Oh, What Do You Do In the Summertime?

Summer vacations are well under way and our Primary attendance shows it.  Instead of learning a new song for the program, I like to do fun activities during the summer.  For the last 2 weeks, we have sung "Oh, What Do You Do in the Summertime?" (CS-245).

Last week we sang through the 3 verses using props.  Many of the Jr. Primary kids didn't know this song and it was fun to see them pick it up quickly.  We sang through each verse 2 times, using different kids to hold the props each time.  For the last run through, we wanted to sing all 3 verses without stopping.  I handed out the various props to the kids with instructions to come up front when their verse comes around.  When we started singing the end "Is that what you do?  So do I", the current verse prop kids went back to their seats and the next verse prop kids came to the front.  By the time we were singing the end of the beginning "when all the world is green", they were in the correct order and we sang away!  They did great!

 Verse 1 props:  Fishing pole, Pillow, Cloud

You may need to clarify the definition of "bank".  None of the Jr. Primary kids knew what that phrase meant as they thought it had to do with Savings accounts and such. Kind of funny:)

 Verse 2 props:  Swim goggles, Hand fan, Artificial greenery with a swing hanging from a "branch".  Artistry done by courtesy of my 11 year old, Olivia and attached to the swing with poster putty.  The swing is made from craft foam and hemp string.  

The primary kids LOVED this prop.

 Verse 3 props:  Flag, Lemonade bottle, Star sticks

What parade doesn't have flags?  I had just emptied 2 huge lemon juice containers the day before.  So I pulled one out of recycling.  Then I took 2 patriotic straws, taped them together for the length I needed and stuck it in the bottle.  Kids loved this prop, too.  They were instructed to NOT put their mouths on the straw.  EW!  

In Jr. Primary this week, we sang through the 3 verses, using the props.  Then I pulled out a prop from a separate bag.  These items are shown below:

Various Props:  A super hero cape (top), snake, tree, marshmallows, hero type book, flowers, bee, fire, sidewalk chalk

Last night I spent 3 hours driving one of my girls to archery class and back.  That gave me plenty of time to do some pondering.  I came up with 5 verses to teach the primary.  

1.  Do you go to the Lakes and catch water snakes to make the girls scream so high?

2. Do you roast a marshmallow to share with the fellow who sits with you by the fire?

3. Do you climb tall trees, or run from the bees that sting noses and make us cry?

4. Do you like to smell flowers, or read books for hours of heroes who fight for the right?

5. Do you like to use chalk and draw on the sidewalk fun pictures that make others smile?

I spent this morning gathering the props needed to help teach them.  I placed the props in a separate bag than the original verses' props.  The first prop that was pulled out was the snake.  I asked the kids what words rhyme with snake.  Sunbeams don't know how to rhyme. :)  But they sure are cute!!   I asked them to think about where they could find snakes and come up with a rhyming word.  LAKE!!  I drew 3 "lakes" on the chalkboard and labeled them.  Then I asked what would happen if they went to some lakes and found water snakes and then decided to take them home.  Oh yeah!!  There would be some screaming, don't you think?  This is how we learned these verses.  We didn't do all of them, but we got to 3 of them.  We sang them just once because of the time we spent discussing (me trying to pull the verses out of them so that they felt they were the ones making up the verses.  I'm very sneaky like that!) each verse.  

For Sr. Primary we didn't bother with the 3 original verses.  I jumped right into the rhyming process used in those verses to set up the activity for the props I had brought and already used with the Jr. Primary.  I let a child come up and look through the items in the bag and then choose what one would be used.  The first item chosen was the artificial "tree".  They spouted out different words that rhymed as I wrote them on the chalkboard.  When they got excited about "bee", I pulled that out of the bag.  It just so happens that 2 days ago I was stung by a bee on my NOSE!  So I told them about it and they came up with the last rhyming word needed for the "I" in "So do I" at the end of the song.  The picture below is the result of the 4 verses they made up today.  They were so proud of themselves!  We invited the presidency back in at the end and sang all the verses for them.  The presidency just laughed and laughed!  Especially at the last verse.

CHALKBOARD TRANSLATION

-Oh, what do you do in the summertime when all the world is green:

Verse 1: Do you roast a marshmallow until it is yellow and make a gigantic s'more pie?

Verse 2: Do you draw with some chalk, a picture of Spock flying The Enterprise?

Verse 3: Do you climb a tree or run from a bee, then scream 'cuz it made you cry? 

Verse 4: Do you jump in a lake and get bit by a snake, then float to the surface and DIE?

-Is that what you do?  So do I!

Verse 4 was my favorite!  I'm a bit morbid and I must say that these kids TOTALLY surprised me with their creativity.  The only verse I had much influence on at all was the bee stinging one.  But they did fantastic with their rhyming and music skills in this activity!  I just hope I still have this calling next month after posting about Spock and floating dead bodies being sung in Primary. :\   

"Live long and prosper"!

