Teaching Conducting

Singing Time Fun has "Teaching Conducting in 10 Easy Lessons". Awesome!

Birthday Drum

In our Primary we do a Birthday Drum. The birthday child gets to drum, while the rest of the Primary counts, how old they are turning. (It's an oatmeal or a formula can wrapped in birthday wrapping paper). The kids love it!

I Am a Child of God - Verse Keywords / Children of God Puzzle Poster Displays

One verse at a time, assemble children of God puzzle posters in lyric order. Have the children repeat the part I just put up, then sing to that part, then add more and move on. Each "child of god" puzzle poster includes a 'special' piece. This piece is a keyword and touch association that helps the children remember what order the verses go in.

Verse Keywords:
V1 - “sent ME” - point to self
V2 - “my NEEDS” - point to knees (rhymes with "needs". silly, but it works)
V3 - “RICH blessings” - point to pocket (where you keep your money)
V4 - “PROMISES” - point to ring finger

The puzzle poster verse keyword 'special' extra pieces are:
V1 - star badge with "me" written on it
V2 - knee pads V3 - pile of coins
V4 - diamond ring

*If extra time - point to a child puzzle poster and have children wearing the same color as the poster stand up and sing that verse.
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HERE ARE MY:

• I Am a Child of God WORD STRIPS
• I Am a Child of God FLIP CHART
• I Am a Child of God VERSE KEYWORDS Flip Chart

I Am a Child of God
FLIP CHART

I Am a Child of God
WORD STRIPS

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PREP:

• Print off word strips and glue them to child puzzle posters (one for each verse)
• Assemble pieces of Child of God posters (see below for more detailed info). Laminate to make durable.

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ASSEMBLING THE CHILD PUZZLE POSTERS:

They're not really puzzles. But they's not really posters. They're posters in pieces that you assemble as you go....
Anyway,

1. Out of construction paper, cut out a T-shirt and head (glue together), Pants and shoes (glue together), and two arms per child.
2. Remember to cut out the keyword pieces as well (star, knee pads, coins, ring).
3. Cut out lyrics (you can use my word strip sheet, link above)
4. Glue lyrics to body parts (I Am a Child of God goes on each T-Shirt)
5. Label all the parts.
6. Laminate parts for durability (perhaps you can find other uses for your 4 newly adopted children. Seriously, they're so cute you might soon be calling them by name. :)

*Mine are not laminated - they're "faux laminated". I took my construction paper pieces, glued them to white poster board, covered them with strips of clear packing tape then cut out the pieces, leaving a white edge (the thicker the edge, the better). Yes, it was a lot of work - but it was cheaper and more convenient than running to the store (in my timeline of events that day, I was too late to run to the copy center).

5 parts per child:
head/body
2 arms
pants
keyword accessory

VERSE 1
he has sent me here (point to yourself)

VERSE 2
and so my needs are great (point to your knees)
[When I taped the knee pads on I told the kids that this one wore holes in the knees of his pants
from kneeling down to pray so much,
so he needed these knee pads. He has so many needs
that he is kneeling down to talk to Heavenly Father all the time.]

VERSE 3
rich blessings are in store (point to your pocket)

VERSE 4
his promises are sure (point to your ring finger)

Labeled and stored, each in their own plastic bag.
I wrote with Sharpie on the back of them 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5 - (verse . lyric order) - 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5 - etcetera

I Am a Child of God Descant

Ideas for the descant of I Am a Child of God:

• Teach it to the Sr Primary.
• Have a child in your primary play it on flute or violin.
• Have a guest adult play it on flute or violin. 
• Have the Ward Choir Learn it and sing it with the Primary during the Primary Program

Sample Lesson Plan

As the Lion King taught us all... Be Prepaaaaaaaared!

My Mother, who taught elementary school for 35 years, taught me that it's important to have a lesson plan - and to be prepared to deviate from it.  ;)

I print my lesson plans on the back of my Sunday Sheet (the paper I give to my Pianist). Here's an example:

Nursery

In my Ward I do not go in and sing with the Nursery. But if I did I would borrow a lot of ideas from Chorister Corner's Nursery Box...

Wiggle Worms

image source

It's a cute idea to have all of your wiggle songs in a jar and to have kids pick them out.

Our pianist plays "wiggly" music* while the kids wiggle, shake and jump around. I then pick who's the wiggliest, and that child comes up and picks from the wiggle jar. I may need to start using the picking sticks, though, so as not to keep picking the same children over and over.

We have pom-poms, with the song attached on a long colorful neon rectangle piece of paper bent back and forth to look 'wiggly' (do you get the idea? I need to take a picture). These wiggle worms from Choristor's Corner are adorable, too.


*wiggly music.... like, a triplet of high notes over and over.  Get it? Sort of?