Costly Pearls
What really matters?
by Janice Ross
Suitable for Whole School (Pri)
Aims
To consider what the most important things in our lives are.
Preparation and materials
- You will need the PowerPoint slides that accompany this assembly (Costly Pearls) and the means to display them.
- Have available the YouTube video ‘Pearl of Puerto’ and the means to show it during the assembly. It is 1.21 minutes long and is available at: https://youtu.be/BDXzAJbuswc
- Optional: you may wish to bring in a string of real pearls to show the children, if one is available.
Assembly
- Explain that in today’s assembly, we are going to consider something very valuable and precious.
Show Slide 1.
Optional: show the string of pearls too, if using. - Ask the children whether they have ever seen a pearl necklace like this one.
Listen to a range of responses.
Point out that many people wear pearls for special occasions such as weddings or evening events. - Show Slide 2.
Explain that pearls are found inside oysters and other molluscs. These are creatures that live in water and have a hard outer shell split into two parts.
Tell the children that there are three main types of pearl. - Show Slide 3.
- Natural pearls are found in the wild, but they are very rare. It would be necessary to gather and open hundreds of pearl oysters or mussels to find even one wild pearl.
- Cultured pearls are real pearls grown inside real oysters, but at pearl farms in Japan, Australia and Indonesia. Cultured means that they have been cultivated by a farmer, like salmon in fish farms. Most pearls on the jewellery market are cultured pearls, and they come in white, peach, lavender and black.
- Artificial pearls are made of glass. - So, how can we tell whether a pearl is real or fake?
Explain that natural and cultured pearls have a slightly rough surface, so if you rub them on your front teeth, they will feel a bit gritty.
Artificial pearls will feel smooth or glassy.
Optional: if you are using the string of pearls, ask a volunteer to come to the front and test whether they think that the pearls are real or fake. - Explain to the children how pearls are made. For the oyster, it all starts with an irritation! When a grain of sand or another tiny organism finds its way into the shell, the oyster responds to this intruder by defending itself. It does this by slowly covering the intruder in layers of the material that makes up its shell. Over a time period of six months to three years, this process results in the formation of a pearl.
- Show the YouTube video ‘Pearl of Puerto’ (1.21 minutes long).
- Point out that the pearl in the video is valued at roughly 100 million US dollars. That is nearly £80 million.
Ask the children the following questions.
- Can you imagine how the fisherman felt when he found the pearl?
- Do you think that he would have needed help to get it onto his boat?
- Why do you think he hid it?
Time for reflection
There is a message about a pearl in the Bible. Perhaps it was as big as the Pearl of Puerto!
Show Slide 4 and read out the words.
In this passage, Jesus is saying that the kingdom of heaven is worth the cost of everything that we have in this life. The pearl merchant isn’t giving away his possessions for no reason. In fact, he is hugely increasing his wealth. Although it might seem senseless to give away everything for a pearl, he understands that its value is far greater than anything that he already owns.
Ask the children, ‘What do you think is worth the most in the world?’
Listen to a range of responses.
Encourage the children to think about people such as family, friends and so on.
What do you think Jesus was trying to help his disciples understand when he told this story?
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for making something as beautiful as pearls.
Thank you that we are like precious pearls in your eyes.
Please help us to grow in our understanding of what are the most important things in life.
Amen.