5th Sunday FUN!

Every 5th Sunday I have the opportunity to use the full 35-40 minutes.  This time I am using a category game to review the doctrine they have been taught thus far in Sharing Time and the program songs we've learned.  Each category has the corresponding program song.  7 songs, 7 categories.  Service is from the month September in the outline.  We learned a song in February about that topic.  Here is the basic plan and I hope to post pictures at a later date.

Category type game: Set up like Family Fued.  2 teams.  1 Member of each team starts at the front room with bug catchers & critters as their buzzers (because it's summer and it's fun!).  Using the 7 learned Program Songs, I will say or sing a portion of a random phrase for them to finish.  First one to catch their critter gets the chance to answer.  If answered correctly, they add their critter to their team jar and that team gets to choose a Category first. If wrong, the other team gets a chance to answer correctly.  If both teams answer incorrectly, I will do a different phrase and start the process again.  1 category per song.  4 questions & 1 *tie breaker question per category.  A critter is earned for each correct answer. Winning Team of chosen category gets to choose which activity to do for that category song.  Chosen category must be completed (a winner) before singing the corresponding song with chosen activity.  Then start entire process over again with different team members at the buzzer to determine the next category.

-ACTIVITY-

Word Hat, Yarn Pull, Hot/Cold, 1-2-3 Dice, Paint a Pic, Reverent Mouse, Melody Sticks, Crescendo Croc, Conducting Elephant, 12 Ways 2 Sing carton

-SONGS- I Am a Child of God, My Heavenly Father Loves Me, I'm Learning the Ways of Jesus, If the Savior Stood Beside Me, Priesthood Medley, Follow the Prophet, I Want To Be Baptized

-CATEGORY-      -5 QUESTIONS-

Child of God        HF has a plan for us.  What's it called?  (plan of happiness)

                            Where did our lives begin?  (pre-existence)

                            HF gave us the power to choose.  What's it called? (Agency)

                            When we make good choices, what does HF gives us?  

                                   (blessings)

                          *The result of choices we make are called what? (consequences)

Nature                 Who created the earth? (Jesus Christ, under HF's direction)

                            How long did it take for Jesus to create the earth? (6 days)

                            What is the name of the garden where Adam & Eve first lived?   

                                   (Eden)                           

                           What is the event called when Adam & Eve left the garden? 

                                  (The Fall)

                         *Why was The Fall part of HF's Plan of Happiness? 

                              (So we could be born on the earth with physical bodies.  Prior 

                                 to The Fall, we all lived in the Spirit World, including Adam &    

                                 Eve while in the Garden of Eden.)

Service              Who is the perfect example for showing us how to serve others? 

                                (Jesus)

                          What does it mean when we serve others? (doing something     

                                good for someone else to help them or bless them.)

                          Who can you serve and how would you do do it?

                          Name 3 people who serve you. 

                                 (Parents, siblings, teachers, bishops)

                        *Fill in the blanks:  "When ye are in the service of your blank-blank 

                             ye are only in the service of your Blank".  (fellow beings-God)                                            

Savior                Who was Jesus' earthly father? (Joseph)

                          Tell of a time when Jesus served another person. 

                                 (Disciple's feet washing, Good Samaritan, Healing the sick)

                          Before Jesus was taken away by soldiers, He went to a special     

                               place to pray.  What is the name of that place?

                                      (Garden of Gethsemane)

                         What does it mean to be resurrected?  (The body and spirit are 

                                reunited)

                        *Fill in the blank:  "Because of Christ's blank, I can repent and live 

                                with God again." (Atonement)

Priesthood         Why did the priesthood disappear from the earth?  (Apostasy)

                          The gospel was restored again to the earth through whom? (JS)                         

                          Name one thing, or blessing, that we have today because of the 

                               Aaronic Priesthood. (baptism, passing of the sacrament)

                          Name one thing, or blessing, that we have today because of the 

                                Melchizedek Priesthood. (Confirmation, Healing the sick, 

                                       Sealing, and all temple blessings)

                        *Which arm, or portion of the priesthood was restored first, 

                                Melchizedek or Aaronic? (Aaronic)

                       *Name the Heavenly Messengers that gave the priesthood keys to 

                                Joseph Smith. (A-John the Baptist, M-Peter James & John

Prophets            Who does the prophet follow?  (God or HF)

                          What is the event where we can listen and watch our living    

                                prophet tell us what HF wants us to do to live more 

                                righteously? (General Conference)

                          The prophets teach us to pay our tithing.  How much do we pay?

                                (10% or 1/10th)

                          The prophets teach us to obey the Word of Wisdom.  Name 2      

                                 things that we should NOT allow into our bodies.  

                                        (tobacco, coffee, drugs, alcohol)

                         *Name 3 Latter-day apostles. (Uchdorf, Cook, Anderson, Packer, 

                                  Neilson, Perry, Oaks, Christofferson, Bednar....)

