Lesson plan for Sunday

Here is my "lesson plan" for Sunday

Review song: "Follow the Prophet"

I'm going to bring in a few rhythm instruments:

a triangle

wood agogo (I had to google it to find out what it was called...:)

Guiro

maraca

One at a time, I'll have a child come and play one of the following rhythms while we sing a verse of the song:

For example, on the triangle, the child will play the quarter note, followed by 3 quarter rests. (I'll help them if needed)


For Senior primary, we'll add on each time we sing. So, we'll have the triangle play the first rhythm, the agogo play the second rhythm, the guiro the third rhythm, and the maraca play the rhythm of the melody, all playing simultaneously.

For Junior's, we'll keep it simple, by having just one instrument and one rhythm at a time.

Month's Song:  "Come Follow Me"

I'm going to try the "Balloon-pass"  found on this blog. I'm focusing on the first verse this week, and will learn the 4th verse next week. 

Idea: Pass around a blown-up balloon while singing through the song. Whoever has the balloon when the song ends, will pop it. (For kids that are afraid of the popping, have a pair of sissors to trim off the knot, so it won't "pop". ) 

Inside the balloon, is a paper with a question or scenario. Have the child read and answer the scenario/question. Continue with a new balloon. 

I'm slightly worried about kids holding on to the balloon so they can pop it, instead of passing it on...so I'll try to think of a remedy for this....

I hope to sing through the song 5 times, so here are my 5 questions:

1) My brother hit me, because I wouldn’t let him have a turn playing a game on the computer. What should I do?

  

2) Mom is calling for me, and I know she’s going to ask me to do a chore, but I’m busy doing something. What should I do?

3) I’m bored in sacrament meeting. What should I do?

4) Name one way we can follow the savior.

5) We just did a fun activity for sharing time and my friends are having a hard time remembering how to be reverent. What should I do?

*A special thanks to my own children for the inspiration behind these scenarios....

TIP: We have two singing times, one for Junior, and one for Senior, so I printed out two sets of questions, and have them pre-stuffed in the balloons. I don't want to haul around a bag of blown-up balloons, so I'll blow and tie them up behind the piano, during the opening exercises.

I have a bag for Junior primary, and a bag for Senior primary.

Other song:  "Here Comes the Ox Cart"

I do NOT like to spend a lot of time on visuals, unless I plan on using them over and over.  However, I made an exception for this song.  I am NOT an artist...which might help explain the gigantic cart pulled by the tiny ox....oh well....

The wheel turns with a little handle on the back. 

It's some hardware thing I found in my husband's tool box that is attached to a screw from the other side.

The kids can turn the wheel slowly, as we sing the song.

To introduce the song, I'll ask them to listen to what kind of song the wheel is.

(Sing the song for them)

        I cut the wheel into wedges that can be lifted up, to reveal a question about the song. 

I'll have a child lift a flap, read the question, we'll sing the song, and then have the primary answer the question.

Questions:

1) How many times do we sing "creak"?

2) What is the wheel made of?

3) What kind of animal pulls the cart?

4) How fast does the cart go?

I put a little piece of double-sided tape under the wedges, so they would stay down when I needed them to.

You can easily put actions to this song. Have the kids roll their arms, and then bend from side to side at the waist for the "creak" part. I think this could be a fun "wiggle" song for July.

Another new blog and facebook page!

I personally am loving all of the singing time blogs out there! I just found this brand-new blog that someone linked to on the yahoo groups page.

(If you are not a member, you should join! It's an awesome resource!!)

The blog is called "Singing Testimonies". It only has two posts up, but quite a few ideas. One I think I will use this sunday.

Also, I have started a facebook page so we can better share ideas and ask questions. I receive lots of questions and great suggestions via the comments on this blog, but I'm afraid many do not see these suggestions. I hope the facebook page will be a better source.

You can check it out here. Let me know what you think!
*Remember, it was just created...so there's nothing there yet! That's where YOU come in!*

July flipchart: Come Follow Me

So, this flip-chart still isn't the way I wanted it, but my time has run out. Hopefully you can download the word-document  and tweak it the way you want! :)

I hope this is helpful to at least some of you! I only did verse 1 and 4, as that seems to be the pick of the majority.
Word document for verse 1
Word document for Verse 4
PDF file for verse 1
PDF file for verse 4

To introduce this song, I'm taking it straight from the Children's Sacrament Meeting Presentation outline for July, which is as follows:

"Encourage the children to follow you as you touch your nose, shake your hands, and fold your arms Tell them that we can follow Jesus by doing the things he did.


Have them tap the rhythm of the song with two fingers of one hand against the palm of the other hand as the music plays.


Prepare footprints with the words of the song written on them.  Invite the children to place the footsteps on the board one at a time, as you sin and they echo each phrase. Arrange the footsteps so they lead to a picture of the Savior." CSMP outline 2010, page 15

For SENIOR primary, you could then mix up these footprints, and have a child come and try to find each correct footprint in the right order, as the primary sings through the song. you could have them just point to each footprint, or actually put them in the right order. This last  option would work best if using magnets on a blackboard.

