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Something to Think About: Summer 2006

s

Presenter Carrie Grant

Something to Think About

Summer 2006

A series provided by the BBC at the request of the Educational Broadcasting Council for the United Kingdom Age: 5-7 These programmes are available to order (for UK schools only) on pre-recorded CDs or cassette from: BBC Schools’ Broadcast Recordings Tel: 08701 272 272 Monday to Friday 0800 to 1800 Or visit www.bbc.co.uk/schoolradio/howtoorder.shtml for more information Audio on demand. These programmes are also available as audio on demand from the School Radio website for 7 days following the original date of transmission. Refer to programme titles below to find out when programmes are available as audio on demand.

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Something to Think About: Summer 2006

Teacher’s notes written by: Kate Walker. Consultant: Sarah Hope-Gill.

Something to Think About

Summer 2006 These programmes are available as audio on demand from the School Radio website. Refer to the dates below to see when each programme is available. Introduction and planning chart 3 - 7 Unit one: Working together 1. Chitragreeva and the doves 8 AOD 05/04/2006 – 11/04/2006 2. The rescue 9 AOD 12/04/2006 – 18/04/2006 3. Ants at work 11 AOD 19/04/2006 – 25/04/2006 4. Our park 12 AOD 26/04/2006 – 02/05/2006 Unit two: What if..? 5. …the world was grey? 14 AOD 03/05/2006 – 09/03/2006 6. …you couldn’t be bothered? 15 AOD 10/05/2006 – 16/05/2006 7. …you moved house? 17 AOD 17/05/2006 – 23/05/2006 8. …you broke a promise? 19 AOD 24/05/2006 – 01/06/2006

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Something to Think About: Summer 2006

Introduction:

About these notes: These Teacher’s Notes include:

• a planning grid • a suggested object for visual focus • pre-programme preparation ideas • programme content breakdown • story synopses • related activities • web links for supporting resources (e.g. images for visual focus)

Where to listen: These programmes are suitable to use as part of either a whole school or class assembly. Using the series: You may like to listen straight through, with discussion at the beginning and end, or listen in sections, pausing for discussion as you go. Alternatively you may choose to use only one section of the programme at a time and spread the material out over several sessions in a week. For example you may wish to revisit the story and reflection or sing the song a second time or at the end of the day. Participation: Make sure you join in yourself with the listening and the singing. The children will observe your response and it will influence the way they perceive the programme. Stop the programme if the children seem to want to respond or become restless. Encourage the children to sing the songs, which have been chosen to be easy to sing and learn. During the programme the presenter will help the children join in. If they have difficulty, join in with part of the song (for example the chorus or refrain) and listen or tap hands or toes to the rest! Before the programme: Creating the right listening conditions. It’s important that the children can all hear comfortably. Make sure that the sound source is at the right height facing the children (preferably a child’s ear height) and that the volume is comfortable for them all. Arrange the seating so that none of the children are too far away from the sound source and any child with a hearing problem (or a heavy cold) is in a good position. You may find that sitting in a semi-circle or in short lines facing one another with the sound source in the middle is best. Experiment and find the formation that works best for you and your class.

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Something to Think About: Summer 2006

Creating the right atmosphere. It will help everyone to concentrate if you prepare a visual focus. A focus object has been suggested for each programme in these notes. Some suggestions for images from the internet have also been included. This can be used for discussion and preparation - particularly important if you feel some aspect of the story is going to be unfamiliar to your group. You may want to create a special atmosphere by playing music or altering seating and lighting to let the children know that this is a different type of activity and prepare them to listen and take part. During the programme: Getting ready to listen. Show the children the visual focus. Can they guess what the programme is about? You may also like to use the Before the programme section in these notes to encourage the children to think about the theme. Thinking about the story. All the stories provide opportunities for discussion. Ideas for stimulating this are given in these notes. You may wish to talk further about the issues raised during the session, at a later time or even through the week. A time to reflect: Using this part of the programme ensures that the legal requirements for Collective Worship are met. Encourage the children to stop and be still in the reflection / prayer times in the programmes. If at first they are not sure how to respond, stop the programme and settle them down. They may like to shut their eyes or look at the focus object. You might like to light a candle for this special time, which will gradually become a visual cue that the reflection part of the programme is happening. Give the children time to get used to the quiet and then turn the programme on again. Sitting quietly and thinking may be a very unfamiliar concept to some children. Allow them ‘space’ to become accustomed to this, maybe over a period of weeks. Meanwhile encourage them to sit quietly and respect the people around them who would like to listen / reflect / pray. It is important that children are given the choice to either join in with the prayer by saying ‘Amen’ at the end (which signifies their agreement with the prayer) or to just to sit quietly and reflect on what they have heard. This is clearly signalled in the programmes. Songs: Most of the songs in this term’s programmes are from Come and Praise Beginning. Details of how to obtain a copy of the book can be found at the BBC School Shop. For further information click the orange ‘How to order’ button on the School Radio homepage. The words of final song of the term - Promises - are available with on page 21 of these notes. For copyright reasons we are not able to include the words of the other songs in these notes.

