THE FEELINGS OF CHANGE

Aim

To encourage pupils to see that our feelings can be affected by changes around us (SEAL
theme 7: Changes).

Preparation and materials

 Optional: pictures to go with the scenes described in section 1.

 Large cards with the words Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring written on them.

Assembly

1. Say to the pupils that you are going to describe four scenes. Explain that you will
pause at different points to ask them to tell you how they would feel in that situation.

Scene 1  You wake up early one Saturday morning and can feel a chill in the air. You
snuggle further down in your bed and pull your duvet up round your face and ears.
(Pause and ask the children how they feel.)

Suddenly you hear a shout from another room, ‘It’s snowing!’ You leap out of bed
and dash to the window. Outside the ground is a brilliant white and snow is still
falling heavily from the sky. (Pause and ask the children how they feel.)

You pull on your clothes and run outside. All morning you build snowmen and throw
snowballs with your friends. At lunchtime you go inside to eat. Your fingers and toes
tingle as they thaw out. You place your chilly hands round a warm drink and snuggle
down on the settee. The Christmas lights are glowing on the tree, cards are hanging on
the walls, and a few presents are underneath the tree. (Pause and ask the children how
they feel.)

Scene 2  Because the weather has suddenly become warmer, you’ve been taken out
with your family for a drive and a walk. You don’t really like walking very much and
didn’t want to go. (Pause and ask the children how they feel.)

As you walk through the countryside you look over a fence and see some tiny lambs
skipping round in a field. You stand and watch them for a while and realize that the
sun is quite warm on your back. As you continue to walk you notice that there are
little buds on the trees and bushes. You look at the ground and see that shoots are
appearing and some early flowers are beginning to blossom. (Pause and ask the
children how they feel.)
 Scene 3  You are about to go on holiday to the seaside. (Pause and ask the children
how they feel.)

The journey should take about two hours but after only half an hour you get stuck in a
huge traffic jam. You’ve not managed to drive any farther forward for ages. You’ve
eaten the entire picnic and have run out of things to do. (Pause and ask the children
how they feel.)

The traffic eventually begins to move and one and a half hours later you spot the sea!
You watch out for the caravan site where you’re staying. When you find the caravan
you quickly unpack the car and then race down to the beach, which is only a short
walk away. You run and dive in the water. It’s beautifully warm. (Pause and ask the
children how they feel.)

Scene 4  The summer is over and for weeks, it seems, there has been nothing but rain,
rain, rain! You can’t go out to play. You’re stuck inside all the time. (Pause and ask
the children how they feel.)

At last it stops raining and you’re allowed to go to the park with your friends. You put
on your wellies and jump through the puddles on your way. You arrive at the park and
play for a while. Suddenly the sun comes out from behind a cloud. One of your
friends gasps and points upwards. A huge double rainbow has appeared in the sky.
(Pause and ask the children how they feel.)
2. Ask the children to picture the four scenes you have been describing – when in the
year do they take place? (In winter, spring, summer, autumn.) Explain that we can be
certain that every year there will be four seasons. Sometimes the dates may vary
slightly and we may get small variations in the weather, but the seasons still continue
– and the life cycles of plants, trees, insects and so on.

All of us have different feelings about the seasons. Some of us love the winter; others
prefer summer, spring or autumn. Some seasons of the year may make us feel sad;
others make us feel happy. This isn’t wrong – it’s just the way we’re made.
3. Just as the seasons change, so in our lives there are changes. We may move school,
have a new teacher, someone close to us may die, our family may separate, we may
have a new baby in the family or move house. (You may want to ask the children for
their own ideas about things that change.) All of these changes can make us feel
many different emotions. These feelings are not wrong; they are totally normal.
4. Explain that it’s important that we learn to understand how we feel and also how other
people are feeling. If we do this we will be able to work together with others to make
the school and our homes and the world better and happier places.

 
Time for reflection

How do you feel right now?

Some of you may feel happy.
Some of you may feel sad or angry.
Some of you may be lonely or puzzled.

Maybe you need to talk to your teacher or share what you feel like with a friend.
Remember that it’s good to share happiness with people, not just sadness.

Let’s try to do this today.

Please bow your heads

Thank you for giving us feelings.
Please help us to care for those who feel sad today.
Please help us to be friends with people who are lonely.
Please help us to bring peace when people are angry.
Please help us to share joy and laughter.