Page 1 of 4 Slide 1: Play some inspiring music on the theme of resilience, such as ‘Skyfall’ by Adele, ‘Pick Yourself Up’ by Frank Sinatra or ‘Survivor’ by Destiny’s Child, getting the children to listen to the lyrics. Discuss with the children, what is the song about? What could have happened to the person in the song? How did they overcome it? You might like to read the book, ‘Follow the Swallow’ by Julia Donaldson in advance of the assembly, or as a follow up activity. Slide 2: Select a small group of volunteers. Give each of them a rubber band. Challenge the children. Can you make the elastic band change its shape forever? Give the children time to explore this. They will soon find that it’s not possible to change the shape of the rubber band forever! Why? Who can describe what is happening? The selected children feed back to the group. Slide 3: Explain that some materials bounce back after bending or stretching. Show other examples, such as twisting a plastic bag, stretching a piece of fabric (such as lycra) or bending a five pound note. Explain that people who can bounce back after difficulties are called resilient. Embed the vocabulary ‘resilient’ with the children by clapping the syllables/saying the word in different ways such as a whisper, loud voice, quiet voice. British Values Resilience Assembly Script Aim: • To understand the meaning of resilience and how it can be useful in our lives. You will need: • The PowerPoint resource entitled ‘British Values Resilience’. • Elastic/rubber bands – you may wish to send home with each child as a reminder of the assembly session and to prompt discussion. • Inspirational music (suggestions: ‘Skyfall’ by Adele, ‘Pick Yourself Up’ by Frank Sinatra or ‘Survivor’ by Destiny’s Child). • Optional – other materials such as plastic bag, new five pound note • Optional – video clips of swallows departing from Africa and swallows drinking water on the wing. You will also need the means to play them. • Optional - ‘Follow the Swallow’ by Julia Donaldson • Blindfold
Transcript
Page 1 of 4
Slide 1:Play some inspiring music on the theme of resilience, such as ‘Skyfall’ by Adele, ‘Pick Yourself Up’ by Frank Sinatra or ‘Survivor’ by Destiny’s Child, getting the children to listen to the lyrics. Discuss with the children, what is the song about? What could have happened to the person in the song? How did they overcome it? You might like to read the book, ‘Follow the Swallow’ by Julia Donaldson in advance of the assembly, or as a follow up activity.
Slide 2:Select a small group of volunteers. Give each of them a rubber band. Challenge the children. Can you make the elastic band change its shape forever? Give the children time to explore this. They will soon find that it’s not possible to change the shape of the rubber band forever! Why? Who can describe what is happening? The selected children feed back to the group.
Slide 3:Explain that some materials bounce back after bending or stretching. Show other examples, such as twisting a plastic bag, stretching a piece of fabric (such as lycra) or bending a five pound note. Explain that people who can bounce back after difficulties are called resilient. Embed the vocabulary ‘resilient’ with the children by clapping the syllables/saying the word in different ways such as a whisper, loud voice, quiet voice.
British Values Resilience Assembly Script
Aim: • To understand the meaning of resilience and how it can be useful in our lives.
You will need:• The PowerPoint resource entitled ‘British Values Resilience’.
• Elastic/rubber bands – you may wish to send home with each child as a reminder of the assembly session and to prompt discussion.
• Inspirational music (suggestions: ‘Skyfall’ by Adele, ‘Pick Yourself Up’ by Frank Sinatra or ‘Survivor’ by Destiny’s Child).
• Optional – other materials such as plastic bag, new five pound note
• Optional – video clips of swallows departing from Africa and swallows drinking water on the wing. You will also need the means to play them.
• Optional - ‘Follow the Swallow’ by Julia Donaldson
Slide 4:Discuss the picture. What kind of animal is this? What kind of bird? How do we know? Does anyone know anything special about a swallow? Who has seen one?
Slide 5:Introduce the slide to the children and the character of Savannah. Does anyone know what savannah means? (It is a grassy plain in tropical and subtropical regions, with few trees.) Why is this a good name for the swallow?
Slide 6:Read the next part of the story to the children. Explain that swallows start to gather together in the days before they migrate. By the time they migrate, there are often millions of swallows gathered together.
Slide 7:Read the next part of the story to the children. Watch the clip of swallows drinking on the wing (whilst flying). Does that look easy or hard? Explain that swallows also like to catch their food, such as insects, whilst they are flying. They are very determined to reach their destination and keep going as much as possible until they make it! Swallows are unusual because they do most of their travelling during the day, but they are so fast that not many predators can catch them!
Slide 8:Read the next part of the story to the children.
Slide 9:Read the next part of the story to the children. Have you ever seen a swallow? Where was it? Explain that swallows used to live in caves, but now like to make their homes under the eaves of old buildings.
British Values Resilience Assembly Script
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Slide 10:What challenges did Savannah face on her journey? What skills did she use to overcome the challenges? What helped her along the way?
Slide 11:Explain to the children that you are going to explore some ways to be resilient in everyday life.
Slide 12:Select a child to read the words at the top of the slide. You may choose to have these words displayed or held by a child at the front of the room. Using the ‘Do It’ button, challenge the children to write down something they are thankful for every day. You could also ask each class or older pupils to set up a thankful area in their classroom. For example, children could have a tray of sand to draw a picture of something they are thankful for, or a tree branch with leaf templates to write messages of thanks on. Individual classes could be asked to compile a list of things they are thankful for, to bring to assembly the following week.
Slide 13:Select a child to read the words at the top of the slide. You may choose to have these words displayed or held by a child at the front of the room. Use the ‘Discuss It’ button to explore the theme with the children. Can you think of a time when trying your best helped you to succeed? How did it feel to work hard and achieve something?
Slide 14:Select a child to read the words at the top of the slide. You may choose to have these words displayed or held by a child at the front of the room. Use the ‘Discuss It’ button to explore the theme with the children. How does it feel to work together? How does it feel to help someone? You may wish to choose two children to demonstrate the following activity – one child is blindfolded, the other must guide them around the room without bumping into anything. What skills were needed? Could this have been achieved by someone working alone?
British Values Resilience Assembly Script
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Slide 15:Select a child to read the words at the top of the slide. You may choose to have these words displayed or held by a child at the front of the room. Watch the video clip. Did you know a horse could do that? Do you think the horse learnt to do it straight away?
Slide 16:Select a child to read the words at the top of the slide. You may choose to have these words displayed or held by a child at the front of the room. Click on the stars and ask children to complete the sentences. ‘Think, pair, share’ to maximise pupil involvement.
Slide 17:Select a child to read the words at the top of the slide. You may choose to have these words displayed or held by a child at the front of the room. Show the video clip to the children. Discuss. How do the children feel? What helps them to feel calm? Take suggestions and try any ideas suggested by the pupils such as taking deep breaths. Why is it helpful to be calm?
Slide 18:Select a child to read the words at the top of the slide. You may choose to have these words displayed or held by a child at the front of the room. Read the joke, and invite feedback! Have a joke telling contest, inviting children to come to the front and tell their joke. Enjoy laughing together. Remind children that we retain more information when we are happy and relaxed.
Thinking Time:You may choose to have a short silence for pupils to reflect on the theme of resilience. What can we learn from the swallow’s story? Remember to keep working towards your ambitions, even when it is hard. Advise children to take a moment to think about something they would like to achieve.
