Us before Sarah finished with a prayer.

Lindal School

This morning I went to Lindal School to do our Christmas assembly.  It was great to see all the children and staff again.  To start with we sang God's Love is Bigger than a Burger afterwards I asked the children if they had had any chocolate today - hands went up so I asked if they had had it before breakfast - hands stayed up.  Next I asked them why, a few didn't know they just did they said, others said because it was from their Advent calendar.  I explained that Advent is a time of waiting - waiting for what though - Christmas.  I then did my Christmas torn and restored gospel illusion for the children were I remove letters from the word Christmas until we are left with just Chr.  Each time a letter is removed I ask the children to think of something to do with Christmas that starts with that letter.  I then restore Christmas and drop some paper on the floor as I do so - the children laughed thinking it was the removed letters but when the word Christmas is finally restored and the paper on the floor picked up and opened out it says Happy Birthday Jesus.  I went on to explain that without Jesus there would be no Christmas.  All the things the children said about Christmas do make it but without Jesus it would never have happened.  To finish we sang Rejoice with us then I finished the assembly with a prayer.

Leven Valley School

This morning Sarah and I went to do our Christmas assembly at Leven Valley School.  Sarah started the assembly by talking about chocolate and wanted to know how many children had had some either before breakfast or just after and why.  The answer was yes from most children and why because it is Advent.  She explained a little about Advent before handing over to me to talk about Christmas.  I did my torn and restore Christmas routine for the children and removed letters from the word Christmas and each time a letter was removed I asked the children for a word that started with the letters that was to do with Christmas so we had s - Santa, snow, snowman, etc all the way to the letter t leaving us with Chris - who is that I asked.  I then started to push all the removed pieces back together and dropping one as I did so -which generated a laugh for the children particularly when I said to them did you see that.  So I restored Christmas but what was on the floor, I asked the children if they thought the other letters were on the floor but much to their surprise it wasn't as the slip of paper said Happy Birthday Jesus.  Sarah then explained that without Jesus there would be no Christmas.  She also reminded the children that when they open their Christmas parcels on Christmas Day to not only say thank you to the person that gave them the present but to thank God for sending Jesus.  to finish off we sang Rejoice with us before Sarah said a prayer.

St Mary's RC School

This morning Sarah and I went to do our Christmas assembly at St Mary's RC School.  Sarah started the assembly by talking about chocolate and wanted to know how many children had had some either before breakfast or just after and why.  The answer was yes from most children and why because it is Advent.  She explained a little about Advent before handing over to me to talk about Christmas.  I did my torn and restore Christmas routine for the children and removed letters from the word Christmas and each time a letter was removed I asked the children for a word that started with the letters that was to do with Christmas so we had s - Santa, snow, snowman, etc all the way to the letter t leaving us with Chris - who is that I asked.  I then started to push all the removed pieces back together and dropping one as I did so -which generated a laugh for the children particularly when I said to them did you see that.  So I restored Christmas but what was on the floor, I asked the children if they thought the other letters were on the floor but much to their surprise it wasn't as the slip of paper said Happy Birthday Jesus.  Sarah then explained that without Jesus there would be no Christmas.  She also reminded the children that when they open their Christmas parcels on Christmas Day to not only say thank you to the person that gave them the present but to thank God for sending Jesus.  to finish off we sang Rejoice with us before Sarah said a prayer.

Dalton St Marys School

This morning Sarah and I went to do our Christmas assembly for the children at Dalton St Marys School.  It was great to see all the children again.  Sarah started off the assembly by asking who had had chocolate for breakfast - we did get a few different responses such as they had chocolate spread on toast, and Coco Pops - but in the end we got to the Advent bit which is what Sarah was asking about.  Having explained a little about what Advent is about, she handed over to me to explain a bit more about Christmas.  To help me I used the word Christmas printed on a slip of paper and started to one by one remove letters from it starting with the s then the a, m and finally t leaving just the word Chris.  Each letter I removed I asked if the children could suggest something that was part of Christmas that started with that letter so we had things like snow, Santa, Advent, mince pies, tree etc.  I reminded the children that all of these are part of Christmas but they are not the only things that make Christmas if they were then Christmas won't be Christmas.  I then started to restore Christmas pushing and folding the pieces together dropping one as I did so which generated a laugh from the children -then much to their surprise Christmas was all back together and the bit on the floor -well that was another slip of paper which said Happy Birthday Jesus.  Sarah then drew this bit to a close by talking about why we celebrate Christmas before introducing our song Rejoice with Us. After the song Sarah finished with a prayer.

