January 22, 2012

Build An Ark & When I Am Baptized

In my last post, I mentioned that I'm teaching my primary the song "Build An Ark" for the month of February.  I was contacted via email by Mary Judy who taught this song to her primary last year.  She has graciously offered all of her visuals to share with you on my blog.
THANK YOU MARY!!

I have copied and pasted the following email from Mary that explains what she did for both "Build An Ark" and "When I Am Baptized" (which is a program song this year):

We sang "Build an Ark" in our program last year and it was one of my kids favorites. I made a flip chart that I would love to share with anyone interested. I also downloaded both versions of the music files (singing/accompaniment). I am attaching the sheet music, too. We also, sang "When I am Baptized."

For one of our reviews I brought a yellow umbrella and put laminated raindrops on it that matched the flip chart phrases. When I taught "When I am Baptized" I made rainbow ribbon wands for our primary. I did not give them as gifts but kept them so we could use them many times. I would choose a child to lead the music with me and all the other children followed our patterns. We would make large rainbows over our head or figure eights and then when we came to the fermata  on the word "Can" we would point our wands to the floor and twirl it in a spiral like a large whirlpool. We talked about how reverent the song is and that our wands should be reverent (no loud snapping noises). I bought dowels at Lowes or Home Depot and they chopped them for me. I bought fishing swivels at Walmart that I inserted into the dowel then tied the ribbon through. We will use them again this year. We did not use them in the Sacrament Program. I also brought a large rainstick that my friend gave me. I would let a child turn it over very slowly to make the rain sound. Chimes are also nice.

I have uploaded these visuals to my scribd account.  This will make them easy for you to access.  However, if you have any problems or questions, email me & I can send the pdf documents to you via email.

I can't say it enough:  THANKS MARY!

January 20, 2012

2012 Primary Program Songs

I love how we are given a bit of freedom with 2 of the 8 months!  After much pondering & prayer, this is the final list of our program songs:

January- As a Child of God, 2012 Outline (3 verses)

February- Build An Ark, Sept. 2010 "Friend" (2 verses)

March- *Stand For the Right, CS 159 (1 Verse) [Jr. Primary Only]
           Choose the Right, Hymn 239 (Verses 1 & 3 Only)
            [Sr. Primary Only, with Jr. Primary joining for the chorus only]
              EASTER SONGS: 
                         *Jesus Has Risen, CS 70
                         *Hosanna!, CS 66

April- I Feel My Savior's Love, CS 74 (4 verses)
               [All kids sing vss. 1 & 4, small group or solo sing 
                           vss 2 & 3, All kids sing chorus]
          MOTHER'S DAY SONGS:
                   Mother Dear I Love You So, CS 206a (3 verses)
                   An Angel To Watch Over Me, by Sally DeFord (3 Verses)
                             [All primary vss. 1 & 3, YW vss. 2 & 3]

May- "Give", Said the Little Stream, CS 236 (3+ verses)
            [other lyrics will be added & the song will be arranged by myself]
            FATHER'S DAY SONGS:
                  *Daddy's Homecoming, CS 210
                  *The Family is Of God, (Verse 2 only)
                  *When I Hear My Father Pray, Mar. Ensign '83

June- Nephi's Courage, CS 120 (3 verses) *[They know verse 1!]
              PATRIOTIC SONGS: TBD

July- *When I Am Baptized, CS 103 (2 verses)
              PIONEER SONGS:  TBD


August- *I'm Trying To Be Like Jesus, CS 78 (verse 1 only)
                          [Jr. Primary Only]
           *Scripture Medley (Scripture Power/Hand In Hand)
                         [Small Group Only]


*NOTE: Songs our primary kids already know!


I am not teaching the songs in the same order as in the Outline.  I try to teach the more difficult songs the first 6 months of the year.  So many families are gone for the entire summer that learning songs those months is pointless.  Why work twice as hard when you can plan ahead & make your life a bit easier:)  My motto:  "Planning allows you to be lazy".  We have always held our program at the end of October.  So by September, I'm already working on brushing up the program songs during Singing Times.  There's no time to LEARN a new song by then.

Also, don't forget that you always need to add holiday songs for Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Independence Day, & Pioneer Day.  I included those holiday songs with the monthly song list.  That way I can plan my Singing Times accordingly.

What songs are your Primary kids doing this year?  Please share!

January 15, 2012

Plan Your Own Journey

Plan Your Own Journey by Jodi at Primary Music Notes is a great way to learn or review a song.  I did this last week with both Jr. & Sr. Primary.  For the Jr., we learned the 2nd verse of "As a Child of God" as well as reviewing the 1st verse.  They loved it!  For the Sr. Primary, we played this to MEMORIZE all 3 verses.  It worked!  They did so well that they got to play it 3 times.

Thanks for the idea & sharing it, Jodi!

Snow Day!


Living in the Northwest Puget Sound area, we rarely experience snow.  So when it happens, it's quite an exciting thing!  This morning was no exception.  Although I had Singing Time planned & ready to go for today, I just felt that we should celebrate the unusual weather.

Last year, I found this "Emergency" Singing Time Plan on Kathleen's blog.  As a person who LOVES to plan ahead, I thought it a great idea to be prepared for a Singing Time Emergency.  So I made the snowflakes, riddle lists, song lists and informed the Primary presidency about it.  Well you know what they say:  "Plan for an emergency and chances are you'll never have one".  So true!   So I decided that the Sunday snowfall qualified for an Emergency Singing Time today.

The kids were all hyped up because of the fun weather & this Singing Time kept them plenty busy!  Next week we'll just do what I'd already had planned for today.  No harm done, no time lost!

If you choose to use my riddle & song list, just make this change to #5:
Riddle-When you were born, your were given a special light.  This gift helps you choose the right.  What song am I?  (As a Child of God-2012 Outline)