Our Lady's School

On Thursday morning I went to do our final assembly of this term at Our Lady's School.  I asked for three children to help me I told them one of us at the front would sit down with a bag full of sweets at the end.  However they needed to make a choice of four cards an ace, two, three or a four.  Once they had made their choice I asked if they were happy or if they wanted to swap.  They chose to keep the card they had.  I exchanged their card for a coloured disc with a number on it that matched their card.  This disc represented the colour of some bags one of which had all the sweets in.  It turns out it was my bag with all the sweets - I said to the children you made the wrong choice.  They did however get a couple of sweets.  I then told the story of the wise and foolish man that Jesus told to a large crowd of people.  I explained that Jesus often told everyday stories that had a hidden heavenly meaning we call them parables.  After the story I explained further what it means and how we should make good choices and build our lives on a solid firm foundation such as following Jesus I linked it to the song Be Happy as a line in the song says I'll follow Jesus 'til the day I drop.  So after singing the song I finished with a short prayer.

OT Mini Lesson 5 Crosthwaite School

On Wednesday afternoon I was once again over at Crosthwaite School, it was the final lesson in OT Mini.  I did a quick recap of the events so far before explaining that the united kingdom of Israel had split up into 10 1/2 tribes in the north and the remaining 11/2 in the south and that is how it was for the next 400 or so years.  I reminded the children of the role prophets had in that sometimes the people would talk to them and they would take it to God - but more often it was God talking to them with messages for the people.  I pointed out that those messages were directed to the people in the south as well as the north sometimes to both.  Moving on I then told them what happened to the people in the north when the Assyrian army came in and scattered them (as the prophets had said they would), next we heard about the Babylonians taking over the Assyrians who then took over Judah in the south putting them into exile.  The people were exiled until the Persians took control and during that time people started the return to Judah.  All the stories for this week involved people during this time period people like Daniel and then Esther.  I covered the three different groups of people that made a return Zerubbabel worked to restore  and rebuild the temple, Ezra worked to teach the people about the law and the use of the temple while Nehemiah rebuilt the walls and the gates around Jerusalem.  Here the Old Testament stops for us until the New Testament starts some 400 or so years later.  So we wait...for Christ.  I had a number of children joining in with actions and acting out various parts during the lesson which was great to see their enthusiasm.  I sent them away with a copy of Andy Robb's 40 OT Mini Bible Stories and said it is one thing to have me talk about the stories it is something else to read them and discover them for themselves.

St Mary's RC School

This morning I went to do the assembly at St Mary's RC School.  I started by asking for three children to help me with the assembly- some hands went up so I said that they didn't know what I wanted them to do it might be drinking dirty pond water - more hands went up.  So I picked out three children and told them that it wasn't drinking pond water but one of us at the front would sit down with a bag full of sweets at the end.  However they needed to make a choice of four cards an ace, two, three or a four.  Once they had made their choice I asked if they were happy or if they wanted to swap.  They chose to keep the card they had.  I exchanged their card for a coloured disc with a number on it that matched their card.  This disc represented the colour of some bags one of which had all the sweets in.  It turns out it was my bag with all the sweets - I said to the children you made the wrong choice.  They did however get a couple of sweets.  I then told the story of the wise and foolish man that Jesus told to a large crowd of people.  I explained that Jesus often told everyday stories that had a hidden heavenly meaning we call them parables.  After the story I explained further what it means and how we should make good choices and build our lives on a solid firm foundation such as following Jesus I linked it to the song Be Happy as a line in the song says I'll follow Jesus 'til the day I drop.  So after singing the song I finished with a short prayer.

OT Mini Lesson 4 Crosthwaite School

This afternoon I have once again been working with the children at Crosthwaite school - it was lesson 4 for OT Mini.  We looked at the time when the people called out for a king to rule over them so we covered the stories of Samuel, Saul, David and Solomon ending as the once united kingdom of Israel split apart into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.  I explained that none of the kings in the north ever followed God or his ways and only 8 followed him in the south during a period of some 400 years.  I then explained a little more about what the role of a prophet was as they began to speak out.  Next week we look at the exile and the waiting for Jesus...

