Songs For Baptism Questions

Have the Bishop come in and discuss the baptism questions with the kids. Talk about preparing to get baptized.

Make a life-sized cutout of the Bishop. Cut slits where the pockets are. Have little slips of paper sticking out of the slits. Invite children to pick a piece of paper. Each paper has a question and a song.

Questions + Songs:
1. Do you believe in Heavenly Father? (I am a Child of God pg.2 & My Heavenly Father Loves Me pg.228)
2. Why do you pray? (For Health and Strength pg.21)
3. Who is Jesus Christ? (If the Savior Stood Beside Me - in the Friend)
4. What is a covenant? (The Church of Jesus Christ pg. 77) - talk about what a covenant is and that we make them as members of the church
5.What does it mean to be baptized? (When I am Baptized pg. 103)
6. Who was Joseph Smith? (The Golden Plates pg. 86)
7. Who is the prophet today? (We Thank Thee Oh God For a Prophet pg.19)
8. What is a commandment? (Choose the Right pg.239)
9. What is the Holy Ghost? (The Holy Ghost pg.105)
10. What is the Sacrament? (Before I Take the Sacrament pg. 73)
11. Do you read the scriptures? (Book of Mormon Stories pg. 118)

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*Idea from Nan Egbert on the LDS Choristers Facebook Group

Eternal Ring

Explain to the children that a wedding band is a symbol of eternity because it goes around and around with no beginning and no end. The kind of marriage they want is the kind like this ring. An eternal one - one that does not end. The kind of marriage you can only get with a Temple marriage.

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UPDATE:

• This takes 30 seconds to explain to the kids. Then you're ready to move on.
• I didn't think it was that impactful - but apparently it was. I keep hearing it mentioned. The last few weeks since the lesson when the Teacher in front of the room says "eternity" I'll hear a child blurt out "like a circle! like a ring! it never ends!". Apparently this little lesson made a good connection. 

Families Can Be Together Forever LESSON PLAN

*I will be doing this for the full 50 minutes...

1.  LESSON:

- “Sealed” Lesson: figures and temple pic in ziplock bag
- Eternal Ring: A wedding band is a symbol of Eternity because a ring goes in a circle and never ends. The kind of marriage they want is kind of like this ring. An eternal one - one that does not end. The kind of marriage you can only get in the Temple.

2.  ASK:
- ASK the boys to stand up. ..... What might they do to be good Fathers?

- ASK the girls to stand up. ..... What might they do to be good Mothers?

3.  VIDEO: Mormon Messages

4.  LEARN SONG: Families Can Be Together Forever

5.  SING LIKE A Family Member

6.  GAME: Help the Family Get to the Temple

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

Invite a Military Member

image source

Last night my husband had an idea so simple I thought, "duh! Why didn't I think about that?" We live near a Military Base, so it would be awesome to invite a Military Member to dress in uniform and speak to the kids for Independance Day. It would be equally as awesome to have them sing.


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UPDATE:

• This was FABULOUS. The kids really listened well, the speaker was dressed to the nines and gave a great talk to both JR and SR. It turned out amazing.

Colors of the American Flag Lesson

image source

*Before the lesson, write the song names on the board. Also have the magic color cups already prepared.

Show an American Flag.

READ the history of the flag:

On June 14, 1777 the U.S. Congress passed it's first flag resolution saying the flag should have 13 stripes, alternating red and white and have 13 white stars in a blue area. This was to represent the 13 original colonies. Then they added a new star and stripe for each new state. But - the country was growing quickly and it got too hard to keep changing the flag. So, in on April 4, 1818 they passed a new Act that declared that the flag would depict the original 13 red and white stripes and only add one star for each new state.

EXPLAIN what the colors on the flag mean:

The colors of the flag have signifigance. Some say that the colors represent:

1. Red - Courage
2. White - Purity and Innocence 
3. Blue - Justice/Fairness, that all men shall be treated equally

CHOOSE SONG (variation of magic color cups):

• Have 3 clear cups half-filled with vinegar on the table.
• Next to them will be 3 spoons.
• Beforehand, you've already put a few drops of food coloring on each spoon (red, white = no food coloring to make it clear, and blue) then baking soda on top of it, so you don't know what color it will be.
• Have a child come up and mix solution and see what color it comes out as.
• Then everyone can guess which song goes with that color based on what they learned about the color's meaning.

SING (according to the color of the cup):
Red - Courage
*Nephi's Courage, CSB 120

White - Purity and Innocence
*I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus, CSB 78

Blue - Justice/Fairness, that all men shall be treated equally
*Love One Another, 136


LEARN THE SONGS:
My Flag, My Flag - CSB 225
Star Spangeled Banner, Hymn 340

Rainbow Equation For Eternal Life

First, ask the kids if they know how a rainbow is made. (When I asked my Primary, JR didn't have a clue. They had some funny answers, but didn't really know. SR got really close to knowing. They had some trouble defining reflection/refraction, but we worked it out.)