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Thinking about what’s been heard: Go through the main points of the programme again at the end (the Programme Contents section of theses notes may help). There are some suggested questions you may like to ask to stimulate the children. What do they remember? What are their ideas? There are further ideas to help with this on the programme pages of these notes. After the programme: There are some ideas for optional related activities for following up the programme content. Feedback: Your feedback helps us to shape the series. Letters, drawings and poems from the children are particularly welcome. Please use the ‘Contact us’ button from the homepage of the School Radio website, which you can find at: www.bbc.co.uk/schoolradio/contact.shtml Or write to us at: Something to Think About BBC School Radio Room 340 Henry Wood House 3&6 Langham Place London W1A 1AA Copyright: You may copy the words of the songs onto a board, sheet or over head project slide for use with the programmes in which they appear. However, for music copyright reasons, copies may not be permanently retained for subsequent use. It infringes copyright laws to retain material without the agreement of individual rights holders. Please respect these rights.

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Planning chart - Unit one: Working Together no

Title Song Themes Context Reflection

1 Chitragreeva and the doves

No: 15 Welcome

Working together to achieve great things

Putting the story in its cultural context

Thinking about how the creatures in the story helped each other; how can we help each other?

2 The rescue No: 19 Friends

Knowing when to ask for help

Thinking about the sea and its different moods; identifying the sounds; basic water safety

Thanks for the sea and the work of the people who keep us safe at the seaside.

3 Ants at work No: 32 From the tiny ant

Working together we can do more than on our own

Fascinating ant facts! Seeing how ants work as a team and looking at how we can do the same

Thinking about the lessons we learn from ants; they are so small yet they can do so much; their strength is in working together.

4 Our park No: 12 I like the park

Adults and children working together in co operation

Talking about community event and working in co operation to make them as good as we can; listening to the ideas of others

Comparing working together like bits in a jigsaw; with out each piece the picture is not complete.

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Planning chart - Unit two: What if… no

Title Song themes Context Reflection

5 …the world was grey

No: 31 Every colour under the sun

Celebrating differences

Comparing twins / friends. They like some of the same things and some different

Celebration of our differences; how being unique is important.

6 …you couldn’t be bothered

No: 42 Zaccheus was a very little man

Giving everything you’ve got

How would you feel if you missed out on something really important / exciting because you couldn’t be bothered?

Giving your best even when you don’t really want to be bothered.

7 …you moved house

No: 25 Peace be in our waking

Facing your fears

What sort of things are you afraid of? Why do they make you afraid? How do you deal with your fears?

Dealing with fear; reflecting on inner peace.

8 ….you broke a promise

Promises Keeping promises

What do you do when somebody makes a promise? What do you do when you make a promise: Do you always keep your promise?

Being reliable; supporting your friends.

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Unit one: Working together

1. Chitragreeva and the doves Themes: Working together to achieve great things Focus object: A picture of a dove http://www.falconphotos.com/perching%20birds/white%20dove_std.jpg Before the programme: Look at a picture of a dove. Talk about doves and pigeons. Do the children see them in playground or in the street? What sort of sounds to they make? Can the children imitate the sounds? Programme content: Time Content Teacher guidance 0’00” Carrie Grant introduces the theme

of ‘Working Together’

0’32” Singing The Welcome song Come and Praise Beginning no: 15 Welcome It is an echo song so you may like to divide into a ‘question’ and ‘answer’ groups. We sing it through once to remind ourselves how it goes and then it is repeated three more times

3’04 Story: Big Help from little friends by Kate Stonham. Chitragreeva is a dove. There is famine in the land and one day the whole flock of doves starving with hunger sees grain scattered all around. They swoop down to get the grain and are caught in a hunters trap. Chitragreeva comes up with a marvellous plan for them to get free and asking for help from Hiranyaka the mouse and all working together they manage to get free.

