Easter

I'm going to bring out the bells to accompany "He Sent His Son".  I'm going to try putting it in a medley with the 8 measure of piano connecting it to "I Stand All Amazed".  We will be singing in Sacrament Meeting.  It should be nice.

Wiggle Worm Jar
My cute Stake Primary Music Person made a wiggle worm jar.  I'm excited to have the kids show me their best "wiggle" and then pick someone to come up and select a song from the jar.  Her jar is so cute.  The inspiration is found here.

General Conference

Pin a Tie on an Apostle

Cute game from the Primary Facebook page by Liz Crowder found here.  A great review before General Conference.

I Stand All Amazed

To Introduce this beautiful Hymn I played the following clip on the big screen with a lovely version of "I Stand All Amazed" over the sound system.

To play the song I connected my iphone to the microphone outlet with this cable found here.

It was a powerful way to introduce the song.

I'm using a wonderful flipchart found here.

And teaching the simplified sign language. Found here. It's been really effective for the kids.

Opening:  Families Can Be Together Forever 188

Bday:  Feliz Cumplianos 282

Welcome:  Hello w/ lang flags 260

DVD listening activity 4 mins

I Stand All Amazed H 193

Jr. Ribbon Wands

Sr. Use hymnbooks and sightread entire song

Holiday Fun - St. Patrick's Day

I'm reviewing "I Stand All Amazed" this week.  We played 4 Corners explained here. And then we had time for some fun.  I "found" a box of Lucky Charms

Inside the box were some enchanted shoes that made me dance when the children were singing.  It was a little silly, and I had prepped my own two Sr. kids.  They approved the idea but looked super embarrassed afterward.  I asked them how it went, and they said my dancing was dumb.  They wanted amazing dancing...me ripping out a whole routine.  Oh well.  The kids sang through their smiles, so it was worth it.

I also hid little Irish objects around the room that the chosen child could hunt out with songs attached to review program songs and work in some spring songs.

My new invention this week was a gift from my Stake Primary Music Leader.  She gave me this little bell to use as I wished.  I decided to try getting their attention with it after games.  I had them practice being sloppy and not paying attention and then snapping to position when they heard the bell.  During our game, I used it a couple times, and it was quite effective.  (We will see how long it lasts. :)

Love: I'll Walk with You

I used this lesson for the Sunday before Valentine's Day.  It's such a great holiday for reminding us about the importance of love in the gospel:  the pure love of Christ, love one another, love the Lord, etc.

Learn:  I'll Walk With You CS 140-41

I had a child come in from the hall sitting in this wheelchair (leftover from Grandpa before he passed away).  I explained that she represents a child that can't "walk as most people do."  I said, "some people might walk away from you (name of child), but I won't."  I explained that the composer of this song had a child with special needs.  He wanted the music to sound like walking because it's something a healthy person takes for granted that some people can't do.  I had them walk their hands on their laps in time to the music while the piano played.  I was surprised at how compassionate the children while thinking about how it would feel to not be able to walk.

Then we divided into two groups:

Group 1 sang:  If you don't walk as most people do

Group 2:  Some people might walk away from you

Together:  But I won't, I won't.

Repeat with next phrase one group asks the questions, the other group answers

I used the flipchart found here.

Jesus taught us by example the way we should treat everyone.  Then I bore my testimony of how keeping our promises to Jesus includes being kind to everyone.

I used the conversation heart decorations as a choosing activity with 5 songs we are working on listed on the back:

"He Sent His Son"

"I Know that my Savior Loves Me"

"Books in the Book of Mormon"

"Article of Faith #1"

"pick a favorite"

  Then we played a game with Hershey's Kisses.  They were wrapped in 4 layers of paper.  We would pass them down the row until the piano stopped.  Whoever was holding the package when the piano stopped would unwrap a layer.  I told the kids before that whoever unwrapped the last layer had to give everyone a "kiss."  I winked when I said it, so most kids picked up the play on words.  But there were a few 10-year-old boys that passed that package as fast as they possibly could. :)