                         *Name all latter-day prophets in order.  (Joseph Smith, Brigham 

                                 Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, 

                                 Joseph F. Smith, Heber J. Grant, George Albert Smith, David 

                                 O. Mckay, Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, Spencer W. 

                                 Kimball, Ezra Taft Benson, Howard W. Hunter, Gordon B. 

                                 Hinckley, & Thomas S. Monson)

Baptism             What does the word "immersion" mean?

                          When we are baptized, we make promises to our HF and He 

                                 makes us promises if we live righteously.  What is the name 

                                 for these special promises?  (Covenant)

                          What special companion are you blessed with after you're 

                                 baptized?  (Holy Ghost)

                          What ordinance can you participate in every week to re-promise, 

                                 or renew your baptismal covenants? (Sacrament)

                        *How many parts or promises are there in the Sacrament Prayer?

                                 (4)

                        *What are those 4 promises? (take upon them the name of Thy 

                                Son [hand over heart], to always remember Him [point to    

                                forehead], to keep His commandments [hold out hands like a 

                                book], & to always have His Spirit [wrap arms around self])

Follow the Prophet Fun

I am struggling SO MUCH when it comes to finding the time to sit down and share what I am doing with my primary kids.  Being a wife and a mom to 4 teenagers and a tween, a private piano teacher of 17 students, and the primary chorister, I find it a miracle that I am mostly sane!  MOSTLY :)

Rather than try to catch up on what I HAVEN' T been able to blog, I will just blog when and what I can.  So for tomorrow, the last Sunday of May, we will be playing a review game with this month's song, "Follow the Prophet".  It is a word game.  We are singing 2 verses in the program, so I have made 2 stacks of word cards; one for each verse and a 3rd stack for the chorus.  Each verse stack contains one card for each word I wrote.

Stack 1 contains the following words:  Heavn'ly Father, loves, wants, return, blesses, prophets, help, learn, Pres'dent Monson, humbly, leads, God's, church, today, heed, words, walk, righteous, way

Stack 2 contains the following words:  Now, we, world, where, people, confused, you, don't, believe, go, watch, news, can, direction, along, way, heed, prophets, follow, what, they, say

Stack 3 contains only 5 cards with the following WAYS to sing the verse:  
       Rhythm:  lap, lap, clap, snap, clap
       Sing Popcorn Style (staccato)
       High-Five your neighbor as you sing the word "Follow".
       Rhythm:  Do a rhythm pattern with your neighbor. (nothing silly or too complicated)
       March:  1 row of children will march around the room while everyone else marches in place.
                    (I may get the prophet sticks from my nursery bucket for the row of marchers to hold)

Stack 3 has only 5 cards.  We will shuffle them if we end up re-using them.  

HOW TO PLAY
Place the numbered stacks face down in their own stack.  I have a wooden dice my husband made for me.  I have written only numbers 1, 2, and 3 on it.  A child will be chosen to roll the dice and a card 
will be picked from the corresponding stack of cards.  If it is from stack 1 or 2, I will choose a child to go out into the hall.  When they are out there, I will tell the remaining kids what the word is.  They will be instructed to NOT sing that word.  When the child from the hall comes back in, they will stand up front with me and listen to everyone sing the verse, hopefully guessing correctly which word was left out.  This will require the other kids to WATCH me and hopefully be able to accomplish this task.  I'll have to pull out Snappy Bob.  That's another post I've been wanting to share with you!   If a 3 is rolled, then everyone will participate in the action of singing the chorus. Then we will continue to play as time allows.

The words to verse 1 were published in The Friend in 2010.  
Heavn'ly Father loves us and wants us to return.
He blesses us with prophets who help us all to learn.
Pres'dent Monson humbly leads God's church today.
I we heed his words, we'll walk a righteous way.

Verse 2 is just verse 9 as written in the Children's Songbook.

For Sr. Primary you could have the "guessing" child stand at the front with a headband or hat on with the word card attached for everyone else to see.  I have a fancy flowery fruit hat we could use.  The kids will love wearing it!

Have a safe Memorial Day Weekend!

Could I Hold the Baby? Flip Chart

I was contacted a couple of weeks ago by someone who had read an earlier post about the Christmas song "Could I Hold the Baby?".  She inquired about a flip chart for it.  I didn't have one, as the primary chorister at that time had made her own poster board to teach it to our primary.  So I decided to make a flip chart for her.  I have made a slide show of it and posted it below.

If you are interested in the pdf flip chart, please just shoot me an email: thoeche@gmail.com  with a request & I'll send it to you!  It'll will be sent to you in 2 separate emails as the file is quite large.