This traditional Indian story has been adapted by Kate Stonham • talk about the story and re tell it

together • Do the children think that it made

a difference when they all worked together?

09’01” Children from St. Polycarps’ Primary School tell us about working together in their school

Pause the programme and talk about your children’s idea about working together

10’14” At time to reflect about the them of working together

12’52” A prayer about working together

13’15” Goodbyes and thank yous.

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Related activities:

• Make a group collage of the story; encourage the children to work in co-operation as they make the picture and use the experience as an opportunity to discuss working together. Talk together at the end about whether they think that the pictures they have made together would have been better if individuals had done them on their own? What are the advantages of working together?

• Talk together about things in your school / community that would benefit

from everyone working together. You may like to look at school / community activities such as jumble sales or summer fairs; litter collecting; recycling schemes; behaviour in the playground or at dinner times in the hall and so on…ask the children for new ideas too.

2. The rescue Themes: Knowing when to ask for help Focus object: Two contrasting sea pictures: i) a story sea: http://www.spiritwolf52.com/Wallpapers/Scenic/Casay420%20Stormy%20Sea.jpg ii) a calm, flat sea: http://www.knighton.co.nz/localgovernment/graphics/peloroussound3.jpg Before the programme: Look together at the picture of the stormy sea. If your school is near the sea focus the discussion on the different moods of the sea. If your children are not familiar with the sea, talk about the windy / stormy days and calm days. Programme content: Time Content Teacher guidance 0’00” Carrie Grant introduces the theme of

‘Working Together’ with our friends

0’34” We sing the song Friends, friends, friends No: 19 Come and Praise Beginning Friends, friends, friends Carrie reminds us how it goes. We sing it through together

3’20” How can we be a good friend by helping one another?

Pause the programme to talk about this together

3’35” Children from St. Polycarps’ Primary School tell us about who they ask for help and what sort of help they ask for

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4’30” Who else can we ask for help apart from

friends or family? Pause the programme to talk about ‘safe’ people to go to talk to when in need, like the police or a teacher

4’46” Sound guessing game:

• By a rough sea • By a calm sea Look at the images again

5’22” Carrie tells us about the RNLI.

If you live near the sea or somebody knows about life boats and life guards talk about it now together

5’53” Story The Rescue by Kate Stonham. Gemma has always dreamed of sailing round the world in her own yacht. But she’s only six and she lives miles from the sea! Her Uncle David buys her a model boat to sail on the pond while he is fishing.

• Talk through the story particularly if your children are not familiar with the sea. Make sure that they understand the main implications of the story

11’35” A time of reflection about the seas moods.

Thinking about people who have to sea even when the weather bad

13’38” A prayer for people who help us at sea

13’55” Goodbyes and thank yous

Web link: Picture of an RNLI lifeboat can be found at: http://www.dbl-imaging.co.uk/graphics/RNLI%20large.jpg Related activities:

• Work together as a class to produce your own strip cartoon to retell the story. Divide the class into six groups each to illustrate a different part of the story. When the pictures are finished add captions (speech bubbles and a short sentence at the bottom). Put the pictures in a line on the wall and ask for volunteers to read the story to the class. Has working together on this made a difference?

• As a class or group to make some wind / sea sounds. Agree stopping

signals before you start! When you hold up the picture of a stormy sea ask the children to make sounds with their voices for a storm (whistling; shhh etc.) When you hold up the picture of the quiet sea ask them to make sounds for a quiet see (swishing; a gentle blowing).

• Use the story as the basis of a discussion on water safety. Think about

safety in swimming pools, rivers, streams, ponds and well as the sea. Make some posters about being safe near water. Make up some slogans to help you to be safe in your local environment. If you are near the sea then a local lifeboat volunteer may like to speak about keeping safe.

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3: Ants at work

Themes: Working together we can do more than on our own Focus object: A picture of ants marching: http://www.allphotography.free-online.co.uk/Creatures/Malaysian_Creatures/Red_ants.jpg

Before the programme: Talk about ants. What experience do the children have of ants? What sort of ants have they seen? Did they know that there are some very big ants that live in hot countries? Programme content: Time Content Teacher guidance 0’00” Carrie Grant introduces the theme

of ‘Working Together’ as a Team

0’47” Children from St. Polycarps’ Primary School Farnham, Surrey tell us about things that they are good at

Pause the programme and think about things your group are good at doing.