Second, tell them there's an equation to make a rainbow. Put up the blue signs (well, mine are blue, yours can be whatever you want) and say "You need sun... plus rain.... to make a rainbow!" (I taped them to the chalkboard and drew a plus sign after "sun" and an equal sign after "rain"). Go however in-depth you feel appropriate on how refraction works and whatnot. It's not a science lesson, so I gave it a proper skim-over.

Then tell the kids (I'm paraphrasing what I said)...

"Aren't rainbows beautiful? I sure think so! Did you know that you can have something very beautiful -even more beautiful than a rainbow?! Yes, you can! Here, let me show you. To get something even more beautiful than a rainbow you need sun.... OH! but not this kind of sun! Nope. You need THIS kind of Son! (flip over sun/Son). Who knows who this is? Yes, that's right! It's Jesus! He is Heavenly Father's Son!  And let's see.... you also need water. But not rain! Nope. (flip over rain/baptism). You need the waters of Baptism to have something very beautiful.  And when you have these things you will get something very beautiful... (flip over last one)... Yes! You can have eternal life! Eternal life and the chance to live with Heavenly Father again is a very beautiful gift that we are given. We can be baptized and we can keep Heavenly Father's commandments so that we can live with him again."

I then read this quote from Sister Elaine Dalton's (YW General President) talk, "Now is the time to Arise Forth and Shine", April 2012 General Conference. I told the children who she was and then I read --->

"Several weeks ago I stood in the celestial room of the Reno Nevada Temple. The light streaming into that room was brilliant and was made even more so by the crystal chandelier, which reflected the light on its many carved facets into rainbows of illumination everywhere. It took my breath away as I realized that the Savior is “the light and the life of the world,” that it is His light we must hold up and reflect. We are the tiny crystals that reflect His light, and in order to do that, we must be clean and free from the dust of the world."

Lastly, I segued into our activity (which was magic color cups) with something like "now will you help me make the colors of the rainbow with the magic color cups I brought today? The cups will change colors and tell us what songs to sing.... and that led right into our Rainbow Review.)

*I combined ideas from the LDS Choristers Facebook Group (thanks Cheri W and Jessica S).


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UPDATE:

• I could see the enlightenment on their faces. Great lesson.

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.

Singing Testimonies

Have the children bear their testimonies through song.  Hand out hymn books and children's songbooks. Start with your song first, then let the children choose a song that represents their own testimony.

Simple, not much prep, spiritual.

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Ideas for testimony-type songs:
CSB (2, 5, 62, 64, 77, 228)
Hymnal (87, 89, 134, 135, 136, 137, 263, 302)

Easter Story in Eggs

Egg #1: (palm) Jesus rode into Jerusalem and the people waved palm branches. Matthew 21:1-11
Egg #2: (cotton ball with cologne on it) Mary poured perfume on Jesus' feet. John 12:3
Egg #3: (bread) Jesus shared the Last Supper with His disciples. Matthew 26:26
Egg #4: (coins) Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Matthew 26: 14-15
Egg #5: (a thorny stick) Soldiers placed a crown of thorns on Jesus' head. John 19:2
Egg #6: (cross made from toothpicks) Jesus carried His own cross. John 19:17
Egg #7: (dice) Soldiers took Jesus' clothes from him and cast lots for them. John 19:24
Egg #8: (nail) Jesus was nailed to the cross. John 19:18
Egg #9: (sponge) They gave Jesus vinegar mixed with gall to drink. Matthew 27:34
Egg #10: (whole cloves) Spices are used to prepare Jesus for burial. John 19:40
Egg #11: (rock) The stone covering to Jesus' tomb was rolled away. Matthew 28:2
Egg #12: (empty) He is not here He has risen! Matthew 28:6

Easter Symbols Scrambled Eggs Lesson Plan

I drew my pictures to save on ink. (I don't draw Jesus, I'll use a picture from the Library.)

Scrambled Egg for Senior Primary (they'll glue the letters to a card then post the card under the coordinating picture on the board).

• List of Easter Symbols, Scriptures and Songs found in this blog post HERE.
• Typed document containing symbols, scriptures, word strips and pictures (mostly from LDS.org) found HERE in this Google Document)

JR:

1. Pictures taped up on board, facing out
2. Child chooses an egg out of the basket of “scrambled eggs” (word strip inside)
3. Match word strip to picture on the board
4. Explain symbol
5. Sing song
6. Repeat

SR - [EASTER SYMBOLS WORD SCRAMBLE]:

1. Pictures taped up on board, facing out
2. A class’ Teacher picks an Egg
3. The class unscrambles letters in Eggs
4. Class glues letters in order on a card 
5. Tape card under correct picture
6. Read scripture
7. Sing Song
8. Repeat

*This activity turned out okay, but if I do it again I will hand out eggs to each class at the beginning and give them a few minutes to unscramble their word. Then go class by class - they tell me their unscrambled word and then read the scripture and then read the song. (Rather than calling up one class at a time - it ate up too much time that way = not enough singing going on).