You can purchase the sheet music and mp3 recordings of this song by clicking on the following links:

Could I Hold the Baby? pdf sheet music for $1.50:

http://www.thesongoftheheart.com/musicforworship/process.php?pname=ShowAlbumDetailsProcess-Start&CategoryID=CategoryID&AlbumID=15

Could I Hold the Baby? MP3 recordings for $1.60-$2.00:

http://www.thesongoftheheart.com/musicforworship/process.php?pname=ShowAlbumDetailsProcess-Start&CategoryID=CategoryID&AlbumID=17

**As a quick side note, please know that this song has NOT been published in any of the church magazines and therefore is required to have the approval of your Primary President AND a final approval by your bishop in order for you to teach/sing it in primary or any other church meeting setting.

Beautiful song!!!!!   Still a favorite with my primary and leaders:)  The Spirit that comes as it is being sung is indescribable.  Absolutely awesome.

"The Voice" The Primary Way

I saw a primary chorister's blog post about the way her primary was working on their program songs. She came up with a Superstar Singers chart where the kids worked on specific things to earn stars for each program song.  I thought it was perfect for my primary!

About 6 weeks before our scheduled program date, I asked 3 people to come to singing time to be "The Voice" judges.  If you've watched the actual reality show (which is a huge hit at our house!) you'll understand where I'm going with this.  My husband snagged 3 swivel chairs from the clerks office for the judges to sit on.  The judges turned their backs to the kids before they began to sing.  The judges would then listen for the good and bad things about how the kids were singing the song.  The judges would only turn in their chairs to face the kids if they were singing well.  At the end of the song, each judge would give their advice to the kids about how they sang while I went to the chalk board & wrote it all down.  I took a picture with my iPad so that I could then come up with the categories needed to put on the Superstar Singers chart for the upcoming weeks before our program. 

When I first approached the judges to ask them for their help, I explained that I wanted both positive AND negative critiquing. I wanted to save time by working only on what was absolutely needed for each song in order to be ready for the program.  I also sprang this on my primary the week after stake conference.  They didn't get any warning or reviewing before being judged.  That way it was a more realistic result for each song.  I also only chose 6 songs to work on.

This is Junior Primary's results.

This is Sr. Primary's results.

I had explained to the kids what we were doing and why. I really drove home the need to know what exactly we needed to work on to be ready for the program, that in order to improve, we needed to know just WHAT we needed to fix. The judges were awesome with relaying their advice to the kids without any negativity, especially when it came to the negative critiques. By the end of singing time, the kids were so glad to have the visual list and see exactly where they stood. I then went home and over the week put together our own Superstar Singers chart.  

There were 4 categories that both the Jr. & Sr. primary needed to work on. I found pictures online (free clip art) and I laminated them.

NO YELLING OR BELLOWING!

We had a couple of kids that would try to out sing their neighbor. 

Not pretty! We want to blend as a choir.

EYES on the chorister at all times.

Wondering eyes!  The kids' heads turn to wherever they are looking.  So as their eyes wondered, their voices projected in that direction instead of concentrated toward the audience.  Not to mention how silly they look when they're not watching me:)

Over enunciating the sounds: T, D, S, & K
at the end of specific words. 

This one is a bit more tricky.  When singing Choose the Right, they didn't put any emphasis on the "t". So the judges would hear: "Choose the righ, when a choice is placed before you".  Same thing with Build an Ark.  They would hear: "I will bill an arrr before it starts to rain".  So we had A LOT of words in MANY songs to work on in this category. LOTS of tongue work!  I will do a separate post tomorrow on what I came up with to help with that.

Singing your TESTIMONY of the song.

It is important to convey to your audience that you believe in what you are singing about.  Music is such a powerful tool! In order for your audience to feel your testimony, YOU need to know all of the lyrics and have a testimony about the words and their meaning.  In a nutshell: Need to cause goosebumps!

This process has been absolutely amazing!  A bit more work on my part, but it has paid off for the kids, I think.  I can use the Superstar Singers chart again and again as I feel is needed by just switching out the songs and categories.  The kids never tired of earning stars, either!

Next week is our program & I am so excited for them to show our ward their love of the gospel!

Our Savior's Door Is Always Open

I just LOVE 5th Sunday's!!!  I get the entire 35 minutes with each primary.  As I pondered what He wanted me to do for these children, I felt that I needed to help the children understand that our Savior is always waiting for us to open our heart and feel His love.  To prepare for this, I made a poster with 5 different pictures that could depict different scenarios.  I got the pictures from the Friend Magazine.  I then made up stories to go with the pictures.  Two out of the 5 scenarios are open for the children to respond to (only because my brain was fried with trying to come up with anymore & I was running out of time).  I also put 7 pictures of music notes on the poster (4 black & white, 3 in fun colors for the fun songs).  I assigned a song to go with each one.  I glued the 12 different pictures on the poster and cut out hearts to place over them.  I only taped one side of the heart onto the poster board so that it could just be lifted open, like a door, to see what was inside.

