I Am Glad For Many Things

Primary Children’s Songbook pg. 151

(Lyrics only)

1.  I am glad for many things, Many things, many things.

    I am glad for many things That are mine today.

2.  I am glad for eyes that see & ears that hear when summer’s near.

     I am glad for eyes and ears that are mine today.

3.  God gave me my family, family, family.

     We are sealed for eternity.  His name I praise today!

4.  Heavn’ly Father loves me so, He sent His Son for all to know

     How to live and how to grow.  *I trust in Him each day.

                                           *(My faith I’ll show each day.)

                                           *(My faith shines bright today.)

      

5.  Thank you, thank you, my heart sings, My heart sings, my heart sings.

     Thank you for the many things That are mine today.

Lyrics for verses 1 & 5 are the original 2 verses published in the Songbook.

Lyrics for verses 2-4 were written by Tifany & Brynn Hoecherl, June 2008.

                        

On verses 2-4, you will need to insert an eighth note here & there to fit the added lyrics to the timing of the song.  

*Choose whatever phrase works for you.  I just couldn’t decide!!! 

          

I have also made a flip chart for verses 2 and 3.  You can find it here.

Ways to Sing in an Egg Carton

This is another idea I read from someone else's blog or website.  I just can't remember where.  Sorry.  So anywho, I don't take any of the credit:)  Since I do buy 90% of our groceries at Costco (family of 6!), I specifically went to regular grocery store in search of a dozen count egg carton without any windows that the marble could fall out of.  Sheesh!  It took a few weeks, but I found one.

I randomly wrote numbers from 1-12 in the bottom of the carton.  I placed a large marble inside.  On the inside of the lid, I wrote a numbered list of different ways to sing a song (like a skunk, girls only, under water, and so forth).  I would choose someone to shake the marble around inside the closed carton.  Upon opening it, the number that the marble landed in would instruct us on how to sing the song.  I can easily change the numbered list of ways to sing at any time to better fit the type of songs we're working on.  It can be used over & over again!

Reverence Mouse

I found this free crochet pattern of a mouse.  I made one for our Jr. Primary.  Like all primary's, some days are more reverent than others.   Kids love to hold stuffed toys and animals.  On days that are a bit more difficult to maintain reverence, I'll pull out the Reverence Mouse.  As the kids sing the songs, I'll watch for someone being reverent & yet still singing.  I'll hand them the Reverence Mouse to hold through the next song & then pass it on to someone else, repeating for each song.  

It's amazing how quickly the children will calm down:)  I have also pulled the mouse out for comforting purposes.  Sometimes the little Sunbeams become upset for one reason or another & cry.  To help them feel better & to hopefully keep them in Primary, I'll give them the mouse to hold.  Then the entire Jr. Primary will sing that child's favorite song or a reverence song to help him feel better.  It works every time!

It's Autumntime

This is an idea I read about on Sugardoodle.  I already had store bought material leaves from a few years ago & I always have yarn:)

I used a blunt craft needle to thread the yarn through the leaf.  I tied a knot on both sides of the leaf to prevent it from coming off.

I left about an 8" tail of yarn for the children to hold on to & sway the leaf in time with the music.  It's a wonderful way to explain the "feel" of the songs.  

We began by singing "It's Autumntime" (CS pg. 246).  We swayed the leaves in time with the beat.  Once comfortable with that, we had the pianist set the tempo.  When he sped up, we swayed faster.  When he slowed, we swayed slower.  

We also used this concept with "Rain Is Falling All Around"(CS pg. 241).  Except we sang "Leaves are falling all around".  The Jr. Primary children loved it & they could hear & feel the tempo differences.  

Thomas E. Normous

This is Thomas E. Normous.  He doesn't have any tail feathers.  They were originally plucked to prepare Thomas for someone's Thanksgiving Feast.  However, he got lucky and didn't end up on anyone's table!  So the Jr. Primary worked hard to give him his beautiful tail feathers back for another year.  They earned 3 feathers for every song they sang today to help Thomas's tail return.  

 They absolutely loved it!

One thing that I have learned recently as the Primary Chorister is that Jr. Primary children love to build things......and Sr. Primary children love to tear them down!  So once the Jr. Primary succeeded in giving Thomas his tail, Sr. Primary proceeded to pluck them right out again!  Everyone was happy.  Well, except Thomas E. Normous:(   See ya next year, Thomas E. Normous!!

I made Thomas E. Normous by crocheting around a 6" styrofoam ball (body), and a 3" one (head).  This way the feathers can be pushed in over & over again & hold firm.  I don't have a pattern, I just did it free hand.  I made the feet & stuffed them so that Thomas could stand independently.  Thanks to my oldest daughter, Brynn, for coming up with a clever name for him!

Turkey Land of the Free

Here is Tommy the Turkey & his wife Betsy.  They love each other very much!  

Oh, no!  Tommy has been kidnapped to be served for Thanksgiving Dinner!  

Betsy was able to get away & go to "Turkey Land of the Free".  She missed Tommy so much!  She knew that he didn't have a good chance of getting away to live with her again in the beloved land of free turkeys. 

  But Betsy just knew that if the primary children could sing the songs beautifully and strong, Tommy would be able to sneak away from certain doom & on to freedom, one plate at a time.  

COME ON, PRIMARY!!

