Mother's Day and Father's Day Childrens Choirs

My friend that is a chorister in a different children's choir in Springville has a very different way of teaching his Primary class music. He rarely uses visuals or plays games to supplement or motivate the singing. His Primary loves him, and he is able to effectively elicit active participation

For Mother's Day, he explained to the children that there were two main reactions they could elicit from their mothers on Mother's Day:

Reaction 1: "Awh, aren't they cute!"

Reaction 2: Heartful sobbing and joy.

He told them that while each reaction was great, that they should go for the second reaction, and that to get the second reaction, they needed to sing powerfully, watch him closely as he led the music, and to think about the words they were singing.

I believe the most powerful thing we can do as we teach children music is to make sure they understand what they are singing, and why they might be feeling a certain way as they sing the words.

Many years ago, I was teaching the song, "Nephi's Courage," and a child in the class that was less familiar with the Book of Mormon raised her hand and asked why Nephi, Laman, and Lemuel had to get the plates that are referenced in the song. I've linked to the song so you can read the lyrics. I said, "That's a great question. Let's open up the scriptures and find out. I believe this is in Nephi chapter 3 but can a teacher call out the chapter and verse if you know it?" We were able to find the appropriate scriptures quickly, and on the fly, look up and read the part of the story that was pertinent, make sure her question was answered, and make sure that what we were singing and learning was meaningful. To this day, this is one of my favorite songs in the Children's Songbook. 

Getting Ready for Father's Day and Mother's Day!

You have four Sundays left to practice Mother's Day songs, and then it's Father's Day!! Ah, Primary chorister life.

Just wanted to remind you (as my Primary counselor reminded me on Sunday) that there are also some great grandparent songs in the Children's songbook!!!

I'd love to sing a Mother's Day song and a Grandmother song to honor all of our mothers that are grandparents, too.

Mother's Day songs

Our Primary sings in sacrament every Mother's Day. Sometimes, it's difficult to find time to learn a new song in time for the program. So, I've made up some Mother's Day songs using tunes that the children already know. You'll see with "Stand for the Right" that I also deliberately stuck with similar words to the original song. These words can be swapped out for Father's Day as well. Although, I'll share some other versions in May for Father's Day.

Enjoy -

Esther

To the tune of “Stand for the Right” on page 159 of the Children’s Songbook

Verse 1

My mother is honest and faithful and true,

It seems that she always knows just what to do,

At work or at play, In darkness or light,

She teaches me always to cho-ose the right.

Verse 2

She makes me feel happy when I feel so blue,

I want to be like her when I’m grown up, too,

At work or at play, In darkness or light,

She teaches me always to cho-ose the right.

To the tune of Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam on page 60 of the Children’s Songbook

Mother is kind and so lo-ving,

She shows her love each day,

I want to be just like Mother,

In all I do and say.

Chorus:

Like Mo-ther! Like Mo-ther!

I want to be just like Mo-ther!

I’ll fol-low, her examp-le,

I’ll be like Mother today!

Mother's Day Song Review

Last chance to practice for Mother's Day next week!

We have been learning two songs: "I Think the World is Glorious" and "Mother Dear." We have not had much time to learn these songs so the children know them, but not confidently and well. You can apply this activity to your Mother' Day songs that you need to review, but of course, I've tailored my lesson to these two songs.

Junior Primary

Learning "Mother Dear" (Practicing Lyrics)
In Junior Primary, we actually need to finish re-learning "Mother Dear" so I'm going to put all the fun pictures on the wall (deliberately big, bright colors), and just have the children take the pictures down one by one to learn the lines just as I have taught this song in the past, but skipping any extras I had added on before.

Update after church: The Junior Primary LOVED "Shy Samuel." I have a CTR 4 that struggles with primary in general, and even he was entranced. The children sang loudly and with enthusiasm when I introduced Shy Samuel. (In this pic, my arm is going through the bottom of the box into the puppet.)

Pop up Puppet (Practicing Volume)

If we have any time left, I'll have the Junior Primary practice each song for volume. I'll tell them I have a shy friend who wants to hear us sing but he'll only come out if we're nice and loud. And then I'll have head start to poke up out of a box until his whole body is out if they sing loud enough. I can even wave his arms around and make him dance for joy :) I saw a primary chorister in my ward do this years ago.