Tilt your head to the left while looking:)

I woke up Saturday morning with the song "Our Door Is Always Open" from the Children's Songbook on page 254 in my head.  Weird?  Not for me:)  I wake up with various songs running through my brain more often than not.  And then I always try to figure out WHY they are in my head.  Sometimes I can come up with an answer, sometimes not.  But as I got moving for the morning, words started going through my mind.  THIS is NOT normal!  I'm not a poet by any means.  So I immediately started writing down everything that popped into my head for the next 10 minutes.  Within another 5 minutes, I had new lyrics for the song "Our Door Is Always Open".  Inspired? ABSOLUTELY!!

For our Singing/Sharing Time, I began the lesson by teaching them this "Scenario Song" with the new lyrics.  I made 2 changes with the melody so I re-wrote the music with the new lyrics for my pianist.  Once the kids knew the song, I explained to them that someone would come up to open a heart on the poster.  If the opened heart showed a music note, we would sing the assigned song before choosing another heart to open.  If the opened heart showed a scenario picture, I would then read the scenario to them.  We would then talk about how hearts were opened to feel the Savior's love and then sing the "Scenario Song" before choosing the next heart.

My primary kids LOVED this lesson.  They were sad that we ran out of time before getting to open all of the hearts.  But it is an activity I can pull out again, especially for an emergency:)  

If you'd like a copy of "Our Savior's Door Is Always Open", please email me a request & I'll get it to you in pdf form.  Feel free to copy and paste the scenarios below for your own use.  I wrote them on my iPad during Sacrament Meeting and then emailed them to myself to post on the blog:) 

Scenario Song- Our Savior's Door Is Always Open For me to feel His love. If I but humbly open my heart to Him, He will bless me to feel His love.

Song 1- Build an Ark
Song 2- Choose The Right
Song 3- Stand For the Right
Song 4- I Feel My Savior's Love
Fun Song 1- Popcorn Popping
Fun Song 2- Fun To Do
Fun Song 3- Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes

Scenario Phone Girls- Amy went to school with a girl named Emily. They weren't particularly close friends, but they were in the same class. Amy noticed that Emily hadn't been to school all week. She had heard that Emily was sick, but she didn't know the details. Friday after school, Amy felt that she should give Emily a call to see how she was doing. But Amy questioned herself about this because she had never really talked with Emily before. But she was again impressed to call her. So Amy made a couple of phone calls to others in her class to find Emily's phone number. She then made the call. She introduced herself to Emily's mom on the phone. She then got to talk worth Emily. She was nervous, but she asked Emily if she was o.k. Emily explained that she wasn't yet, but her doctors and her parents told her that she would soon be able to return to school. Emily had just gotten home from the hospital the day before. She had just learned that she had diabetes. Emily was still upset and confused about her body's struggle to work right. So she was surprised when she told Amy about it. But Amy told her about her own cousin that had diabetes and how he lived with it. How he was able to play sports and be with his friends and do anything he wanted. This news made Emily feel so much better! She and Amy became good friends and were a great strength to one another.

Scenario Hugging Boy/Father- Jason breaks his father's lawn mower by hitting a large rock. He knows his family doesn't have the money to take the mower to a repair shop. Jason prays to H.F. For help on how he can repair the mower himself. He then went to the garage to search for the tools he might need. He felt the guidance of the H.G. In which tools to choose. Once he had the lawn mower taken apart and could see the damage, he wondered how he could fix it. He again prayed for guidance. A name of a neighbor popped into his head. He immediately went to this neighbor and explained his problem. The neighbor knew what Jason needed to fix the mower and offered to help him. The neighbor had an old lawn mower that he no longer used and was able to use a part from it to replace the damaged one of Jason's mower. Later that night, Jason told his father about this experience. His father was touched by his son's testimony in prayer. He told Jason how proud he was to have such a strong son and how privileged he felt to be his father.

Scenario School playground- Sarah started 5th grade in a new school. Her family had moved from California to Colorado for her dad's work. She was scared to start a new school. She was shy and didn't make friends easily. A group of girls in 6th grade were not known as being very friendly. They scared Sarah and she tried to be invisible so that they wouldn't notice her. But by the 3rd day, they noticed her! Sarah ate lunch by herself and these girls new it. They began to pester her. They'd walk by and just laugh at her. Then it progressed to saying mean things to her.  After a few weeks, they gathered around her at lunch and started talking mean. One girl took Sarah's lunchbox and threw it on the ground. She was being bullied by these girls. She hadn't told her parents about it because she didn't want them to know how miserable she was in her new school. What can she do to open her heart to feel her Savior's love?

Scenario Gossiping Girls- Brianna and M'chaela talking about a girl who doesn't dress as well as they think she should, smells, doesn't have any friends..... How can these two girls make their closed hearts open to feel their Savior's love?

