Sharing our problems

To explain that everyone has problems at some time and that it often helps to share our problems with another person.

by Janice Ross

Suitable for Key Stage 1

Aims

To explain that everyone has problems at some time and that it often helps to share our problems with another person.

Preparation and materials

• A copy of The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch by Ronda and David Armitage.

Assembly

1. Ask the children if they are any good at solving problems? You are going to read them a story about a man who had a problem. Fortunately he had a wife who was able to help him and to come up with a solution.
   
   Read The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch, a story about a man whose lunch never arrived intact! Point out that the problem was not solved the first time round.
2. Explain to the children that before term started you had a bit of a problem. You were looking forward to welcoming so many boys and girls into your class. You had to find a chair for each one to sit on, a table for each one to lean on, a space where you could all sit and chat and enjoy storytime, a place for your desk, a space for the paper and pencils and crayons to go – and so on. You wanted to make the room look attractive and welcoming, just like home.
   
   You tried it this way and that way, and then you moved everything round again. No, there still wasn’t enough space.
   
   So you tried moving the tables over here and your desk over there and the library corner over by the window. No, there still wasn’t enough space.
   
   So you said to the janitor/another teacher. ‘I’ve got a bit of a problem. What do you think?’
   
   She said, ‘Why don’t you try this here and that there and those tables over there?’
   
   Hurrah, the problem was solved! The room looked great. There was enough room for everything and everybody, and plenty of space left for moving around and for play activities. You hope the children like the classroom you have made for them.
   
   Explain that you simply needed a friend to help you solve the problem.
3. Tell the children that there are likely to be little problems that crop up in the class from time to time. Maybe one day you, the teacher, will have a problem and you will need the children to help you with it. (You might like to suggest one, perhaps that you are forever losing your diary.)
   
   Another day maybe one of the children might have a problem and they will need someone to help them with it. They may have forgotten their snack or lost their pencil or just be missing Mummy.
   
   All sorts of things can go wrong in a day.
   
   But we needn’t worry, because we are all here to help one another. Remember that problems shared can be solved easily.

Time for reflection

Reflection

When I’ve got a problem
Can I tell you?
When you’ve got a problem
I’ll be there for you.
Problems shared,
Can become very small
If you and I care
To give each other a call.

Prayer

Dear Father God,
You have put many people around us who care for us.
Thank you for our parents, our teachers and our school friends.
Thank you that we can tell you about our problems too.
You have promised to help us if we ask.

Amen.

Song/music

‘When I needed a neighbour’ (Come and Praise, 65)