01’20” Carrie tells us some amazing ant facts…

01’58” Story: By Alasdair Richardson. Bartu lived in a colony of ants in the Brazilian rainforest. He was getting very fed up with having to spend every day working with all his fellow ants. One day he set off on his own to find a quicker way home

An original story set in Brazil by Alasdair Richardson

10’07” A time to reflect about working as a team and what it means

10’58” A prayer about learning to work together

11’20 Goodbye and thank yous

11’45” We sing From the Tiny Ant No: 32 Come and Praise beginning From the Tiny ant. This is an echo song so join in the echo if you don’t know the words

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Related activities:

• Set up an ant colony to watch in a big tank or jar. For information on how to do this you could try visiting www.zephyrus.co.uk/howtostudyants.html Share some ‘ant facts’ - e.g. ants can carry between 10 and 20 times their own weight; ant colonies have a queen; all the workers have different jobs. You may also find the following weblinks helpful: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/reallywild/amazing/leafcutter_ant.shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/reallywild/features/cc_ants.shtml

• Sing the well known children’s song The ants go marching to the tune of the (Animals went in two by two). Make up some new endings to the verses to rhyme with the number.

• Ask the children to imagine they are part of a colony of one of the

specialist ants (e.g. a farmer ant or a carpenter ant) Ask for volunteers to tell a story of a day in their life to the rest of the group. (Many of them will be familiar with this concept from cartoon films such as Antz and A Bug’s life)

4. Our park Themes: Adults and children working together Focus object: A local map showing the park. If there is a problem finding a suitable printed map make an overhead from a local search on the internet or one of the map sites such as: http://www.streetmap.co.uk/ or http://www.multimap.com Before the programme: Look together at a local map. Identify key features such as the school, local shops and the park. See if you can find the where some of the children live. Programme content: Time Content Teacher guidance 0’00” Carrie Grant introduces the theme

of ‘Working Together’ as a community

0’50” Children from St. Polycarps’ Primary School Farnham, Surrey tell us about things they do as a school community

Stop and talk about things that your school does as a community

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2’04” We sing I like the park No: 12 in Come and Praise

beginning I like the park. Carrie reminds us how it goes, then we sing it together and Carrie helps us

4’44” Story: Our park By Kate Stonham. Nasif, Jo and Sally are helping their parents clear up the local park. Sally finds a statue of a bird buried amongst the junk. Between them they clean it up and make a wildlife area for the park and place the state in the middle.

• Talk about the quickest way to get to your local park. If it is a long way away that may involve a bus journey!

• Talk about the different things that they or other people do in the park (e.g. play; walk the dog; go on the swings; watch other people play games like tennis or pitch ‘n put; visit the pond or lake; fly a kite and so on)

10’44” A time to reflect on things that the

school does as part of the community

13’00” A prayer of thanks about the people who help us make the community a better place

13’26” Goodbyes and thank yous

Related activities:

• Make a 3D model of your local area showing the local amenities such as the shops and park with matchboxes and other small objects to give it a sense of perspective. Use the model as an opportunity for children to develop language for position, direction and so on. For example ask a child to describe to someone new to the area (or an alien from out space) how they would get from the school gates to the shops. Vary the distance to be covered and the language level expected according to the experience of the child.

• The story is about children and adults working together. Pull together the

unit on Working Together by discussing how your school can work together to make the community happy and efficient. Think about the roles of the children, the teachers, classroom assistants, dinner ladies, playground helpers, caretaker, people in the school office and people who visit the school regularly. How can all of them contribute to the school?

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Unit two: What if…

5. What if...the world was grey?

Themes: Celebrating differences Focus object: Two pictures, preferably of the same thing, but one picture in colour and the other picture in black and white. For example, these two pictures of the same gardens: i) the first is in black and white: http://bbc.co.uk/schoolradio/pdf/butchart_gardens_grey.jpg ii) the second is in colour: http://bbc.co.uk/schoolradio/pdf/butchart_gardens_colour.jpg Before the programme: Look at the two pictures. Talk about them together. Why are they different? How does colour change the way that you ‘see’ the picture? Revise the names of the colours of the rainbow if necessary. Programme content: Time Content Teacher guidance 0’00” Carrie Grant introduces the new theme: What

if…? And today is ‘What if the world was grey…?’

