Singing Time Song Review (and lesson review) for the Last Five Months

** Revised 5/25 evening! Our primary chorister did this today, and as a result, I added some modifications in italics.

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This idea is a song review that helps the children to think about what they have learned in the last five months. The game is based on helping to cement the correlation between the sharing time lesson and the singing time lesson for each week, from the last five months.

This game is a Jeopardy of sorts, where each category is from each month, and the answers are from the song. I've put the questions and answers in the chart below. Everything in ( ) is for your reference only, and should not be on the questions that the children see.

Put the headlines and questions up on a board (the items in bold in the table below) and let children decide which paper to flip over to answer.

It's important not to forget to SING during Singing Time so the object of the game would be to figure out the song that each column represents, and then to sing the song. One way to do this is to have them guess and sing the song after getting THREE of the questions in the column answered correctly since you won't have time to get through all of these questions in a 20-minute singing time.

Or, another way is: put different points on the back: 100, 200, 300, etc. If the children want to guess and sing the song for a column they can earn an additional 500 points. Tell them the goal is to, as a group, get up to 3000 points by the end of singing time. I strongly discourage making this a competition against each side of the room. It tends to drive the spirit out of the room, and I assume for that reason, we are counseled not to use competitions in our lessons. However, if you give them a group goal, they have fun with it, without the meanness that sometimes happens with competition. You can even give them the scenario that they are a big family and you want everyone to make it to the end together, as a family.

*** The children ended up singing less than we would have liked so to get more actual singing in, I would modify this so that the children can guess the song after each question. Give them a few tries to get the answer right and then if they do, let them sing the song. They can still answer the questions in the column, but this way you can ensure more singing.

***** Our awesome chorister added in a "lightning round" where children could answer all of the question in one column and earn a ton of points at once.  This was helpful because there were way more questions than could be answered in 20 minutes.

January – Heavenly Father Prepared a Way for  Me to Return to His Presence (34 - "He Sent His Son")	February – Heavenly Father has a Plan for His Children (164-165 - "I Will Follow God's Plan")	March- Jesus Christ is Our Savior (193 - "I Stand All Amazed")	April – The Family is Central to God’s Plan ("The Family is of God")	May – Families are Blessed when they Follow the Prophet (Ward Primary's Choice, ours is "The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden")
Who did Heavenly Father send to tell the world the pathway we should go?  (Jesus) (week 2 lesson - Heavenly Father provide a Savior and makes it possible for me to return to his presence)	Where did the plan for my life begin? Hint: My life has a plan. My life has a purpose; in ______ it began. (heaven) (week 1 lesson: Heavenly Father has a plan for his Children)	Our Savior died on the cross. Who did he die for? (for me! all of us!) Hint: I tremble to know that for ___ he was crucified. (week 2 lesson: Through the atonement of Jesus Christ I can repent and be forgiven of my sins.)	Fill in the blank. The f___ is c_____ to God' plan. (The family is central to God's plan - week 1 lesson.)	How does God speak to us in modern day?  (through prophets) (week 1 lesson) Hint: (In our primary, the song is "The prophet said to plant a garden" so our hint would be: "In modern-day revelation, who said to plant a garden?"
How could the Father tell the world of sacrifice, of death? (He sent his son to die for us.) (week 2 lesson)	What choice did  I make in Heaven? (to come to this lovely home on earth and seek for God's light to direct me from birth ... or they could just say, "gain a mortal body" :) ) (week 2 lesson: Heavenly Father commanded Jesus Christ to create the earth as a home for his children.)	Where was our Savior before he came to earth to be crucified? (with our Father in Heaven) Hint: I marvel that he would descend from __ ___ _____ To rescue a soul so rebellious and proud as mine.	Why did God give us families? Hint: "God gave us families to help us become _________ (what he wants us to be.) (To help us learn how love, serve, and care for each other, and be an example to each other.)	There are many of these in the scriptures that are examples to our families. Some of their names were: Nephi, Noah, Daniel, Samuel the Lamanite. Who are they?  (Prophets) (week 2 lesson)
What does the Father ask of us? What do the scriptures say? (Have faith, have hope, live like his Son, help others on their way.) (week 4 lesson - I can return to Heavenly Father by following Jesus Christ)	How can I follow God's plan - what do I need to hold fast to?  (Holding fast to his word and his love ... or they could just say, "obey the commandments, listen to counsel in the scriptures ... etc.)  (week 4 lesson: Agency is the gift to choose for myself)	Why did the Savior die for us? Hint: Oh it is wonderful that he should care for me Enough to die for me! (He cares for us/loves us.)	What are a father and mother's role in the family? (Week 2 lesson) Hint: A father's place is to (preside, provide, To love and teach the gospel). A mother's place is to (care, prepare, To nurture and to strengthen all her children). (To lead and guide the family).	My family will be blessed as we follow who? (the Prophet) (week three lesson)
Who does Heavenly Father ask us to live like so that we can return and be with him again some day? (Live like his Son) (week 3 lesson - Jesus Christ is the perfect example for me to follow)	In whose footsteps should I follow to be happy on earth. Hint: "I will work, and I will pray; I will always walk in his way. Then I will be happy on earth." (week 4 lesson)	I can show respect for the Savior by being reverent. Give some examples of how you can be reverent. (This is from lesson 4 in March.)	What are the children's role in a family? (week 3 lesson) Hint: "I'll (love) and (serve) my family and be A good (example) to each fam'ly member." Answer: Obey parents. Love and serve family.	Who speaks to us every six months at General Conference?  (the prophet) (week four lesson)

