Pause for Thought: Who Should We Copy?
Copying can be good and bad!
by Alexandra Palmer
Suitable for Whole School (Pri)
Aims
To explore situations when it is good to copy and situations when it isn’t.
Preparation and materials
- You will need the PowerPoint slides that accompany this assembly (Pause for Thought: Who Should We Copy?) and the means to display them.
- Optional: you may also wish to use the extension activity (Pause for Thought: Who Should We Copy - Extension Activity) that accompanies this assembly.
Assembly
- Show Slide 1.
Ask the children, ‘What is happening in the picture?’
Listen to a range of responses.
The answer is that one child is copying another’s work.
Ask the children to vote by putting their thumbs up or down depending on whether they think that the child should be doing that. - Ask the children, ‘Should we copy others?’
Ask the children to vote by putting their thumbs up or down. - Show Slide 2.
Explain that not all copying is bad; it depends on what we are doing. When we are learning something new, there are times when we need to copy.
Explain that you want the children to look at some pictures and decide whether they show times when we should copy or times when we shouldn’t.
Ask the children to vote on each picture by putting their thumbs up or down. - Show Slides 3-13.
Discuss each of the slides in turn. - Show Slide 14.
Explain that the picture shows the fruit of the Spirit, which are named in the Bible. They are love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, patience, gentleness and self-control.
Christians believe that the Bible teaches them a good way to live their lives. The first four books in the New Testament part of the Bible teach us about when Jesus lived here on earth. After Jesus had gone back to heaven, some of his friends wrote about his life and teaching; their writings are found in the Bible. One man called Paul wrote about the fruit of the Spirit. - Go through each fruit of the spirit in turn. You may wish to ask the children what they think each word means.
- Love: having love means that we treat those we meet with care and respect.
- Joy: being joyful isn’t just about being happy and smiley on the outside; it’s about feeling happy with ourselves on the inside too.
- Peace: when we feel peaceful, we feel calm inside and experience something called peace of mind. Even if something goes wrong, we can feel peaceful.
- Goodness: when we know how to behave in a good way and can say sorry if we do something wrong, we are displaying goodness.
- Kindness: it’s important that we are kind not just to our friends, but to all people, especially if they need our help.
- Faithfulness: this means that we keep our promises and do what we have said that we will do.
- Patience: being patient for things can be really difficult, especially if we want to do something straightaway or if we are waiting for our birthday or Christmas presents. It’s also sometimes hard to be patient with each other.
- Gentleness: being gentle is the opposite of being mean and horrible.
- Self-control: having self-control means that we are in control of all the things that we do and say.
Time for reflection
Ask the children, ‘Which fruit of the Spirit are important to use in school?’
Listen to a range of responses.
Read out the following questions, pausing to allow time for reflection after each one.
- If your family are helping you with your homework and you fall out over it, how can you show that you still love them?
- How can you feel joyful when you are doing something in the classroom that you find challenging?
- If you’ve fallen out with a friend, how can you feel peaceful?
- If you’re not behaving in a good way, how will you find the courage to say sorry?
- When you are in the classroom or playground, how can you be kind?
- Think about the promises that you have made to your family and friends. Have you stayed faithful to them?
- How can you be patient with your friends?
- How can you stop yourself being horrible to somebody when you should be behaving in a kind and gentle way?
- If something isn’t going your way in the playground, how will you use your self-control?
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for the people who teach us new things that we can copy and learn.
Thank you for all the good things that we can copy that can help to make us feel good about ourselves.
Thank you for the times when we feel love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, patience, gentleness and self-control.
Please help us to make good decisions about what we should and shouldn’t copy.
Amen.
Song/music
‘Our God is a great big God’, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaXPXWBcE3I (3 minutes long)
Extension activities
- Give each child a copy of the sheet that accompanies this assembly (Pause for Thought: Who Should We Copy - Extension Activity). Ask them to design their own tree that shows the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, patience, gentleness and self-control.
