Program Review

Our Sacrament Meeting Program is October 24th. I asked the counselor over me if I could have all forty minutes of sharing time/music time combined, for music this week, and she happily agreed! I have debated whether to incorporate a super fun activity, or just work on what needs to be done. I really want the children to get a feel of how the program songs flow together, so I have chosen to just rehearse. My plan is to practice rising and sitting cues before and after the songs, work on dynamics and diction, and generally polish all the program songs.

In my primary, I have taught them sign language to The Holy Ghost, so that's one we really need to brush up on. Also, for Follow the Prophet, each class has been assigned one verse, except for the last new verse "Heavenly Father loves us, wants us to return...." which we will all sing together. I want to practice having each class come up to the front to sing their verse, and sitting down during the chorus, while the next class comes up, and then flow right into singing the last verse all together. I also have a couple of soloists singing some of the extra verses of Come Follow Me, so we'll add them into the mix.

Next, we'll go through all the songs on the program, in order, with standing up and sitting down, and I am thinking that will pretty much use up all the time! If I find a little extra time, we'll do some fun activity songs.

I hope you are having as much fun preparing for the Program as I am. I truly love it! Oh, and enjoy General Conference next Sunday. I know I will.

I Need A Vacation!

We are going to review primary program songs this Sunday, and we will sing the songs in the order that they appear in the program. 

I'll walk into the primary room dressed with my vacation outfit over my Sunday dress (the tackier, the better!):

And I'll be toting this:

As I walk into the room I'll say, (with a bit of weariness in my voice):

"Wow! Do I need a vacation! I have spent all summer on the go! Even during our family camping trip this summer I still had to pack everything, cook, and do dishes. Then I had to do all the laundry and put everything away when we got home! It was exhausting! But now that the kids are back in school, I'm taking a little time for myself! Maybe this week I'll get a mani/pedi, have my hair done, go shopping, or just sit by the pool and chillll-lax. SooOOOoo...today for singing time, YOU will get to lead the music, while I sit back and relax!"

(I'll bring along one of these:

to sit back and enjoy singing the music while the children lead)


Next I'll unzip my suitcase and show them what's inside.  I'll tell the children that from the comfort of my reclining camp chair, I will choose the most reverent children, one at a time, to come to the front of the room to lead today's songs. Before I head to my camp chair, I'll hold up the objects in the suitcase and explain what each item is for and demonstrate each prop. I'll tell the children that whoever gets chosen will get to pick any item they want to use to lead the music, even if it's already been done. Hey, who cares if we use a prop twice? It's a vacation!:

"Use this remote control to lead the song. When you point and click it at the pianist, she stops playing the piano but everyone continues to sing. When you point and click again, the pianist begins playing again."

"Here are two ball caps. When the conductor wears the pink ball cap, only the girls sing. When the conductor trades for the red ball cap, only the boys sing."

"This is Wilbur the Wide Mouth Frog. Wilbur is a hand puppet for the conductor to wear while he or she leads the music. WILBUR. (enunciate while you explain, stretching your mouth and lips as wide as you can while you speak) TALKS. LIKE. THIS. During the entire song, everyone must sing like Wilbur and ENUNCIATE. THE. WORDS. OF. THE. SONG."

"When the conductor leads with this buzzzy bee, everyone will "Zzzzzz" to the music instead of singing words. When the leader puts the bee behind his back, everyone sings the words again."

"Use this slinky to lead the music. When it is stretched out long and wide, everyone sings very loud. When it is tight and close together, everyone sings softly."

"Lead the music with this clapper, while everyone claps to the beat of the music". (I found this at the dollar store)

"While leading the music, hold up the hippo for everyone to sing the song slowly, then switch to the cheetah for everyone to sing super fast."

These are all ordinary objects I had at home already. I am certain YOU are much more creative, inventive, and ingenuous! Please leave a comment if you have any other brilliant props to add!

Have fun!

Pop Quiz

Here is a fun fun review game called Pop Quiz, posted by The Crazy Chorister.
I love The Crazy Chorister blog...you should follow her!

Teach Me About The Temple

The stake primary leaders in my stake have asked me to teach the song, Teach Me About The Temple to the Senior Primary children in my ward in preparation for November's Stake Conference. All the Senior Primary children in the stake will sing it together in a Stake Children's Choir, but I am going to teach it to the Junior Primary children in my ward as well.

A sample of the song, Teach Me About The Temple, written by Lynne Perry Christofferson, can be heard here.

My ward's Children's Sacrament Meeting Presentation is on October 24th this year, and Stake Conference is November 21st....this is so interesting, I know...so my plan is to teach Teach Me About The Temple for the first three weeks of September, then review all the Presentation songs every week until the Presentation in late October. Then we will focus on Teach Me About The Temple for November, and of course....a lot of fun mixed in along the way! Clear as mud? Righto!

This Sunday I will be teaching our new song from my flip chart:

Teach me About The Temple.pdf

I'll be going over the words and phrases and their meaning as we learn the song, page by page. There will be lots of echoing, which helps immensely with memorization!


Have fun!