Learning "He Sent His Son"

Our primary sang "He Sent His Son" for the Christmas program last year so they actually learned this one fairly recently. I also ended up having our bishopric 1st Counselor introduce the song last year. I was not in primary that Sunday, but he told me that the primary already knew the song fairly well. So, I never used Week 1 of my lesson plan from 2012. Here's what I planned out last year to prepare this song for the Christmas program:

Week 1 - "What Song Am I" followed by an image-matching activity

Week 2 - Traditional "Cover the Flipchart" game and the bell game

I really did not spend much time on this song last year because they knew it so well!!

This is a great song though, for using the two sides of the room - one side sings the questions, and the other side sings the answers. You can do this a few times, then swap sides, etc.

My biggest win last year was successfully encouraging the Sunbeams to participate during singing time, with my "latch board" activity. I was super excited by how well this activity worked, and would use it again to kick off 2014, but with new hints and pictures behind the windows and doors for the new song.

Hints for What Song Am I? game:
1. This song was written by Mabel Jones Gabbott, who was born in 1910.
2. The music for this song was written by Michael Finlinson Moody, who was born in 1941. President Moody has served several missions for the church.
3. Moroni 7:48 talks about this song. (Look up the scripture.) ... or for the easier hint: John 3:16
4. This song was written in 1982. This means that in some cases, you parents weren't even born yet when this song was written!
5. The same two people who wrote the music and words for this song also wrote the music and words for "Sleep Little Jesus" and "Have a Very Merry Christmas." (This clue is significant for our ward because we did not knowingly pick two Christmas songs to learn that were written by the same two people!)
6. Play the first two notes of the song.
7. Play the first three notes of the song.

Incorporating Cookie Cutters (or Ornaments) into a Christmas Singing Time Activity

This Sunday I want to spend a little bit of time on three songs (two of which are in the upcoming Christmas program) ... if time I have other Christmas songs in mind but three is probably ambitious, at least in junior primary. To keep it interesting, and because I have a bunch of cookie cutters that I have been trying to incorporate into an activity, this will be a cookie cutter Sunday.

Ideas for ways to incorporate cookie cutters into a Sunday activity. A little bit of brainstorming:
You can substitute this with ornaments or something else you have in a decent quantity - seasonal preferred.

• Option #1 -- Children will reach reach their hand into a sack and pull out a cookie cutter. The shape of the cookie cutter that they pull out will determine the song that we sing so we will go back and forth with different songs. I will have different activities planned for each song in advance.
• Option #2 -- Fishing for cookie cutters. I realized a bunch of my cookie cutters are not magnetic so I can't do this one (unless I tape magnets to each cookie cutter), but I would have loved to have the children fish for cookie cutters. Each cookie cutter would represent a fun way to sing the song. 
• Option #3 --  Look under your chairs! I will have someone come up and choose a cookie cutter without looking. Then, I'll ask everyone to look under their chairs, where I will have attached a shape that matches the cookie cutters. If their shape matches that of the cookie cutter (and there will be multiples of each shape so more than one child should have the matching shape), then I will have an extra activity for them. I'm trying to do what that extra activity will be - one option could be that there's an extra drawing for the extra activity. Another option could be that that if they have the matching cookie cutter, they have to recite a line of the song to show how well they have memorized it, or something.
• Option #4 -- When I was a piano student as a child, my piano teacher gave everyone a cookie cutter ornament as a present. She attached a ribbon to the cookie cutter and wrote on it "cut out for greatness." I still have my ornament. I could incorporate this into the lesson and talk about what it means to be great ... then add in one of the activities from the other options.
• Option #5 -- Find the cookie cutter. I will hid cookie cutters throughout the room. Each time we finish singing through one song, a child will be called up to point out one of the cookie cutters. We will take the cookie cutter down that the child selects, then ...
• Option #6 -- (This is what I ended up doing.) I drew the cookie cutter patterns onto sheets of paper, and gave each child a pattern. I then had children come up and draw cookie cutters out of a bag. If their cookie cutter matched the pattern, they were asked to participate in a special activity for that pattern.