St Mary's Dalton

This morning Sarah and I went to do our choices assembly at Dalton St Mary's School. Sarah started by asking for children who had a birthday this week - we needed three children to help out.  I explained that one of us at the front would sit down feeling very happy as they would be holding a big bag of sweets - however they needed to make the right choice and to do so I had four playing cards and asked the three children to each pick one card.  I then gave them the choice to swap the card they had for someone else's card - they didn't.  Taking out a small bag which had four coloured and numbered discs in I gave each child the disc which matched their card number, next I exchanged the disc for a bag of the same colour except my bag had all the sweets in and their bag just had two sweets - wrong choice I said as they sat down.  I linked this to the parable Jesus told of the wise and foolish man. I explained that Jesus told earthly stories about every day things that had hidden heavenly meanings.  Sarah then went on to talk about the choices we make and how we should be like the wise man and build our lives on a firm solid foundation.  She also said that every day of our lives we make choices about all sorts of different things from the colour of socks we wear to.... joining in when someone is being nasty to someone else.  She encouraged the children to make good choices, she went on to mention the line in one of our songs - Be Happy it says I'll follow Jesus 'til the day I drop which is a good choice thing to do.  After singing the song Sarah finished the assembly with a prayer.

Lindal and Marton School

This morning Sarah and I went to do our choices assembly at Lindal and Marton School. Sarah started by asking for children who had a birthday this week - we needed three children to help out.  I explained that one of us at the front would sit down feeling very happy as they would be holding a big bag of sweets - however they needed to make the right choice and to do so I had four playing cards and asked the three children to each pick one card.  I then gave them the choice to swap the card they had for someone else's card - they didn't.  Taking out a small bag which had four coloured and numbered discs in I gave each child the disc which matched their card number, next I exchanged the disc for a bag of the same colour except my bag had all the sweets in and their bag just had two sweets - wrong choice I said as they sat down.  I linked this to the parable Jesus told of the wise and foolish man. I explained that Jesus told earthly stories about every day things that had hidden heavenly meanings.  Sarah then went on to talk about the choices we make and how we should be like the wise man and build our lives on a firm solid foundation.  She also said that every day of our lives we make choices about all sorts of different things from the colour of socks we wear to.... joining in when someone is being nasty to someone else.  She encouraged the children to make good choices, she went on to mention the line in one of our songs - Be Happy it says I'll follow Jesus 'til the day I drop which is a good choice thing to do.  After singing the song Sarah finished the assembly with a prayer.

St Peters School

This morning Sarah and I went to do the assembly at St Peters School.  We didn't start with a song as I wanted to show the children and illustration, so Sarah asked who has a birthday coming up and a few hands went up so she picked three children who have birthdays this week.  I then said to them that one of us at the front will end up being very happy as they will go away with a bag of sweets. I asked the children to pick a card each had a number on it 1-4.  Once they had their card I asked if they wanted to swap it they all decided to stick with the choice they had made.  I then took out a bag that had coloured numbered disc in it and gave each children the coloured disc of their chosen card.  After this I replaced the disc with a bag - some had two sweets in but my bag had loads of sweets.  As I gave the sweets to the children I said they had made the wrong choice.  I then told the parable of the wise and foolish man which Jesus told to a large group of people.  One man the wise one build a house on solid rock while the other built on sand - well when the rain came and the storm raged the wise man's house stood firm and the foolish man's washed away.  Linking the illustration to the story I said we all have to a some point make choices some times big ones others no so big.  Sarah then explained that we should try to build our lives on a firm solid foundation and make wise choices and follow what Jesus says in the Bible.  In the song Be happy it says I'll follow Jesus 'til the day I drop which would be a wise thing to do.  After singing that song Sarah finished with a prayer.