Scenario Coffee- Alison goes to visit her grandmother, who is not a member of the church. Her grandmother fixes her breakfast and serves her a cup of coffee. How can Alison open her heart to her Savior's love & not be offensive to her grandmother?

Mother's Day

Yes, I know.  It's nowhere close to the holiday!  I found this post in my DRAFT folder and I figured that if I didn't post it now, it may never get posted:)

I found this song on Sally DeFord's website and thought it was perfect for Mother's Day.  We needed a new song to learn anyway:)  This song is called An Angel To Watch Over Me. We learned verses 1 & 3.

"She watched by my cradle through long sleepless nights."

Because this is a seasonal song, I wanted a flip chart with all the lyrics.  I also thought the kids would learn it faster/better if I got some of their mom's involved in it.  So I had several mom's get their pictures taken for various phrases throughout the song.  Then I used them to make the flip chart.  For the final phrase of each verse, I had a group picture taken at our ward Easter Brunch of all the moms & kids who were there.

"God sent an angel to watch over me."

The 2nd verse is beautiful, but I thought it more appropriate for teenagers to sing.  But our YW weren't willing to do it, so I just dropped it. The song sounds just fine going from verse 1 to verse 3.  I used the flip chart in Sacrament Meeting while they sang to their moms.  It was small enough, & yet they were familiar with the pictures and so the lyrics weren't critical to see.  Just enough to prompt:)

We sang just 2 songs:  Mother Dear (which I also made a flip chart for) and then An Angel To Watch Over Me.  The kids did a beautiful job and many of the mom's had tears in their eyes by the time the last song was finished.

Having the different families involved in the making of the flip chart REALLY helped the children learn the song.  They LOVED seeing their moms and anticipated when their picture would be shown.  Fun fun!!!

If you'd like me to send you a pdf flip chart for Mother Dear, please send me an email request.

Thomas E. Normous Returns

I cannot believe that it has been 7 months since I last posted.  SEVEN MONTHS!!!  Life got really busy and stayed busy all through the summer.  It's the life of a stay at home mom of 3 teenage girls too young to yet drive.  Now my oldest has her drivers license and her own vehicle.  My running around has dropped by 90%, at least!  So my goal is to do better at posting more often.  Shouldn't be too hard, should it?  I guess we'll find out soon enough!

Our program is this coming Sunday.  So for Singing Time, I am pulling out Thomas E. Normous.  It's been 2 years since I last used him and I remember one of the young boys complaining last year because I never brought him to primary.

I don't know if I'll be using songs to create Thomas's tail with the Jr. Primary or if I'll do a Choose the Right type of activity to earn those feathers.  I could even assign certain songs or questions to a color and put the feathers in a sack for the kids to pull out.  But, as long as the little ones get to make his tail and the Sr. Primary gets to do the "plucking", everyone will be satisfied, right?

Choose the Right

If you are teaching the songs in the order of the outline,you have already taught this song to your primary. In February, I we learned "Build An Ark". March's song is "Stand For the Right", which we already know. So we learned "Choose the Right" while reviewing "Stand For the Right".

For the program, only the Jr. Primary will sing "Stand For the Right". Only the Sr. Primary will be singing "Choose the Right", but the Jr. will join in for just the chorus. I think it will work fine.

The Sr. Primary learned verses 1 & 3 plus the chorus while the Jr. Primary learned the chorus only & enjoyed reviewing "Stand For the Right" with the String Bees (Picture of the String Bees is at the bottom of the post). I made a poster (on green, of course!) for the verses. It all fit on a piece I had left over from a piano practicing project. It was about 3/4 of a full size poster board. Perfect!

 For the chorus, I made 4 different pictures for the kids to hold up as we sang (CTR shield for obvious reasons, BOM for wisdom, a sun for its light, and Jesus blessing the children for bless you ever more). These pictures started on popsicle sticks and didn't last 2 minutes!  So we just held the pictures in our hands. As we sang the verse and then the chorus, everyone would hold up their picture at the appropriate time in the chorus. Then they would trade someone else for a different picture and we'd do it all again, making it 4 times of repetitive singing. Jr. Primary struggled a bit with all the switching pictures, but we managed in the end:)

String Bees the Nursery & Jr. Primary use to sing "Stand For the Right". 

We do actions with the song as well.  Actions are posted here.

I Feel My Savior's Love

This is what our primary president & I strongly felt our primary should learn. Strongly. As in we-both-get-goose-bumps-every-time-we-listen-to-it strongly. A couple of weeks ago I searched for a different arrangement than the one in the Children's Songbook and found it here. I purchased it on the chance it would be what I was looking for. JACKPOT!! It is written lower than the original which is ALWAYS a plus. It has all 4 verses. It has one key change and a simple additional ending. And to top it off, verses 2 & 4 have slightly different rhythm patterns than verses 1 & 3. Same thing with the choruses. Verses 1 & 3 along with the chorus are just like the Children's Songbook. The accompaniment is easy, too.  You can listen to the first bit when you go to the link I provided.  You can also look at the first page to check out the accompaniment level.

