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

Motivations

Reverence Popcorn

To help motivate children toward reverence our Primary started these "reverence popcorn jars".  The idea is a positive reinforcement when they are well behaved.  We can put a kernel or scoop a handful into the jar.  The "clink" of the kernel against the glass is very satisfying and catches the children's attention.  The plan is to earn a popcorn party when the jar is full.  (Popcorn party=give each child a baggie of popped corn during Primary).  Truthfully, we have been working on these for months and haven't actually had the popcorn yet.  I will let you know how that goes.

Choosing Cans

This is our system for trying to make sure all the children in Primary have a turn.  If I need to pick helpers I can pick from the can of Jr. or Sr. Primary kids.  It helps to make sure the same kids don't get picked on all the time.  I usually say that I will only read their name if they are being reverent.  Then when we have worked through all the names we dump out the bucket and resort them into the Jr. and Sr. cans.

Hello Song!  

To welcome visitors we sing the Hello Song CS 260 and the visitor selects a flag from the collection.  Each flag has Hello in the language of that country written on the back.  If we have two visitors they can each pick a flag and we divide the room in half and have the echo be in different langues.  We have been doing it this way for a long time, but the kids are always still interested what language we are going to sing.

CD's

We bought these Families Are Forever practice CD's with this year's program songs on them.  We gave one to each family and I'm hopeful that the children will love listening to them and will have a pleasant way to practice and learn the songs.  We bought them here and paid about $2.50.  Thank you to my awesome Primary President for letting us get these!

I don't know who does the bulletin boards in our Primary Room.  It's not me.  But they are always fantastic and up to date.  I'm amazed by the talent and dedication that goes into Primary.

First Sunday in January

I'm excited for tomorrow!  It's the first Primary of the new year which means new teachers, classes, and new songs.

My plan is to start with some action songs before Primary actually starts to help keep the children's attention. I have some choosing pictures that I have made up from years ago that work well for Jr. Primary because they are laminated and have magnets on the back.  I can easily stick them to the chalkboard then the children can come up and pick the next song.

Next I'm going to try a cute idea to help the new sunbeams adjust to Sharing Time.  I came across this sunbeam egg idea and hope it works.  The plan is to explain to the sunbeams that they can sit on their eggs and "keep them warm" just like a mother hen.  If they can do it for all of primary I will trade their egg for a little fruit loop.  Of course, we will start out with a welcome to our youngest members by singing "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam"  

I'm going to change up the birthday song in Sr. to "Feliz Cumplanos" using this flip chart.  Some of those words are hard to remember!

We are handing out CDs with the Program Songs for the Year.  Thank you Primary President!  The song we are doing this month is "He Sent His Son".  I used this flipchart.  Then teach the actions like this (credits to the talented Nancy Nicole Henrie):
HE SENT HIS SON ACTIONS
How could the Father tell the world of love and tenderness? (point upward) (point to mouth) (make heart with fingers)
He sent his Son, a newborn babe, with peace and holiness. (rock baby in arms)
How could the Father show the world the pathway we should go? (point upward) (point to eye) (put inside palms together and ‘swim’ forward)
He sent his Son to walk with men on earth, that we may know. (walk your fingers along the inside palm other hand) (point fingers to ground)
How could the Father tell the world of sacrifice, of death? (point upward) (point to mouth) (fist over heart)
He sent his Son to die for us and rise with living breath.(raise arm to a square, then arm extend out) (both arms slowly rise over head)
What does the Father ask of us? What do the scriptures say? (point upward) (point fingers to chest) (make book with hands)
Have faith, have hope, live like his Son, help others on their way. (count with fingers 1 – 2 – 3 – 4)
What does He ask? Live like his Son. (point upward) (stand up – sing strong)

I think I will play the game 4 corners Four Corners is explained in detail here.  The basic idea is one child is blindfolded and one class gets to pick a corner and go there.  The blindfolded child picks the corner that is singing the "prettiest".  Everyone else sits down and that corner gets to move around again picking a corner and singing again.  We will sing it 3 times until there are only a few children left in the corners

I think I will play name that tune with other new program songs.

Finally, we will end with picking a few snowballs from our "write your favorite song on a piece of paper and crumple it like a snowball" activity that we did last week.  I have one bag for Jr. and one for Sr.

1. Opening:  Nephi's Courage 120
2. Visitors:  Hello (in different languages) 260
3. Birthday:  Feliz Cumpleanos 282 (with flipchart) - each child holds up hands like a candle and bday child "blows" them out at the end
4. Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam/Here We Are Together (using new sunbeams names)
5. Learn "He Sent His Son" 34  -possible program idea to have one or two Sr. children as the questions and rest of Primary answer.
6. Play name that tune with other program songs
7. Sing a few "snowball favorites" as we have time