Building Blocks

To celebrate the diversity of the school's activities; to explore the idea of God as the foundation of all things

by The Revd Dr Philip Hesketh and the Revd Catherine Williams

Suitable for Whole School (Pri)

Aims

To celebrate the diversity of the school's activities and to explore the idea of God as the foundation of all things.

Preparation and materials

• You will need eight large boxes which will stack together to make a tower.
• The boxes should have the following large letters on them, one per box:
  L E A R N I N G

Assembly

1. Explain that you have been thinking about 'building' recently, e.g. building work being done at home or church, building work being done at school, or building work that you pass in everyday life.
   
   
2. Invite eight children to help you build a tower. Give each child a box to hold and then ask them to place the boxes on top of one another to spell the word 'LEARNING', i.e. starting with the 'G' and working backwards/upwards.
   
   
3. Ask the rest of the children to suggest other words connected with school that begin with each letter, e.g.
   
   L for literacy, letters, listening
   E for English, exams, education
   A for assembly, apparatus, alphabet
   R for reading, rulers, rugby
   N for numbers, noise
   I for ICT, infants, information
   N for numeracy, nits (all schools have nits!), netball
   G for goalposts, glasses, geography
   
   
4. As the tower is built, see if the children can guess the word (as it appears letter by letter in this order: GNINRAEL).
   
   Point out that 'Learning' is a very important aspect of school life. Ask if anyone can think of what else, or who else, the 'G' could stand for - like 'God' or 'goodness' (these may have emerged earlier).
   
   
5. Develop the idea that like the 'G' box in the tower, Christians and people of other faiths believe that God is the foundation of all that we do. God supports us and loves us and helps us. Mention the idea of goodness - helping and supporting each other in school.
   
   
6. Ask a child to pull out the 'G' box from the bottom of the tower and watch as the whole structure collapses (make sure you have lots of space so that no one gets hurt by the falling boxes).
   
   If appropriate, explain that if we leave God/goodness out of our school life and our learning we're missing an important part of the story. You can have all the learning in the world but still not be a helpful person. You can pass every exam there is but still not take time to think about the really important things in life. Relate this to the reflection below.

Time for reflection

The Bible says that God is the builder of all things (Hebrews 3.4). Ask the children to think quietly about all the good things that God is part of in their school. Suggest that they remember that God is the hidden presence that supports all life.

Dear God,
We thank you for being both the builder and foundation of all things.
Thank you for our school and all that we learn here.
Help us to remember that you are always supporting us.
Amen.

Song/music

'The Lord, the Lord is my shepherd' (Come and Praise, 108)