Happy Memorial Day

I am leaving town this weekend, so I won't be posting an activity. I'm going to the Patterson Family Reunion in the Boise, Idaho area. I'll be attending a Boise ward, so maybe if it's yours I'll pop in on you, see what you are doing!

My presidency has chosen  The Fourth Article of Faith for our June song, which goes perfectly with June's theme:
The First Principles and Ordinances of the Gospel Make it Possible for me to Live with God Again

I love the Articles of Faith songs, it's such a fantastic way to teach memorization. I am looking forward to it!

Check back next week for a flip chart for The Fourth Article of Faith.

Praise to the Man Week Three: Word Nerd

This Sunday I am hoping the following activity will allow a lot more repetitive singing of Praise to the Man, plus continue to focus on learning the words and their meaning. Its a little game I call:

Word Nerd

You will need: 

• Word strips. You can use the word strips from my last post, or use this revised list of words from Praise to the Man: PTTM Word Nerd.pdf. Print the words on white or colored paper or card stock and then cut them out. Divide the word strips into three piles: verse 1, verse 3, and chorus.
• Tape for the back of the word strips.
• 3 pairs of nerdy glasses. Buy them cheaply from thrift stores or just use some old glasses you might have lying around. Put tape or a band-aid on the bridge.

To Play:
Ask the children if they are ready for a test! Tell them it's time to sing Praise to the Man,  and that they will need to pay special attention to all the words in the song because you will be giving the Word Nerd Test afterward.

After singing the entire song once ask, "Who is ready for the Word Nerd Test?" Invite three children (or teachers) to the front, and have them each put on a pair of nerd glasses. After they have the glasses on, tape a word strip from your verse 1 word strip pile on the front of their nerd glasses (at the top so they can still see), so the audience can see the word but they can't. The children wearing the word on their glasses will be able to see each others' words, but not their own.

Explain that as you all sing verse one, everyone will substitute the words shown on the front of the children's glasses with "loo-loo". If the three words are "Jehovah", "anointed", and "seer" then everyone would sing:
"Praise to the man who communed with loo-loo-loo, Jesus loo-loo-loo that prophet and loo. Blessed to open the last dispensation. Kings shall extol him and nations revere."

Next, the children wearing the glasses and word have to fill in the blank with the correct word, that is also on their foreheads. If you have a small primary, you could allow the children who get the answer correct to stay up front and play again.  If they are incorrect they would take their seat and a new child would take their place. I have a very large primary, so I plan on having three new children for each round.

After each round is played, I will quickly remind the children what each word means. I won't be taking extra time for this, I'll just explain the definitions as I am taking the words and glasses off the children.

Continue playing as many rounds as time permits, using word strips from one of the three piles in each round.

Have fun!

Praise to the Man Week Two: Big Words

Sing Praise to the man one time through. After the song is over excuse yourself for a moment and turn around so your back is facing the children. Quickly put on a disguise; glasses, hat, or jacket to look like a game show host. Then turn back around to face the children and continue with:

The Big Words Game Show

Game Show Host: "Good morning everyone! And welcome to this episode of Big Words! Now, to play, I'll call up a reverent contestant to choose a card from this pile of Big Words. Each card has a Big Word on the front from the song Praise to the Man,

 and on the back, there are three possible answers for what the Big Word means.

The contestant picks a card, and I will read the possible three answers listed on the back.The contestant decides which of the three possible answers is correct, and rings the bell!

After ringing the bell the contestant gives his or her answer.  If the contestant is correct he receives 10 points*. If the contestant is not correct, the audience can say the correct answer,  and then we will sing the phrase of Praise to the Man that contains that Big Word.

Okie-dokie! Who can show me they are ready to be a contestant by being reverent?......"  

Notes:

• Play until you run out of words or time.
• Be sure to sing the phrase of the song the word comes from after the card is played. For example: If the word was "extol", sing "Blessed to open the last dispensation, Kings shall extol him and nations revere."  Sing the phrase 2 or three times if you like, and remind the children to think about what the word means when they sing it.
• You might opt to divide into teams; boys against girls, teachers against children, left side of the room against the right, etc. Keep score on the white board.
• Leave enough time to sing Praise to the Man all the way through at the end.

You will need: 

•  Game show host disguise: Hat, glasses, jacket, funny teeth, wig, fake mustache, etc.

