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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

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!

11 comments :

  1. I have to say thank you to you! I was thrown, no we'll say gently placed in primary with nothing to help me and no idea of what to do. Our primary is really young and most of them can't read, those that can still struggle so flip charts with just the words weren't going to work. I was panicked and couldn't figure out how to teach them this song. Using big words last week the presidency was amazed! Not only did they have an amazing comprehension of what the words meant they learned the song in one week!
    I feel like I can breathe again and I'm excited to keep going with your Word Nerd and some other ideas. I'll have to adapt it a little for their age but we'll see how it goes. I'm thinking one child at a time and having them step into the hall while I tell the other children what word not to sing.

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  2. Kylie Ann that's a great idea for converting it to a younger primary. Thanks for the suggestion!

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  3. You are awesome!!! Thank you for making this song so fun to teach!!!

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  4. I've got my nerdy glasses ready! Thanks again for another great idea!

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  5. Cute, cute adaptation of that classic game! I've said it before, you are so creative. ;o)

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  6. Thanks for the comments! I have my nerdy glasses ready, too! Have fun tomorrow. :)

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  7. The kids loved Word Nerd!
    I love you!

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  8. I don't have money to buy nerdy glasses, but I found a pair of glasses I used for my costumes when I was Cubmaster. I'll just have to use those and then tape the others to their foreheads or maybe their backs. I don't know.

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  9. I had fun doing this activity and so did the kids. Just a note for in the future- you all know your primaries and the teachers. I don't very well. We had a teacher express concern over making fun of people wearing glasses as being geeks- the stereotype. I think we could of prefaced the activity by maybe talking to the kids about being respectful and that we are not making fun, so if there is someone who feels a little uneasy, we make sure to use this as a teaching moment. Just an idea...

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  10. i went to the movie theatre & they gave me free 3d glasses. (kids sized) just an option for some free glasses!

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