Top 10 Primary Song Countdown.... REMIX!

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*Little known fact about me. I worked in radio and have my degree in Broadcasting. A Top 10 Countdown is right up my alley...  :)

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Paraphrase: Every year a list comes out with the most popular songs played on the radio that year. When a song gets really popular often times remixed versions of the song come out. One of the ways to remix a song is to add a new beat. I brought our Top 10 Songs we sang in Primary this year. Our Pianist is going to play it the same, we are going to sing it the same, but we’re going to add beats to our Top 10 songs by clapping, slapping, stomping and snapping.

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Choose a song. Let the kids help choose how to "remix" the song. For example, I Am a Child of God is in 4/4 time. So you need 4 "beats". A repeat of 'lap, lap, clap, snap' would work for that song. The kids may get really creative and do something like 'elbow, other elbow, head, stomp' - you just never know. That's what's so fun about "remixing" the songs!  ;)

2013 Program Songs Crossword Puzzles

*If you print this you may need to open both pictures separately

and then print on two pages (or front and back).

*More clues can be found at the bottom of this post. (But can you do it without the extra clues?)

*LINKS to make your own puzzles.

More Clues:
IAMACHILDOFGOD
MYHEAVENLYFATHERLOVESME
IFTHESAVIORSTOODBESIDEME
IPRAYINFAITH
TEACHMETOWALKINTHELIGHT
IAMLIKEASTAR
HOLDINGHANDSAROUNDTHEWORLD
WHENIAMBAPTIZED
FAMILIESCANBETOGETHERFOREVER
ACHILDSPRAYER
ILOVETOSEETHETEMPLE

Paper CD Case - (Primary Music CDs 2013)

Note to self: CD burning took longer than I thought it would. Factor in procrastination and the kids are getting the CDs about a month before the Primary Program. 

For the cases:

• Cut a 12x12" scrapbook page in half (so it's 6" x 12")
• Fold in half
• Cut width to be 5 1/4" wide.

• *Finished cut area is 6" tall by 5 1/4" wide.

• Clear tape the sides
• Put CD in
• Fold down top

Extra security strip, so CD doesn't fall out on the way home:

• Cut 2" wide x 6" long stips
• Center strip and fold around
• Tape at back

Could add a cute tag with the Year or the Theme or your Ward's Name... (I ran out of time).

Families Can Be Sealed For Eternity

picture from LDS image Library

Show family figurines.

Explain that these people are a family.

Put all of the people in the bag with the temple picture on it.

Seal the bag - make a big deal of "sealing" it.

Turn the bag upside down and show how the people all stay together inside the bag.

Explain that through Temple marriage our families can be sealed together and can be together forever.

Take the temple picture off the bag. 

Unseal the bag and turn it upside down. Let the people fall out.
Explain how the bag wasn't sealed and even though they had a good family and were happy while they lived on Earth, the family wasn't sealed together and they didn't stay together for eternity.

Explain that we can go to the Temple to do the work for our immediate family - the family members we see every day, and also for our family members who have died and didn't have the chance to do the work while they were on the Earth. Jesus Christ made it possible for us to be together forever as families.

Show the picture of the Temple.
Explain that in the Temple we make sacred Covenants that bind us together for eternity if we choose to live righteously in this life.

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PREPARE:

• 1 gallon Ziplock bag
• Figurines of Pictures representing family members
• Temple Picture

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UPDATE:

• Be sensitive to those with different family situations.
• Really emphasize that this is for their future family. THEY can get married in the Temple and have THEIR kids sealed to them. Or, that they can do Temple work for their family that has passed on and didn't have a chance to have the Gospel on the Earth. This lesson could make a child currently in an unfortunate situation feel sad.  :(
• I could tell the kids "got it" with this demonstration. They liked it.

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*Original idea from The Idea Door

**Adapted by The Crazy Chorister

***Readapted by PN29 (Ashlie Johansen)

Military Tribute Video 2013

I took the videos I'd found and gathered in this post and put them together to make my own Military Tribute montage video for my Ward. It's basically a mini Music and the Spoken Word. :)  About 10 minutes long.