For mine, I found a puppet (one I owned already), then a box that it fit inside. I then wrapped the box so it had a nice home. I am going to introduce him as Shy Samuel. Shy Samuel is very ... well, shy! But ... he loves music, and the louder you sing, the more he wants to come out and hear all of your beautiful voices. If you sing loud enough, he might even come out and dance. (As the primary sings, he'll slowly start to come out of the box and begin dancing. If the children don't sing loudly enough, then he'll just stay in his box.)

Echo Chamber (More on Lyrics)

If we still have some time left, I will have them sing in Echo Chamber style, which is that I divide the class into four sections. I sing a line, then each corner takes turns echoing the line back to me. The repetition helps ingrain the song in their head.

Senior Primary

Echo Chamber (Lyrics)

We're going to start with Echo Chamber as above. I will tell them to listen carefully and pay attention to the words because they are going to need it for Tic Tac Toe!

Tic Tac Toe (Lyrics)

Senior Primary has had time to learn and re-learn both songs, but they are a little bit fuzzy on the "Mother Dear" song because they had about five minutes to-relearn it. 

For them, I will play Singing Time Tic Tac Toe, which is what I consider to be a traditional Singing Time Song Review Game for all the songs, but I am modifying to be for just the two Mother's Day songs that we will be singing next week. So, rather than having them identify the name of the song for which the line is from, or answer trivia questions about the song, I'm going to have them identify the next line of the song.

Basically, it goes like this:

Choose a reverent child or choose a child from the name jar, making sure they are from the correct side of the room because you are playing one side of the room against the other. They get to choose where they want to put a circle or a square. There is a line of a song behind each square. They can ask kids in their class only - no other kids on their side of the room - and then they have to tell me correctly the next line of the song. But they only have 15 seconds to answer. If they are right, they get to put their circle or x in the square. If they are wrong, the other side gets a chance to "steal" that space. 

Or, have them play against you! If the person in the class can't answer the question correctly in 30 seconds, you get to put up an X against their Os. I like this version because then we could sing the song in between turns, and even if I win the first time, they should eventually catch up and win, too!

My questions:

In the first line of the song, fill in the blank, "Mother Dear, I love you so, your (happy, smiling face) is such a joy to look at,"

In the first line of the song, finish the sentence, "Mother Dear, I love you so, your happy, smiling face, is such a joy to look at; it (makes homes a lovely place).

What is the second line of the song, "Mother Dear." Hint, it starts: "Mother Dear, I love you so. Your (lovely, shining eyes)" and make a comparison to stars.

In the second line of the song, "Mother Dear," complete the sentence, "Mother Dear, I love you so. Your lovely shining eyes, are just (like stars that twinkle. way up in the bright blue skies).

In the third line of the song, "Mother Dear," complete this sentence, "Mother Dear, I love you so. I'll try the whole day through (To please our Heav'nly Father. I'm so glad he gave me you.")

In "I think the World is Glorious," the second verse of the song only has one line different from the first verse of the song. Fill in the sentence that is different, "For I have t(eachers kind and true and parents who love me."

etc. ...

If There is Any Time Remaining in Senior ...

Helmet Hero

I will bring out Helmet Hero, which I have planned as a back-up activity several times and still not done in quite some time. This is one of my most popular activities so if you don't want to do Tic Tac Toe, do Helmet Hero. My most stubborn boys will play this game!

Balloon (Volume)
I'll have a teacher blow up a balloon while they are singing. Then, we'll let it go and watch it zip around the room, maybe with a goal to hit something ... or something ... okay still trying to think of a fun Volume game for Senior that I haven't already done, that takes 10 seconds to prepare :)

++

2018 Update

Hi everyone,
I hope you have been enjoying my blog. I still receive and respond to requests even though I was released as a chorister 4.5 years ago. I still serve in the Primary though! After years of serving in Primary, I've written a book that is available at Deseret Book and Costco during the Christmas season. Or year round, you can find it online. It's called "My Nativity ABCs." I have a second Primary-oriented children's book coming out this fall. You can pre-order "My Nativity 1-2-3s" on Amazon!

