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?

Fathers Day Song #209

I had our fabulous secretary take pictures of the dads roaming the halls two weeks ago. It was a lot easier than running around to different houses trying to catch dads while they were home. I hope the kids like seeing their dads.

Our Bishop kindly consented to be photographed, which is great! For the third verse I had a really hard time finding pictures of the Father. There aren't that many, so both of these are of the same scene.

I made 3 different sets of visual aids for the chorus, that way I could flip through them without having to go back. There are different fathers for the other two, that way I could incorporate more dads. I think I need to draw a heart around the dad on the very special love page.

I don't always put all the words on the visual aids, but we don't have a lot of time to learn the song and it is kind of long. This way the older kids can read the words if they need them and the younger kids can see the pictures.

UPDATE: June 2014.  I made these up again in my new ward.  The kids love seeing the pictures of their dads.  I found the file I used and I tried to put it into Google docs but it doesn't support the font I used.  If you  have Microsoft word I will email you the file, then you add your own photos.  email me at matildaquilts@gmail.com

Sing With Me Baptism Music

I added the music at the bottom of the page.

A Review Week and a Primary Singing Group

This week we reviewed Baptism. Our organist substitued in primary and I gave him the music from the Sing With Me book (challenging, but I was sure he could handle it). If anyone is interrested i'll scan the music and put it on my blog. He did exceptionally well considering it has four sharps and is generally considered the most difficult primary song to play. Personally, I just think the music flows better and makes more sense musically, I don't know if the kids really noticed any difference between the old and new music.
We also reviewed How Firm a Foundation and I Belong to the Church. I have the schedule now where each program song gets sung twice a month. I only have one left to teach now, and i'm really excited about being done. We're doing I'll Seek the Lord Early at the end of June. Next up, is the Fathers day song and I should have my visual aids finished sometime this week so I can post them. I let my pianist pick the song, we're doing Fathers, I love to involve her any way I can.
I pulled out the rose colored glasses this week, and the magical singing spray for motivation.
We also raced the pianist. We always race with Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, but we were singing Popcorn Popping and Brother C. was just playing so energetically I couldn't help it - we had to race. It was so fun, more fun than HSKT, because your hands are trying move quickly to do the signs, and the song is longer so it made it more challenging. He won. I think with a little practice we will be ready for a rematch when he comes back.
My mom sent me a link this week for a yahoo group that talks about singing time, here's the link if you are interrested in joining: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/primusic/
I started just getting the daily update because it can be a lot of emails in one day. Some of the ideas are really good, and it gives me lots to think about.

Baptism

Teaching Baptism

I thought I would try something different in teaching this song.

I printed up a posterboard with the words to the song on it. Some of the words were colored, to match signs I made and taped to sticks. For the Junior Primary I would point to the sign with the picture of the word we were singing. In Senior Primary the kids with the sign would have to stand up when we sang their word and then sit down. Words like immersion only come up once, but 'the' came up several times and that seemed to be the word everyone wanted - especially the older boys. They really had to pay attention to stand up at the right time. Also because we kept switching up who had the signs the kids were more than willing to sing it over and over again.

Reverence in Primary

The presidency asked this week if we would be willing to help bring reverence into the primary by starting to sing as soon as the kids start walking in. I was a little worried that I would be singing by myself while everyone got settled, new things can be a little scary, but the kids caught on right away and started singing - it was the grown ups actually that kept on talking and it took them longer to catch on. I am happy to report that both Sr. and Jr. primaries were more settled and even the Sister conducting knew right when to start. It worked! We sang a few reverence songs and then got started. Of course i'm thrilled, now I can add a few more songs to the list every week!

On a Lighter Note

The children sang so beautifully in Sacrament meeting I had to give them a treat - we sang Head, Shoulders, Knees and Stump (slap your stump) like a pirate. And I conducted Give said the Little Stream while snapping, and the kids snapped too. It was a fun treat for working so hard and singing so well for all the mothers.