Ethos Education

The Good Dinosaur: What Makes a Family?

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Assembly Objective:

  • What makes a family? There are many different types. This assembly explores the biblical description of the early Church to introduce the idea of Christianity as a worldwide, wholly inclusive, family.

Film:

  • The Good Dinosaur (Pixar, 2015, certificate PG), click here to buy the DVD online.

Bible:

Supporting Values Education:

  • Mutual Respect and Tolerance. In modern Britain, family structures are highly diverse. This diversity ought to be recognised and respected where it provides love and support for all family members.

OPENING ACTIVITY

Family Fortunes (online game)

  • Family Fortunes is a very popular British TV game show that has been running since the 1980s. The game mainly involves two families competing against each other to guess answers given previously by members of the public. The following links take you to three specially created themed games: Family Members, In a Church, Types of Dinosaurs. You could play the games with the whole assembly or, following the format of the original TV show, in two teams of five. Alternatively, as the software is extremely easy to use, having been designed by a teacher, you might want to create your own games using the above titles but with responses elicited from named individuals in your school. If you are unable to play the games online, you could make a low-tech alternative by writing the answers on a flip chart and hiding them with strips of paper. When children give a wrong answer, you could draw a cross with a red marker pen. The answers to the games are as follows:
  • Family Members:
  1. Mother
  2. Father
  3. Sister
  4. Brother
  5. Aunty, synonyms: Auntie
  6. Uncle
  • In a Church:
  1. Bible, synonyms: Book
  2. Cross
  3. Vicar, synonyms: Priest, Minister
  4. Candle
  5. Picture of Jesus, synonyms: Painting of Jesus, Statue of Jesus
  • Types of Dinosaurs:
  1. Apatosaurus
  2. Tyrannosaurus
  3. Stegosaurus
  4. Diplodocus
  5. Velociraptor

FILM CLIP

  • Play the clip from The Good Dinosaur (Pixar, 2015) certificate PG.
    • Start time: 01:19:05 (As Arlo and Spot climb to the top of the mountain.)
    • Finish time: 01:23:54 (As Spot and his new family leave Arlo.)
    • Clip length: 4 minutes 49 seconds
  • If you cannot play the clip, instead say: ‘Arlo and Spot have finally made it to the top of the mountain overlooking Arlo’s family farm. Arlo says, “We’re home.” Suddenly, they hear a howl and see a man standing on a hill nearby. The man is soon joined by a woman and two children. They make their way down the hill towards Arlo and Spot. Tentatively, Spot goes to meet them. He is immediately accepted into their family but he does not want to leave Arlo. However, Arlo pushes Spot back towards his new family and draws a circle around them. Spot understands this means that Arlo wants him to go with his new family. As he leaves with them, Spot looks at Arlo and howls. This is a sign that Spot will miss Arlo. Arlo howls in reply. Spot and his new family disappear over the hill and Arlo sets off down the mountain to be re-united with his own family.’

TALK

Scripted Talk

Download The Good Dinosaur What Makes a Family PowerPoint for use with this talk.

  • [PowerPoint slide 1]
    • Welcome, everyone. Today’s assembly is about families, so we are going to start by playing a version of the popular TV game show Family Fortunes. We are going to play three rounds in which you have to try to guess answers given by other people to a question.
  • [PowerPoint slide 2]
    • The first question is – ‘Can you name a family member?’ I am not looking for someone’s name, I am looking for the role someone has in a family, for example, the role most of you have in your family – a child. There are lots of roles people have in families, but there are only six answers. Can you guess them all? You only have three lives. (After completing first round). Families come in all shapes and sizes. Some families are very small and others are very large. Some families have two parents and some families have one or none. The most important thing about families isn’t their size and shape but how much love and support they provide for each person in the family.
  • [PowerPoint slide 3]
    • Next question – ‘Can you name something that you might find in a church?’
  • [PowerPoint slide 4]
    • Well done everyone. All the things you said might be found in a church building. But a church isn’t just a building, it is a group of people. And, hopefully, within any church in the world, you will find love and support both for people in the church and for people who don’t belong to it.
  • [PowerPoint slide 5]
    • Next question – ‘Can you name a type of dinosaur?’ The picture on this slide gives you a couple of clues.
  • [PowerPoint slide 6]
    • Well done, you really know your dinosaurs. You probably know this dinosaur from the film, ‘The Good Dinosaur’. His name is Arlo and, at the start of the film, he lives with his family on a farm.
  • [PowerPoint slide 7]
    • Arlo’s family are very loving and, although he is scared of everything (particularly chickens) they encourage him to do his best around the farm.
  • [PowerPoint slide 8]
    • But after falling into a river, Arlo is separated from the rest of his family by getting washed miles downstream. He is all alone…
  • [PowerPoint slide 9]
    • …until he makes friends with a boy called Spot.
  • [PowerPoint slide 10]
    • Arlo and Spot travel miles together to get back to Arlo’s farm. Along the way they meet many different characters and have some exciting adventures but, eventually, they make it to the top of the mountain looking down on the farm.
  • [PowerPoint slide 11]
    • When they are just about to go down to Arlo’s family, they hear a strange howl.
    • Play the clip from The Good Dinosaur (Pixar, 2015) certificate PG.
      • Start time: 01:19:05 (As Arlo and Spot climb to the top of the mountain.)
      • Finish time: 01:23:54 (As Spot and his new family leave Arlo.)
      • Clip length: 4 minutes 49 seconds
    • If you cannot play the clip, instead say: ‘Arlo and Spot have finally made it to the top of the mountain overlooking Arlo’s family farm. Arlo says, “We’re home.” Suddenly, they hear a howl and see a man standing on a hill nearby. The man is soon joined by a woman and two children. They make their way down the hill towards Arlo and Spot. Tentatively, Spot goes to meet them. He is immediately accepted into their family but he does not want to leave Arlo. However, Arlo pushes Spot back towards his new family and draws a circle around them. Spot understands this means that Arlo wants him to go with his new family. As he leaves with them, Spot looks at Arlo and howls. This is a sign that Spot will miss Arlo. Arlo howls in reply. Spot and his new family disappear over the hill and Arlo sets off down the mountain to be re-united with his own family.’
  • [PowerPoint slide 12]
    • How did you think Spot felt when he first met the human family? How do you think they felt about him? Why did he not want to leave Arlo? Why did Arlo draw a circle around Spot and his new family? Why did Spot and Arlo howl to each other at the end of the clip?
    • The Good Dinosaur has a happy ending. Spot is adopted by a new family and Arlo is re-united with his family.
  • [PowerPoint slide 13]
    • In the Bible, after the Holy Spirit makes the first followers of Jesus burst into the street to tell everyone about Him, there is a short description of how they organised themselves into the first Christian church.
  • [PowerPoint slide 14-15]
    • Read Acts 2: 44-47 (ICB) ‘All the believers stayed together. They shared everything. They sold their land and the things they owned. Then they divided the money and gave it to those people who needed it. The believers met together in the Temple every day. They all had the same purpose. They broke bread in their homes, happy to share their food with joyful hearts. They praised God, and all the people liked them. More and more people were being saved every day; the Lord was adding those people to the group of believers.’
    • The first church was like a family. People shared their food and their money. Every day they went to the Temple together. Other people saw that this new family loved and cared for each other and they too became members.
  • [Powerpoint slide 16]
    • Today, the Christian family or church has over two billion members and across the world that figure is rising. The church tries to be a family where not only are all the members loved and looked after but the same care is shown to those outside the family as well. Christians pray to God to help them to do this. Let us pray that our families and our school will continue to be places where everyone is cared for and loved.
  • [Powerpoint slide 17]
    • Prayer.