• A bell (or have an item they can grab, or even just have them slap their hand on the table when they know the word. I found my orange bell at DI for something like .25 or .50 cents!)   
• Open, print, and cut out the following PDF's: 

PTTM-Big Words Wordstrips.pdf  This PDF contains the game title to display at the top of the white board. It also contains word strips to display beneath the game title, to be added as each word is chosen in the game. You might wish to point to the word strip and have the children repeat the word a few times. It would be best to print these on white or colored card stock, but white or colored paper should work just as well.

PTTM -Big Words Playing Cards.pdf
This PDF contains the playing cards. It is designed to be printed on both sides of the white or colored cardstock. When you hit "print" on the PDF, a print dialog window should appear. Click on the "Properties" button, and find the option your printer gives for printing on both sides of the paper manually. Then click "OK" and then go ahead and print. All printers will be different. You might have to go to "Settings" or "Options". You could also tell your printer to print pages 1,3, 5. After those are printed, reload the paper in the printer to print the other side, and tell the printer to print pages 2, 4  6.  After printing the pages, cut each card out. The word on the front should correspond with the definitions on the back of the card.


Have fun!

 *I give 10 points regularly in singing time as a measure of praise: I'll randomly call out: "10 points for whoever can smile when they sing." (I give a "thumbs up" to individual children if they smile while they sing to indicate they have received the points) or  "10 points for anyone who can recite the last phrase of the song from memory!" Sometimes I'll up the points to 25 or 100, and the children are even more eager to participate. The points are not real, they don't have any value, we don't keep score, and mean they absolutely nothing, but the kids love knowing they were awarded them! Sometimes they ask what they get if they received points, and I just smile and say "Points! You get 10 points! You are so awesome! Isn't that great?!" Its lots of fun.

Afterthoughts for Sunday May 15th:
I always seem to plan too much for so little time, and today was like that! I hoped to get through all the Big Words, but didn't. The idea was fun, and the kids really liked I think, but it might be a good idea to do it over two weeks, or pick and choose doing only the words that need the most explanation. Other than the time factor, things went great!

I loved this next idea so  much, I think it is definitely the way to go. Thanks 3boys2girls:

3boys2girls said...

I read the comments about running out of time and thought I would let you know how we did it. I am the Primary Pres. and it was my week to do sharing time, so I worked with both of my Music leaders and we did this activity the whole time. In Sr. I introduced the song with the story of WW Phelps and then followed the same routine we did in Jr. The teachers sang this song and I went out to change into my game show disguise(the kids loved this!) and then we followed your outline. I was the host and the music leaders led each line that we sang. I believe that the music is the most important part of Primary because most of us can't remember a sharing time lesson we had but we can remember the songs!! I think the more you can coordinate the songs in Sharing Time the better. It works great for us!

 How did it go for you?

M.O.M. Concentration

I just sent an email to the Relief Society email list in my ward, and to the Relief Society Facebook group my ward has:

Dear Sisters,

If you have a child in Primary, please email me a fun and/or silly head-shot (shoulders and up) of you. Nothing serious or sober, please! I'll be using the photos in a Singing Time Concentration game for Primary this Sunday, Mother's Day. I'd like the children to be surprised to see a fun or silly photo of their mom!

I will also need to know your favorite primary song, so don't forget to tell me what it is when you email your picture!

Please hurry and submit your photos. I MUST HAVE THEM BY WEDNESDAY, MAY 4th. 

Thanks! 
Bridgette

So, if you want to play this version of Concentration this Sunday on Mother's Day, get the word out and start collecting some fun M.O.M photos!

Here's one of me I'll use as a last resort:

Oh yeah....M.O.M. stands for My Own Mom...or My, Oh, MY! or Must Obey Me.....or whatever you like! I am using "My Own Mom", for my little game of

M.O.M CONCENTRATION!

Preparation:

• Collect 10 fun/silly head-shots of the mothers of primary children. I hope to get 20 (10 for Jr. and 10 for Sr.).  
• Print this Concentration.pdf on one side of white card stock. Print the pictures of moms you have collected on the other side of the cardstock. You will need to print each mom's face twice, so make sure to put the one face of each mom behind two random numbers, so they don't all end up side by side. 
• Attach the printed cardstock, number side out, on the white/chalk board, with tape or magnets. Should look something like this:

 How to Play:
Ask one child at a time to choose two numbers and try to come up with a match of moms. When they do, sing that mom's favorite song.

Happy Mother's Day! Have Fun!