Activity Assemblies For Multi-Racial Schools 5-11

Elizabeth Peirce

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2005
• Print ISBN: 9781138420977
• eBook ISBN: 9781135722975
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Aims to provide a practical framework for multi-racial assemblies for children in primary school. It attempts to "inform" children about other people's beliefs. While some of the assemblies can be used straight from the book, other ideas require considerable preparation and guidelines are given.

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1New Beginnings

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5–11
Assembly
All

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Who Am I?

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At the beginning of the new school year, or a new term it is most important to remind the children about the sort of qualities that are needed in any community. With this in mind, think of the various qualities that you would like to encourage in school. Write down the words on large strips of card that can be, threaded with string and then worn around the neck of each child.

With careful preparation, the whole 5–11 age range can be involved in this assembly. The very youngest children can demonstrate, or explain, or paint their phrase e.g. ‘I am helpful’, whereas, an 11-year-old, could explain the meaning of ‘I am a Peace-Maker’, either by performing a short mime with one or two of his friends who are quarrelling, or by explaining other examples of peace-making activities.

This assembly has endless possibilities. Phrases such as the following could be included:

I am kind, I am helpful,
I am tolerant, I am polite,
I am caring, I am unselfish
I have patience, I can let others go before me,
I can be generous, I can let others have the best toy,
I can share, I can tell the truth,
I can comfort those in distress, etc.

At the end of the assembly, the class or group who has prepared the work can say together, ‘I know who I am, who are you?’

Let the children meditate on this penetrating question, before closing with a simple prayer.

Prayer

Father God, make each one of us the sort of people you want us to be. Kind and helpful, caring and tolerant, ready to put others first. Amen.

Song

No. 35 ‘Take care of a friend’ in Every Colour Under the Sun, published by Ward Lock Educational.

5–9
Assembly
Judaism

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The Creation Story

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A movement mime to involve the whole class or whole school.

You will need the following characters:

(Depending on the numbers of children, you wish to involve, you can add more children to each group).

Children representing Darkness

Children representing Light

Children representing Earth

Children representing Sea

Children representing all kinds of Plants and Trees

Child representing Sun

Child representing Moon

Children representing Stars

Children representing all kinds of Creatures

Children representing all kinds of Birds

Children representing all kinds of Domestic Animals

Children representing all kinds of Wild Animals

Child representing first Man

Child representing first Woman

A Narrator

Simple costumes, headdresses and masks can be worn to enhance the characterization.

The story unfolds in the following way:

Narrator: This is the story about how God created the world. In the beginning there was nothing but darkness.

[Children dressed in black from head to foot, move about the hall spreading darkness. They come to rest in the front of the hall and build themselves in a black semi-circular structure, just touching at different points to represent night. See page 11 for music to which to dance.]

Narrator: And God said ‘Let there be light and there was light’. (Good News Bible (GNB))

[Children dressed completely in white move about the hall, spreading light. They also come to rest opposite the children dressed in black at the front. Once again these children build themselves into a light semi-circular structure, just touching at different points to represent day.]

Narrator: (Pointing first to the white group of children, and then to the black group) ‘God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. There was morning and evening on this first day.’

[The groups revolve around each other; the white group miming a lively ‘waking-up’ dance, and the black group miming a ‘sleepy’ dance. Both groups come together to form a morning and evening structure, before going back to sit in their places in the hall.]

Narrator: On the second day, God created the sky.

[Children dressed in blue, dotted all around the hall, stand up exactly where they are, and do a stretching, spreading dance, trying to reach their partners across the hall and then sit down.]

Narrator: And God said ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear’. And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. (Revised Standardized Version (RSV))

[Two groups; one dressed in brown representing the earth, and the other group dressed in different shades of green, representing the seas dance together. The whole scene can be made to look more effective if the ‘sea’ group dance with long strips of fabric which they pretend are the waves, and move in a wave-like dance across the ‘earth’ group.]

Narrator: And God created all kinds of plants and trees on this third day.

[Children wearing flower masks or twig headdress can do their dance.]

Narrator: And on the fourth day, God created the Sun, and the Moon and the Stars.

[A child dressed in a shift with a brilliant sun radiating outwards on both sides, can dance first. Similarly, a child with a crescent-shaped headdress, and a crescent-shaped moon collage attached to a shift, can do his/her dance. Finally, a number of children, representing the stars, with stars on their heads and silver cut-out stars, stitched onto simple shifts, can do their dance and then return to their places.]

Narrator: And on the fifth day, God created all the creatures that live in the sea and all the birds that fly in the air.

[Children dressed as all kinds of sea creatures have their turn to dance. Include an octopus and a whale as well as different types of fish. Children with bird masks can make flying movements around the hall.]

Narrator: And then God created all the creatures that live on the earth, creepy creatures, and crawlie creatures, wild animals and pets.

[A pageant of children march around the hall, showing off their different costumes to the rest of the children.]

Narrator: And God created the first man and woman and he blessed them and said they could rule over the animals and birds and fish and eat the fruits and plants. And this was the sixth day and God was very pleased with his work.

[Tw...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Full Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• With Thanks
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 New Beginnings
• 2 Places of Worship
• 3 Friends
• 4 Clothes and Artefacts
• 5 Festivals
• 6 Rites of Passage
• 7 Water Themes
• 8 Animals and Birds
• 9 Leaders
• 10 Some Further Background information for the Teachers' Reference (including pronunciation guides)