January 2012 - Week 5 - Learn "Choose the Right"

I made a poster board to introduce "Choose the Right" this week. I started first with a "guess that song" game.


Guess that song game
I wanted to make sure not to duplicate a "guess that song" game that we had already done before. I poured some rice into a glass container, then hid some hints about the song in the jar. Since our ward  introduced missionary month this Sunday as well, it worked out perfectly that I shared that my parents are on a mission in Taiwan right now, and that Monday was a big holiday. I had them guess the holiday (Chinese New Year) and then said that they eat a lot of rice in Taiwan so I hid the clues in rice. They had to reach into the jar and dig around to try to find a slip of paper.

I used the "helping hands" jar to give children a fair turn coming up for hints, including: that the song was in the hymn book, that the song was about using free agency to make good decisions, having the pianist play two notes of the song, and more.

Poster board.
I printed pictures that I found on the Internet, as well as a few that I drew when I couldn't find a good match, to create a poster board that lead them through each verse of the song. I always love putting together the art to represent a song.

I also felt it was a good opportunity to talk a little about each of the pictures. I talked about Samuel Smith, Joseph Smith's brother, and how he worked hard to support the family while Joseph was trying to share the gospel with Hyrum. That picture represented the line of the song, "In all labors you're pursuing."

Junior primary 
In junior primary, after we had reviewed each verse once (I pointed to each picture and told them what it represented), we then sang the whole song from beginning to end. I incorporated the Crazy Chorister's idea of holding up shields whenever they sang "Choose the Right," because I've read that for that age group, hand motions make a big difference in their interest level and ability to learn. Her idea was a great way to follow this advice. The children seemed to really love it and got super involved with holding their shields up every time we sang "Choose the Right" (14 times).

I even had a member of the primary presidency tell me afterward that the youngest kids suddenly became super interested in singing the song when they were given their shields. I therefore had great confirmation that this really is the case, which is great because I'm working on some other ideas I want to incorporate to involve the children in singing the song so that I can feel like they've really learned it.

Senior primary
In senior primary, I pinned the poster boards to the wall, as well as all the words to the song. I then used the Helping Hands jar to call up different children and have them choose the next line of the song, based on the poster board. Some of them needed a lot of help but I think it kept them focused and interested in trying to figure out what each picture on the poster board represented. I did not have time to sing through all three verses of the song together, and next week there is no primary (stake conference), so I'll be working on more ways to review the song in two weeks.