What a World!
The world is amazing
by Claire Law
Suitable for Whole School (Pri)
Aims
To reflect upon the wonder of the world.
Preparation and materials
- You will need the PowerPoint slides that accompany this assembly (What A World!) and the means to display them.
- Have available a YouTube video of a trailer for The Green Planet and the means to show it during the assembly. One video is 1.18 minutes long and is available at: https://youtu.be/FcnLPH11qJw
Assembly
- Ask the children to look closely at their fingers. Ask them to look at the swirls and patterns on the skin of each finger and thumb.
Explain that each of our fingerprints is unique to us; no one has ever had the very same fingerprint that we have. Even if we have an identical twin, our twin’s fingerprint will be different! - Show Slide 1.
There’s something wonderful about our fingerprints. We could go about our day, using our hands to pick up things, gesture and hold items, and totally forget the wonder of our fingerprints. Yet, out of all the billions of humans who have lived, our fingerprint is a daily reminder of our uniqueness. Wow!
- That sense of ‘wow’ is something that the broadcaster Sir David Attenborough is good at tapping into. In the various BBC documentaries that he’s made over the years, including The Blue Planet and Planet Earth, Sir David has shown us some of the most ‘wow’ things about the world.
By filming amazing things in the natural world, Sir David’s documentaries help us to appreciate its complexity and beauty. They make us realize how important it is to look closely and be inspired by what we see. - Let’s watch the trailer for one of Sir David’s most recent projects, The Green Planet, which first aired in February 2022. Let’s see how many wonderful things we can see.
Show the YouTube video of a trailer for The Green Planet (1.18 minutes long). - Ask the children what wonderful things they spotted.
Listen to a range of responses. - Show Slides 2-4.
These slides show some faces full of wonder! Ask the children to pull their own amazed faces.
Time for reflection
Feeling awe and wonder is not a new thing. The Bible is full of passages that express wonder at God’s creation and the natural world.
Show Slide 5 and read out the passage.
Psalm 139 reflects on how amazing our bodies are.
Show Slide 6 and read out the passage.
Ask the children to look again at their amazing fingerprints. Ask them to pause to remember how amazing and unique they are.
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for this amazing world, full of wonder.
Please help us to care about our world.
Help us to use its resources well.
Please help us today to find places where we can pause and feel a sense of wonder.
Please give us the courage to risk looking up and around, and notice the wonder of ourselves, our world and all of nature.
Amen.
Song/music
‘Tidal wave’ by Doug Horley, available at: https://youtu.be/hWfYpF40i8U (4.25 minutes long)
