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Open the Book – Latest stories – February 2024

Old programme guidance Prop of the month Easter resources

The Open the Book Makaton project

Makaton is a language programme using symbols, signs and speech to enable people to communicate and understand. Even if you haven’t heard of Makaton itself, you may have heard of Mr Tumble. Justin Fletcher uses Makaton in this children’s programme and it is widely recognised as a result.

Using Makaton in Open the Book assemblies helps children with communication difficulties (both in speech and comprehension) to understand the stories. 

We’ve produced up to six signs for each of the 90 stories in The Storytelling Bible and these signs communicate the heart of the story.  

At the beginning of each assembly, the narrator or introducer shows the children the signs that are being used for that day’s assembly. The children then listen out for the relevant words and make the signs when they hear them said in the assembly. 

It’s basically providing actions for the story, but actions that actually mean something to a Makaton user.  

School staff can use the signs to retell the story later. It also equips the children with a sign language that they can use to communicate with their classmates who struggle to understand or to make themselves understood.  

This is just a suggestion for you to use Makaton as part of your assemblies and you do not have to do it. We’ve been trying it out in several schools though, and the children (regardless of whether they need to use Makaton or not) are really enjoying using the signs as part of their assemblies. 

We’re hoping to go into production shortly (at the end of February) to record the Makaton signs for all 90 stories. At my last count, that’s over 200 signs! Each story will be filmed on its own so you can open the particular story you want on the website and find just the signs you need for that story. 

Happy signing!

Steff Shepherd, Makaton Tutor

Guidance for use of the old programme after July 2024

OtB Members 

  1. We recommend you use the new Open the Book materials. However, you will be covered by our Public Liability Insurance should you choose to make the occasional use of old programme materials. 
  2. You can use the old programme materials in church, e.g. for a children’s group or holiday club but you must adhere to the guidelines listed below.  

Non-Members 

  1. You can continue to use The Lion Storyteller Bible. 
  2. However, please do not use the old Open the Book handbook and please let your school know that you’re no longer officially an Open the Book team. 
  3. You can use the old programme materials in church, e.g. for a children’s group or holiday club but you must adhere to the guidelines listed below.

Using old programme materials in a church context 

  1. You must make it clear that you’re not doing Open the Book. Do not use the Open the Book name or logo and don’t call yourselves Open the Book Storytellers.  
  2. When reading the introduction, replace ‘Let’s Open the Book to ...’ with ‘Let’s read the Bible story’ or similar. 

These guidelines will ensure that the Open the Book school programme remains distinct from anything that takes place in church. Open the Book is trusted by teachers (and parents/guardians) because it’s written for the school context and we don’t want people thinking it’s also a church programme where there’s more freedom to evangelise.  

Thank you for your understanding and co-operation.

Prop of the month

We received a lot of photos and requests for suggestions for the ‘Jonah’ assembly on Facebook this month. Here’s a selection of some of the fabulous big fish your teams are using: 

Please keep sending us your photos. We love seeing your creativity and sharing your ideas with other teams. If you have any ideas for other props to feature, then please let us know.

New Easter Open the Book assembly 

A new Easter story is now available on the website. It can be found on the main Membership page under Handbook resources/seasonal stories. 

Bob Hartman has written us a new Easter story which combines the Crucifixion and Resurrection stories so that it can be told in one assembly. Some teams had commented that they did not like splitting the story in half to tell either side of the Easter holiday as the children may not know the Resurrection part of the story.  

We’d love to hear how you present the Easter stories this year, so please let us know how your assemblies go! 

Lent, Easter and Pentecost resources from the Bible Society 

There are also lots of wonderful Easter Resources on the Bible Society website this year including: 

  • The Lent Encounter – the shadow of the cross 
    It’s not too late to join The Lent Encounter and receive a daily devotional in the lead up to Easter 
  • The Awesome Easter Surprise Easter children’s booklet with accompanying free-to-download video animation 
    With a clear gospel message and colourful illustrations, this is the perfect Easter gift for primary-age children in your family, church, school and community   
  • Children’s activity sheets made for the ALIVE campaign produced in partnership with Kingsgate Church and Hope Together 
    Check out the brilliant ‘I Spy’ and ‘Snack sheets’. They’re fun, interactive, and thought provoking, as well as being free to download. All the activity sheets are family-friendly and designed to share the good news that Jesus is alive! 
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