Lindal and Marton School

This morning Sarah and I visited Lindal and Marton School to do our Christmas assembly.  Sarah started by asking the children if they had had chocolate for breakfast - which a few had.  She then asked why, we got a number of different answers but we eventually got because it is Advent.  She briefly explained what Advent is about before handing over to me.  I did my Christmas cut and restore routine which involves removing the letters from Christmas starting with the s all the way to the t.  For each letter I removed I asked the children to think of something that was to do with Christmas that started with that letter.  I then explained that all the things the children had said are to do with Christmas but if Christmas was only that the n we would spoil Christmas - just like I had done removing the letters.  I then asked the children if they thought I could restore Christmas so with some folding and pushing and dropping a piece on the floor (which I made a big deal about) which brought a laugh - I did restore Christmas.  Then pointing to the bit on the floor I got someone to hand it to me and when I opened it much to everyone's surprise it said Happy Birthday Jesus.  Sarah then drew the illustration to a close and explained that if we didn't have Jesus we won't have Christmas.  We then sang Rejoice with Us before Sarah finished with a prayer.

Broughton School

This morning Sarah and I went over the tops to Broughton School to do our Christmas assembly.  Sarah started the assembly by asking if anyone had had a chocolate before breakfast this morning, then she asked why.  A lot of hands went up in the school and the reasons why varied between it's Christmas, it's nearly Christmas to Advent.  Sarah explained that this time of year as we count down to the big day - Christmas is the season of Advent but it is a waiting season as that is what the word means.  She then handed over to me and I held up a slip of paper with the word Christmas on it.  As I talked about what Christmas is I removed one letter at a time until I was left with just Chris.  For each letter I asked the children to think about something that was to do with Christmas that started with that letter, so we had snow, snowmen, star, Santa, Advent, angel, mums, mince pies etc.  I explained that all of these things are part of Christmas but not the real reason for it so I suggested that we restored Christmas, then collecting all the pieces together and folding and folding - dropping a piece too - which generated a laugh - I then was able to restore the word Christmas which was rather a big surprise to most children.  But what about the bit on the floor, as I picked it up and opened it - it read Happy Birthday Jesus.  Sarah then rounded off the assembly by going over what I had said and introduced our Christmas song - Rejoice with Us after which she said a prayer.

St Peters School

This morning Sarah and I went to do our Christmas assembly for the children of St Peters School.  It was great to see all the children again.  Sarah started by asking if the children had had chocolate before breakfast - loads of hands went up.  So Sarah questioned the children further by asking why? - because it's Christmas came one reply, another it's advent.  She then explained a little about what Advent is and what it means before I did my tear and restore Christmas illusion and as I removed a letter from the word Christmas first the s then a, m, t leaving Chris left I asked the children to suggest what from Christmas began with each letter so we had Santa, snow, stable, advent, angel, manger, Mary etc  Once I went to restore the word a piece fell to the floor - which brought about a laugh however as I revealed the restore word the bit on the floor was picked up and out to read Happy Birthday Jesus which is the reason we have Christmas.  Sarah then explored this theme a bit more with the children before we sang Rejoice with us.  Sarah then finished with a prayer.

St Pius X School

This morning Sarah and I went to do an assembly at St Pius X School in Barrow, it was our first assembly at this school.  It was also the first of our Christmas assemblies so we were both very excited about our visit.  We had such a warm welcome into the school from both the children and the staff.  After being introduced we started our assembly with God's Love is Bigger than a Burger, which got everyone on their feet and warmed up.  As we are now in the season of Advent Sarah asked who had had chocolate for breakfast - some hands went up, she then handed over to me.  I had a slip of paper with the word Christmas on it in red and asked the children what is Christmas.  Then looking at the letters I started to remove them starting with the s, a, m, t and each time asked the children for a word about Christmas that started with each of the letters so we had Santa, stocking, advent, mince pies, Christmas tree etc then looking at what we had left - chris so I asked who is that?  All the things the children said are part of Christmas but if it was only that then we are not left with very much else.  I then decided to try and put Christmas back together except as I did so something fell onto the floor which caused the children to laugh so I carried on and much to their surprise I restored Christmas - and the paper on the floor said Happy Birthday Jesus - that is what Christmas is all about.  We then sang Rejoice with Us this Christmas.  Sarah finished off with a prayer at the end.