Getting back to business - Tentative Schedule for 2010

What follows is my tentative schedule for next year. I know there will be a Stake Conference, probably in February and I don't have the date on that yet. Other than that what follows should get me through the program songs and Mothers and Fathers day. Please keep in mind that I have to teach all the songs by June, because of our year round school and extreme summer heat we lose about 1/3 to 1/2 of the primary during the summer months as they travel to cooler climes.

January

3 Begin I know that my savior loves me (Jr. Primary just the chorus) In Sign Language
10 2nd verse with Sr. Primary, 1st verse and chorus with Jr.
17 review with Sr., teach 2nd verse to jr.
24
31

February

7 He Sent His Son (First half with jr, whole song sr.)
14 2nd half jr, review sr.
21
28 Teach Latter Day Prophets (We know Follow the Prophet, so I'm adding this in)

March

7 Teach On A Golden Springtime (3 verses - optional song for August)
14
21
28

April

We know The Church of Jesus Christ in English and Spanish.

4 General Conference
11 Teach Come follow me (not sure how many verses yet)
18
25 Start Mother's Day Songs #202 and 203

May

2 Review Mothers Day songs
9 Sing in Sacrament meeting Teach Keep the Commandments (optional song)
16
23
30 Teach The Holy Ghost

June

6 Begin Father's Day Songs #209 and 210
13 Review Fathers day songs
20 Fathers Day Sing in Sacrament Meeting
27

On the days that I am not teaching a song we review the other songs. Each program song needs to be sung at least twice a month. Add them in as opening or closing songs, as long as you keep singing them. Also keep singing last years songs, add those in as often as you can because the kids love to sing them.

My Brother Makes me look Boring

A New Year's Singing Time

Subtitle: My brother makes me look boring

Nat sings Stars Were Gleaming
"Hearken We Can Hear it Still"

Nat said he wanted to do something really spectacular. He did. Inside each balloon suspended from the ceiling was confetti, a song and small gifts like plastic whales, lizards and snakes. He attached pins to the end of the Nerf darts so the child would shoot the balloon, the confetti would come out they would search through the confetti on the floor for the song and the "gifts". The children were sitting away from the balloons so they wouldn't get hit.
Shaking the bells during Jingle Bells and Christmas Bells.

While this is something I will probably never do, it certainly was a huge hit. My son who is impatiently waiting for the computer is suddenly disappointed that I won't be doing this. I can see my Dad at the piano watching in amazement at my brother. I think I have forever lost the coolest singing leader in the family title. Way to go Nat!!!!
(As a side note, he brought his vacuum from home and had quite a time vacuuming before coming over for dinner).

The Gift of Song

The photo shows the gift bags on the bottom and some of the items that I used in Jr. primary. My husband wouldn't wear the tie, but it was perfect for my activity today.

In Junior Primary this morning I had gift bags with items in them. Each item corresponded to a song. I had a child pick a gift bag, figure out which song it went to, then we sang the song.

popcorn - Popcorn Popping
Shepherd - Shepherd's Carol
Family photo - The Family is of God
Necktie - Daddy's Homecoming
Hand - My Hands
Book of Mormon - Book of Mormon Stories
Bell - Christmas Bells
Telephone - Called to Serve

In Senior Primary we gave the gift of song. I admit that the original idea came from Sugardoodle, I changed it up quite a bit though. We all had a hymn book, we picked one Christmas song and sang it once as a practice. Then I sent a child out into the hall to find someone and bring them back in because we had a gift for them. Then we would sing the song we practiced for that person. It really was a gift! The people the kids found were surprised and bewildered (mostly Dad's with babies, and a bishopbric member) but it was fun to give a different kind of gift. Each time we picked a song, we would practice then sing it to someone. We didn't get through as many songs as we usually do, but today really was special.

Christmas Carols

In senior primary this week I made 50 Christmas songbooks. There were two pages double sided with Christmas songs from the primary songbook, Hymn book and some assorted favorites. We sang carols for 25 minutes, it was wonderful!

In junior primary I brought in my little 3 foot tree. I plugged it in and had the kids decorate the tree. Each ornament had a song written on it, so we would sing the songs as we decorated. It looks a little sad, after all we only hung 8 ornaments but it was a lot of fun. We had the nursery kids in again and so we also sang the sunbeam song and a few others that they knew.

Jingle Bells and Snowballs

For Senior Primary, I wanted something fun. I had prepared to do the same thing in Sr and Jr, but I just needed to do something different. I pulled out the snowball idea that i've read about a bunch but never used. I got one sheet of paper for each child and had them write a song they wanted to sing today. I gave them 30 seconds, because otherwise they would spend all singing time choosing. I had them each crumple the paper like a snowball, and throw their first snowball of the year (towards the front of the room). Then I picked up one snowball at a time and we sang the songs. The results were interesting:
11 votes for Love is Spoken here
3 for I am a Child of God
4 for Jingle Bells
3 for Snowman
2 for How Firm a Foundation
2 for Silent Night
2 for Child's Prayer
and one each for 10 other songs.
Also, this must have been a group of boys in the back, there were 4 votes for "I love Chicken". Figures. I brought all the papers home, so my kids can make snowflakes this afternoon. The snowballs were actually really fun, and it was something different and unexpected. I was worried the kids would get too rowdy, but it was okay.

For Junior Primary we sang a lot of the songs that we can use bells for like Christmas Bells and Jingle Bells. They really enjoyed that. Then I had them help me by guest conducting with my light up oven mitt. This thing has been popular for as long as i've used it. They like the lights turned off and they will sing their hearts out to the waving lights.

The 12x12 Cube

This is made from a box from the U-haul store. The original idea was to take any square shaped box and cover it with colored paper, but this box happened to be red so it made the job easier. Using clear shipping tape, page protectors are taped onto every side. That way whatever you are working on can be changed in and out. There's nothing inside the box so it's lightweight and transports back and forth to Church really easily. Hope this helps Torri!

A Shepherd's Carol

This week I taught A Shepherd's Carol. I put all the words up on a poster and then we practiced singing it a few times. Once the kids were singing it well I held up boy and girl signs so they had to take turns. Then we sang it with teachers and children. I had kids come up and hold the signs so that they could choose who was singing. It was fun, and a great way to practice the song. After we had sung it that way a few times, we started practicing singing it in a round. It's difficult because the accompaniment doesn't give anything for the other parts, but everyone was really trying hard and it sounded wonderful. I haven't ever taught this song before, I was thrilled at how quickly they picked it up, and they wanted to sing it again and again.
We aren't singing in Sacrament Meeting for Christmas so we can just have a good time with the Christmas songs.