Friday, March 23, 2012

I Think When I Read that Sweet Story - song about Jesus for April selection

The primary song for April was an optional song about Jesus. I wanted to sing one that I have heard less often, but that is beautiful, so after combing through the Children's Songbook numerous times, I felt good that  "I Think When I Read that Sweet Story" was the appropriate choice.

I have been so excited to teach this lesson ever since I decided what I wanted to do for the activity, a couple months ago. I had too many other songs on my agenda that I needed to get to first, though, so I had to be patient. In fact, I am still going to need to wait until after General Conference but I thought that this might come in handy for primary choristers that are ready to introduce the April song. Therefore, if you teach this lesson before, please give me feedback so I can make adjustments!

In short: a giant book for the whole class, and miniature books for everyone!

This is what the mini book looks like:

                                 

The obvious idea for this song is to create a theme around a storybook since the song starts out, "Tell me the story," so of course, I wanted to make a giant storybook by printing large pictures and text. I liked the idea of an over-sized book the best but I also wanted to keep the budget and time in mind so I also had three-ring binders in mind that would do the trick. I also thought about gluing into an existing book that was of no value (e.g., an outdated manual, a poorly written book, etc.).

I haven't made the giant book yet but I have the pages ready. Here's a sample, which I saved as a PDF for fellow choristers to use.



The part I'm super excited about is that I thought, "Why not give the children each their own book?" I did some research and learned about how I could use a simple 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper, and with the proper folds and a few simple cuts, turn it into an eight-page book. The trick was knowing which direction to print the pictures. I pulled the art off the church free art sites so this art is legal to use for appropriate personal and church use. That means, print it free for your primary and your family but please remember this is for personal use.

I plan to pre-fold these for junior primary, but in senior primary, part of the fun will be letting them fold their own books. Some of them will struggle, but I will just take it slow and help the ones that are struggling. Then, we'll sing using our little books, which I will send home with them. I hope they will play with their new books and that it will help them memorize this song.

What do you think?

Here's how to fold it:

1. Fold it the long way (like you are about to make a standard paper airplane.)

2. Now fold it again, so that you now have two images on each fold.

3. Fold it again so that you now have one image on each fold. Don't worry, the pictures will not be in the right order at this point.

4. Unfold your sheet. You should now have eight rectangles.

5. Fold your sheet as shown below, and then place one cut down the center so that it goes between the images shown below.

6. If you cut your sheet according to instructions, you should now have a cut in your paper like below. Note that the cut goes between two sets of pictures.

7. Here's the part that can be a little bit tricky. You want to fold your book so that the pages are now in a certain order. All you need to remember is that some of the folds will need to be folded in a different direction then you originally folded them, so you might need to crease them in the other direction. This is really easy once you get the hang of it. The first time I folded it, I thought I messed up on my template. Just hold your paper like below and then slowly push the book so that the creases go the right way.


8. Do this first, then fold again to "close" the book so that these two pages make the front and back covers.

9. Your finished folds should be in the order seen below.




You can print this sheet to turn it into a book and share it with your primary kids and your families.

  1. In the document at the bottom of this page, click on the arrow in the upper right-hand corner to open the image in a new window.
                                               
  2. Once the image opens, click on the Print button in the new Google document window that will open. The print button will be at the top of the page that opens (NOT THIS PAGE).


3. A Google printable document will  then open after you click on the print button. It will look like the below image. Just click the word Print to print the document.



Okay, here's the embedded PDF file. Go ahead and start your print job by clicking on the little white on black arrow in the corner of this image:




If you want the full-size flip chart as well, please send me your email address so I can send you an invite.

66 comments:

  1. hi Esther, i tried to download by the link but didnt work, could i have an invite for the full size? thank you!!! :)

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  3. This is really cool! I just printed one. I tried clicking the arrow in the first image, and it didn't work, it just popped up lots of little images. When I clicked the arrow in the last image, it worked like a charm.

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  4. Oh, good feedback. I realized my instructions might have been confusing and modified them accordingly. I deleted my previous comment to help Re, which I think was probably just as confusing. People should be able to access the file now ... if not, send me your email address and I will send the files directly to you.

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  5. I took the printed one to church and showed it to our primary chorister. She immediately decided to teach that song, and took it to the copy machine! She and I spent sharing time making booklets for the senior primary. They are going to sing it in church on Easter Sunday. They loved the books and all the kids HAD to unfold them and see how they were made. Four kids are singing solos into the mic(while the other kids sing as a choir behind them), and they could take their books home to practice.

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  6. I dont know why i have tried several times and it just appears as an error page to me :( if you can send it to me directly heres my email renatahc@hotmail.com
    Since you are helping so much, i found in another site a very goos idea for easter week that i might use :) http://pattiesprimaryplace.blogspot.com/2012/03/easter-primary-chorister-ideas.html
    hope you like!

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  7. Hi, I just emailed it to you. Thanks for sharing another great blog that I had not seen previously. I love our primary chorister community!

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  8. Coincidentally, I had selected the SAME song to use in April! I love your idea of the booklet. Thank you!!!

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  9. How neat that we both chose the same song for this month! I was looking around to see about finding a flip chart and I found your blog and was so excited to find someone else that had chosen the same song for the same year. I just LOVE this song. Is there a chance you could email me your wonderful flip chart. I LOVE the oversized book idea! I hadn't even thought of that! My name is Charity Checketts and my email is checkerz@gmail.com. Thanks for sharing your ideas!!