I also recently began sharing my General Conference cards that I make for my Primary kids on Etsy. You can download your own digital copy for $4 and then print as many copies as you want to make for your Primary kids!

Preparing for Mother's Day (I'll teach it now, then only need to lightly touch on it for upcoming weeks.)

I will spend this Sunday working on Mother's Day song, before moving back into my regular monthly song plans for the remainder of the month.

As I mentioned before, I chose:

• I Think the World is Glorious - This song is not only appropriate to honor our Fathers and Mothers but it fits in very well with the message from "My Heavenly Father Loves Me," and Spring in general.

• Mother Dear  - I wanted to sing one blatantly obvious Mother's Day song, and this is among my top three favorites.

We already started learning the first song the last few weeks, and the second song is more of a review. So, this Sunday's focus is:

1. Review verse 1 of "I Think the World is Glorious."
2. Learn verse 2 of "I Think the World is Glorious."
3. Review "Mother Dear."

I Think the World is Glorious

1. Put up my poster from last week and sing the song one time through - no fancy tricks. Just sing it one time through. It's a short verse. Review any problem areas briefly.

2. Introduce second verse. I'll play "What's different with this poster?" and have added the additional items that represent the new line in the second verse. There is only ONE new line in the second verse so that will be the very simple addition to learn verse 2. Once the children identify the pictures, I'll tell them the line - or I'll sing the line and then have them identify the pictures.

3. To review the entire song a few times I will put objects in a bag that represent objects in the song. Whatever a child draws out of the bag is how we have to sing the song:

Blossoms - sing like a blossom blowing in the wind. Discuss how that would sound - smooth. Have them move their bodies like bodies in the wind.

Bees - sing in a silly buzzing voice

Birds - have them sing back and forth like birds chattering to one another

Teachers - sing with their arms folded, very reverently

Parents - pat each other on the back as you sing

Mother Dear
I will review Mother Day with the big, colorful cut-outs I made for a previous Mother's Day and attached to magnets. I usually go for something more elaborate but the kids loved the big, bright colors, especially junior primary of course.

I will take advantage of the magnets on the back and just put these all over the room and maybe even underneath chairs. The children will be asked to look for the parts of the song and put them up as we sing them a few times.




Up next: I just finished a flip chart for "An Angel Came to Joseph Smith" and will be posting it in the next few days.

Teaching "I Think the World is Glorious"

I am planning to introduce "I Think the World is Glorious" on Easter Sunday, ultimately to sing in sacrament as part of the Mother's Day program.

I chose this song for a number of reasons. Mainly, it was so fitting with this year's theme, and what I have been teaching the children about how our Heavenly Father loves us and created this world for us. However, I also love that it is a very Spring-oriented song, and appropriate for Easter.

I will have the whole hour for Easter, and have an overall Easter theme that I am working out right now, which will include some time spent on learning this song. 

Image from: http://www.123rf.com/photo_6580958_animal-planet.html

We will hear and sing this song three or four times on Easter Sunday:

1. Sing the song for the children. (Invite anyone that already knows it to sing it with you. Give teachers the page number so they can look it up on their phones! Or write it up on the board for them and specifically ask them to help, if you are worried about singing alone. I have gotten over being worried about singing solos after so much time in this calling.) Ask them to raise their hand if they know the song. Ask them to listen carefully to what word is sung the most. This exercise makes them listen carefully to the lyrics of the song.

2. Put an illustration on the chalkboard (see above), either one drawn in advance, a collage cut out from magazine pictures or printed off the Internet, or even just a doodle on the chalkboard. I may just do the latter, and will have the drawing up before class comes in. I will use the free-standing chalkboard that we have in the room, so I can wait until Singing Time begins to flip the drawing around.

I found the image above though, and think it would be fun to try for something similar. Even if I don't have the time to draw this myself, I could easily cut out pictures and place them around the world in a similar presentation.

Sing the song again. (Invite anyone that already knows it to sing it with you.) Ask the children to look at the picture and see how many of the words in the song are illustrated in the picture. This exercise makes them listen carefully to the lyrics of the song again.

(I wouldn't want to have quite as many pictures because I want to keep it simple enough for the children that the children are learning the song, not being distracted by the items that AREN'T in the song!)