VIDEO CLIP ORDER:
1. Battle Hymn of the Republic ♪
2. Duty, Honor, Courage
3. Who Are the Brave? ♪

*I made some minor tweaks to the audio. (Just gentle crossfading and the levels mostly in Who Are The Brave. You won't even notice.)

*This is compressed, so the quality is going to be low and grainy. If you live near me I'll happily burn you a full quality video.

Link to YouTube: http://youtu.be/xMwgRdKZ7eA

2013 Rainbow Review

The June 2013 song of the month is When I Am Baptized (CS 103).  Since they learned the song last year and basically already know it our Second Sunday in June will be a review of the 2013 Primary Songs. A Rainbow Review!  I am going to use the magic color cups to help determine which song to sing. My rainbow-zed list of 2013 songs we've learned so far goes like this:

When I Am Baptized 103
I Am a Child of God 2
Pray in Faith 14
My Heavenly Father Loves Me 228
If The Savior Stood Beside Me (sheet)
Holding Hands Around the World (sheet)
Teach Me to Walk in the Light  CS177 or Hymn 304

I'm excited - I've read great things about the magic cups and I can't wait to do them in our Primary! :D

When I Am Baptized - "Clean Again" Lesson

*I pulled out the Child of God Puzzle Posters I made at the beginning of the year for I Am a Child of God (the song is the 2013 theme). I "faux laminated" them and the tape is 'slick' on the front. Beforehand I tested out really waxy crayons to make sure they'd wipe off (they did, whew).*



Here's how the lesson goes:

After teaching When I Am Baptized pull out the laminated paper child. Tell the children that in the song it says that "we can be forgiven" and "our wrongs can be washed away". Tell the children that your "friend" is a good kid, but sometimes even good kids make mistakes. Tell them that he/she said a bad word / didn't share / didn't listen to their parents / etcetera. Each time you say something scribble on the child with the crayon. Then, explain that through baptism we can be forgiven and "our wrongs can be washed away - just like it says in the song!". Get your eraser (or paper towel, in my case) and tell the kids that your "friend" said sorry and asked forgiveness of Heavenly Father and the person they had wronged - each time, erase the crayon mark until the child is clean again. Read Mosiah 22:26 to the kids;

"For behold, this is my church; whosoever is baptized shall be baptized unto repentance. And whomsoever ye receive shall believe in my name; and him will I freely forgive."

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UPDATE:

• In both JR and SR Primary the room got so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Great lesson.

Ward Time Capsule

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*I'd like to do this activity when the monthly song is Families Can Be Together Forever (June 2013)*

1. Explain that our Ward is like a big family and the Father of our Ward is Our Bishop.

2. Learn Fathers- verse 2 or Our Bishop.

3. Invite the Bishop to help the Primary children make a Ward Time Capsule.

Ideas of what to put in the time capsule:

• trace Bishop's hand
• take note of who was in Bishopric positions, Primary Presidency, Primary Teachers and other positions in the Ward
• take note of who is the Prophet and his Counselors 
• put in some of their own drawn pictures
• put in some of their hand traces
• A picture of the whole Primary
• Pictures of each class
• filled out questionnaires
• a CTR ring
• CD of that year's Program Songs
• ask Teachers to bring an item for each class (or have them make an item from each class, something with each kids' name on it or something....)

Or, if you have a smaller Primary, have them make individual time capsules. With a form like this or something.

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SEE LDS TIME CAPSULE ACTIVITY IDEAS HERE:

SugarDoodle

Mormon Share  

Rainbow Lyrics for When I Am Baptized

I am going to make a visual aide where each "bow" of the rainbow has lyrics on it. I will hide "bows" around the room. The children will find them and then we'll assemble the whole rainbow on the board. Then we'll do a lyric take-away to sing the song over and over again. I'll post a picture when I'm done making my rainbow. I rainbow-color-coded the lyrics like this:

I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain

And ponder on the beauty of an earth made clean again.