Pause the programme and talk about the colours you can see around you

1’00” We sing Every colour under the sun No: 30 in Come and Praise Beginning Every colour under the sun. Carrie sings the first part of the song to remind us how it goes. We sing the song together

3’26” Story: What if...the world was grey? By Kate Stonham. Jack and Claire are cousins. They are at a family gathering at their Granny’s house. They get bored so they turn on Granny’s old fashioned television. Everything appears to be black and white. Suddenly they find themselves sucked into the TV and are in a completely new world

• The two cousins found themselves in strange land that was black and white. If they had been sucked into the black and white word what would they have done? Would it be scary? Would it be fun? •

10’02” How would you feel if everything around you was grey?

Pause the programme and ask what the children think and look at the coloured and black and white images again

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10’22” Children from St. Polycarps’ Primary School

Farnham, Surrey tell us about things that are the same and different between themselves and their friends

12’09” A time to reflect about things that you and your friends like and some things that make you different

12’53” A prayer about celebrating differences

13’08” Goodbyes and thank yous

Related activities:

• Make a big rainbow to suspend across the classroom. You could use coloured tissue, material or make one together and colour with felt tip pens. Work out a way of remembering the order of the colours (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet). Make some lists of words to go with each colour.

• Use pencils or charcoal to make some ‘grey’ pictures. See how many

different ‘shades’ of grey you can discover! This could also be done on the computer as several ‘shades’ of grey are offered in colour palettes.

6. What if…you couldn’t be bothered? Themes: Giving all you’ve got Focus object: Picture of Zaccheus up a tree (e.g Me Too: Out on a limb by Marilyn Lashbrook published Candle Books; Zaccheus meets Jesus by Diane Stortz, published Standard Publishing; Zaccheus get down by Fisherfolk published Kingsway). Or you could display an image of a wild fig tree (Ficus Sycomorrus) - the type of tree that traditionally Zaccheus is said to have climbed: http://www.cypnet.co.uk/ncyprus/green/images/Cumbez2.jpg Before the programme: Look at a picture of Zaccheus up a tree and talk about how he climbed there and why do they think (from the picture) that he climbed there?

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Programme content: Time Content Teacher guidance 0’00” Carrie Grant introduces ‘What if

you couldn’t be bothered…?’ Pause the programme and talk about things that the children sometimes cannot be bothered to do!

0’58” Story song Out on a limb At the beginning of the story Zaccheus’ favourite word was ‘me’ but by the end it is ‘you’

The story is based on the story from the Bible about Zaccheus. The song is Out on a limb from Me Too published by Marilyn Lashbrook published Candle Books. Pause the programme and talk about ‘me’ and ‘you.’

5’04” Our ‘real’ story Zaccheus A simple re telling of the Judeo / Christian story of Zaccheus the Tax collector climbing a tree to see Jesus. The story is written from the point of view of a young boy Samuel who couldn’t be bothered to get up and nearly misses all the fun.

The story was adapted by Sarah Hope-Gill from the Bible story in Luke chapter 19 verses 1 to 10: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=49&chapter=19&version=65 • Go back through the story and talk about

each character and how they would have seen Jesus.

• Ask the children if they have ever been in a big crowd and not been able to see? What did they feel like? What could they actually see? Were they able to do anything about it?

11’29” A time to reflect on occasions

when we feel we have to try extra hard ‘to be bothered’

12’05” A prayer about joining in even when we don’t feel like helping out

12’20” Goodbyes and thank yous

12’33” Reprise of Out on a limb You may like to join in some of the repeated words in the song and the chorus

Related activities:

• Talk together about important events in the children’s lives (a birthday or a parent or granny’s birthday; a wedding or maybe even a funeral). Did they want to go to the event? Did they enjoy it when they got there and why?

• Ask the children to think about a time when they really ‘couldn’t be

bothered’ to do something. Share thoughts about this and then write a group / class story about someone who just couldn’t be bothered to do something. Decide together whether it is going to have a positive or a negative ending and whether you want to add a ‘moral’ at the end.

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7. What if…you moved house?

Themes: Facing your fears Focus object: A suitcase or bag full of every day objects Or look at an image of a full suitcase: http://www.shop4dinosaurs.co.uk/uploads/images_products_large/514.jpg Before the programme: Unpack the bag / case one thing at a time. Ask what the objects are and what they think the person is going to do with them (it could be a sports bag or a bag of clothes for the beach). What things would the children most want to take with them if they were going away somewhere (maybe a favourite teddy bear or their bike or perhaps their computer…) Programme content: Time Content Teacher guidance 0’00” Carrie Grant introduces ‘What if…you

moved house?’

