First Week in the New Year

Yup, I'm still here - just not posting much, obviously. My visitors have gone up considerably in the last week. No doubt you all are looking to see what I'm doing with the new song, "As a Child of God."  I intended to post about this earlier, but have been snowed in and then couldn't make it down our incredibly muddy road until today. So this post may be too late to be of help for anyone. I'm sorry about that.

For this first week, I'm actually combining two teaching methods from my master list: Exploded Flip Chart and Choosing Pictures. Since the theme for the year is about choosing, I thought it might be fun for the children to choose the pictures for the phrases. For the first week, I want the children to focus their attention on listening. I don't want them to see words too quickly. So, this first week, I'll have them listen to the song and then choose from a variety of appropriate pictures (Choosing Pictures). The first week of a new year is typically a little chaotic and this method allows me to be flexible with the time. I'm really only planning on getting one verse and the chorus, but maybe I'll be lucky. ;o) I'll use these pictures along key words for the phrases (Exploded Flip Chart) next week.  Brittney's idea for using new year's resolutions is really cute and I'm planning to use a few of these as a back up singing time, in case my time is really eaten up or if we have too many children missing because of the weather. This idea is also easy enough to explain over the telephone to a substitute, so it will surely go on my emergency list.

I'm quite excited about this year's theme, "Choose the Right," because choosing opens up a thousand possibilities for a primary chorister. The remaining songs are relatively simple and we already know them, except for the hymn. I'm looking forward to a great year. I hope you feel the same.

Adapting Ideas for Singing Time

In a recent post I told you about a singing time plan that I came up with after reading an idea in The Friend magazine. I thought I would explain a little further how I make this magazine work for me. I know that some Primary choristers think that the Church has given us very little in the way of resources. Since we are encouraged to use only approved resources, we sometimes feel frustrated that we don't have a specified manual of methods and ideas. Following this counsel isn't as easy as teaching an outlined lesson in a manual. We have the Children's Songbook and we are encouraged to use prayer and inspiration, but some of us struggle because the Spirit doesn't give us ideas out of thin air. Primary music is so much fun, but only if we're prepared! One can't help but notice how relentless this assignment is. Sunday comes up every single week and it just keeps coming. After you've tried every good idea you've ever thought or heard of, there is Sunday again, just around the corner.

How do I find ideas that are creative and fun? The Friend is my very best and favorite resource. It is approved and has enough inspiration to last a lifetime! It has pictures. It has games. It has poetry, stories, and activities. It has messages from our Prophet and Apostles. All of these features inspire and suggest ideas to me. Especially when I've been praying for help. The Church has been publishing this magazine for over thirty years! Back issues for the last nine years are freely available in digital format here at lds.org. Issues published before 2001 are available on an inexpensive CD.

When an issue comes in the mail, I immediately sit down and read it. After a day or two I will pick it up again and read it, thinking about the weekly primary themes. I will always have a thought about how I could use something or other. I will see how one of the stories or activities could be developed into a singing time with choose and review songs. There may be a picture or a poem or a quote that I can use as an attention getter to introduce a song. Sometimes I can use these ideas immediately but I may have to wait a couple of months for the right theme to come up. Sometimes I can think of how I can use the framework of what might be published and adjust the content to fit what I need to teach. Sometimes I just make a note of a good idea on a list of ideas to be developed in the future.

In this month's issue there is a beautiful centerfold article called "The Living Christ" with pictures of Jesus and testimonies of the apostles. I thought of developing a musical narrative using pictures and songs about Jesus and reading some of the testimonies as narrative between the songs. This would fit well into February's theme, or I could wait and use this idea with the theme "Prophets Testify..."

I wrote a post about the January 2010 issue of The Friend. Look under the label "Using the Friend" to read it again. I'll challenge you to see what you can find in the February issue. I hope you'll leave a comment.

Singing Time Plan

For one singing time this month, I have a plan to build a visual "bridge" from earth to heaven with 6 pictures of Jesus as the "pillars" for the bridge. I have a blue circle representing the world to place on one side of the chalkboard. I'm using a child from the Primary Visual Aids Cut-outs to stand on the world. I have a white circle to represent heaven to put on the other side of the chalkboard. We'll sing a song for each of the pillars and I'll have the children listen for the message of the song and then decide which picture matches the message. We can place it, along with a paper horizontal bridge span, in the space between the earth and heaven and move the child to stand on that pillar. We'll sing each song in turn and move the child forward with spans and pillars. I'll make a very brief explanation or bear a simple testimony with each song. We'll sing "He Sent His Son" for the last pillar next to heaven. It summarizes so well the role that Jesus plays in the process of our salvation. I could also use the scriptural image of a ladder or a staircase, arranging the pictures and moving the cut-out child up each stair or rung. But, I kind of like the image of a chasm between mortality and heaven and the way Jesus bridges this for us. I don't plan to explain any of this to the children. I'm just hoping to put an image in their mind to help their understanding later. Sometimes it's nice to make connections for ourselves, rather than having everything explained for us. It is so much fun to watch when kids make these connections. I just think of it as a favor to some future Seminary teacher.

#1 - picture of Jesus as a baby - "Little Jesus" - Jesus loved us enough to leave heaven and come to the earth in humble circumstances - I'll change the word Christmas to Sabbath.
#2 - picture of Jesus being baptized - "Baptism" - Jesus gave us ordinances and the example to receive these.
#3 picture of Jesus serving others - "Love One Another" - serving others helps us become like Jesus.
#4 - picture of Jesus and the children - "Jesus is Our Loving Friend" - Jesus continues to love and look after us and help us with our problems.
#5 - picture of Crucifixion - "Reverently, Quietly" - Testify of the significance of this deed.
#6 picture of Jesus - "He Sent His Son" - Jesus is even now waiting to welcome us and bring us to our Heavenly Father. He will be our advocate and friend.

I thought of this idea as I read the first suggestion in the Sharing Time Ideas in the February 2006 issue of The Friend. You could adapt this idea to any theme with the aspect of "getting from here to there." Keeping covenants to return to our Heavenly Father, living worthy to enter the temple, steps in building a happy home, the growth of a testimony, living the gospel from morning till night, preparing for a mission and so on. I'm so glad we have The Friend. I'm constantly rereading these Sharing Time Ideas, thinking of ways that I could adapt the techniques they use to our current theme.