I was thinking if I hand-drew the image right before class started, I could do something easy and fast like this:

3. Have the children help sing the song. This time, have the children take turns, one row at a time, standing up and singing "I sing!" so that by the end, all the rows are standing. (Assign the rows beforehand.)

4. Do the same as #3 except this time have the children hold the notes out until the end of the song.

Lyrics:

1. I think the world is glorious and lovely as can be.
The birds and bees and blossoms bring sweet messages to me.

I sing, and sing, and sing, and sing
A song of joy and love.
I sing, and sing, and sing, and sing
My thanks to God above.

2. I think the world is glorious and lovely as can be,
For I have teachers kind and true, and parents who love me.

Words: Anna Johnson, 1892–1979. © 1962 IRI

Music: Alexander Schreiner, 1901–1987. © 1962 IRI

“I Think the World Is Glorious,” Children’s Songbook of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 230

Preparing for Mother's Day Program

This is our last Sunday before the primary children sing in church. They will be singing two songs:

"Mother Dear" and "I Often Go Walking."

I want to take this week to focus on preparing them to sing, making sure they know the words really well, and getting them to sing "with gusto."

I have three activities prepared, so we can sing the same songs over and over.

Activity #1: Echo Chamber (for repetition to help learn lyrics)
I was originally going to have one side of the room echo the other side of the room, but when I went to stake primary training, our stake music leader had an even better idea ... so I have to think I am receiving inspiration that this is a worthy activity!

Her version is to have the children actually get up out of their seats, and move to the four corners of the room. One corner will sing one verse of the song, and then each subsequent corner will sing it so that we are doing a four-series echo! I am looking forward to this and think it will be a lot of fun.

I think I might even mix it up by changing the direction of the echo fast, or pointing and having the kids responding and making that part of the "game."

Obviously, the benefit here is that the children will learn the song even better by all the repetition.

Activity #2: How Loud Can You Sing? (for gusto to help singing with volume)
This one is deliberately AFTER the echo chamber to help cement the lyrics in their minds before we work on volume.

I printed up a card for each song - one set for junior, one set for senior, so four total. I will tell the children to sing as loudly as possible, and then send someone down the hall to post the card matching that song on the wall representing how far away they were before they couldn't hear us singing.

After church, the children can go see how loudly they sang and if their card made it all the day down the hallway. I made sure to use pictures because not everyone in junior primary can read yet.

I am debating whether to send a child, two children, or one of the counselors. ...

Activity #3: Staccato Song (to practice enunciation) ... or ...? I haven't thought this one through yet ...
Okay, I keep changing my mind about Activity #3 ... so I might do an activity having to do with singing Staccato ...

... or I might just work on other review songs ... or new songs ...

or I might do a class SING.
Sing the whole song but have one child or teacher sing each word of the song ...

or I might work on having Boys sing one vs. Girls in another verse ... something I wanted to do in sacrament but didn't have time to teach the song well enough to practice yet.

Learning "Mother Dear" for Mother's Day

My focus last week, this week, and the week after ward conference will be Mother's Day songs, although I will also spend some time on some other songs for this month's theme.

I want the primary to sing two songs for Mother's Day. The children memorized, "I Often Go Walking" probably two months ago when I was able to squeeze it into the singing time schedule, but I had not had time to work in a second song until last week. We also have a ward conference coming up so I knew I only had three Sundays left to learn a second song, as well as to continue to work on other new songs and song that fit the month's theme. Therefore, I decided that the second would be "Mother Dear." This song is more well-known, is lovely, and would be easier to memorize than some of the other songs, since there are some repeating lines.

I decided to attach pictures to magnets so that I could have the children pull them off the board as we memorized the song and just to make the pictures seem different to them than other flip charts I've used. So far, to mix up flip charts (which are too effective to stop using) I have tried:

• Standard flip charts (sometimes children hold them up, sometimes placed on the board) with images collected from Internet
• Pictures I have drawn
• Poster board flip charts
• Objects instead of flip charts
• New this time: Large blocks of colored paper

The change this time was the last bullet point- to use big, bold blocks of color that I thought might be especially appealing to the younger children. I wanted to use big geometric shapes but there were a few that just didn't look right so I just drew them out, like the eyes. Also, I couldn't think of a good image to represent "joy" so I just used a butterfly cut-out that looked happy. Otherwise, these shapes were fun and easy to use for memorizing, and only required seven sheets of colored paper, a glue stick, some magnets, and a marker.

