If I Listen with My Heart - flip chart and mini books

"If I Listen with My Heart," by Sally DeFord was one of the first songs I learned as a new Primary chorister. Since this song, which is the January Primary theme song, is not as readily available (it is not in the Children's Songbook), I thought it would be fun to make mini books that you can fold and share with the children.

I made two versions. Version 1 allows the children to color in the pictures. These pictures are from the LDS Coloring Pages online. I love how it states, "Line art allows children to express creativity while learning gospel principles." This is exactly why I wanted to make a coloring book version of the mini pages. The second version is full color and probably more appealing for the older children that are not as interested in coloring anymore.

Both versions are included in this document. Mouse over and click on the down arrow to download.


HOW TO FOLD THE MINI-BOOK - Instructions in a previous blog post here.

These mini books use artwork with copyright by the LDS church and, as stated with the artwork and on the mini-book, are for personal, church-related, noncommercial use.

Here is the flip chart that matches the images used in the mini book:



Have fun teaching this song!

One thought - we are so busy being fun and creative that sometimes, it's a novelty to go back to the tried and true method of putting a flip chart up on the chalkboard (one verse so it's not too overwhelming), and flipping over one page at a time until they have memorized the verse. So, if you're coming out of a busy holiday, relax, and put the flip chart up on the board. You can toss a fuzzy ball to see which child decides which page to flip over, just to keep it interesting.

Also, as I've learned at various training sessions, don't forget that three times is the charm. So, sing the song to them once, have them sing the song with the words in front of them twice - and then start trying to memorize.

Teaching "The Family is of God" with a mini book

I put together this mini book for "The Family is of God" for a primary activity back in January. I love sharing mini books. The kids get such a kick out of it!You can print it out below to teach them the song.

I shared a mini book for the first time back in March 2012, so rather than then re-post the instructions on how to fold the mini book, you can view the instruction from the first mini-book I ever shared on my blog, here.

Since those instructions are for a different book though, I thought I'd at least include this picture so you can double-check your folds ... it's super easy but might seem a little confusing for your first book that you fold.

Here's where you would place the cuts on the sheet:

Make sure to fold a few extra mini books because your sunbeams and CTR 4 children will immediately start trying to take the book apart, then won't know how to get them back together, ha ha. This way, you can teach fluidly and switch out books on them if this happens before their primary teacher realizes what's happening. It's cute and funny, and not a big deal, but it's best to be prepared.

There are two ways to get this mini-book:

1. Download it here for a PDF (higher quality image).

2. Or you can save it from below:
(To print it, just right-click on the image below to save it to your computer first, then print the file you have saved to your computer. You have to save this file to your computer first or it won't print out correctly. If you absolutely can't get this to print, send me your email address and I'll email the file to you ... but try to pull the file from below first to ensure speedy access to this mini book.)



Ideas on teaching with this book
Since I originally made this book for an activity in January, I included four colored circles at the top. These circles perfectly fit the little round accomplishment stickers you can find in any sticker aisle. You can just ignore the circles, or you can put fun motivators in there, and have them earn their stickers. For instance, give each teacher a sticker pad. Have the children follow along with the pictures as you go over the first line. Sing the first line with them several times. Then ask a child to recite the first line without looking at their book. They earn their first sticker. Now you don't have time to do this with every child, but you can ask the teachers to listen to their children and award them their sticker.

The second sticker can be earned by answering a question correctly, e.g., "In the second line of the son, why did our Father in Heaven send us to earth, through birth?" etc. ...

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.