Singing Time- 30/8/09

Today was the first week we split the junior and Senior Primary up in Kawana ward and it went extremely well. It was certainly very necessary because we have 12 sunbeams at the moment! So this is what I did with them today:



SENIOR PRIMARY:




1. How firm a foundation- I brought a large white board that I had at home and drew the above image I found on sugar doodle which i thought was a great way to set out the words. We sang the song through with the words, then gradually i would rub of parts of the words, until they knew it well enough to rub off all the word! It was great.

2. Books of the Old Testament- Today I taught them the song "The Books of the old Testament." So I got them into groups with a piece of paper, pen and some scriptures and got them to make a list of all the books in the book of Mormon in order from beginning to end. Once they had their list we sang through the song with the list to help them get familiar with the tune and the words. Then once we had sung it a couple of times I took the paper away and I assigned each of them a book, and when it came to their book in the song they had to sing the name of their book. It worked really well and helped us learn it really quickly in time for some more songs. Once they got good at their book, I'd swap the books around until they knew the whole song. It also meant they could all pass off that song on our senior primary song chart :)



JUNIOR PRIMARY

1.My Eternal Family- A few weeks back I taught the children actions to this song that have really helped them to learn it. This is a basic rundown:

(Marching the whole time)

I am a builder working each day (Pointing to themselves)
to build my family (fist on fist to look as though they're building-just like the wise man & foolish man)
and I will do the best I can (Pointing to themselves)
to serve them lovingly (make a heart shape with their hands)

I am a builder (Pointing to themselves)
growing so tall (Hands going up above their heads)
and learning everyday (make a book with their hands)
to speak with kindness in my home (talking hand-like the chicken dance action)
to help at work and play (sweeping action)

My Heavenly Father sent me here (Pointing to themselves)
And he knows I can be (point to their heads like they're thinking)
Strong and righteous (flex arms)
as i build (fist on fist to look as though they're building-just like the wise man & foolish man)
My Eternal Family (March)

As an incentive to get them to sing really well (worked like a charm) I incorporated the game musical measles. For those who were singing well they were given musical measles (red dot stickers) that they could stick all over the teacher of their choice at the end of singing time. Beware, you might end up covered in stickers :p

Spin the Bishop!- 16/8/09

We just had our stake boundaries changed, and we have a new Bishop in Kawana Ward. So it was a "get to know the Bishop" singing time. And today has to have been my favorite Singing Time in Kawana so far, it was a lot of fun! I organised for Bishop to come in and we started his visit by singing him the song "He's our Bishop." Then I asked bishop to come and sit in a spinning chair in the middle of the room (I got it out of the clerks office), and the children sat in a circle around Bishop. I asked Bishop to point his arms out straight like a pointer, then I spun him around on the chair. When he came to a stop, the child he was pointing to got to come up and pick a question out of a pretty box I had in my hand. These were some of the questions, and some of the songs I added to the questions:

1. How long have you been married?
2. What was your favorite subject at school?
3. Where did you serve a mission? (Called to serve)
4. What sort of car do you drive?
5. What are some of your hobbies?
6. How many children do you have and what are their names? (I am a child of God)
7. Do you have any pets?
8. What's your favorite Book of Mormon story? (Book of Mormon Stories)
9. What sort of books do you like to read?
10. What's your favorite food? (Popcorn Popping)
11. What's your favorite Primary Song? (Sing Bishop's favorite song)
12. What are your favorite sports?
13. Where were you born?
14. What is your favorite hymn? (Sing his favorite hymn)
15. Have you ever broken any bones? (Hinges)
16. What do you do for a living?



The children were so well behaved (mainly because Bishop was there) and they all really enjoyed watching Bishop get dizzy on the chair. And it was a really nice way for the children to get to know the Bishop a bit better. You could add any other songs to the questions, but I found I didn't need too many songs as we ran out of time quickly. At the end of singing time we presented bishop with a bucket that had all the Primary children's hands cut out, with their names on them, on coloured paper and attached to skewers. On the front of the bucket was a little heart shape that read "Our Primary sustains Bishop Kelly." Bishop was very appreciative, and he seemed to really enjoy the time he had in Primary. He even put it on the pulpit on Fathers Day, so I think he likes it :)

Hot & Cold- 9/8/09

The game hot & cold is so easy to do, yet it keeps the kids interested, I love it. Today we reviewed the song "He's our bishop" so we'll be ready to sing for bishop next week. So i got one child to go outside and another to hide a lollie somewhere in the room (I got permission to use lollies today) and then once it was hidden, and all the children knew where it was, we'd let the other child back in. Then all the children had to sing softly when they were far from the object, and louder the closer they got. We played a number of rounds and got fairly good at the words by the end.