Mother May I

 ADOBE as been a little bit on the fritz since I created this post. If you can not view/download my pdf's please click HERE. 

This week we are going to prepare to sing in Sacrament Meeting next Sunday for Mother's Day. We will be singing a medley of the following songs:

Quickly I'll Obey, verse 1 with the optional ostinato (Children's Songbook p. 197)
I Often Go Walking, verse 1 (Children's Songbook p. 202) 
Mother Tell Me the Story, duet with one of the mom's teaching primary (Children's Songbook p. 204)
Mother Dear, verse 1(Children's Songbook p. 206)

To make the medley flow a little better, I will print I Often Go Walking  and Mother Dear to the key of G for my pianist, using the key converter on the link listed next to the songs above. (The other two songs are written in the same G key.)

Mother May I
You will need:

• Mother props, such as a frilly apron, rolling pin, iron, or whatever you can think of that represents a mother.
• Teaching/review aids for the 4 songs listed above.
• 4 pictures of mothers with one of the four songs written on the back side of each. You can print my selection below if you would like to. They are all from The Friend magazine:

     

Preparation:

• Place 4 pictures of mothers in four different areas of the room.
• Put on the Apron and hold one or two of the mother props while you direct the game. 

How to Play:
Choose 1 child from each class to represent their class. Have them stand in a group at the Starting Point (the front or center of the room).
Explain to the children that there are 4 pictures of mothers posted around the room, and the goal is for the child representing each class to reach one of the mother pictures so everyone can practice the song on the back of that picture. However, they must only move toward the picture of their choice, when called upon by "Mother" (you). They must listen to what "Mother" tells them and do exactly as she says. Mother will give them specific directions, such as,
"Sam, you may take 10 giant steps forward."
Or
"Sarah, you may take 6 side steps to the left."
Before they can move they must say, "Mother, may I?" If they forget and begin to proceed toward the picture, they must go back to their class and another child from their class gets to take their place.
If they remember to say "Mother, may I?" they must wait for "Mother" to say, "Yes, you may." or "No, you may not."
If "Mother" tells them "Yes, you may.", the child may proceed toward the picture exactly as directed.
If "Mother" tells them "No, you may not."The child stays in place and waits to be called on again.
When a child finally reaches the picture, practice the song written on the back of the picture.


My Teaching/Review Ideas:


Quickly I'll Obey
I will have all the children sing the optional ostinato together. When they seem to have it learned I will surprise them and sing the first verse while they are still singing the optional ostinato. Then I will divide the children in two groups and let them each try the optional ostinato while the other group sings the first verse.

I Often Go Walking
I will be making a flip chart with the images in this pdf that I put together. You can download and print it if you would like to:



  
Mother Tell Me The Story

Last year I made this large poster story to teach this song. I found the images in the pdf church magazines and on the lds.org Image Libraries. I think most of them can be found on Sugardoodle.net's clipart page as well. The picture of the newborn baby I found using Google Images.

I folded two full sized poster board in half, creating 8 usable pages.

I printed the title and words to the song on regular paper. I printed poster sized images of the pictures using Microsoft Office Publisher on regular paper and used a glue stick to piece/paste them together.  The font and rosettes on the cover page are from the DJ Inkers pc programs I own.

Also using Microsoft Office Publisher, I layered the baby picture over the picture of the earth. I also added a bubble caption to the Mother, tell how you love me page.

I used a glue stick to glue all the images and words on each page then stapled the spine of the song book from the outside front.


Mother Dear
I will teach them this simple sign language:

Mother dear:

I : Point to themselves

Love: 

You so: Point to their own mothers or if their mother is not there, to any mom.

Your happy smiling face: smile and place pointer fingers at the corners of mouth.

Is such a joy to look at: make an oval viewer putting hands together.

It make home: peak hands together like the roof of a house.

A lovely place: change the roof into a heart shape

Have fun!

Squeals and Hoots

What fun today! The kids sang their hearts out. It's always amazing to me that the simplest things tend to bring the most excitement, while the things I spend hours preparing sometimes have no effect.

When I finally unwrapped the box of Smarties, everyone was so excited! There were squeals and hoots and almost instantly a small group of children gathered with their hands reaching up. Who knew they'd be so excited about 1 piece of candy?

Smarties!

*This is not my original idea and I regret not knowing whose it is because it is fantastic!*

This Sunday is the half-way point for learning the songs we will be singing for the Sacrament Meeting program! I am excited to review all four songs with the children and let them know I think they are such "Smarties" for having learned the songs so well. Because this involves a candy treat, I have gained permission from the Primary presidency. Good idea, right?

PREPARATION
You will need:

• A ruler
• One "Smarties" candy for each child
• A small box
• Gift wrap
• Ribbon
• Song Tags (click here for PDF you can print):

  

• Scissors
• Tape

Gift wrap the Smarties inside the box. Add the song tags to the ribbon.

 PRESENTATION
Show the ruler and explain to the children where the half-way point is on it. Let them know that they have reached a very significant "half-way point". They have learned half the songs already for the Children's Sacrament Meeting Presentation! Tell them how proud you are of them and how "smart" they are. Show them the gift box and tell them you have a special "yummy" gift for them. Shake it around a little bit and let them know that you want to share it with each one of them, but before you can share what is inside, they must sing all 4 songs they have learned this year so far for the Primary Children's Sacrament Meeting Presentation.

(There are lots of ways this can be done, but I think I will have the children sing the songs in the order we have learned them.)

After each song is sung choose a child to cut the ribbon and remove corresponding song tag. When you have sung all four songs remove the wrapping paper and reveal:

  SMARTIES candy for some very SMART kids!

