Friday, March 20, 2009

Stake Primary Leadership Meeting

I've been invited to our Stake Primary Leadership meeting. All the choristers have been invited to come and to bring an idea to share. Well, I have lots of ideas, but which one do I share. I thought about the singing in style idea, i'm making pictures on sticks to hold up during a song so that we can switch styles while we sing, but i'm not sure that's the one I want to use.
  1. Laminate a white posterboard. I can prepare visual aids at home and just put the poster on an easel, no need to take the time in primary to put things on the white board. I can also write words to a song on the poster board with a dry erase marker and erase words as we go, and I can have that all ready in advance too.
  2. Singing in style.
  3. Have the kids make the pictures for visual aids.
  4. Sing in another language. I have kids in a Spanish immersion program and they love Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in spanish. It's fun.
  5. Teach the chorus first.
  6. Use instruments. Bells at Christmastime for example.
  7. Musical Measles. Always a winner. To encourage the children to sing, pass stickers (small round circles) out to the teachers. As the children sing they get the "measles". My pianist and I are always covered in stickers.
  8. The magic wand - for leading, encouraging singing, almost anything really.
  9. Keep a master list. I copy out the contents section of the songbook and highlight all the songs the kids know. That way when i'm getting the schedule ready I have a list of songs they know at my fingertips. This makes it easier to keep songs in the rotation because I can't remember everything.
  10. Games. I love games. Tic-tac-toe, memory, hangman, etc.
  11. Create a Singing Time Tribune. A few times a year it's helpful to write a short newsletter and send it home with the kids. You can include birthday's, song's you are working on, reminders for the program, spotlights, etc.
  12. Use the Orange Book (Sing with Me)! Wow the arrangement for Baptism in that book is beautiful! There are other great songs in there that didn't make it into the new book but are still great. Also if you plan to sing I know my Father Lives, your pianist will love you forever if you give her the music from the orange book.
  13. Poll the primary children and create a top ten of their favorites. They love to sing their favorite songs and putting them in a top ten format just makes it more fun.
  14. Sing an Article of Faith as your opening song. Each month sing a different Article of Faith. The posters are available in the library. This is a great way to help the kids learn the Articles of Faith. Singing is remembering.
  15. Be organized. I use manilla folders to keep my ideas for each song and visual aids organized. This helps a lot when I need to find something.
  16. My singing clown that pops up and down when the kids sing. Great motivator.

Well, creating a list didn't actually help. It just made it harder to decide.

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