New Props for Review Week

We reviewed "He Sent His Son" this week.  I wasn't sure whether they'd remember much, because last week was spent entirely on Valentine's Day.  I was VERY happy to find that the kids remembered MUCH more than I even hoped!  I had a poster made by ldsprimaryposters.com.  It came complete with lamination.  The kids responded really well to it. 

I also had some 'blobs", which are nothing more than erratically cut poster board, then laminated.  I had "helpers" come and place the blobs anywhere they wanted on the poster.  It covered up pictures, text, or both.  It was very helpful in pointing out areas where they needed more work.

THEN...  I had put together a sort of singing meter to measure their progress.  I didn't have time to doll it all up with pictures, etc, but they loved it anyway!  In fact, the Junior Primary sang so beautifully, and with such heart, all the adults were in tears at the end of singing time.  Besides learning the song, we really felt the children KNEW what they were singing about.  It was one of the most touching singing times we've ever had.

This is just a blue foam board, covered with yellow poster board.  I cut two slits in the top and bottom with an exacto knife...big enough to allow the bulk of two ends of ribbon to get through.  Then I sewed together some white and red/white dotted ribbon.  The words were cut from my cricut machine.  I wanted to add some motivational pictures...smiley faces....but ran out of time.  Maybe later......

This is the back of the board.  You can see where I've written the location of "Needs Work," "Fair," "Good," etc. so that the person holding the board doesn't have to watch it from the front. I had the primary prez do it. She was awesome, and had a lot of fun messing with the kids, as she would lower it in places that the kids faltered in their words, etc. Honestly, it worked better than I ever expected. I love days like this. It makes up for the times when a plan flops. Gratefully, those are few.

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Conference Packets

General Conference is coming up in two weeks!  Here are some adorable packets put together by Melanie, at Sugardoodle.  she is SO creative!  Just click on the link below and it will take you there.  She has two packets prepared....one for  Junior and one for Senior Primary.  Check 'em out! 
http://www.sugardoodle.info/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5851

Valentine's Day Singing Time

It was SUPER FUN!!  I shamelessly copied all the visuals and used all the ideas from the Beehive Blog.  (The link is in my previous post.)  It turned out really cute, and the kids just loved it.  I had the kids sit in a circle to make it easier to pass the little stuffed pillow.  I found the pillow at JoAnn's and used it instead of the suggested cupid cutout because it went along with the "conversation hearts" theme, and was less likely to get ruined.  (The older boys can be a little rough.  :-)

 Preparation, however, was actually a lot more work than I had anticipated (isn't everything?)  But it was worth it. 

The best part was the surprise song for our pianist in our Senior Primary.  (Also from last post.) When she realized the kids were singing to her, she started to cry, and could hardly keep playing.  I gave her a hand-made valentine card with a message from me, and a copy of the words to the song.  It was a lot of fun for the kids to participate in a surprise like that.

They also loved their valentines.  I even scored a hug from one of the junior primary boys!  It just doesn't get any better than that. . . .

What a fun singing time!  We didn't review "He Sent His Son", which we learned last week.  But with two more Sundays this month, I'm sure we'll be able to nail it. 

If none of this makes sense, please check out the link I posted, last week, for instructions on how to use these visuals.

Love you guys!  Thanks for reading!

Valentines Day Sunday

This idea turned up on facebook this week, and I'm afraid it's BETTER than what I had planned.  So I am totally doing this on Sunday.  I'm sure the kids will LOVE it.

SugarDoodle.net Valentine Singing Time Idea - http://beehivemessages.blogspot.com/2010/02/primary-music-idea-conversation-hearts.html

However, I'm adding just one more item to this itinerary.  In Senior Primary, the last song we sing will be "I Love to See the Temple."  However, I'm going to pass papers out with different words to the song.  This will be a big surprise for our pianist!  After we're done singing, I'll present her with some flowers for Valentines Day.  Pianists are our unsung heros, and I can't wait to spotlight her!  The words are as follows:

Dear Sister (name), we love you
And love to hear you play
Your music brings such rev'rence
And joy to Primary.

