February 22, 2009

I made a Tic Tac Toe board out of a black poster board that I cut to be square (15"x15") and used ribbon to make the squares. I had found some 8.5"x5.5" foam sheets from Hobby Lobby. I have access to a die cut from school and made 6 red X's and 6 yellow O's from the foam. I put the names of the songs on the backs and we played Tic Tac Toe. The way our Primary is set up, I grouped the younger kids into the X's and he older kids were the O's. The X's got to go first so they had the advantage. I was quite surprise that even the Sunbeams figured out that they needed to block the others. Because there were so many that "helped out" by shouting where to put the letter, they ended up in a tie. That was great because no one "won" (or lost). The children had a lot of fun and we were able to sing nine songs.

February 15, 2009

I took a large pre-folded foam poster board that I bought at Hobby Lobby and glued some hearts and lace on it. Then I told the kids that I found this Valentine and had them guess who it was from. On the inside, I put cut out hearts and labeled them as noted below. On the backs were the corresponding songs and their page numbers. The children were able to chose the next song by picking a heart off the Valentine. Of course I also brought "Singing Juice." ALWAYS a HUGE hit! I walked around during the song to spray those who were singing well. I was taking time after each song to spray the children but it was taking up too much time. It worked much quicker this time. I also squirt everyone one last time before the last song to get them back reverent again and I get them to fold their arms near the end.

February 8, 2009

I found a Karaoke machine and brought it for Primary today. I really wasn't sure how I was going to work out the logistics of it but it worked out really well. I didn't have an extension cord and we ended up with both Junior and Senior at the same time due to Teacher Inservice. I started singing into the microphone and walked around. When I saw a child trying to sing well, I put the mike in front of their mouth. Most of them liked it but several shied away from it and I couldn't reach the back row. We sang through "How Firm a Foundation" several times and then I'm thinking "Now what?" I then got the bright idea of letting them come up to the front to sing. I chose one person that had their hand raised and they each got to choose a helper. We even got a couple of teachers up to the front. We sang the same song over and over for 25 minutes and didn't get bored at all. A PERFECT way to repeat the song over and over without anyone noticing!

Nursery Songs

I copied the names of some primary songs as well as regular favorites along with pictures onto the front and back of card stock and laminated it. The nursery kids point to the picture that represents the song they want to sing. It really works out well. They are starting to know now which songs go with which picture.

February 1, 2009

I used the following guide to introduce How Firm a Foundation today. It worked out well and everyone seemed interested. Jr. Primary was shortened by sharing time to 10 minutes but it worked out great because I don't think the little ones could take any more. I got through the entire first verse with them but got through half of the second verse with Sr.

Here was my outline:

This is a new Hymn from our Hymn Book
Me: How firm a foundation,
Ye Saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith
in His excellent word!
What more can He say
than to you He has said,
Who unto the Savior...
for refuge have fled?

What is a foundation?
Block example (see example)

Me: How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord.
Who are the Saints of the Lord?
Us! Followers of Christ
All: How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord.

Me: Is laid for your faith in His excellent word.
What does this mean?

All: Is laid for you faith in His excellent word.
Show scriptures
A foundation is laid from His word, or the scriptures, His church,
so we can have faith in time of need.

Me: How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord.
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word.
All: How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord.
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word.

Me: What more can he say than to you he has said
All: What more can he say than to you he has said

All: How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord.
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word.
What more can he say than to you he has said

Me: Who unto the Savior,
Who unto the Savior,
Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled?
What is refuge?
What does it mean to have fled?
Why would we flee unto the Savior for refuge?
Me: Who unto the Savior,
Who unto the Savior,
Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled?

All: Who unto the Savior,
Who unto the Savior,
Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled?

All: How firm a foundation,
Ye Saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith
in His excellent word!
What more can He say
than to you He has said,
Who unto the Savior...
for refuge have fled?

Me: Fear not, I am with thee;
Oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous,...
omnipotent hand.

What a beautiful verse!
Lets talk about this one.
Me: Fear not, I am with thee:
Oh, be not dismayed.
What does dismayed mean?
Have you ever been so afraid that you didn't know what to do?

Me: Fear not, I am with thee:
Oh, be not dismayed.
All: Fear not, I am with thee:
Oh, be not dismayed.

Me: For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
What is aid?

Me: For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
All: For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.

All: Fear not, I am with thee;
Oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.

Me: I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand.
If you couldn't stand up, do you think it would be wonderful if someone helped you up?
Here, I talked about quicksand and how if you were stuck that you would need someone to help you out, that you couldn't get out by yourself.

Me: I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand.
All: I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand.

Me: Upheld by my righteous,...
omnipotent hand.
What does omnipotent mean?
Unlimited power
What is a righteous omnipotent hand?

Me: Upheld by my righteous,...
omnipotent hand.
All: Upheld by my righteous,...
omnipotent hand.

All: I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous,...
omnipotent hand.

All: Fear not, I am with thee;
Oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous,...
omnipotent hand.

All: How firm a foundation,
Ye Saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith
in His excellent word!
What more can He say
than to you He has said,
Who unto the Savior...
for refuge have fled?

Fear not, I am with thee;
Oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I'll strengthen thee, help thee,
and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous,...
omnipotent hand.

I found some wood blocks from wal-mart in the children's section and covered them with pictures. Then I used two blocks as a foundation (with baptism, prayer, scriptures, tithing, temple marriage, etc.) and topped them one at a time with things that we are going to have to deal with in life (like friends, school, families, finances, and choices like who to marry, whether or not to go on a mission, etc.). Then I took away something like prayer from the foundation and they all got excited when the blocks all fall. I really think that they got the idea.

I had planned on getting through the whole lesson but I'll have to continue it for next week.