Assembly Objective:
- How can we show members of our family how important they are. This assembly explores the Bible’s teaching about loving people, even when we find them difficult. (Particularly suitable for Mother’s Day.)
Film:
- Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World (Entertainment, 2011) certificate PG. Click here to buy the DVD online.
Bible:
- Romans 12:9, 17-18 and 21 (Easy-to-read version)
Supporting Values Education:
- The value of Respect derives from an underlying belief that everyone is valuable. This assembly enables pupils to explore how we can show members of our family how important they are to us.
OPENING ACTIVITY
Mum’s the Word (discussion)
- Ask the children for stories of how they celebrate their parents. How do they make them feel special? Do they have any stories of how they’ve celebrated Mother’s Day or Father’s Day? What’s the best card they’ve ever made/bought their mum or other family member? What do they most appreciate about their mum or other family member?
- You could go on to collaboratively design a Mother’s Day card, deciding what they would put on the front cover and in particular what message the card would contain.
Harmonious Families (game)
- Beforehand print out the Harmonious Family Cards pdf and cut them into individual cards. You may wish to mount them on card. Shuffle the cards, then deal them out evenly among the group. The aim of the game is to collect one or more full families. Children move around swapping individual cards in order to make complete families (i.e. ‘Do you have Mrs. Wad the Accountant?’ ‘Yes. I can swap her for Master Boot the Footballer’s Son’). Once all the families have been reunited, ask the children to imagine what it would be like to be the family they have collected. Some of the families are missing a parent or children and some families look happier than others or have more interesting jobs. Encourage the children to think about their own families – what are the great things about being part of their particular family? What are the difficult things? How can they make the most of their own families?
FILM CLIP
- Play the clip from Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World (Entertainment, 2011) certificate PG.
- Start time: 00:12:00 (Rebecca says, ‘Dad’s had less time for us ever since step-mother entered the picture’)
- End time: 00:15:04 (Rebecca says, ‘I’m so . . . sorry,’ and Marissa turns to walk away)
- Clip length: 3 minutes and 4 seconds
- If you cannot play the clip, you could read out the following description instead:
- Rebecca hates her stepmother, Marissa. She is convinced that Marissa deserves to be covered in blue-cheese dressing. So, Rebecca rigs up her bedroom door so that when Marissa walks out of it, a blue-cheese bomb will fall on her head! Marissa enters Rebecca’s bedroom, but to Rebecca’s surprise, she comes with gifts. Marissa gives Rebecca a photo of her mother, and a necklace that Marissa’s own mother gave to her. Rebecca thinks for a moment that perhaps she and her stepmother can be friends after all. Then, Marissa walks towards the door. Rebecca tries to stop her, but it is too late! The bomb drops on Marissa’s head, covering her with stinky blue cheese. ‘I’m so . . . sorry,’ Rebecca says – and she really means it.
TALK
Download the Mums the Word PowerPoint for use with this assembly.
Scripted Talk
- [PowerPoint slide 1]
- Welcome everyone. In today’s assembly we’re going to be thinking of ways to surprise our families. You may have surprised your parents plenty of times by doing something you shouldn’t. But, today we’re going to think of much better ways to surprise them.
- We’re going to start by watching a clip from the latest Spy Kids film. Rebecca is a master prankster. She is always playing practical jokes on her stepmother, convinced that she deserves it. One day, she plans the biggest prank of all, but let’s find out who surprises who most.
- Play the clip from Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World (Entertainment, 2011) certificate PG.
- Start time: 00:12:00 (Rebecca says, ‘Dad’s had less time for us ever since step-mother entered the picture’)
- End time: 00:15:04 (Rebecca says, ‘I’m so . . . sorry,’ and Marissa turns to walk away)
- Clip length: 3 minutes and 4 seconds
- If you cannot play the clip, you could read out the following description instead:
- Rebecca hates her stepmother, Marissa. She is convinced that Marissa deserves to be covered in blue-cheese dressing. So, Rebecca rigs up her bedroom door so that when Marissa walks out of it, a blue-cheese bomb will fall on her head! Marissa enters Rebecca’s bedroom, but to Rebecca’s surprise, she comes with gifts. Marissa gives Rebecca a photo of her mother, and a necklace that Marissa’s own mother gave to her. Rebecca thinks for a moment that perhaps she and her stepmother can be friends after all. Then, Marissa walks towards the door. Rebecca tries to stop her, but it is too late! The bomb drops on Marissa head, covering her with stinky blue cheese. ‘I’m so . . . sorry,’ Rebecca says – and she really means it.
- [PowerPoint slide 2]
- How did Marissa (the stepmother) surprise Rebecca? [Take suggestions – she gave her a picture of her mother and a special necklace; she was nice to her.] [click] How did Rebecca surprise Marissa? [Take suggestions – she covered her in blue cheese.] How did Rebecca feel about this afterwards? [Take suggestions – sorry, sad.]
- [PowerPoint slide 3]
- None of us have perfect families. We all have family members who we struggle to get on with and family members who struggle to get on with us. [click] ‘Families,’ as comedian and actor Les Dawson once put it, ‘are like fudge – mostly sweet with a few nuts’. Even the Royal family is far from perfect. [click] The Queen has said, ‘Like all the best families, we have our share of eccentricities, of impetuous and wayward youngsters and of family disagreements.’
- Give your family a chance. You might just be surprised.