Headings and Bullets

  • [PowerPoint slide 1]
    • Introduce and explain Family Fortunes game.
  • [PowerPoint slide 2]
    • Name a family member.
    • All families are different.
    • What is important about families is how much love and support they provide.
  • [PowerPoint slide 3]
    • Name something that you might find in a church.
  • [PowerPoint slide 4]
    • A church is a group of people, not just a building.
  • [PowerPoint slide 5]
    • Name a type of dinosaur.
    • See picture for clues.
  • [PowerPoint slide 6]
    • The Good Dinosaur.
    • Introduce Arlo.
  • [PowerPoint slide 7]
    • Arlo and his family.
    • Introduce Arlo’s family.
  • [PowerPoint slide 8]
    • Arlo all alone.
    • Arlo gets separated from his family.
  • [PowerPoint slide 9]
    • Spot.
    • Introduce Spot.
  • [PowerPoint slide 10]
    • Arlo and Spot.
    • Plot summary.
  • [PowerPoint slide 11]
    • Almost home.
    • Play the clip from The Good Dinosaur (Pixar, 2015) certificate PG.
      • Start time: 01:19:05 (As Arlo and Spot climb to the top of the mountain.)
      • Finish time: 01:23:54 (As Spot and his new family leave Arlo.)
      • Clip length: 4 minutes 49 seconds
    • Alternative: scene description.
  • [PowerPoint slide 12]
    • Spot joins a new family.
    • Discuss emotions of characters.
    • The Good Dinosaur has a happy ending.
  • [PowerPoint slide 13]
    • The Day of Pentecost.
    • Brief summary of events.
  • [PowerPoint slide 14-15]
    • Read Acts 2: 44-47 (ICB).
    • The first church was like a family.
  • [Powerpoint slide 16]
    • The Church: a worldwide family.
    • Over two billion members and growing.
    • Members are dedicated to loving each other and those outside the family.
  • [Powerpoint slide 17]
    • Prayer.

Photo Copyright for The Good Dinosaur What Makes a Family PowerPoint: Slides 2, 4, 16 and 17 iStockphoto.com / Slide 3 freeimages.co.uk / Slide 5, 7-12 image.net / Slide 6 Disney/Pixar / Slide 13, 14 and 15 Sweet Publishing/FreeBibleimages.org

RESPOND

Reflection

  • What is the best thing about being part of your family?
  • What could you do to make people feel more loved and cared for in your class?
  • How do the members of your family show their love and care for each other?
  • How do the staff in your school show their love and care for you?
  • If you had been Spot, what would have made you join the new family?
  • If you could invite someone else to join your family, who might it be – another sister/brother? A pet dog/cat/dinosaur? A celebrity?

Prayer

  • Dear God, we thank you for our families. We thank you for all the love and care that they show towards us. We thank you too for the care provided by all the staff in our school. We ask for your help in being more loving and caring towards other people in our families and in our school. Amen.

YOU WILL NEED:

  1. The Good Dinosaur (Pixar, 2015, certificate PG), click here to buy the DVD online.
  2. Access for internet links to Family Fortunes games.
  3. Flip chart (if playing the low-tech version of Family Fortunes.)
  4. The Good Dinosaur What Makes a Family PowerPoint.

 

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