PREPARE:

• A picture for each Easter symbol
• JR: print symbol word strips, put in eggs, put in a basket
• SR: print symbol word strips, cut up each word, put in eggs, put in basket
• SR: print scriptures
• SR: glue sticks
• tape
• basket

Here is everything up on the board.

Easter Symbols with Scriptures and Songs

image from LDS.org

Symbol

Scripture

Song


*I made this list with the 2013 Program Songs in mind.

BASKET - Christ carrying our sins
D&C 19:16
For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent.

-When I Am Baptized 103*

CHICK - resurrection and new life
Corinthians 5:15 + 17
15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
-Jesus Has Risen 70 or He Died That We Might Live Again 65

EMPTY EGGS - empty tomb
Matthew 28:6
He is not here: for he is risen, as he said.
Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

-Did Jesus Really Live Again 64 (V1)

FLOWERS - new life

Song of Soloman 2:12
The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

-My Heavenly Father Loves Me 228*

JESUS - eternal life
John 5:11
And this is the record; that God hath given to us eternal life,
and this life is in His Son.

-Jesus Has Risen 64

LAMB - Jesus is our shepherd
John 10:11
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
-If The Savior Stood Beside Me (sheet)*

NEW OUTFIT - taking off the old and putting on the new
Romans 6:4
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

-I Am a Child of God (v1) 2*

RABBIT/BUNNY - life
John 5:12
He that hath the Son hath life;
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

-Jesus Has Risen 64

SEEDS - faith and hope
Moroni 7:40-43
40 And again, my beloved brethren, I would speak unto you concerning hope. How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope?
41 And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.
42 Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope.
43 And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek,

and lowly of heart.
-Faith 96 or Little Seeds Lie Fast Asleep 243 or On a Golden Springtime 88

WATER - everlasting life

John 4:14
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

-Rain Is Falling All Around 241

WHITE - purity of Christ
Matthew 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

-Jesus Once Was a Little Child 55

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*HERE is my GOOGLE DOCUMENT
containing the symbols, songs and scriptures
AND typed up wordstips & pictures.


*THIS POST called "Easter Symbols Scrambled Eggs"
 is how I put this list into action for my Singing Time.

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Teach Me to Walk in The Light - Flashlight Lesson Plan

image source

(Click for the flip chart for Teach Me to Walk...)

After Teach Me to Walk in The Light has been learned -

Singing Repetition:

1. Have a picture of Jesus on the board
2. Turn off the lights. (darken the windows, if need be - but don’t scare JR Primary)
3. Tell the children that today we have to earn our light by singing our best.
4. The class singing the best gets to turn on their light. (Teachers point the flashlight at the picture of Jesus)
5. Sing until all flashlights are turned on.

Explain:

• When it’s dark we can’t see clearly. It's easier to become confused in the darkness.
• We can get the light by following the commandments. We have loving Parents and Teachers who want us to make good choices and grow to be good and happy people.
• When we are with others who also have the light our lights combine to be even brighter.
• Jesus is our life and our light. We can shine with the light of Christ.

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UPDATE:

• Lesson went well.
• Gathering flashlights from neighbors (and then remembering to return them) was the hardest part. Even had to buy some from the store.
• Remember to bring a flashlight for the Pianist.

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.

Is This Person a Child of God?

Write: 
* Psalms 82:6 "All of you are children of the most High" on the board. 

 Pass around a mirror. Ask questions about who is in the mirror. “Is this person talented? Loving? Smart? Friendly? Kind? Intelligent? Nice? Happy?”. ----> End on "...and is this person a child of God?" (Yes)
Hold mirror in front of individual children and ask, "Do you see a child of God?" (Yes. Yes. Yes. …)

Read the scripture and explain that we are all children of God. 


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HERE IS MY:

• I Am a Child of God FLIP CHART

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After the introduction I then went right into my Child of God puzzle posters to learn the song.

Away In a Manger

Fill up Jesus' manger with hay...

Tell the children that Jesus was not born in a hospital. Explain that he didn't have a nice warm bed like they have at home. Explain that we are going to sing to earn hay to make Jesus' manger nice and soft upon his arrival.

Sing Away In a Manger. Every time you sing it pick the class who was singing the best. Each child picks a piece of "hay" to put in Jesus' manger. At the end of singing time thank the children for singing so good and making a nice bed in the manger for Jesus and put Jesus in the manger.

PREP:

Using construction paper...

• Cut out a manger out of brown
• Cut out rectangles of yellow for hay
• Cut out a baby Jesus (oval body, round head)

Before the children arrive...

• Tape empty manger on the board
• Put tape on each piece of hay and tape around table or chalk board tray or something. You'll want the pieces ready to go so you're not fumbling with the tape dispenser!