- [PowerPoint slide 4]
- For those of you who are feeling really brave, I’ve got a secret mission. Instead of waiting for your parents to surprise you with kindness, get in there first! Surprise your parents by doing something kind. This isn’t just a Mother’s Day thing, either. The more unexpected the kindness is, the bigger the surprise! You might have a mum you could surprise, or a step-mum or a gran, or even a brother or sister.
- [PowerPoint slide 5]
- You could surprise them by giving them something nice. [click] You could surprise them by doing something they’d rather not do themselves. [click] You could surprise them by telling them you think they are great.
- [PowerPoint slide 6]
- There is a second level to this mission. Try surprising a family member who you don’t get on with. Marissa managed to do this to Rebecca, and Rebecca was so surprised it completely changed how she felt about Marissa.
- The Bible has some good advice about relating to people we find difficult. Let’s read it.
- Read Romans 12:9, 17-18 and 21 [PowerPoint slide 7]:
- Your love must be real. Hate what is evil. Do only what is good… If someone does you wrong, don’t try to pay them back by hurting them. Try to do what everyone thinks is right. Do the best you can to live in peace with everyone… Don’t let evil defeat you, but defeat evil by doing good.
- You cannot control what other people do, but you are completely in control of what you do. Your love must be real, the Bible says.
- Rebecca thought that Marissa had treated her badly, so she decided to pay her back for it. This tactic didn’t work out so well, did it? Marissa decided to give Rebecca something really precious, even though Rebecca had only ever been mean to her. I think that was the right thing to do.
- [PowerPoint slide 8]
- So, have a go at defeating bad feeling by doing something good. Have a go at paying someone back by being nice. In this way, you might just find you have played a part in defeating evil.
- I look forward to hearing all about how you surprise your family this week!
Headings and Bullets
- Introduction [PowerPoint slide 1]
- Welcome.
- Introduce the concept of surprising one’s family: for bad reasons and for good.
- Set the scene for the film clip.
- Rebecca is a master prankster.
- She plans the biggest prank of all, but let’s find out who surprises who most.
- Play the clip from Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World.
- Start time: 00:12:00 (Rebecca says, ‘Dad’s had less time for us ever since step-mother entered the picture’)
- End time: 00:15:04 (Rebecca says, ‘I’m so . . . sorry,’ and Marissa turns to walk away)
- Clip length: 3 minutes and 4 seconds
- Rebecca and Marissa [PowerPoint slide 2]
- How did Marissa (the stepmother) surprise Rebecca?
- [click] How did Rebecca surprise Marissa?
- How did Rebecca feel about this afterwards?
- Happy families [PowerPoint slide 3]
- We all have family members who we struggle to get along with.
- [click] ‘Families are like fudge – mostly sweet with a few nuts.’
- [click] The Queen: ‘Like all the best families, we have our share of eccentricities, of impetuous and wayward youngsters and of family disagreements.’
- Give your family a chance – you might just be surprised.
- A secret mission [PowerPoint slide 4]
- Instead of waiting for your parents to surprise you with kindness, get in there first!
- Surprise your parents by doing something kind.
- Not just on Mother’s Day – the more unexpected the kindness is, the bigger the surprise!
- You might have a mum you could surprise, or a step-mum or a gran, or even a brother or sister.
- [PowerPoint slide 5]
- Ideas: giving, [click] doing or [click] telling.
- Level 2 [PowerPoint slide 6]
- Try surprising a family member who you don’t get on with.
- Marissa managed to do this to Rebecca.
- The Bible has some good advice about relating to people we find difficult.
- How to level up:
- Read Romans 12:9, 17-18 and 21 [PowerPoint slide 7]
- You cannot control what other people do, but you are completely in control of what you do, so your love must be real.
- Example of Rebecca and Marissa.
- [PowerPoint slide 8] Have a go at defeating bad feeling by doing something good.
- I look forward to hearing all about how you surprise your family this week!
Photo Copyright for Mums the Word PowerPoint: Slide 1 Dimension Films / Slide 2 image of Rebecca Dimension Films, image of Marissa Dimension Films / Slide 3 Les Dawson Wikipedia, The Queen Public domain / Slide 4 Dimension Films / Slide 5-8 iStockphoto.com
RESPOND
Reflection
- I’m going to give you some planning time now. Your secret mission is to surprise someone in your family by being kind. Have a think who you would like to surprise. Remember, you can level up by surprising someone you find it difficult to get on with. Now, what kind thing are you going to do to surprise them? Share your idea with the person next to you, and shake hands as a pledge that you will do it.
- [For circle time, you could give the children paper and pencils to plan out their mission. They could draw the scenario in the style of a storyboard, comic strip or blueprint.]
Prayer
- I’m going to pray that God will help us to be kind to our families, even when it is difficult. You can join me if you’d like to by saying ‘Amen’ at the end.
- Dear God, thank you for our families! You know that sometimes we love them and sometimes we struggle even to like them. Please give us a great idea of how we can surprise them in a good way this week. Amen.
YOU WILL NEED:
- Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World (Entertainment, 2011) certificate PG. Click here to buy the DVD online.
- Mums the Word PowerPoint.
- Printed copy of Harmonious Family Cards.pdf, scissors and card (optional) for the Harmonious Families opening activity.
- (Optional) Paper and pencils for each child for the Reflection.
Ethos Education 