I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain.

I want to be the best I can and live with God again.

I know when I am baptized my wrongs are washed away,

And I can be forgiven and improve myself each day.

I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain.

I want to be the best I can and live with God again.

*Here's how mine turned out. I just did pix and keywords:

Sign Language Inspired Actions for When I Am Baptized

---> POSTSCRIPT <----
After doing all that work (below) I found THIS YouTube video of When I Am Baptized done beautifully in ASL. My work and research is still below, but the video is very nice (and would have been nice to find earlier...)
--------------------- --------------------- --------------------- --------------------- *I put together some simple signs for this When I Am Baptized. One ASL class in High School is what I'm going off of, so... feedback from someone who does know ASL would be appreciated. Hopefully there are no inappropriate signs. ;) I'm kidding, there's not.

*Also, here's where I talk about the sign for Heavenly Father (at the bottom of the post).

MODERATE SIGN:

I like to look for rainbows LOOK RAINBOW

whenever there is rain RAIN

And ponder on the beauty PONDER BEAUTY

of an earth made clean again. EARTH CLEAN AGAIN

I want my life flat hand on heart

to be as clean CLEAN

as earth right after rain. EARTH RAIN

I want to be the best I can flat hand on heart thumbs up

and live with God again. LIVE H.F AGAIN

I know when I am baptized KNOW point to self BAPTIZE

my wrongs are washed away MY WRONG WASHED

And I can be forgiven point to self FORGIVE

and improve myself each day. IMPROVE

I want my life flat hand on heart

to be as clean CLEAN

as earth right after rain. EARTH RAIN

I want to be the best I can flat hand on heart thumbs up

and live with God again. LIVE H.F AGAIN

SIMPLIFIED SIGN:

I like to look for rainbows RAINBOWS

whenever there is rain RAIN

And ponder on the beauty PONDER

of an earth made clean again. CLEAN

I want my life flat hand on heart

to be as clean CLEAN

as earth right after rain. RAIN

I want to be the best I can thumbs up

and live with God again. point up toward Heaven

I know when I am baptized BAPTIZE

my wrongs are washed away WASHED (palms up, flip over as if letting go or dropping something)

And I can be forgiven FORGIVEN

and improve myself each day. IMPROVE

I want my life flat hand on heart

to be as clean CLEAN

as earth right after rain. RAIN

I want to be the best I can thumbs up

and live with God again. point up toward Heaven

Holding Hands Around the World: Mail Swap

I decided to incorporate a mail swap when we learned the song Holding Hands Around the World. I found two Primaries in Italy and Japan to do our mail swap with (our Utah Ward was big enough to split with two other Wards). Finding a Ward turned out to be trickier than I thought, but I pulled it off. So, if you want to do this be sure to plan ahead. Way ahead. This activity is not one you can just pull out of a last-minute bucket. It takes some serious planning. Another thing that really helped was having a template for the kids to fill out. I also hung one I had already filled out on the board as an example. I had a younger version of the temple for JR and an older version for SR.

*There is a mail swap at OCD Primary Chorister that closes at the end of May 2013.

Here is a sample of some of our letters:

Holding Hands Around the World: Where Are They From?

image source

1. Tape/Draw an Earth on the board
2. A child comes up and picks a paper person (link to printable below)
3. Have 3 interesting things about where the paper doll is from to give as hints when the children need help.
4. After they guess it right, sing.
5. Repeat

*You can add some movement to this activity by adding things to do related to the county you're talking about while you sing the song through. Below are my facts and my movements:

AFRICA (continent)
1. The two most popular sports are football (aka soccer) and cricket.
2. Four of the five fastest land animals live here. The cheetah, the wildebeast, the lion and the Thomsons gazelle.
3. This place is home to the largest living land animal, the African Elephant.
- clap the rhythmn

