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Thursday, January 13, 2011

If I Listen with My Heart Singo

This Sunday I want to focus on learning the second verse to If I Listen with My Heart.  I will begin by using the flip chart to sing the entire song to refresh their memories. Next I will show them the pictures of the second verse from the flip chart and talk for a minute or two how the living prophet (President Monson) speaks the things that Christ would say to us if He were on the earth now. I'll explain how sometimes the prophet might ask us to do something easy, like helping our neighbor, or something hard, like going on a mission. If we listen with our hearts we can imagine the words coming from Jesus.

We will sing the second verse once more, then play my version of SING-O!

You will need:
  • 1 six sided die. 
  • Something to mark the pictures on the SING-O Cards (M&M's, Cheerios, or a crayon to mark an X).
  • SING-O cards: Open this PDF to print your own cards:
This is what they look like:
    You will notice that the two cards are identical. Open the the pdf, then print one copy to photo copy for as many as you need. Cut each copy in half so each child has their own identical card.
    How to Play: Roll the die. If a 3 is rolled, choose 3 children to come to the front with their Singo cards and candy/cereal/crayon. Tell the children that everyone will sing the second verse to If I Listen with My Heart, and as they sing, the three children at the front will each choose one word from the song that matches a picture on the card. After they have revealed the word and picture, everyone marks the same pictures on their cards with a candy/cereal/crayon. 
    Repeat until all the pictures on the card have been "marked" and everyone reaches SING-O together! If you are using candy or cereal for markers let the children eat them as a reward. You will be able to sing the second verse at least 5 times. Remind the children each time to listen for words that match the pictures. 
     Finish by singing the all three verses to the song again. 
Here's a handy key of what each picture represents.
 
 Please note that there is not exactly one picture for every word in the song. I will ask the kids to interpret the pictures in their own way. If they use a different picture for the same word when sung the second time, that's okay!We'll just keep singing until we have marked all the pictures. Most importantly, there will be no wrong answers. 

    Have fun! 

     
P.S.
I am writing this post script after having done this activity today. I have to say, Jr. Primary was a little rough! Haha!
  • Was it because I estimated that there were 60+ children between the ages of 3-8 in our Jr. Primary today? 
  • Was it because two new sunbeams on the front row were overlooked and didn't even get a hand-out until the last round of singing? 
  • Was it because I didn't explain thoroughly from the beginning what the crayons were for? 
 Maybe all of the above. YES it was chaotic with the noise of the papers, and not everyone sang because they were coloring and talking about their pictures.  But I didn't see any boredom or anyone napping, no Sunbeams crying for their moms and dads. *licking my finger and marking a point in the air*

Senior Primary went very well and just as I had hoped it would. And there were only about 30 some children in there so it made it a little easier. Even the boys on the back row participated, so that alone made me feel as if I had succeeded!

It was fun. :)

18 comments :

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Yay, I can't wait to play "Sing-O" with the kids on Sunday! This is going to be really fun. Thanks!

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  3. thanks for such a fun idea!

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  4. I am delighted to have stumbled upon your blog in an effort to teach our primary this beautiful song. I am new to music in primary, so am overjoyed to have your brilliant ideas and guidance. Thankyou so much! Claire

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  5. Sister Patterson,
    Thank you SO much for this wonderful idea, along with ALL of your brilliant ideas. My primary kids love games, and I have been trying to figure out a fun REVERANT game for them to learn this song. I've been using your flip chart, which we ALL love the beautiful pictures. Your creativity amazes me. Thank you for sharing your talents.

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  6. Thank you so much for all your wonderful ideas. I almost feel bad using them, like I am "stealing" your ideas and hard work! But know that your time and work are very much appreciated. :)

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  7. Thank you so much for an amazing blog that is so inspirational! My primary loved playing sing-o today! Thanks for putting all your great ideas and talent out there for those of us (me) that doesn't have the know-how to do it myself! Your videos and song helps are great. I look to your blog pretty much every week! Thanks again!

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  8. I appreciate all your kind and thoughtful comments! Thanks so much. AND...this is a NO GUILT zone! LOL No need for anyone to feel bad about using what I post. I think its great! I stalk other Primary blogs to get my ideas, too. We are all here for each other!

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  9. I was totally stoked to do this Sunday... but I chickened out at the last minute with JR (and was relieved when it was sketchy at the beginning with Sr.) . With Senior primary it went ok, but we were super short on time and they acted so totally confused! I have a lot of ideas now though for how I would do it with Junior. :) Love your blog. Thanks for all you do!

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  10. Bridgette...I did this with Senior and they LOVED it!! =) Even my older boys who do not like to sing loved it! ;) You are the best!! M&Ms were what I used! Maybe that is why they loved it!! We were a week behind in Junior so I am wanting to do it next Sunday with them but not sure because my 40 in Senior were a bit LOUD!! =) Okay really loud!! However, I did have a sub who said she thought it was the best game ever because she learned the whole 2nd verse....sooo...Spirit or learn the verse?? HA! That's the dilemma really right? I owe you an email! Thanks for this! Loved it!!

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  11. I haven't done this yet but I love the idea. I've thought about just having one bigger singo paper upfront and just working off that--doing everything else the same. Has anyone else thought about this? Any input as to how this might work, working with just one main sheet upfront?

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  12. Evelania,
    I was thinking of the same thing actually. My Pres asked that I not do this with my Jr. Primary this next week, so I was thinking of a way to adapt it so that it would still be fun for them, more reverent, etc. I was thinking of a big one up front and then covering the pictures with red hearts and then maybe as they come up (they would maybe draw out of a bag the different symbols??) and some would have questions to answer about the song and some would be to sing it?? Not sure, haven't worked it out in my head but wanted you to know I was thinking of this for Sunday with the smaller ones. Sr had a great time last week with Bridgette's idea.

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  13. I just did this last Sunday, with some adaptation. I made one big SINGO board up front, just printed out or drew one picture per 8x11" paper and it ended up being a 4x5 grid. Worked great! I've learned from past experience that handing out papers in Primary and telling the kids to hold them the entire time is a bad idea in my primary (especially Junior). Reverence and focus goes out the window. Having one on the board kept them eyes front the whole time and with me. I cut out hearts as markers and let the kids come up and find a picture that reminded them of something they sang in the song. We'd talk about their choice and maybe sing that phrase. We had stake visitors and hardly any time in Junior, but it went well considering. In Senior we had enough time for a blackout, and the kids loved calling out "Singo!" when we got one and pointing out all the directions we got "Singo" in. Great idea for a fun way to repeat the song over and over and keep the kids focused on the words and ideas in the song. Thanks so much for sharing!

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  14. Shel, Thank you! Bridgette, sorry to bother you--I've tried to save this via text format but it isn't working. I'd like to enlarge the image and print one Singo off on an 8x10 sheet of paper. Is there any way you could email me the Word/Publisher format??? Thank you!!!

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  15. Wow! What a fantastic idea to have a great big one made up for everyone! I love it! Thanks so much everyone for your comments and wonderful ideas. I love them!

    Evelania, yes! Check your inbox!

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  16. Great idea but I found it to be a distraction for the junior primary but went a little better with the Senior Primary. Thank you for all your ideas!

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