We have over 100 children in our primary, so I will hand out one Smarties candy per child as they leave to go home, and hopefully avoid seeing any wrappers discarded on the floor. :/

Have fun!

Finding a Last Minute Substitute...

...as I will be gone this Sunday to be with family for a funeral.  I will post a new idea for Primary music next week. Thanks for checking my blog!

Eunice Wood Patterson

1917-2010

My sweet mother-in-law, Eunice Wood Patterson, passed away yesterday at the age of 92. Here's a few pictures of her life and family:

With the love of her life, Frank.

Eunice & Frank Patterson

The Patterson Family, about 1960. My husband is the little boy in the front, wearing suspenders.

Frank  & Eunice on the 60th wedding anniversary.

Crazy Singing Scramble!

Wow ~ General conference was amazing, right? I can't wait to watch/listen/read all the talks again.

Here's what I'll be doing this Sunday to teach The Church of Jesus Christ on page 77 of the Children's Songbook:

I want to stress to the children the thoughts written in the 2010 Outline for Sharing Time for the month of April. ( Click here to go there.)

• Ask the children to stand if they belong to a family. Repeat for other groups they might belong to, such as a team, a club, and a church. Let the children explain what belonging means (that you are an important part of something). Introduce the song by showing a picture of Jesus Christ and having the children read together Doctrine and Covenants 115:4.

I am going to print and use this picture from the April 2010 Friend:

 • Introduce each phrase of the song by having the children listen for the answer to a question while you sing the phrase to them. (For example: What do I belong to? What two things do I know? How will I follow Him?) Then have the children sing the phrase with you. Continue until the children have learned the entire song.

I'll bear my testimony to the children that we are so blessed to belong to Jesus Christ's church. We know who we are, what we are supposed to so while we are on the earth!

 "Crazy Singing Scramble!"

Preparation:

• Make 8-12 magnets using printable inkjet magnet paper. I printed 2 green rectangles, 2 yellow squares, 2 blue triangles, and 2 red circles. I laminated the front of the magnet with self sticking laminate, then cut out the shapes.

I used magnet paper to make my shapes because I am going to place them on the magnetic rolling whiteboard in the primary room. (I have three whiteboards at home and none of them are magnetic, so if you are not sure with the one in your church building, be sure to check it out first!) You could also do the same presentaion with toy building blocks, or other objects that have different shapes sizes and colors, such as lids to your mixing bowls, plastic cups, etc.

• On cardstock print one page with a large green rectangle, one page with a large yellow square, one page with a large blue triangle, and one page with a large red circle.

Presentation:
As you show the colored magnet shapes one at a time, explain these rules:

• "Whenever you  see a green rectangle, you sing: I belong to the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ". Quickly bring the green triangle out and sing the phrase together. Put the green triangle magnet on the white board.
• "Whenever you see a yellow square I want you to sing the 2 things you know, because you belong to Jesus Christ's church." Quickly bring out the yellow square and sing all together, "I know who I am, I know God's plan, I'll follow him in faith." Put the yellow square magnet on the whiteboard next to the green rectangle.
• "When you see a blue triangle, I want you to sing what you believe and what you'll do". Pull out the blue triangle and sing together, "I believe in the Savior Jesus Christ, I'll honor his name." Put the blue triangle magnet on the whiteboard.
•  "When you see a red circle you should sing the 3 things you will do as a memeber of Jesus Christ's church."  Quickly show the children the red circle then sing together, "I'll do what is right; I'll follow his light, his truth I will proclaim." Put the red circle magnet on the whiteboard.

Now start at the beginning of the song, pointing at the green rectangle magnet on the whiteboard first, then pointing at each successive shape, singing the entire song.

Next, divide the room into four groups. Assign each group to be a colored shape, and give a colored shape on cardstock the coresponding group. Sing the song again having each group sing only their part, as you point to their shape on the whiteboard.

Remove the shapes from the whiteboard, and put them in a hat or a bag or a box. I will be using this purse:

 

The second set of shapes should be in th the hat/bag/box as well. With 8 magnets in the hat/bag/box, randomly pull one out at a time and place it on the whiteboard. Whichever group owns that colored shape will sing their phrase. Repeat this until all 8 shapes are on the whiteboard.

Gather the four cardstock papers with shapes on them from the four groups. Tell the children that now everyone is one group again, and you are going to test them to see how well they remember the phrases to the song. Put all the shapes back into the hat/bag/box, and this time take them out randomly and place them in one or two lines across the whiteboard:

 

Sing the song in the order that the shapes were placed on the whiteboard. In the photo above, they would sing:
"I believe in the Savior Jesus Christ, I'll honor his name. I'll do what is right; I'll follow his light, his truth I will proclaim. I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I'll do what is right; I'll follow his light, his truth I will proclaim. I know who I am, I know God's plan, I'll follow him in faith. I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know who I am, I know God's plan, I'll follow him in faith. I believe in the Savior Jesus Christ, I'll honor his name."

End by singing the song all together in the correct order one last time.

***It might be helpful for the pianist to have a small sticky note next to each phrase with the corresponding shape drawn on it in the Children's Songbook, so he or she can quickly play along with whichever shape is drawn from the hat/bag/box.***

Ack! I always end up planning too much for the time I have! I am going to just see how things go, and perhaps skip one of the variations if I run short on time. Whatever we end up doing it's going to be a lot of fun, and a great learning game for the children!

Also, I usually make a flip chart of each month's song, although I didn't for Follow the Prophet. I don't know if I will make one for The Church of Jesus Christ or not, depending on how well the children already know it or how quickly they learn it.  But if I do make a flip chart, I really like this one found on Primary Singing Ideas.

Have fun!