We appreciate the gift you share
It helps us feel the spirit
We are blessed to have you here with us
And thank you for your service.

Valentines Day

Instead of using the same old tongue depressor choosing sticks to pick helpers, I threw this together last night in the spirit of Valentine's Day.  I got a Cricut Machine for my birthday, so I used it to cut hearts out of valentine scrapbook paper.  Then I hot-glued a sucker stick on it, and wrote the kids' names on the back.
I cut out some white hearts to decorate the 35-cent bucket and added ribbons for a little flair. 

It worked out great!  I drew the names from the bucket, then hung them on the tree.  That way I wouldn't choose the same kids over and over.  The names from Senior and Junior Primaries were separated by placing them in zip-lock bags. 

I figure I can change these out for all different seasons.

By the way, teaching "He Sent His Son" using the outline I posted last, was very effective.  I used a lot of kids to help me pull stuff out of the bag, and hold the objects up when we sang about them.  I like to use the kids as much as possible, as they pay more attention and seem to have more fun that way. 

One little guy raised his hand and asked if we could learn sign language for this new song, too!  CUTE!

Teaching "He Sent His Son"

Here's what I'm doing tomorrow to teach this song.  I have this gi-normous bag which I'll use as my "Show & Tell" bag.

 I'll have some helpers remove the objects, one at a time, from the bag and tell what they are.  After all the objects have been displayed, I'll talk about how Heavenly Father has "show and tell" too.  More than anything else, Heavenly Father wants to show and tell us how much he loves us.  The objects are things I have around my house, although pictures would work also.  The objects are: 

• A Globe
• Nativity figurine of baby Jesus in the manger
• Path Sign
• Shoes
• Statue of resurrected Christ
• Scriptures
• Statue of Christ and Children

I'll also have some word strips to go with the objects.  They are:

• Love and Tenderness
• Peace and Holiness
• Sacrifice
• Death
• Question Mark
• Faith
• Hope

If I get to primary in time, I'll get a picture from the library - #213 Christ Healing the Blind

Anyway, here is the whole she-bang in three pictures:

The picture of Christ Healing the Blind would go between these word strips and the picture with the caption: "Help Others on their..."  to portray "service" in "Live Like His Son."






Now, if you want to keep reading, I'll attempt to explain how I HOPE this will work.

After all the objects are displayed, I'll hold the globe up and sing: "How could the Father show the world"  and place the "love and tenderness" wordstrip on the board and sing, "of love and tenderness."

Hold up the baby Jesus figurine and sing: "He sent his Son, a newborn babe" then place the wordstrip on the board and sing: "with peace and holiness"

Hold up the pathway sign and sing" "How could the Father show the world, the pathway we should go?"

Hold up the shoes and sing:  "He sent his son to walk with men on earth, that we may know."

Place the wordstrip on the board and sing" How could the Father tell the world of sacrifice of death"

Hold up the statue of the Resurrected christ and sing, "He sent his son to die for us, and rise with living breath."

Place the wordstrip of the question mark and sing: "What does the Father ask of us?"

Hold up the scriptures and sing: "What do the scriptures say?"

Place the wordstrips on the board and sing: "Have faith, have hope"

Place picture of Christ healing the blind on the board and sing: "Live like his Son"

Place the next picture, with the caption, and sing, "help others on their way."

Sing: "what does He ask?"

Hold the statue of Christ with the children and sing: "Live like his son."

So that the kids won't get confused, I'll have my trusty finger pointer to point at either the object or wordstrip they should be singing.  It's just a glove that I stuffed, sewed all but the pointer fingers down, and glued it to a ruler.  A large dowel would look nicer, but I didn't have one...   I change the ribbon to match the season when I use it.

This is a long post, and I hope it makes sense.  AND I hope this all works out like I have pictured it.  I'll let you know next post!