I have made a flip chart with key words and have uploaded on scrbd. There are 4 pages per verse plus 4 for the chorus. I will be using the Raindrops & Rainbows to teach the rhythm differences of verses 1 & 2. I will be having a small group sing the 1st & 3rd verses for the program and the entire primary will sing all the choruses and the 2nd & 4th verses.  So I will focus mainly on those & leave the small groups to memorize their parts on their own.

If you have any problems getting the flip chart, email me & I'll send it to you.

I'm excited to learn this song with my primary kiddos!

Ideas for Stand For the Right

Did you notice the changes I made on the blog?  I'm anticipating Spring and jelly beans remind me that it's coming soon!  Tuesday, March 20th in fact:)  Which means I have less than 3 weeks to get my girls' Spring Baskets ready.  No Easter Baskets from the bunny at our house.  We totally separate the worldly celebration of Easter from the spiritual and TRUE meaning of the special occasion.  Off my soap box and back to the anticipation of SPRING!  

With March's Primary song, "Stand For the Right" I thought it would be perfect to incorporate Spring in teaching it. Last year I made this visual aid for a singing time.  Click here to read how to make one yourself & the way I used it in primary. 

As I thought about ways to teach "Stand For the Right" (aka BEE True!), this zippin' bee board came to mind.  By placing pictures or symbols underneath each flower, BEE can hover over each flower as your primary sings the song.  

FLOWERS

BLUE- picture of Pres. Monson: Our prophet has some words for you. 

ORANGE- the words "Be True!": And these are the words: "Be true! Be true!"

RED- pictures of a hammer a sports ball: At work or at play,

YELLOW-  pictures of moon and sun : In darkness or light.

WHITE- picture of CTR symbol: Stand for the right.

Notice that I didn't give the 2nd "Be true, be true!" to another flower.  I figure BEE can zip back 2 flowers to the orange one for it and then zip back to the end flower (white) for "stand for the right".  

This bee board might be a bit difficult for the Jr. Primary kids to manipulate.  Sr. Primary would do great with it, though.  And to continue repeating the song, you could always have them sing different ways (ie. staccato, soft, loud).

Now for something the Jr. Primary will enjoy!  

I thought about the bees & butterflies on strings I made last summer for the Nursery.  By just using the BEE's, we could hold the strings in one hand while we do actions for the song lyrics.  These bees are used for the same purpose I made the leaves on strings. I just changed the lyrics to a summer time song:)  

For "Stand For the Right", each child will stand up & sway their bee string back and forth to the feel of the music.  

1. Teach "Our prophet has some words for you and these are the words" as you "fly" the bee back & forth.  
2. When you sing "Be true! Be true!", raise your string hand above your head in a fist.  Then pump it 4 times as you sing "Be true! Be true!". Keep your string hand in a fist for the rest of the song.
3. For the phrase "At work or at play", act out shoveling dirt and then throwing a ball. 
4. "In darkness or light", put both fists over your eyes to make it "dark" and then pop your eyes open for light and move your fists to the sides away from your eyes.  
5. As you move your fists away, prepare the string fist to pump to "Be true, be true"
6. As you sing "And stand", place the string fist firmly on your chest over your heart.
7. As you sing "for", stomp one foot firmly on the ground.
8. As you sing "the", stomp the other foot firmly on the ground right next to the first foot.   
9. As you sing "right", you can either do a firm nod of your head OR you could raise those string fists firmly in the air & hold them there until Chorister cuts off the singing. I'm liking the picture in my head of them holding up their string fists until the cut off.  I can imagine battle swords in those little fists representing their choice in standing for truth & righteousness in this world:)

Slow the song down at the end so that you have enough time to do the actions to emphasize the lyrics.

This last idea is what I actually did to teach the Jr. Primary this song LAST year.  

These are just some ideas I had and I wanted to share.  If you're looking for some inspiration, maybe these with spark a little something for you!

Banana Split, YUM!

While I had Sr. Primary Singing Time ready for this last Sunday, I was struggling with what to do for Jr. Primary.  I came across an envelope in my Primary Box at home that was full of items I used a couple of months after I was first called as a chorister a year and a half ago.  I had made pieces of different food items out of construction paper and poster board.  I had a different food for each verse of a song the kids had yet to memorize for the program.  This was prior to me starting this blog, so there's not a post to refer you to.  But I distinctly remember taking pictures:) 

I decided to use the Banana Split for the 2nd verse of "Build An Ark".  Each part of the song (remember there are 4 distinct parts) was assigned to a portion of the Banana Split. As they learned & SANG convincingly each part, they would get to add specific items to the ice cream dish to build the Banana Split.  I used 1-2 pictures per part from a flip chart to help them along.  But other than that, they had to memorize each word!