Last week - How I used the images

I attached the pictures to magnets and put them on the chalkboard, one verse at a time. I explained what each image represented as I put it up. I then had the children sing the line with me. Then, I drew names after each verse to have the children come up and remove a picture, then sing the song again, without the help of that image. I put my hand behind my ear and stop singing whenever we sang a part of the song where we had just removed the image. It was fun for me to see how well they did without any help from me. They are such bright children; they tend to pick this stuff up very quickly if they are enjoying the activity.

In Senior Primary, I also drew a second name and had a child tell me the line for the picture we removed, after we sang it once without the picture. If the child didn't know it, we sang the line again, while the child listened carefully. Also in Senior Primary, I had the children guess the song just by looking at the pictures I put up. They guessed the song in just three tries.

I am often taken by surprise by which activities I do that are the most fun for the children. I felt like both the senior and the junior primary were very engaged in this activity and had a good time. In fact, our primary president had to remind me that I was going wayyy over my time, to my embarrassment. I feel so bad when I realize I haven't been watching the clock closely enough. Sometimes I think I should set out a kitchen timer so it will buzz and remind me when I'm out of time. I like adding that second part where children are called on to show me how well they have learned a line too, because I think it helps them pay attention and to participate.

This week - How I will use the images this week

In junior primary we only made it through two verses so I will continue the same game, for all three verses. To mix it up a little, I will hide a few fun pictures behind some of the other pictures. If the child picks one of those pictures, I'll add some fun way to sing to that verse or some other reward. I will make sure NOT to add the fun pictures behind verse three, since that will be a new verse for them.

I may also play a scramble game, and have the children come up to hold the pictures in front of them. I will have them sing the song in order, then scramble the pictures and see if the children can get themselves unscrambled before the song is done. I may do this one verse at a time, especially in junior primary.

I may also play some sort of game where we stop the song at various points, and a child has to fill in the missing line. I don't like to put kids on the spot that are shy so I like to partner them with the children on either side of them if they get stuck.

April 2018 Update

Hi everyone,
I hope you have been enjoying my blog. I still receive and respond to requests even though I was released as a chorister 4.5 years ago. I still serve in the Primary though! After years of serving in Primary, I've written a book that is available at Deseret Book and Costco during the Christmas season. Or year round, you can find it online. It's called "My Nativity ABCs." I have a second Primary-oriented children's book coming out this fall. You can pre-order "My Nativity 1-2-3s" on Amazon!

I also recently began sharing my General Conference cards that I make for my Primary kids on Etsy. You can download your own digital copy for $4 and then print as many copies as you want to make for your Primary kids!

Learning "I Often Go Walking" - Mother's Day song

I wanted the children to memorize "I Often Go Walking" today to prepare for Mother's Day. The plan is that after today, they know the song pretty well so I can pull it into practice once in a while. This way, I will have more leisure and less stress to fine-tune this song, as well as to work on introducing other songs, including hopefully a second Mother's Day song and Father's Day songs. 

I also spent a little bit of time on this month's theme song, "Stand for the Right," but I'll talk about that in a separate post.

The activity
Assign each class a line or two of the song from "I Often Go Walking." Give them objects (NOT flat pictures - this makes it more exciting for them) that help represent their line of the song. Have the teachers help them decide how they are going to act out that line of the song. Remind the children that they need to sing while they are performing the line (and then of course, sing with them to help prod them along). Then, have the entire primary sing the line again with them while they act out the line.


Objects you need

• Fake flowers - mostly blue ones for "armfuls of blossoms of blue" but also colored ones for "all blossoms remind me of you"
  
  Cut these up so you have more flowers to pass around without spending too much money. I checked a few stores and finally bought four bunches for $1 each.
  
  I also made a bunch out of origami as that was even cheaper; tutorial for flowers here.
  
                                           
• Drawings of clovers or use fuzzy wire to bend clovers, etc.
  
