I was released last Sunday, but am now the first counselor in primary. However, we have a christmas program coming up on December 12th, so they are having me do double duty until that is over.
I would still like to post ideas and flipcharts as they come, so don't forget me entirely!
So two weeks ago, I tried to introduce the song "Picture a Christmas". It was a TOTAL flop. Probably my worst singing time ever. I think I confused the kids more than I helped them.
So, I thought more about it during the week, and came up with something more simple and MUCH more effective.
In fact, we learned BOTH verses very well, in only 10 minutes.
I appologize that these are not *quality pictures. I remembered to take them right before leaving for church, so it was just a spread-them-out-and-snap-a-picture moment.
I found pictures to correlate with the things sung in the song:
Picture a STABLE
Picture a sacred silent, NIGHT
ANGEL, STAR, BABY JESUS, etc.
you can find my file of pictures HERE. I found them from google searches and sugardoodle clipart.
(NOTE: the pictures are NOT in the order of the song. I just formatted it that way...because I was in a rush and put pictures in when I found them.)
I went through the 1st verse and put the pictures up on the blackboard with a magnet, as we got to each phrase, so they would understand which pictures went to which phrase.
Then, we sang through the song together. I took a small 5x7 picture frame, and "framed" each picture we sung about. Then, I called up a child to do the same thing. I think it was a sunbeam. She did perfect. Some of the pictures are oriented landscape while others are portraits, so they had to rotate the frame to fit the picture.
After we had done that a few times (each time a different child "framed" the pictures), I mixed them up and scattered them around the blackboard. They did the same process of framing the pictures, but it was more tricky since they now had to "find" the pictures.
I told the children I was watching for those that "knew" the song really well to come help me. That really motivated them to sing out and try their best. I was thrilled that this activity worked well from the sunbeams all the way to the 11 year olds. We were able to sing it OVER, and OVER, and OVER, and...you get the point.
Love it! Very simple, yet hands on for the kids. Thanks for sharing! Good luck with your new calling, I'm sure you'll be great!
ReplyDeletethat was a GREAT idea on how to teach that song. We also learned that song this past holiday season and i wracked and wracked my brain on how to teach it. i was origionally going to go with the picture frame idea, but it just didn't come together for me. So instead, I got flannelboard figures and we "created" our own pictures using Mary, Joseph, the stable walls, a manger, baby Jesus, an angel.....you get the idea. They really liked helping me "create" the picture each week as we learned the song.
ReplyDeletePictures do work great. Last year I taught this song and I had the kids be the visual aids. I had two kids come up and put their hands together to be the stable and the next held up a star. The one after that put their hand up to their ear and then one held up an angel, etc. It took lot of kids to do it, but then I would take kids away and the rest had to sing the song without the visual aids. This worked great for me.
ReplyDeleteExcellent idea--perfect blend of visual learning and active participation. Thank you for taking the time to share. Doing this next month!
ReplyDeletethis was perfect. I just got called two weeks ago and this will be my first week actually teaching. I needed something for a Christmas themed song since I won't be here Chrsitmas day. Thanks for the idea. I really like your frame idea to go along with it.
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