Reviews: Primary assembly resources

You, Me & PSHE

This book is packed with 15 songs, a summary of assemblies and associated songs, an assembly plan and all the sheet music. Each assembly plan includes details of resources you might need (eg props) and is split into entrance, introduction, main event, singing the song and reflection. A double page spread includes all this information on one side and the words of the songs on the other (lyrics can be copied for use in assemblies). The songs are broken up into themes: ‘About Us’ (the individual, feelings, challenges faced, talents and friendship), ‘About the Community’ (the purpose and nature of the school community and communicating in a community), and ‘About the World’ (global issues such as peace, the wonders of the world and the opportunity of each day). The book is black and white and is well designed and illustrated.

The songs available are (for ‘ About us’) ‘Who is there for you’, ‘Growing Pains’, ‘The Best that I Can Be’, ‘My Voice’ and ‘Build a Friendship’; (for ‘About the World’) ‘Thank You for a Million Brilliant Things’, ‘Peace Prayer’, ‘Our Wonderful World’, ‘Living in Harmony’ and ‘Thank You God for this Brand New Day’; (for ‘About our Community’) ‘Proud of our School’, ‘Our School Our Community’, ‘Great Day’, ‘Our Magic Fantastic School’ and ‘Giving it a Spin’. The songs are very easy to learn with attractive melodies that don't catch children out. Accompaniments (if you are playing the piano) are accessible for a Grade 5 pianist and the CD backings are rhythmic with lovely instrumental arrangements. Most importantly there are wonderful messages in these assemblies, including building self-esteem and confidence and positive messages to help improve friendships and the school community, and to help children to be better citizens once they've left school. So far, my children have truly loved ‘Thank You for a Million Brilliant things’ and ‘Living in Harmony’.

All assembly plans include ‘object lessons’ where an object is used to develop a teaching theme. For example, different items in a rucksack might symbolise things that people can be grateful for. Children can easily relate to this type of approach and, more importantly, remember the lesson that is being taught. This book makes for a superb assembly resource.

Singing Out: 12 Exciting New Pop Songs to Teach Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural Learning

Twelve songs are the main focus of this book. After background information, there are two pages of teaching notes (useful for planning an assembly concert) followed by the lyrics. Again, this book is well designed with different lyrics broken up by boxes and simple illustrations. The sheet music then appears with simple chordal accompaniments, which are well written songs and easy to sing. All are around Grade 4-5 standard accompaniments.

The big plus to this resource is the DVD. These are very high-quality MP3 performances and backing tracks with children singing. The instrumentation is well done, and there are lovely textures in the backing tracks which generate enthusiasm for the song. The videos are particularly impressive and include synchronised lyrics. They are super easy to follow with the words highlighted as the song moves on. In my experience, there are very few video resources with synchronised lyrics of this standard.

The song are ‘ Big Crazy World’, ‘Glad to Be Me’, ‘I Need to Talk to You’, ‘Feet on the Rock’, ‘Everybody's Dancing’, ‘Never Give Up’, ‘No One Quite Like Me’, ‘Let's Learn How to Love’, ‘We're Having Fun’, ‘The Sun Comes Up’, ‘Together As One’ and ‘You're the One Who Sees Me There’. Themes include wealth and poverty, wisdom, self-image, identity and confidence, prayer and contemplation, justice and endurance, the power of words, social interaction, spiritual reflection and, most importantly, the importance of showing love to one another.

Again, this book is a real hit with the students at my school, and well worth the investment – some fantastic messages along with brilliant songs.