We started with the red poster board with a VERY fancy ice cream dish drawn on it by me, obviously:)  I placed it as low as I could on the chalk board.  I had the balls of colorful ice cream and all the yummy toppings poster puttied to a wax paper covered piece of cardboard on the side.  This made it simple and quick to just pull them off & immediately have the kids place them on the dish.  I allowed 1 child per scoop, cherry, etc..  LOTS of little helpers! 

This is how I divided up the song and assigned the ice cream parts

Ice Cream Scoops: The first 2 lines of Part A- "I can be like Noah, YES! I can be prepared.  I can build my ark and I'll find safe shelter there."

Hot Fudge: Part B- "I can do the things I know are right.  I can learn and pray with all my might."

Banana: 3rd line of Part A- "And then when storm clouds come I'll be safe within my ark."

Whip Cream: Part C- "I will build my ark before it starts to rain. I will follow the prophet, for he speaks in God's name."

Cherries: Part D- "I'll prepare ev'ry needful thing. I will walk in righteous ways. When the rain starts to fall on me, I'll be ready for that day."

The Jr. Primary kids were so excited to build the Banana Split!  Several little girl Sunbeams "called" the pink ice cream:)  They earned those scoops really quick!  The Hot Fudge called for a bit more work & imagination before I let them add it.  We finally ended up ASL signing the words "do, right, learn, pray, might" before they passed.  The rest of the song went well and there were only a few kids that didn't get a chance to come up and add a piece to the Banana Split.  But it was a beautifully created Split with dripping hot fudge & melting whip cream.  Some of the Sunbeams claimed it looked good enough to eat!  I whole heartedly agreed:)  

Here are pictures of the other 2 food items I had made way back when.  Same idea: a phrase or part of the song assigned to each "topping".  Build your pizza & cheeseburgers (and Banana Split for dessert) while memorizing a program song!  Or maybe just a fun way to review a song later on down the road....

 Pizza with pepperoni, sausage, black olives, and green peppers.

Mini Cheeseburgers with bottom bun, 

meat, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, top bun.

I think I'll go find something to eat now.  

This post has made me HUNGRY:)

Mix N' Match

For our last week of learning the 2nd verse of "Build An Ark", I came up with another way to use the Raindrops & Rainbows.  I wanted the Sr. Primary to match each word/syllable to the proper raindrop or rainbow for each part of the song (A, B, C, & D).  I had 4 separate manilla envelopes (one for each part) with the correct amount of raindrops & rainbows and the lyrics/syllables for that part.  I placed an envelope on each of the four tables I set up at the end of the room.  Each group of kids/teachers had 3 minutes to dump their pieces onto their table & match them up.  Thus Mix N' Match.  From the pictures below, I supplied a "Teacher's Guide" in each envelope to correspond with that part for the teacher to be able to see & help the kids as needed. Once everyone had finished their part, they then had to sing that part as we went through the song.  When we finished singing, they would gently mix back up the pieces on their table & then we'd shift over one table (which had all the pieces of another part of the song) and do it all again! We were able to sing the song through 4 times, allowing every group to put together & sing every part of the song one time.  Then we sang the entire 2nd verse together for the closing song.  They did a fantastic job & didn't need any pictures to prompt them through it!

This is a great activity for any song.  It really helps the kids to be able to process the words along with the melody & rhythm in their own minds.  After the first round where they all figured out what they were doing, we were able to rotate every 3 minutes (first round took about 5).  So out of the 20 minutes allotted for Singing Time, about 15 minutes of it was simply matching up the pieces to be ready to sing.  Then it takes just over a minute to sing the verse before re-mixing & rotating.  Doesn't leave much time for "singing"!  BUT even though we were only able to get through each part once, they had it totally memorized within that 20 minutes!  That is quality learning people!

PART A: 

Sing the first 2 lines of lyrics for the beginning of the song.  

Then go to the next part (B).

 Part B: 

Sing both lines, then return to Part A & sing line 3.  

Then go to Part C.

 PART C: Sing both lines, then go to Part D.

 PART D: 

Sing the top lyrics of both lines and 

then repeat to sing the bottom lyric lines

I hope that makes sense.  There's more room on the tables in our primary room than I had using my portable white board:)

To get ready for this activity, I did the following: 

On strips of different colors of card stock, I randomly wrote the lyrics/syllables of the 2nd verse.  Why all the different colors?  Because I like COLOR, that's why!  :)  For the words that are more than one syllable, I tried to write each syllable on a different color.  Then I cut out each word/syllable.  Then by starting with Part A, I placed the raindrops & rainbows in the correct order.  I then matched up the words/syllables underneath the corresponding 'drop or 'bow.  Remember that all parts except C, repeats at least once and part A twice.  It took a bit of time to cut out the paper, but really when it was all said & done along with pictures for the Teacher's Guides included, it took about 45 minutes.  

Happy Teaching!