How to use this site    About Us    Submissions    Feedback    Donate    Links   

Assemblies.org.uk - School Assemblies for every season for everyone

Decorative image - Primary

Email Twitter Facebook

-
X
-

Mother's Day: Get real!

by Gordon Lamont

Suitable for Key Stage 2

Aims

To celebrate Mother’s Day, suggesting that it’s not just about cards and gifts.

Preparation and materials

  • You will need a leader and, as the assembly takes the form of a simple play, four children to play the parts. Speaker 4 has only one line so you may wish to take this part yourself, while Speaker 3 has the most to say, including a simple rhyme at the end. The children can simply read their words, but it will be better if they can rehearse them in advance. (You can find more about using drama in assemblies on our Resources pages at: www.assemblies.org.uk/leading-assemblies/advice-drama and see also our Presentation notes at: www.assemblies.org.uk/leading-assemblies/advice-presentation  
  • If possible, have available to play a ‘fast forward’ sound effect – a high-pitched comic squeal – at the appropriate point. You could download one from a site such as www.freesound.org (registration required) or make your own using musical instruments or vocalization. If you have audio or video editing in school, try speeding up some vocals and/or pitch shifting, using the free audio editor Audacity, for example.
  • The BBC School Radio’s assembly programme ‘Together’ has an unusual and funny Mother’s Day story (available from 21 March at: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03g64pp).

Assembly

  1. Leader Introduce the theme of the assembly, making it clear that the speakers are acting parts, not giving their own real views. Then introduce the speakers and ask everyone to listen to what they have to say. Speaker 3 should be at the end of the line.
    Speaker 1
    My mum is the best person in the world.

    Speaker 2 My mum is the best person in the world and I’m going to tell her!

    Speaker 3 My mum’s all right – most of the time.

    Pause.

    Speaker 1 I bought my mum a box of chocolates.

    Speaker 2 I bought my mum a lovely pretty card.

    Speaker 3 I bought my mum a duster ‘cos she’s always telling me my room’s like a rubbish dump!

    Pause.

    Speaker 1 I’m making my mum breakfast in bed on Mother’s Day.

    Speaker 2 I’ve made a special cake for Mother’s Day.

    Speaker 3 I made her a cake – but then I ate it. It was very nice.

    Pause.

    Speaker 1 We should all be thankful for our mums.

    Speaker 2 Mums are brilliant – where would we be without them?

    Speaker 3 My mum’s all right – most of the time.

    Pause.

    Speaker 4 Which of these is closest to you? Let’s fast forward a few days.

    If using, play fast forward sound effect. While this is playing, the speakers rearrange themselves, moving around the space as if being fast forwarded. Speaker 3 should still be at the end of the line when the sound effect finishes, though.

    Speaker 1 I gave her chocolates; I gave her breakfast in bed, and told her she was the best.

    Speaker 2 I gave her a pretty card; I made her a cake and told her she was the best.

    Speaker 1 And I still get moaned at to do my homework . . .

    Speaker 2 And still she wants me to do the washing up . . .

    Speaker 1 I wonder why I bothered.

    Speaker 2 I wonder why I bothered.

    Pause.

    Speaker 3 My mum’s all right, most of the time.
    Me and mum get on fine.
    Sometimes she moans and sometimes she’s cross.
    When I told her about the cake
    She said it’s no loss.
    You can clean out the cupboards – will you do that for me?
    I said OK – that’s my mum and me.

    When I gave her the duster she didn’t grouse
    She laughed and said, now clean the house!

    My mum’s all right, most of the time.
    If I do my bit we get on fine.
    We have some fun times, my mum and me.
    So I hope everyone can agree
    When you hear my thoughts and hear me say
    A mum is for ever . . .

    All
    Not just Mother’s Day!

  2. Leader Sum up by saying that it’s great to have a special day to celebrate our mothers, but the best ‘gifts’ are those that last. They are often the smaller things, the actions we take and ways that we behave towards each other over time. The third speaker didn’t make as much of a fuss as the others on this one day of the year, but perhaps her/his gift is different and lasts longer.

  3. Leader Introduce the song – ‘I will bring to you the best gift I can offer’ (Come and Praise, 59) – by quoting a few lines from it:

    I will bring to you the best gift I can offer  . . .

    I’ll share my secrets and my dreams, I’ll show you wonders I have seen  . . .

    Say that perhaps a helpful son or daughter all year round is one of those wonders!

Time for reflection

How can we spread the message of Mother’s Day throughout the whole year?
What would be the best gift you could offer to your mother?

Song/music

‘I will bring to you the best gift I can offer’ (Come and Praise, 59)

Publication date: March 2014   (Vol.16 No.3)    Published by SPCK, London, UK.
Print this page