Submitted by
S. Daly

Age Group
7-11

Aim
To appreciate books found in school, at home and in church

Faith Group
Christian

Resources
Books found in school (see below)
Favourite books of the children, including a book made by the class containing a piece of work from each child. This can be a general book or one based on a single theme. If kept on the class book trolley it becomes a firm favourite of the children
Books found in church (see below)

Other Details
There are two assemblies here:
a basic one
a basic one which is adapted and added to by children - your class can write about their own favourite books to replace the relevant text below

Script
Basic assembly:

1. We have been learning about special books.
The Bible is a special book. It is like a guidebook or a map.
It shows us the right way to live.
It helps us on our faith journey through life.

2. Most books have hundreds of words in them.
Words are very important.
In the Bible, Saint John actually calls Jesus "the Word".
He says, "And the Word became flesh and lived among us."

3. John also says that there would not be enough books in the whole world to tell us everything about Jesus.
He says, "There are many... things that Jesus did. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written."

4. So the Bible is a special book, full of stories about special people.
There are some other books which are special to us.

CHILDREN TELL ABOUT THEIR SPECIAL BOOKS.

5. Our class also made a special book.
We worked very hard on this and we are going to treasure it.
Here it is.

____

Basic assembly which has been adapted and added to by the children:

1. We have been learning about books.
Most communities or groups of people have special books.
For example, in this school we have a Log Book, a prospectus, photo albums, registers and exercise books etc.
These books contain information about the school and the people in it. They help us to remember the people in the school and what they have done.

CHILD 1: One special book in school is where the headmistress looks back at the good times, like when the Mayor comes. This book is the Log Book.

CHILD 2: My special book in school is my Science book, because I like Science a lot. I can learn lots of Science from it, like the water cycle.

2. Our Church also has special books, like: hymn books, prayer books, missals and Bibles. These books help the Christian community to celebrate and worship and to remember what Jesus did.
We also have books at home which are special to us and our family groups.

CHILD 3: My special book is my Chelsea book, because when I get home from school I read it. It has lots of information about football and Chelsea.
At the end of the book, there are questions about what it says in the book.

CHILD 4: My special book is my mum and dad's wedding album, because my dad died in 1998. So when I am sad, I get it out of my bookcase and I start to look at all the pictures.

CHILD 5: My special book is my animal book, because I want to learn about animals' names and what they eat and also what they do to pass the time.

CHILD 6: My best book is a popstar book. It has pictures of popstars. It has secret things about them. I hide it from everyone, even my parents.

3. All these books help us to remember or to celebrate together as a group.
Lord, thank you for books. Thank you for people who write them, for people who buy them for us and for people who teach us how to read them. Amen.
Let us now sing "Give thanks" by Henry Smith. (Celebration Hymnal for Everyone number 189)