0’50” Story by Sarah Hope-Gill A young boy is dreading moving house. They are going to have to move a long way away. On the morning they are moving he wakes up with a feeling of dread. He is a bit scared and worried and about moving. They’ve visited the house they are moving to but he is still not happy about it. However when they get there, he discovers that two boys about his age live next door and they, like him, love football. They quickly make friends. He also discovers that they now live very near his favourite football team!

• Talk together about changes. Do the children enjoy new ‘challenges’? What sort of things make them apprehensive about change?

5’23” We hear from the children of Worplesdon County Primary School what sort of things they are apprehensive about.

6’52” Things we are afraid of Pause the programme and talk about some of the fears that your children have and how we can help each other to overcome our fears

7’11” We sing Peace be in our waking No: 25 from Come and Praise Beginning Peace be in our waking. Carrie sings it to us then we sing it

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10’00” A time to reflect on things that

sometimes we find hard or worry us

11’16” Listening to Serena singing the song again while we think about the words

12’22” Goodbyes and thank yous

Related activities:

• Talk about moving house / school / class or whatever is most relevant to your group. What are they looking forward to? What are they least looking forward to?

• Talk about things that they are frightened about. It may be real or

imaginary things. Encourage as many children as possible to take part – though there may well be children who would rather not talk about their fears. Make a list of the most common things that they are afraid of – it may be the dark, or being alone or being in a big crowd or even being bullied by older children – be prepared for a wide variety of responses.

• From the list choose the most common one or two as the basis for a

discussion. Talk about why they are afraid; how it makes them feel and ask other children to help those who are afraid of one thing to make positive suggestions about how they have overcome the same fears. Try to generate a ‘safe’ environment for this discussion to take place. If you have circle time then that is an ideal occasion.

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8. What if you…you broke a promise?

Themes: Keeping promises Focus object: A hanky with knot it in Before the programme: Look at the focus object. Ask the children if they have any idea what it is and what it could be for. Use the suggestions to talk about making and keeping promises. Programme content: Time Content Teacher guidance 0’00” Carrie Grant introduces

‘What if…you broke a promise?’

0’35” We hear from the children of Worplesdon County Primary School about promises they have made and how they would feel if somebody broke their promise

Pause the programme and talk about promises. How would they feel if the promise was broken

01’58” Listening to a new song Promises

The words are available at the end of this section

3’47” Story: What if…you broke your promise? Gina was desperate for her Dad to come to her end of term assembly. Dad had a busy job and often wasn’t able to come to school events. She knew it wasn’t Dad’s fault but she was still disappointed when he couldn’t make it.

• Talk about the boy in the story. Why was he

disappointed that his Dad didn’t always come to school activities? Can they remember times when they have been disappointed? (If appropriate, continue the discussion from before the programme). How did they deal with their disappointment? What did they do about it? Has it changed the way they think about making and keeping promises. Do they always keep their promise?

9’15” Singing Promises together Carrie sings the words of the chorus to remind us

how it goes then we sing it together

11’44” A time to reflect on making and breaking promises

12’43” A prayer about keeping promises

12’22” Goodbyes and thank yous

13’12” Promises

Another opportunity to join in with the song

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Related activities:

• Make a poster or invitation to a school event. Talk together about the sort of information that needs to be on the invitation (e.g. time, place, date and so on) If it is a real event then so much the better, but the class may enjoy an imaginary (and perhaps pretty unusual!) occasion too. Talk together about the preparation for the event. What sort of things would you have to think about - e.g. if an outdoor event what would you do it rained…? And would there be things for the younger brothers and sisters to do while their parents enjoyed the event and so on.

• Are there circumstances when you should break a promise? Talk about

the ‘wrong’ sort of promises. (e.g. promising not to tell when someone has done something really bad; or perhaps if a grown up has done something to hurt someone). These are sensitive issues and only you will know the maturity of your group and how far this discussion may be taken.

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PROMISES Promise, promise, promise, promise An easy thing to say Promise, promise, promise, promise Keep it come what may Keeping all our promises is very hard to do Friends need to know You have to show They can rely on you.

Promise, promise, promise, promise An easy thing to say Promise, promise, promise, promise Keep it come what may If you break your promises An easy thing to do You make friends sad And you feel bad They can’t rely on you Promise, promise, promise, promise An easy thing to say Promise, promise, promise, promise Keep it come what may Promise, promise, promise, promise Keep it come what may © Kate Walker 2003 reproduced with permission