The main songs and ways that I want to work on singing them:


Samuel Tells the Story of Baby Jesus
I'll keep this one simple and throw up the flip chart I used last year just to review the song with the children.

Joy to the World
Practice the verses we learned last week and see how well we learned them. I had the children help me make up motions to the song last week so I'll ask them to help me to remember the motions.

He Sent His Son
Since this is a question and answer song, I want the kids to go back and forth this week, asking one side to sing the question, and one side to sing the answer. I think I will do this, and then have the children swap turns so that the other side sings the question and answer.

I will also sing this song with them in different "fun" ways ...

Memorizing "He Sent His Son" - Singing Time Bells

The first counselor in the bishopric taught Senior Singing Time for me last week so that I could attend the annual special Relief Society Visiting Teaching conference. He said the children knew "He Sent His Son" (the song that I wanted them to work on) quite well, so I debated about what to do this Sunday, since I wanted to spend two weeks on this song, without boring the children. We are singing the song during the Christmas program. I wanted to make sure they knew it very well by early November so that we would have plenty of time to sing other Christmas songs for fun.

So, this is what I am going to do:

In Junior Primary:
I will play the game where children pick which words and pictures on the board to cover, until they are singing the entire song from memory. This is a long song, but it should go by fairly quickly, since the children already worked on the song last week. If we have time, we will then move onto using the bells.

In Senior Primary:
In Senior Primary, I am going straight to the bells. I looked at the song, and it has a nice, easy range that I was able to write onto packing paper that came with something I ordered.

I have used bells twice before in Singing Time, once I used the bells for a Father's Day song, and one previous time, though I can't remember the song for my first attempt at using bells.

Here's what I've learned about using the bells in a way that the children can follow. This may seem obvious but there are a lot of subtle things I had to learn the hard way, in front of the whole primary. Fortunately, the children offered helpful advice as they were trying to figure it out:

1. Write out the words of the song that correspond to the bells so that children can see their bell AND the words of the song. Use a different color for each bell, or some other distinguishing things for children that may be less advanced with reading, or are dyslexic.

2. When you are singing the song with the class, make sure to point to the bell symbol as you sing, so that the child holding the bell knows when to make their ringing tone. Don't assume they can follow the words and music and keep up. Obviously, you need to sing with them, too.

3. Put the words high up, and use a stick to point.

4. Make sure to remind children that if they play with their bells when it's not their turn, they will have their bell taken away. They need to play only when it is their turn to play.

I have had the children come up each time I do this, but I think I will try passing the bells out to the children in their seats. After one try, the children will pass the bell the someone that has not had the opportunity.

5. If I have notes in the song for which I don't have corresponding bells (which happened a few times during this song), I just draw a dash beneath the lyrics.

6. I have the piano play with the bells. It helps the children to know when to sing and to ring the bells, and does not take away from the bells.

Learning "He Sent His Son" (Christmas Program preparation)

We are singing "He Sent His Song" for the Christmas program this year, so I am going to start teaching the song today. My original idea was to put pictures that correspond with the lines of the song on the board and to have children identify which pictures went to which lines of the song, but apparently, I did that idea last year, ha-ha. I guess certain songs lend themselves to certain ideas.

I want to do something different this year, so here's this year's version for learning this song. First, you need a flipchart for this song. If you send me your email address, I'll send you my flip chart, but there are several really great ones online already (this song lends itself to great flip charts). Just do a search for "He Sent His Son flipchart" and you will find a good flipchart within your first five search results.

1. First, play "guess that song." To minimize on prep work this time, I will just have the pianist play the first few notes of the song and ask hands to go up as they recognize the song, until every hand in the room is up. Then, I will ask children to raise both their hands if they want me to call on them to name the song. (Update: I added more "guess that song" clues in a 2013 blog post.)

2. Next, tell the children we are going to play a little game with the pictures for this song, so they need to pay careful attention to how each line of the song is shown in pictures. Put up the song again, but this time show the words for the teachers. Sing it one time through.