First they sang "The Nativity Song".   Twice!  They were able to help Tommy get off the carving plate:)  Next came the Giving Thanks Medley.  The children did such an awesome job of sing two songs as one that Tommy was able to sneak over 2 more plates!  Nice job kiddos!  He's just one song away from eternal bliss.  What better way to guarantee his freedom than to sing "Could I Hold the Baby?"?  *Sigh!*  They did it!  Tommy & his beloved wife, Betsy, lived happily ever after in freedom.

THE END

P.S.  I forgot to take a final picture of them together in freedom.  You'll just have to imagine how wonderful it was:)

Giving Thanks Medley

I've been teaching the children 2 songs:  Thanks to Our Father & I Am Glad for Many Things.   So I had an idea last week.  I put the two songs together to make a medley.  I will be teaching it to the kids tomorrow!  I have a flip chart already made for Thanks To Our Father & we'll just use those for this medley.  Then I'll just have a heart with music notes on it for the 4th verse.  I'm confident they all know the 1st verse:)

I also went on the LDS Music website & copied off both songs individually.  Then I placed Thanks to Our Father under I Am Glad for Many things & re-copied it as a single page for our pianist.  This will make it easier for him to go from one song to the other & back again.  Can't wait to try it out! 

Giving Thanks Medley Lyrics

Verse 1:  I Am Glad…CS 151

I am glad for many things, many things, many things.  I am glad for many things that are mine today.

Verse 2:  Thanks to Our…CS 20b

Eyes and ears and hands and feet, clothes to wear, and food to eat;

Verse 3:  Thanks to Our… CS 20b

Father, mother, baby small, Heav’nly Father gives us all.

Verse 4:  I Am Glad… CS 151

Thank you, thank you, my heart sings, my heart sings, my heart sings.  Thank you for the many things that are mine today.

"Christmas Bells" Rhythm

I have chosen 3 Christmas songs for the primary children to sing in Sacrament Meeting on December 12th.  The first song is "Christmas Bells" C.S. 54    It has a descant that can be sung with it.  I will have the Sr. Primary Girls sing the descant and the Sr. Boys & all of the Jr. Primary sing the main part.

The rhythm can be tricky.  Many of the words are sung to 2 consecutive notes before moving on to the next word.  So I decided to start off by teaching the Jr. Primary to clap the rhythm of the song.  I had our pianist play the melody notes as I began to clap along with the rhthym.  As the children became more familiar with it, they joined in clapping.  Once they had it, we added humming along with clapping the rhythm.  Soon I was singing the words while clapping.  They joined in singing when they became more familiar with the words.  We did all of this at a much slower pace than we'll actually sing it for the performance.  We then changed up our clapping & did it on our laps or combined the two as we sang it over and over again.  They got it down!   Because our time was short, I didn't have time to bring out the bell bracelets I'd made.  But we'll use them this week!

For the Sr. Primary, I drew the notes of both the main part & the descant part on a white board.  The blue notes are the main part (Sr. Boys and all of Jr. Primary), the purple notes are the descant (Sr. Girls). My goal was just to get them to see the rhythm difference of the notes.  I had ALL of Sr. Primary follow along with my clapping by watching the blue notes.  Then, like Jr. Primary, the pianist added just the melody notes as we went.  Then we added the words, and ta-duh!......they had it down, too.  Now they don't really need to see the notes to learn the rhythm.  But to add the descant to it makes it easier to follow along if they have the visual of the rhythm.  So next we all hummed & clapped out the descant rhythm.  Once they had it, I had the boys rest while the girls learned the words & sang it.  We then put the 2 parts together.  After the 2nd attempt, FABULOUS!!!  I ended up having a boy that sings loudly & can stay on his part to stand up front with me & lead the boys.  PERFECT!  

I pulled out the bell bracelets I'd crocheted for them.  The boys would shake them to the rhythm as they were singing and the girls shook them to the descant rhythm as they sang.  It was totally awesome!!!  We had a lot of fun and they learned the song, both parts!  

The descant, as we learned, is written quite high.  I'm an alto, so there are times where I just lip sync songs on high notes anyway.  However, most of the girls were struggling with the range.  The Primary President suggested jumping onto the LDS website to lower it.  I did just that after church & we'll sing it this week.    

   

Conducting Elephant

A few months ago, I decided to make a Conducting Elephant.  On white poster board, my oldest daughter drew a cute elephant for me.  I colored it & cut out a circular hole in place of the elephant's trunk.

I found a large piece of cardboard.  I cut it slightly larger around than the poster board.  I painted the outer edges green and about an inch wide.  I painted the "trunk" edge pink.  This trunk hole is slightly SMALLER than the elephant's actual trunk circle.  It helps keep the abused look to a minimum.  I found 6 used canning jar lids & glued them to the cardboard.

 

I placed magnets on the back of the elephant poster board, lining them up with the jar lids.  I chose to take the time for this so that I can make other posters later & just be able to switch them as needed.

 

Lastly, I made a handle out of heavy cardboard & glued it onto the back of the cardboard. I used 527 Glue.

And there you have it: Conducting Elephant!  

I have multiple old long socks for the children to choose from.  They place the sock on their conducting arm & use it as the elephant's trunk to help lead the music.  I use this prop only for the Jr. Primary.  The Sr. are just way too cool for it.  I sometimes need to help the kids hold up the elephant.  It is a bit heavy.  But they love it & sing beautifully!

If this looks familiar it's because I had this idea posted on Sugardoodle http://www.sugardoodle.net/joomla/  just a couple of months ago.  Great website!