Summer Is Ending

An assembly led by children

by Jan Edmunds (revised, originally published in 2011)

Suitable for Whole School (Pri)

Aims

To consider the meaning of the end of summer.

Preparation and materials

• This is suitable for a class presentation. There are 20 narrators, but these could be combined together for smaller groups.
• You will need 20 pieces of A4 card, one for each narrator.
• Decorate the sides of card that face the audience with relevant pictures. On the reverse side, write the narrator’s words. On nine of the cards, write the letters SEPTEMBER in large, clear writing, one letter on each card.
• The narrators will need time to rehearse prior to the assembly to establish order and placing.

Assembly

Narrator 1: Good morning, everyone. September is here. It’s a month of change.

Narrator 2: This is the month that begins the new school year.

Narrator 3: Our holidays have ended.

Narrator 4: Some of us have changed schools.

Narrator 5: We have moved into a new class.

Narrator 6: We have a new teacher.

Narrator 7: We will learn new things, and have new books and lessons.

Narrator 8: Yes, September is here. Let’s find out what this month will bring.

Narrator 9: S is for the summertime that’s ending, the signs begin to show.

Narrator 10: E is for the evenings that get darker, as shorter now they grow.

Narrator 11: P is for the pears and apples - cherries, too - that hang upon the bough.

Narrator 12: T is for time, time to pick and gather them for they are ready now.

Narrator 13: E is for everywhere in fields and woods where colours glow, yellow, red and gold.

Narrator 14: M is for the mornings getting cooler. We begin to feel the cold.

Narrator 15: B is for the birds that gather to leave our shores.

Narrator 16: E is for everything that’s ripened to be placed in winter stores.

Narrator 17: R is the reminder that autumn’s almost here. The year again is passing and winter’s drawing near.

Narrators 9 to 17 turn their cards round, one after the other, beginning with S, to show the word SEPTEMBER.

Time for reflection

Prayer

Narrator 18: Dear God, we give you thanks for the summer,
for the sunshine and the rain that has helped the plants to grow.

Narrator 19: Please help us to appreciate the beauty of autumn as the leaves begin to change,
as berries decorate the bushes and shiny conkers lie scattered on the ground.

Narrator 20: For all the beauty of autumn, we thank you, God.
Amen.

Song/music

‘Tidal wave’ by Doug Horley, available at: https://youtu.be/hWfYpF40i8U (4.25 minutes long)