Say Cheese!
National Cheese Day is on 4 June 2024
by Janice Ross
Suitable for Key Stage 2
Aims
To celebrate the wide variety of cheeses that we can enjoy.
Preparation and materials
- You will need a camera or smartphone so that you can pretend to take a photograph.
- You will also need the PowerPoint slides that accompany this assembly (Say Cheese!) and the means to display them.
Assembly
- Show the camera or smartphone to the children.
Tell them that you’d like to take a photograph of them because they all look amazing this morning.
Ask the children, ‘Can you think of a way to get everyone to smile at the same time?’
Listen to a range of responses.
Hopefully, their suggestions will include ‘say cheese’. If not, lead the children in that direction. - Show Slide 1 and pretend to take the photo.
Ask the children, ‘Have you ever wondered why a photographer might ask people to say “cheese” rather than “potatoes” or “bubble gum”?’
Listen to a range of responses. - Now ask the children to turn to a neighbour and say ‘cheese’.
Ask the children, ‘What do you notice?’
Accept responses about the shape that our lips make to form the word, how it widens our mouth.
Show Slide 2.
Apparently, ‘cheese’ is the perfect word for getting people to smile. - The first photograph was taken nearly 200 years ago in 1826. Early photography was a serious business, and it took a long time to get equipment set up. Sometimes, subjects had to sit still for hours!
Back then, photos were in black and white. If you look at any today, you may notice that the people in them look very stiff and formal, and often quite miserable. This was because they needed to gaze blankly and sit absolutely still for some time while the photo was being taken, otherwise it would be blurry.
A century later, taking photographs had become a much faster process, but the word that was usually used to get people to smile was ‘prunes’. It was not until the 1940s that the word ‘cheese’ started to be used instead.
Ask the children to turn to a neighbour and say ‘prunes’ and ‘cheese’.
Ask the children, ‘What do you notice?’
Listen to a range of responses. - Explain that nowadays, there is a day called National Cheese Day that takes place on 4 June every year. The day celebrates all the different varieties of cheese that we eat and enjoy.
Show Slide 3.
Ask the children to put up their hand if they like cheese. - Explain that you are going to show some pictures of different types of cheese and you want the children to try to identify each type.
Show Slides 4 to 10.
- Slide 4 shows a wedge of Cheddar.
- Slide 5 shows some Camembert.
- Slide 6 shows some Parmesan.
- Slide 7 shows a type of blue cheese called Danish Blue.
- Slide 8 shows a wedge of Brie.
- Slide 9 shows some Gouda.
- Slide 10 shows a packet of plant-based cheese.
- Ask the children if they can name any other types of cheese.
Listen to a range of responses. - Show Slides 11 and 12, and read out the poem.
Glorious Cheese
by Janice Ross
Have you ever wondered why
cheese is yellow,
or orange or blue,
or simply why
some are mature and some are mellow?
You may never have considered how
black-and-white cows
who eat rich, green grass
can turn this into pure, white milk
and then into a solid, yellow mass.
Today, let’s celebrate all things cheesy:
cheese crisps, cheese tarts,
toasties and even pizzas,
delicious bowls of macaroni -
such a cheesy extravaganza!
So, which will you try today, I wonder?
A favourite Cheddar, an alpine Emmental,
French Camembert or Italian Parmesan . . .
Make sure to savour every bite,
and thank God for the pure delight
of cheese.
Time for reflection
Point out that today, there are various cheeses made in a different way. Many people on dairy-free diets enjoy dairy-free cheese, which is plant-based and made without milk.
Ask the children, ‘How do you like your cheese?’
Encourage the children to think about all the ways they might eat cheese: on its own, cubed in a lunch box, in a roll, sprinkled on a pizza, in a sauce over cauliflower and so on.
Listen to a range of responses.
Remind the children that we are fortunate to have so many varieties of different foods.
Encourage them to be thankful and to pause to think of people who do not have much to eat today.
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for all the food that we enjoy.
Thank you especially today for cheese.
Thank you for the varieties of cheese that we can buy and enjoy.
Please remind us to brighten up the day with lots of cheesy smiles!
Please help us to be aware of how fortunate we are to have such a wide variety of food.
Amen.
Song/music
‘Food, glorious food’ from the musical Oliver!, available at: https://youtu.be/hEQDllvuy1I (2.35 minutes long)