3. Before primary, cut out several copies of each picture that correspond to the lines of the song. The quickest way to do this is by opening your flipchart, and then in  printer settings selecting to print 4 pages per sheet so that you can print multiple versions at a consistent miniature size.

It will print out one page like this, with each pic area about a 4 x 6 in size (these are the first four pics from my flipchart).

4. Tape each picture under a chair so that different children in each class receive different pictures. This makes it fun for them because they get to look for a little surprise.

5. Ask children to listen carefully so they know when to hold up the picture that corresponds to the line of the song.

The idea here is that children will listen closely and participate because they want to hear their part of the song and hold up their papers. I tried this with holding up the CTR shield when we learned "Choose the Right," and the kids really paid attention, so I am expecting this to work, from past experience.

6. If there is time, have the children trade pictures with someone nearby them, so that they are now listening for a different line of the song to hold up.

Another, easier alternative to the same activity is to give each class the same picture, and teach them their line. This way, the rest of the class hears the line and is "accidentally" learning it, and we'll learn the whole song! I learned the trick about teaching each class one line at a time from my neighbor, Melanie, who has been a primary music teacher.

In the following weeks, I will detail this out more, but I plan to continue to include this song in the music/lesson plan and implement:

• The standard, cover up a picture as you go game, which I have not done in a long time, and works great.
• Discussing the lyrics of the song, including looking up scriptures that go with each line. I want to find stories about our Savior that have pictures that I can talk to, to help the children remember the significance of the words they are singing. I will tie that into being thankful for Thanksgiving.

December - Week 1 - Unwrapping a Nativity

In an effort to incorporate Christmas (Christ's birth), the lesson, and songs that needed to be practiced to be sung in sacrament on Sunday, the lesson on the first week of December offered:

1. An overall Nativity theme.
2. "Silent Night" melody game, inspired by http://primarysingingtimeideas.blogspot.com/search/label/Seasonal
3. A "He Sent His Son" "guess the picture" game inspired by all the wonderful flip charts out there (I made my own but it used many of the same pictures as other flip charts ... they were just the best fit for the song.)
4. "Samuel Tells the Story of Baby Jesus," sung in several different ways to teach them some basic music formats as well as help them practice this song further.

This was a lot to cram into one lesson so I wasn't able to do everything in junior and senior primary. This is the highly condensed summary of what I taught. There was way too much material here but it's hard to resist all the beautiful Christmas songs that we only sing for one month of the year.

Nativity Theme
I wrapped the individual pieces of a nativity set. I wrote on most of the pieces of wrapping paper with either the name of a song, or the name of a song and a special way to sing it. This gave the children an ongoing theme to work toward. I also made a big deal of telling them I was looking specifically to call on reverent children and asked the teachers to help me choose the children that would come up to unwrap the nativity pieces. I wanted to do this early on so that I could use the Nativity for other activities later in the month, but start with the unwrapping activity. I did not spend too much time talking about the individual pieces because I wanted to save that for later.

Silent Night
Using this recommendation for "Joy to the World," I "drew" the melody lines for "Silent Night," as a series of curves and dots. I then asked the children if they could identify the mystery song. This was a fun introduction to the song. The children knew it really well so I had someone come up and trace the melody lines for me while we sang the song again. I only tried this in senior primary but I want to try it with junior primary next week.

He Sent His Son
I made another flip chart for this beautiful song about how our Father in Heaven sent Jesus Christ to earth to teach us. However, since this song is a series of questions and answers, I put question marks about each question (which was in the form of a picture) and a happy face above each answer (which was also in the form of a picture). In junior primary, I put all the pictures up on the board, then read/sang each line one at a time, and asked children to raise their hand and identify which picture went to that line. For senior primary, I handed out all the pictures and had the kids come up and put them on the board as I read or sang that line for them. I also stopped inbetween for both songs to have the children sing parts or say parts back to me. I did this one a little too fast because we were short on time.

Samuel Tells the Story of Baby Jesus
We will be singing this song on Christmas Sunday, so I wanted to make sure the children had the song well memorized and also sang it well. In junior primary, we practiced singing the song loudly and quietly by crescendo and decrescendo. In senior primary, we practiced singing the song staccato style and allegro (fast) and largo (slow) style. I held pictures up to remind the children how to sing when we varied between allegro/largo and loud/quiet. I was impressed by how well the children did. I plan to practice this with them again next week, this time putting the dynamics where they make the most sense, and maybe talking to the children about dynamics a bit first.