Patriotic Songs

It's almost the 4th of July (almost refers to the fact that there is only one Sunday left before the 4th). I like to sing patriotic songs with the kids. This year I made 30 little quarter page books with songs out of the primary book, the Hymn book and also two personal favorites "You're a Grand Old Flag" and "I Love my Land". There are seven songs, which is about perfect for Senior primary, we'll have time to sing all of them. I also have a few dozen flags that they can wave, although I mostly use these for Jr. Primary. With the younger kids we'll probably only do one or possibly two songs, we'll wave flags and sing "My Flag".

I thought about putting the words to the songs on posters but I do that a lot and the idea of little books just seemed so different. At Christmastime I had them singing out of the Hymn book so I know they can do it, and it's nice not to do the same thing every time.

Recently I have not been able to find the original file, so I have remade the books.  This time they are half-page.  When you are putting them together remember to put the Star Spangled Banner in the center of the book.  It is the only song which takes two sides.  I am trying something new here, a google doc, so hopefully you should be able to access it and print it out.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GD7fro0SOj0S9JXwwG2qgUd-goE5YxUmBjt4qNxHZmo/edit?usp=sharing

It's Fathers Day! It's Fathers Day!

Today I asked Brother Gibson to come in to singing time to help out. Although his wife had him in a fabulous shirt and tie, I had him put on a dollar tie from the D.I. We went through I'll Seek the Lord Early and they sang it, but not really great. So he held up his hand and kind of showed how they sang it about so good, about an inch. They didn't know I was going to cut the tie, so they were surprised when I whipped out the scissors and snipped off the end of the tie. His daughter looked a little upset, so maybe next time I should give some kind of warning. Still the primary kids got the hang of what I was doing and they sang their hearts out. After each song he would show how much he thought it was worth based on how well they sang until we had that tie cut off just below the knot. Then we sent him off to Sunday School with plenty of giggles from the kids. He was kind enough to come back for Sr. Primary with another tie and we did it all over again.

Shannon suggested next year we tell the kids that it's fathers day, and he shouldn't have to wear an ugly tie, so we would sing well so that we can cut that tie off and put on a nice one. Sometimes doing the activity is the best way to learn. So we managed to sing I'll Seek the Lord Early a whole bunch more times today, plus some fathers day songs (by the way they sang like angels in Sacrament Meeting) and then I let them pick fun songs. I shouldn't have been surprised, but about 5 of them asked to sing Book of Mormon Stories while running laps. Not on Sunday. So we did I hope they call me on a mission, Golden Plates, Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam, A Child's Prayer, etc. What a fun Fathers Day, next week: Patriotic songs.

I'll Seek the Lord Early

I taught I'll Seek the Lord Early at the Primary Activity yesterday. I took those Scotch sticky hooks and put them on either side of the room, then I ran a rope across the room about my eye level and hung the pictures from them. It made it really easy to see the visual aids, they weren't wiggling and I could point to them as we went along. The kids picked it up really quickly.

The theme of the activity was Dads. I had fifteen minutes with each group and after we had sung this song a few times, plus some Fathers day songs, I wanted to do some fun activities that we can't do on Sundays. We have two doors in the primary room that lead into the same hall so we did laps jogging and singing Book of Mormon Stories. We sang Follow the Prophet, spinning on "the", and jumping and clapping on "prophet". We did Do as I'm Doing leaping and clapping and moving around. It was a serious workout for me, I did it with all five groups. It was so much fun.

Quarterly Primary Activity

Our Quarterly Primary Activity is this Saturday and the Primary Presidency has asked me to do a rotation of singing time for the kids (20 minutes per group). I am going to review the Father's Day song, maybe two or three times, they know it pretty well now, but after that i'm not sure. I kind of want to do things that would be fun for Saturday but that I wouldn't do on a Sunday. I have thought about marching around the room while singing Book of Mormon Stories, or being bold and getting balloons to pop with darts (songs inside the balloons). I have even considered teaching I'll Seek the Lord Early. I want it to be fun, because it's Saturday, but I just can't decide what to do.

A Nursery Box

We are out visiting again! Year round school means that our summer is over in 1 1/2 weeks and my kids spend another 7 weeks in school. So, I made sure to go to primary and take notes about what they are doing in Singing Time. Right away I knew I needed a picture of the Nursery box. The Nursery children are brought into the primary room between Jr. and Sr. primary so that they can get familiar with the room and singing time. They sit in a semi-circle around the singing leader and take turns pulling objects out of the box - and then they sing the song which corresponds to it.

Star - I am Like a Star
Glove - A Happy Family
Book of Mormon - BOM Stories
Doll - I am a Child of God
Leaves - In the leafy treetops
Bag of Popcorn - Popcorn Popping
Raindrop - Rain is falling all around
Smiley Face - Smiles
Tie - I'm so glad when Daddy comes home
Heart - Love one Another
Sponge - When we're helping
Box - Hinges (it has hinges)
Gift - Give said little stream
Duck - Ducks in the Pond
Church - The chapel doors
Hands - My Hands

The nursery kids loved picking out the items and then singing the song. They really got to pick the song! I think older kids would enjoy this kind of activity too.
They were also practicing their Fathers Day song and sang it 18 times between Jr. and Sr. Primary. I have to also say thank you to them because they let me race their pianist in Popcorn Popping and sing like a pirate with them. Sometimes I think i'm as much a child as the kids are.

Reverence Songs

I saw this poster in the closet last Sunday, the Singing Leader from the other ward put it together. The doors and windows open to reveal the names of reverent songs. I thought it was really clever. I like that it's a church and it reminds the children visually that we need to be reverent because of where we are. I think i'm pretty boring when it comes to reverent songs, I pick one and we sing it. What do you do for reverent songs?