If you are planning on doing this as well, here is a link to the footprints I made, with the phrases on them.
Word file footprints
PDF file footprints
Here are pictures of the flip-chart:

Ordinary Adventures of a primary chorister has a GREAT flipchart as well.

Guest Post: Song review idea

The flipchart is comin...I promise! I have some family visiting, and time got away from me! I'll work hard and get it on here as fast as I can!

In the meantime...

I love it when you e-mail me with your ideas. Laura G. sent me this one, and I think it is such a neat idea! Thanks Laura!!!

I love to sing.I love to teach. 
I love children. I love Primary.

(It just may be the funnest calling in the church.)

Here is something I put together. I invited a different child up to choose an object and each one represented a new way to sing the song we needed to review for the month.

Ex: Flash light: turn the lights out and sing.

Slinky: Loud or soft.
Tissue: plug your nose
A Boot: March to the music as you sing
Pointer: Invite a child to lead the music or point to the chartMittens: Clap the rhythm while singing
Pictures of friends (or Friend Magazine): Turn and sing the song towards a friend
Cap: Sing Acapella (without the piano)
Turtle: Slow
Racecar: Fast
Ball: Invite 2 children to toss and ball back and forth
and every time they drop it you have to start the song over again.
Lala stick
Girls Only
Boys Only
Bumble Bee: Hum
Whistle: Whistle the song
Popcorn: Sing Popcorn Popping
Teeth: Sing with your teeth clenched
 Glue Stick: Pretend to glue a part of your body and sing it that way. Ex: Glue your hands to your head. Or your elbows together.
Wiggle hand puppet: Choose a wiggle song & change it up a bit.Microphones: you sing with 2 friends
Sun glasses: sing with your eyes closed.
Egg shakers: Sing staccato.you get the picture....with 24 total or as many pockets you need to fill up!

You could change it and be creative with anything you can think up!!!!

PS. I don't explain them ahead of time. Just as we go. Turned out to be a HIT! 

Flipchart request

I'm in the process of making the flipchart for "Come Follow Me." I know, I like to ride it close to the deadlines...

I was wondering what verses you plan to do. I'm definitely doing the first verse, but not sure about all the others.

I think this song would be nice to make into more of a musical number, with a flute and/or violin. We have a few children in our ward who play these instruments, so it's great to give them the opportunity to use their talents.  There are lots of different instrumental arrangements for this song.


If you want flipcharts for the other verses, let me know which ones you plan on doing, so I can create something for you!

-Trisa

June Song: The Holy Ghost

I appologize for my long hiatus! I've been trying to get my life more in order and give my kids more attention, and time just got away from me! I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post!

Also, our primary sings at a nursing home, twice a year, one which occured just last week, so I've been trying to get ready for that and Father's day. I haven't even introduced this month's song yet!

That being said, I really struggled with this song. I sat down shortly after my last post, all excited to create a  flipchart, and just couldn't wrap my head around how to put images to the words. It's especially difficult, as we are not to try to portray the "holy ghost" in any way.

However, HUGE thanks to Tiffany from Port Orchard, who e-mailed me HER flip chart! I think it's awesome and hopefully it will be of help to some of you

Word Document here and PDF file here

She also did the second verse, but I just didn't post the pictures here....

As far as introducing the song...if you haven't already, I love this idea HERE on Camille's primary blog page, and also HERE, on I Sing U Sing. Both are fantastic resources as well

Potato Head Review

For Mother's day, I wanted to do something motherly-related for singing time.

I got the inspiration from this blog. She had real mom items to dress up with, but I didn't have enough of these things, so I came up with using the Potato-head toy.

This would work well for Father's day, or any day, for that matter.

This IS a "competition" game, which I generally try to stay away from. I did preface this game to the kids, by saying that we are often discouraged by competition games, because sometimes, the kids get too wrapped up in winning the game, instead of just having fun playing the game. Then I told them that I have been watching them for the 2 years that I have had this calling, and felt like it is something they could handle. I knew that THEY knew how to have fun, without making others feel bad, or getting out of control.

They did just fine. :)

Anyway. On to the game:

I had prewritten two posters with blanks on them. Except for the color of marker, the posters are the same.  I used heavy duty magnets, and posted them on the blackboard.

Each team gets a Mrs. Potato Head set.

(I think we had glasses and the purse too, but I forgot about these when I took the picture)

The game:

1) The primary sings the song continually, until the game is over (the poster is filled in).

2) Each person fills in TWO words on the poster, and puts ONE piece on the potato head.

(We had 11 pieces, so that makes 22 words to fill-in on the poster)

3) Once you have played, you can not go again. (I wanted to make sure that not the same 5 people were playing the game.) We let teacher's play as well.

4) First team to complete their poster and have the MOST complete Mrs. Potato head, wins. 

5) If you are caught NOT singing, I will pull off a part from your assembled potato head. I HIGHLY recommend doing this, or they get too caught up in the game, and forget to sing. I DID take off a piece or two during our game...

This was such a big hit, and I know THEY know the words to the song now. When the game was over, I didn't say anything about the "winner", but as soon as the winning team had one, I just stopped the game and said "Great job everyone! you guys did awesome!" and moved on to the next thing in my lesson plan.