                                           
• "Mom" items - e.g., apron, mixing bowl and wooden spoon, purse, pearl necklace or other "mom" jewelry
• Green poster board or green plastic table cloth or fabric to represent meadows

Here is how I divided up the song and what information I passed to each teacher. The classes then conferred while I went around the room and talked to each class to help make sure they understood what to do and were prepared. I had each class teach their line, then sing it with the class 1-3 times depending on how well the class was listening. I then sang the song one time through with them and had the class get up very quickly one after the other. In senior primary, I also had time to sing the song through without any props to see how well they had done.

Group 1

v1, line 1. I often go walking in meadows of clover,

Items: meadows, clover

Suggestions:: Choose people to walk, to hold the meadow, and to hold clover.

Group 2

v1, line 2 And I gather armfuls of blossoms of blue.

Items: blue flowers

Suggestions:  Choose people to gather blossoms. Some could hold the flowers and pretend to be part of the meadow.

Group 3

v1, line 3 I gather the blossoms the whole meadow over;

v1, line 4 Dear mother, all flowers remind me of you.

Items: meadow, flowers, “mother items” – a purse and a necklace

Suggestions: Choose people to gather blossoms. Some could hold the flowers. Some could be “mother.”

Group 4

v2, line 1. O mother, I give you my love with each flower

Items: flowers, giant heart, “mother items”

Suggestions: Choose someone to be “Mother.” Choose people to hand hearts and flowers to “Mother” (could have all do this and stand in a line)

Group 5

v2, line 2 To give forth sweet fragrance a whole lifetime through;

Items: Perfume bottles, flowers

Hints: Have people act out smelling fragrance

                              

Group 6

v2, line 3 For if I love blossoms and meadows and walking

Items: Blossoms, Meadows

Suggestions: Act out enjoying blossoms, meadows, and walking (a few different people would do each one)

Group 7

v2, line 4 I learn how to love them, dear mother, from you.

Items: Book, Heart, Mother items

Suggestions: “Learn” by reading from book, Hold out hearts, point to someone dressed as “Mother”

Evaluation and tips
Overall, I think this activity was a success and am glad I did it. The children memorized the song pretty well and from all appearances, had a lot of fun. Singing should be fun! Reverent, yes, but also, fun. When I had them sing the song without any of the objects, they sang the song through without any problems, so I feel that I did accomplish my main goal of ingraining the song in their memories.

I did have some worries at first. I wasn't sure if they were truly learning the song until the end. In addition, the noise levels were a bit high for a while, but mostly when children were preparing their lines, which is not surprising. In hindsight, I wish I had asked the teachers to make sure the children were all engaged, and suggested they have the children fold their arms when the class was done discussing what they were going to do. 

The noise level went back down once the classes began coming up to share their lines. I had a small problem with inattentive children playing with their flowers/meadows/etc. for the first line or two in junior primary, but I just made sure the children knew that I would be taking their props away if they didn't pay attention and participate. That generally did the trick. I also specifically asked a couple of children, by name, to turn around and face the front of the class. I made the children sing some of the lines more than once if I felt like I had less than 90% participation (and told them why we were singing it again) for a particular line, at which point they improved. 

Some thoughts around my activity choice

I briefly introduced "I Often Go Walking" last Sunday using a flip chart that I found online. I am not sharing it here because the children complained that the pictures (thought absolutely gorgeous) were too similar to each other (lots of pictures of blue flowers).

I am sure some of them know it but they haven't sung it in sacrament for over two years, since they didn't sing last Mother's Day. I also tried to be sensitive to the fact there may be children in the room that have special situations, for example, an absentee mom, a divorce, a death, etc. I encouraged all children to come up but didn't push it if they didn't.

2018 Update

Hi everyone,
I hope you have been enjoying my blog. I still receive and respond to requests even though I was released as a chorister 4.5 years ago. I still serve in the Primary though! I am excited that our chorister is going to lead this song this year. After years of serving in Primary, I've written a book that is available at Deseret Book and Costco during the Christmas season. Or year round, you can find it online. It's called "My Nativity ABCs." I have a second Primary-oriented children's book coming out this fall. You can pre-order "My Nativity 1-2-3s" on Amazon!


I also recently began sharing my General Conference cards that I make for my Primary kids on Etsy. You can download your own digital copy for $4 and then print as many copies as you want to make for your Primary kids!