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])

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?

Priesthood Medley

For the month of May, I am teaching the Sr. Primary 2 songs.  I LOVE these two particular songs from the Children's Songbook.  The first one is "The Priesthood Is Restored" on page 89, the second one is "A Young Man Prepared" on page 166.  I wanted to make a medley with them and so using my new Finale PrintMusic 2011 program, I did just that!

You may make copies of this music.  I just ask that you not sell it to anyone, as I am offering it to you free of charge.  Please use it for personal or teaching purposes only.  Thanks:)

The Sr. Primary love this piece!  Well, except for one boy, but you can't please 'em all!  It's a lot of fun to watch them all tap, bob heads or move their bodies to the beat.  None of them were familiar with the songs at all.  I had the pianist play through the piece while they just listened.  As they listened, I asked them to make a picture in their mind, whatever the song made them think about.  Some of the responses were: Army of Helaman, marching, superman or super hero's, & courage.  I just explained that the power of all of their thoughts were wonderful and that the song is about a super power that is given by God: the priesthood.  

It worked for them.  I made a poster for the medley as well.  If you'd like a copy of the pictures, email me the request & I'll send them your way!

I know many of you are teaching "Praise To the Man" for this month.  I chose to only teach it to the Sr. Primary back in March to go with the Prophet Theme (Jr. Primary learned "Stand For the Right").  And to make things even easier on myself, I only taught them by teaching them HOW to read out of the hymn book.  How's that for lazy?   We are going to have the congregation join us in singing it as part of the program:)  I just couldn't stand the thought of teaching it to the young kids.  I'm impressed with all of you who are working so hard to teach your own primary children the song.  It sounds like you're all doing a fantastic job!  You all give me hope that I can do a better job myself the next time:)

Jesus' Tomb Singing Help

For Jr. Primary's Singing Time on Easter, I made Jesus' Tomb.  I wanted a stone to roll open and closed over the tomb's entrance (pictures are at the bottom of the post).  The children's voices will be "the power of the angel" that will open the tomb.  And of course, my iPhoto has decided to mess with me once again!  I cannot post the pictures of the tomb:(  I will try again tomorrow.  O.k, how about a MONTH later!!  Frustrating!

I will explain the tomb and the resurrection, the reason we celebrate Easter.  I'll make a point to explain who rolled the stone open from the tomb on the 3rd day, then liken it to their voices and the power they have to open this tomb's stone.  Inside of the tomb will be 6 paper heart with a song title on each one.  The stone will be rolled closed.  We will sing 'I Am a Child of God' to start with.  If the kids aren't singing well or paying attention, the tomb stone will remain closed.  When they sing well and are paying attention, the stone will slowly roll open.  I will have a leader open & close it.  When the stone is completely open at the end of the song, a child will be chosen to come up & choose a heart out of the tomb.  I will make a point to explain that they represent the love that Jesus had for us to willingly die & then be resurrected again.  We will repeat as long as time allows.

The songs will be:

• Jesus Has Risen pg. 70
• If I Listen With My Heart pg. outline
• Book of Mormon Stories pg. 118
• I Hope They Call Me On a Mission pg. 169
• Stand For the Right pg. 159
• I Love To See the Temple pg. 95

 

 

 

 

Because this post is LONG OVERDUE on account of my iPhoto woes, I'm not going to go into detail about how I put the tomb together.  It's pretty self explanatory by the pictures themselves.  However, if you do have questions for the 2012 Easter, just shoot me an email:)   Sheesh, stupid iPhoto.

Song of the Heart

At the beginning of the month, I encouraged my Primary kids to learn all 3 verses of "If I Listen With My Heart" by the end of the 4th week.  If they did, we'd have a fun activity day on the 5th Sunday as a reward.  (The Primary President had given me the o.k. to take the full 35 minutes for Singing Time:)  I made this chart with the first picture of each verse from the flip chart I'd made.  As they mastered the verse, a heart was placed on the corresponding side of the picture.  They worked really hard!

For weeks, my plan was to have a "Game Day" as a reward.  However, as the time drew nearer, my thoughts were prompted in a different direction.  So, as the following scripture as the theme, I was led to come up with a "Song of the Heart" singing time.


"For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me."  (D&C 25:12)

I found a short outline called "Singing Powers" online somewhere.  I think I found it through sugardoodle, but I can't find it again to be sure:(  But it comes from an Ensign article called, "Singing Hymns With New Power".  It talks about different levels of singing.  

Level 1: Sing the words & music correctly

Level 2: Thing about the meaning of the words.

Level 3: Bear your testimony as you sing.  Sing with your heart!

Level 4: If our hearts are right, the Holy Ghost will testify that what we're singing about is true.

As one who loves music, I have a testimony of the importance of sharing it through the power of music.  I have experienced it time, and time again.  So to begin Singing Time, I asked questions about this scripture.  Like, "What does it mean to have a song of  the heart?"  "What is the song of the righteous?"  "How do we feel the Holy Spirit?"  

Then I explained that we were going to learn what the meaning of this scripture is today through singing some of their teachers' favorite songs. 

On the 4th Sunday, I passed out the narrow strip of paper shown above to all Primary Teachers/Leaders before Sacrament Meeting.  It had instructions to write the title of a favorite Primary song & why they chose it.  Then they were to hand it back to me by the end of Primary.  During the week, I made cards on a half sheet of paper, as shown above as well.  I took the teachers' responses & transferred them onto the fliers, one song per card.  I chose a picture to represent the song as well.  Did I mention that I'm not an artist?  Thank heavens for clip art!!  Then I folded the card back in half & placed it in the mailbox shown below. 

I saw this foam mailbox at Target for $5.  I love it because it's not pink!  I found foam heart & music glitter stickers at Walmart.  Thus the decorations:)

I called on a child to come up & choose a piece of "mail" out of the mailbox.  The Jr. Primary would open it up & pan across the primary room for the other kids to see the picture.  Then they guessed what song would go with that picture.  They guessed right every time!  I then read to them what the teacher said about why they had chosen that song.  We then would sing it.  We sang it 2 or 3 times while I asked them what the words meant.  I also asked them how they would tell someone about something exciting that had happened with them.  You know, they get excited and talk about the details and just can't wait to spill it all!  Then I asked them to sing the song just like that and imagine them telling it all to Jesus.  This is Jr. Primary!!!  I can't tell you how powerful the Spirit was after they sang "I Am a Child of God".  It was amazing & I asked the kids how they felt.  I explained that they sang with all their hearts in a righteous way to our Heavenly Father and that it was so powerful and beautiful that it was just as important to Him as when we say our prayers.  I think they got it enough.  Sr. Primary definitely got it.  Only Sr. Primary ended up working on "Army of Helaman" to tie it all together.  It too, was awesome.  But that's another post.

About halfway through our time, I stopped the singing & passed out crayons & a card for each child.  They got to draw a picture of their Primary song of choice & with the help of the teachers/leaders write the song titles & the kids' names on them.  I explained to them that starting next week, their "Song of the Heart" would be in the mailbox and when we have extra time we can choose one to sing.  We would use it all year long.  They loved the idea!  I love it for another reason as well:  It can be used as an Emergency Singing Time if needed!  Now I have 3 Emergency Singing Times in the closet for the year.

We had time to do a couple more of the teachers' songs before concluding.  I bore testimony of the power of music and the Holy Spirit to testify of Christ.  It was a great experience!