INDIA
1. Cows can be seen walking freely in the streets.
2. Their dancing uses expressive hand movements.
3. The national animal is the Bengal Tiger. The national bird is the Peacock.
- fancy hand movements

CANADA
1. It was founded by Vikings in 1000 AD.
2. They like to play hockey.
3. The border between this country and the US is 5,525 miles long.
- sing like a Viking (opera style)

CHINA
1. This country is known as the "Flowery Kingdom".
2. Ping-pong is the most popular sport. The most popular hobby is stamp collecting.
3. The color red is seen as a symbol of happiness and can be seen everywhere.
 - invisible ping-pong

ITALY
1. The first violin came from this country in the 1500s.
2. Pizza is popular in this country.
3. The capital city, Rome, is almost 3000 years old.
- play violin

MEXICO
1. Millions of Monarch butterflies migrate to this country every year.
2. Bullfighting is the national sport.
3. The world's smallest dog, the Chihuahua is named after a state in this country.
 - be a butterfly

FRANCE
1. Before eating a meal in this county it is polite to say "bon apettit".
2. This country is home to the Eiffel Tower.
3. The world's most famous bike race is here. (Tour de'France).
 - bicycle hands

HOLLAND
1. Windmills are a beloved symbol of this country.
2. People in this county wear wooden shoes.
3. 75% of the world's tulips come from this country.
-  walk the beat

RUSSIA
1. Largest country in the world.
2. This country has cold, cold winters.
3. This country is a leader is arts, music and ballet.
- ballet arms

JAPAN
1. This country makes the most cars in the world.
2. Rice cookers can be found in every home in this country.
3. Sumo is this country's national sport, although, baseball is also popular.
- drive a car

GERMANY
1. Gummy bears were invented in this country.
2. The first printed book was printed in this country.
3. The tradition of the Christmas Tree comes from this country.
- read a book

AUSTRALIA
1. The kangaroo, the koala and the wombat live in this country.
2. Much of the area of this country is desert called "the outback".
- jump like a kangaroo

HAWAII
1. This place has many active volcanoes.
2. This tropical place is a one of the states in the United States.
3. This state is called the "Aloha State". 
- do the hula

image source

*Here are the international kids printout from Singing a Song blog (find it in the blog post). Go to the document directly here.

*This can be done as a song correlation activity - where each child is a different song (rather than repeating one song over and over again).

Song ideas:

• I Am a Child of God
• Children All Over the World
• Holding Hands Around the World
• Feliz Cumpleanos
• I'll Walk With You
• I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus
• Jesus Wants Me For s Sunbeam
• Jesus Said Love Everyone
• Jesus Once Was a Little Child
• Love One Another
• Kindness Begins With Me
• I Am Like a Star
• A Special Gift is Kindness
• Jesus Loved the Little Children
• Friends Are Fun
• We Are Different
• Hello Friends
• Jesus Is Our Loving Friend

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UPDATE:

• JR liked the actions
• SR liked the questions

If The Savior Stood Beside Me - Arrangements and Background

DeFord Music offers these arrangements of If The Savior Stood Beside Me.

Background for the song, which was written for the composer's daughter's baptism, can also be found on that site.  It's worth reading.  :)

My Heavenly Father Loves Me Objects & Song Correlation

Bird - What Animal you are thankful for?
In the Leafy Tree Tops #240

Pinwheel - Rain/Wind – What is your favorite thing to do in the rain?
Wise Man Foolish Man #281

Lilac – What flower or plant are you thankful for?
Popcorn Popping #242 or I Often Go Walking

Silly Glasses -Eyes – What are you thankful for that you can see?
Two Little Eyes #268

Headphones - Ears – What are you thankful for that you can hear?
If I Listen with my heart – sheet music

Book/Scriptures - Mind – What are you thankful for that you learned at school or church?
Scripture Power – sheet music, or Search Ponder and Pray

*From an idea Amy Busch posted on Facebook

If The Savior Stood Beside Me - Penny Games Lesson Plan

image source, Wikipedia

LEARN THE SONG - If the Savior Stood Beside Me

• Put word strips up one by one.
• After all are up - ask the children to take them down (roll a die to see how many to take down). Until they are gone.  *MAYBE USE THE FLIP CHARTS FROM OCD CHORISTER
• Repeat for all 3 verses.