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  10. I'd love the full sized...
    aleishablack@hotmail.com thanks

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  11. I'd love full-sized too! Thanks

    jbagley1972@yahoo.com

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  12. I would love a full size!! This is adorable! janddbates@digis.net

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  13. Can I get the full size too, please? Thank you!
    jgoeringer@me.com

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  14. Requesting a full size also! Thanks
    Wendy
    mtmons@msn.com

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  15. Please send me the full size of I Think When I Read that Sweet Story.

    cohsato@yahoo.com

    Thanks!!!

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  16. Hi - If you still have it, I would love a full size of I
    Think When I Read That Sweet Story. Thank you!
    Please send to earlewinemd@att.net

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  17. Wow, I'm about a year late, but am teaching this song this month. I would love the full size. Thanks for your great work and for sharing. Susie
    susieneibaur@gmail.com

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  18. I would also like the full size flip chart too! Thank you! ydblon@gmail.com

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  19. May I have the full sized flipchart, too? Thanks! itsdelayna@aol.com

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  20. I would love the full size version. ajaddimom@gmail.com

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  21. I would love an invite for the full size version. ashleypeterson00@gmail.com
    Thank you! :)

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  22. Can I get the full size version? kristin@mansellrealestate.com

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  23. I'd love a full size version too - email is carapac@gmail.com. Thanks for all your time and effort with this!

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  24. I would love the full size version if possible! chopinmusicfan at gmail dot com. Thank you!

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  25. I would love a full size version too PLEASE ! If you still have it, I know it has been a long time ago. Thanks so much
    mildgepump@yahoo.com

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  26. Not sure if you still have the full-size available? I'd love it at carapac@gmail.com. Thanks!

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  27. Hello, I believe I have sent copies to everyone that has requested one. Please let me know if I missed you.

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    1. Hello :) Can I have a full sized copy too please?
      nmontiel801@gmail.com Thank you! this idea is lovely

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  28. I just came across your site. Wonderful idea! I would love the link. ajosumm@yahoo.com

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  29. would love the link for the full size. Thank you
    morris.cindy@gmail.com

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  33. Can I get the full size flip chart please? pdr654@hotmail.com

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  34. I just came across this and was wondering if you still have the full size pages available to email? Thanks! smileygirl0413@hotmail.com

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  35. I would like the fullsize flip chart of "I Think When I Read that sweet....."
    caroltoone@gmail.com

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  36. Can I get the full size booklet? Thanks, jamienielson5@gmail.com

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  37. Hello! I would love a full size flip chart, if it is still available. Thank you for sharing your time and talent with us.
    Marligreen1@gmail.com
    Btw- we made the mini booklets during singing time last week. I even dared to have my junior primary fold them, as well. With each fold, we sang a different line of the song over and over until everyone was done with the fold and holding it in the air. We would then move onto the next fold and phrase of the song. By the end of folding, we had learned the entire song. Worked perfectly... Even with the little ones.
    Thanks again

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  38. Thank you for sharing! Love the booklets for Sweet Story and If I listen with my heart!

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  39. Would love the flip chart version!
    This is such a sweet idea!
    kirsi.ide @ gmail.com

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    Replies
    1. I'm so sorry I missed this request. Just sent. You have an unusual email address - please send me a note if you didn't get it!

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  40. I have printed off the small version for each of my Primary children. I would love the flipchart. Thank you.
    alholtby@cogeco.ca

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    1. Oh oops, wrong person. I actually sent this to you last week. Let me know if you didn't get it!

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  41. This is the sweetest idea! My kids LOVE little things. Thank you for sharing this idea, creating the pdf, and well written directions. You are amazing! I would also appreciate the full size flipchart. Thank you so much! akhughes75@gmail.com

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    1. I emailed it to you! Let me know if you received it.

      Delete
  42. This is perfect. Thanks so much for sharing your idea. Can I get a copy of the full size flipchart too? Thank you!! kthdgs@gmail.com

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  43. Thanks for sharing this awesome idea! I would love the full size flip chart if available. Thanks! klavender6@gmail.com

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  44. Thanks for sharing this awesome idea! I would love the full size flip chart if available. Thanks! klavender6@gmail.com

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    Replies
    1. Just sent. Let me know if you don't get it!

      Delete
  45. Hello :) Can I have a copy of the big one too please? nmontiel801@gmail.com
    Thank you!!!

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  46. Hello!! Thank you so much for this wonderful idea!! Can I get a copy of the big book, please? I would really love to use this to teach my primary kids. Thanks you so much!!

    primarychoristerhug@gmail.com

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  47. Thank you! I just emailed it to you. Let me know if you do not see it.

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  48. I would love the full size version of your book! Thank you!
    rebeccaannpalmer@gmail.com

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    Replies
    1. I'm so happy you asked me about this one. It's one my favorite visuals for Primary and such a great song for the children to be learning. I just sent it via email. Let me know if you don't see it. Thanks!

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  49. THANK YOU SO MUCH! Could you send me a full size also!
    robinharmon@yahoo.com

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  50. I would really like the full size for singing time. Thank you very much. dalllaur@yahoo.com

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    Replies
    1. Absolutely! Just sent it to you via email.

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  51. Hi Esther, my stake primary presidency is coming to our ward and would like us to sing this song with them. would you mind sharing the full size pictures file with me to make singing it with them easier. I am also going to make the little books for the children to have their own copy. Thank you so much for sharing your talents with us preschool.best@gmail.com

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    1. I have not looked at the words to this song in several years. Thank you for requesting it because it made me review the song before I sent it. Such a beautiful song. They loooved the flipbooks. Just one caution ... the little sunbeams might start unfolding them immediately, then get upset when they cant put it it back together, ha ha. so be prepared to help refold quickly or just make a few spares.

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  52. Is there a way I could get a copy of this file? The google embedded file won't work for me/says I don't have access. My email is mgunnell@libertypioneer.com

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