I Know That My Savior Loves Me

We have been picking our snowball favorite songs at the end of singing time each week.  Last week the song we picked was "I Know That My Savior Loves Me".  I had never heard this song before.  I guess it was a program song a couple of years ago before I was put in.  The boy that picked it came up and helped lead it with me.  The words are beautiful and I could feel his sweet testimony as he sang the words.  This experience stuck with me all week.  I asked our Primary President if it would work for us to learn this song and sing it in Sacrament Meeting near Valentine's Day.  Get it?  Love and Valentine's Day?  She quickly got it set up.  I hope I can teach it to the children in time.  I'm going to teach "I Know That My Savior Loves Me" using this flipchart.  It's not in the songbook.  The sheet music is here.  It is one of the songs that has been added especially for the program.

I am also planning on playing a review game with "He Sent His Son".  I have a ball that I am going to let the children toss around.  I will stop the piano and whoever is holding the ball will need to say the word that comes next in the song.  I hope it's fun, but not too crazy.  The fun activities go from interactive to overactive in about 3 seconds.  Setting clear expectations about "staying in your seat" and "no hard hitting" should help.  

Lesson Plan:  

Opening:  If the Savior Stood Beside Me(sheet)

Bday:  Feliz Cumplianos 282

Welcome:  Hello w/ lang flags 260

Learn:  I Know That My Savior Loves Me (sheet) (Sac meeting performance Feb 9 or 16)

Jr=1st verse

Sr=Review 1st verse, learn 2nd with small group

Art of Faith #1 CS 122

Jr.=Wiggle Song:  Do As I’m Doing CS 276

Books in the Book of Mormon CS 119

Clapping Game

Sr. sing 3 times, beat 13 seconds

He Sent His Son CS 34

-Review Game with ball...when music stops must tell next word

Jr.=small group ask questions, rest of Primary answer

Sing:  I’ll Walk with You (if time)

Snowball Favorites as we have time

Books in the Book of Mormon and Articles of Faith

I'm hoping to teach all the books of scripture songs this year to Senior Primary.  I'm going to start with The Books in the Book of Mormon CS 119.  This blog has such great ideas.  The flipchart has wonderful pictures.

I'm adopting and changing her hand-clapping game to make it very simple:

4 lap claps
4 hand claps
4 left neighbor claps
4 right neighbor claps
repeat

I also love her idea of using a stopwatch to see if we can do it faster and faster once we learn it.

Flipcharts are a bit of a misnomer for me.  I never flip through them or hold them...too distracting while I'm trying to lead/focus on the children.  I usually attach a magnet to the back and slap it up on the chalkboard.  The pages go up and down fast and I can use them for Jr. and Sr. week after week without hassling with tape, etc.  To save money/supplies you can put the magnets on the back of plastic pages and just switch out the paper.

I'm also planning on teaching the Articles of Faith this year.  Focusing on one each month.  January=1st AoF.  For now, I will just use the church-produced cards with the words.  I bought them years ago and planned to use them for FHE and never did.  Ha!  That's not very creative, but this is just going to be a quick moment in singing time.

I think I will use the picture clues from this article in the friend.

These pictures include the number in the images and might be a good way to help kids match up the number and the concept.

My Lesson Plan for Sunday:
Opening:  Trying to Be Like Jesus 78-79
Birthday:  Feliz Cumplanos 282
Welcome song:  Hello (w/ lang flags) 260

Learn: Article of Faith #1 CS 122
He Sent His Son 34 (w/ actions)
Sr.=have 3 volunteers come up to the microphone and practice singing the question parts and having the rest of the Primary answer (program idea)
Jr.=play 4 corners singing all the way through twice

Jr.=Wiggle song:  Do As I'm Doing 276
Sr.=Learn: Books in Book of Mormon 119 w/ clapping game

Sing:  Snowball Favorites (their favorite songs we wrote on white paper and crumpled into a snowball back in Dec.)  until the end of time