School Assembly Ideas

Hi everyone, and welcome to 2017!! It's Christie from My Mum, the Teacher and this is my first post for the year, and I hope it will be one that people keep returning to as the dreaded 'school assembly' roles their way!

The school assembly is one of those things that every (Primary) teacher knows they'll have to do at some point, and yet it always seems that you realise with one week to go that it's your turn to get your kids up and stage and perform something meaningful and engaging! Talk about your tough gig! Even the experts warn against working with children LOL!

So, what can you do? What will be unique, engaging - or at the least, something that the kids will get into? I've put some ideas and links together to help you out... 

These are some of my favourite clips from Sesame Street that can be used for Prep, Kindergarten, Early Stage 1 & Stage 1 groups and they have some really great messages about not giving up and being yourself.

Sesame Street & Bruno Mars - Don't Give Up

Sesame Street & Will.i.am - What I am

Sesame Street & Michael Buble - Believe in Yourself

Doing numbers?? Check out some of these - I especially love the one sung by Jess Mauboy, (and this links with your ATSI outcomes). And the best part is a lot of these are 'remakes' of pop hits, so you won't mind hearing it again and again as your rehearse! 

There are some fabulous songs on the Sesame Street You Tube site - just scroll through, sing along and pick one! 

Now for your older kids, there are just as many great songs that you can link to curriculum and topics in your class. And you can assign roles - you might have some who don't want to get up on stage, but are great at putting together a presentation, or doing some art work for the stage. Some of the songs below have some strong messages and present a great opportunity for kids to work together to create a really inspiring and thought-provoking presentation:

You can't go past Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" for a song that presents a timeless message of caring for one another and our environment. The images are confronting, but don't hide your students from them - they present a great opportunity for discussion and exploration of world issues, past ad present. It also links in well with History and Geography curriculum topics.

Michael Jackson - Man in the Mirror

Michael Jackson - Heal the World

A fun one is to use his "Thriller" video and have the kids dress up and zombies and monsters and bust a movie! I also love Smooth Criminal and Remember for the Time for great songs with a song beat that is easy to put a simply dance number too.

This song and clip from Nickelback will provide your upper Primary kids with the chance to study some famous events in history, and maybe put together their own great presentation of some of the issues facing today's world. 

Nickelback - If Everyone Cared

The UK site Primary Resources has some great resources, including scripts relating to specific topics and subjects! You're bound to find something here. 

If you don't mind doing some choreography and want your kids to move about, here are some great timeless songs that are sure to have people bopping along in their seats! (Can you tell I'm a 90s old-school RnB lover?!?! You're welcome).