Teachers

To help the children to be thankful for their teachers.

by The Revd Sophie Jelley

Suitable for Whole School (Pri)

Aims

To help the children to be thankful for their teachers.

Preparation and materials

• You will need a paper cut-out of a teacher (life-size).

• Some paper clothes to stick on him/her (could be funny ones!).
• Blu-Tack, and a noticeboard or somewhere to hang it the figure.

Assembly

1. What do you think makes a great teacher? If you had to describe one, what would they look like? Take some suggestions, or make some, e.g. kind, clever, fair, cuddly, funny, strict, loud, big hair, pretty shoes. You could have some fun with the teachers in the room!
2. Today we are going to have a go at making the world’s greatest teacher. But there’s a problem – the teacher needs some clothes and I am going to need your help.
   
   First of all, is this teacher a man or a woman?
   What does she or he need to wear?
   
   Take suggestions, e.g. skirt/trousers, and then write on each garment a quality that was mentioned in the previous section, e.g. ‘kind’. Ask the children to stick the paper clothes onto the paper teacher.
   
   Congratulate them on making a great teacher.
3. Explain that Jesus, God’s son, was a teacher. He was born into the Jewish religion where people who were teachers have a name – they are known as rabbis. Jesus had pupils, people he would teach about God. Often they were not children but adults. People would follow him around from place to place to hear his teaching.
4. Christians believe that we can still learn from Jesus today as we read about him in the Bible. They believe that he helps them to love God and love other people, as they learn to be more like him.

Time for reflection

Think about your teacher. Think about the things that she or he does for you every day.

Think about all the time they spend helping you to understand and to learn new things every day.

Prayer
Father God,
Thank you for our teachers.
For all the time they spend,
for all the help they give,
for all the fun and laughter,
for helping us to be better people.
Bless them today
in Jesus’ name.
Amen.

Song/music

‘Jesus is a friend of mine’ (Kidsource, 195)
‘What a friend we have in Jesus’ (Hymns Old and New, 541)