EXPLAIN
A good way to remember something is to put a penny in your shoe. Then, whenever you feel the penny you’ll remember whatever it is you’re supposed to remember. At the end of Primary I’m going to give you all a penny to put in your shoe. Keep it there every day this next week and every time you feel the penny think to yourself, “would I want the Savior seeing or hearing what I am doing right now?".

PLAY "PENNY GAMES" (and sing while we’re playing!)

Penny, Penny, Who Has the Penny? (JR & SR)

• Children pass around a penny (maybe have a few going around). A child comes up to the front. Kids sing, pennies are passed around. Pianist stops somewhere in the song. Child at front guesses where a penny is.  If the person has a penny, they have to finish the lyrics. If not, they don’t have to. Repeat.

Penny Pinchers

• Split Primary into Teams.
• Pick a child from each team to come up. They are the “Penny Pinchers”.
• All children sing while the Penny Pinchers pinch as many pennies as they can and carry them to their Team’s collection container.
• *Tell the children that if I, their Teachers, or the Presidency catch someone not caught not singing I will have to take coins out of their Team’s collection container.

Penny Rolling

• Flatten a long cardboard tube (paper towel tube)
• Roll a penny see if they can knock down objects - see how many they can knock down while we sing.

Penny Bucket (SR)

• We sing while children try to walk from one side of the other with a penny on your shoe. Get the penny in the bucket without using your hands.
• Have a few lines on the floor. If the penny drops you only have to go back to that line.
• *Tell the children that if I, their Teachers, or the Presidency catch someone not caught not singing I will have to take coins out of their Team’s collection container.

penny rolling (turned into penny bowling when I found these miniature bowling pins!)

penny pinchers

HANDOUT:

A penny with this poem:

8x10

Flip Chart for If The Savior Stood Beside Me

image source

OCD Primary Chorister has THIS FLIP CHART and idea for teaching If The Savior Stood Beside Me by covering up word strips with cute pictures (both of which, word strips and pictures, are in the downloadable PDF in her post).

My Heavenly Father Loves Me - Walk Around a Heart Lyric Game

Put a big posterboard Heart on the ground. Put a big posterboard circle with the words “My Heavenly Father Loves Me” around the edge on the ground next to the heart. Laminate it/make it durable. Only one child can be on the circle at time when they walk - no pushing! Walk around the heart while the music is playing. When the song stops everyone stops singing! Whoever is on the circle when the song stops has to finish the phrase.  Repeat.

Listen to the 2013 Primary Songs

image source

This post is for my Ward (and any one else who happens to be reading) to be able to listen to the 2013 Primary Songs online.

IN THE 2013 OUTLINE:

• I Am a Child of God
• My Heavenly Father Loves Me
• When I Am Baptized
• Families Can Be Together Forever
• A Child's Prayer
• If The Savior Stood Beside Me

OTHERS WE NEED TO KNOW FOR THE PROGRAM!:

• I Am Like a Star
• I Pray in Faith
• Teach Me to Walk in the Light (hymnal)
• Holding Hands Around the World (this song is a MAYBE)

Kuha'o Case (blind) Playing My Heavenly Father Loves Me on the Piano

I wanted to play this video (found on the vastness that is YouTube) for my Primary, but I thought it needed a little bit more.... so I took the original video of Kuha'o Case playing My Heavenly Father Loves Me and added a little bit to it. Posted is the version with my edits, which can also found on YouTube, HERE.

My Heavenly Father Loves Me - Hadlock Arrangement

HERE is the Hadlock arrangement of My Heavenly Father Loves Me

For piano, flute, voice.