What Makes Me A Me?

Product Information

Help me to accept and embrace the differences within myself as I grow older and change both physically and spiritually. And we keep growing into teenagers. Then adults. And we continue changing our whole lives. Our hair grows and falls out and more grows without us even noticing. We get a whole new set of teeth. Everything changes. So if every part of us gets replaced too, Like Dave's ship, then that raises a big question.' Summary: This assembly explores an intriguing philosophical question and is suitable for any time of year. However, its themes of change and transition make it particularly suitable for the summer term before children move into the next year group or, in the case of Year 6, before they move to new schools. Who's been really missing Dave a great deal, is surprised. She wants to know why he's got a new ship.' Pupils could sit in a circle and start a discussion using the questions provided at the end of each part, or you could work with the children to create your own questions.

Some pupils struggle with identity and who they are so you will need to be sensitive when discussing some of the above. Lucy said “I am a bit like my friend”, which prompted Harry to add: “I am a bit like my friend because we are both kind.”Who am I? I ask myself. What makes me a ME? I think hard with all my might, And look around to see.

And each time the ship gets damaged... More metal parts are added and so on and so on. Until, eventually, every part of the Theseus has been replaced. The ship is now entirely metal. Inside and out. When Dave gets home, his wife...'Dave owns a wooden ship called the Theseus And that's Dave's wife - she doesn't like goodbyes. Dave and his crew...'

When I asked the class, we were nearly all in agreement that we were pleased this book is now in our book box. Dave’s wife struggles to accept that the metal ship is still Dave’s ship and things become even more complicated when George arrives in a wooden ship, also called ‘Theseus!’ So which of the two ships is the 'Theseus' - one of them, both of them...or none of them?

Curriculum

As the children enter play your chosen song to sow seeds in the children’s minds - eg ‘Beautiful’ (Christina Aguilera) or ‘Go the distance’ (Hercules) . Display the question image ‘What makes me, me?’ Ben Faulks’ thought-provoking story is accompanied by illustrations from David Tazzyman, whom older readers will recognise as the illustrator for the Mr Gum series. A funny and thought-provoking look at what makes us us, from Ben Faulks (known as Mr Bloom from CBeebies) and David Tazzyman (bestselling illustrator of You Can't Take an Elephant on the Bus). Guaranteed to feed the imagination, this celebration of being who we are is perfect for inquisitive (and inventive!) little minds. What Makes Me a Me?” immediately pulls the reader in with its cute beanie-hatted be-spectacled character and the tactile title in glittery letters. This is basically a story about identity, in which the character compares himself to a range of animals, inanimate objects and even the naughty boy next door, concluding that, whilst there are some similarities, he is nothing like any of these and that “everybody’s different in their own special way”. In a diverse world it is good to recognise and celebrate uniqueness, and this book would make a good starting point for discussions with children about similarities and differences in race and culture. Since completing my last book review for Tes, I have moved schools and begun a new autumn term with nearly 60 early years foundation stage (EYFS) children. Stories and picture books always play a key part in an EYFS classroom, so the Ladybird and Bumblebee classes were very excited to get the chance to give their thoughts on What Makes Me a Me?

Some children have already chosen to return to the book during their independent time, to reread the story or retell it to others. Any book that causes this reaction at this point in the term should be in every single EYFS book box. The story tells us that the main character doesn’t have an on-off switch, and this led us all to try acting like toys that can be turned off. The children had great fun with me and a pretend remote control, making choices for when they could start and stop me. An exploration of the concept of identity using the story of the Ship of Theseus, made famous by British philosopher Thomas Hobbes. You may choose to discuss the questions posed in the video now if they weren't discussed during the video. You can also display the image called 'How do we change?' taken from the video to aid the discussion around 'change'.The conversation continued with Millie adding that she runs like a fast dinosaur, but isn’t so tall. Learning about ourselves is a fundamental part of childhood development, especially as pupils start to ask questions about who they are and how they are the same, or different, from others. As such, the start of the academic year - when everybody is getting to know one another – is the ideal time to start an “all about me” topic.