Saturday, March 12, 2011

Stand for the Right - Review

This week I have a combined sharing and music time. I normally love this when the kids are learning a new song and I get lots of time to teach it to them. However, they learned the words to "Stand for the Right" last week with my substitute. To now I have 40 minutes to review a VERY short song. I still think the kids probably need a bit of review to cement this song in their memory so I need to get the creative juices flowing.

First I consulted the sharing time lesson plan, seeing as I am teaching sharing time as well. From there I decided I need to remember to emphasize the idea that the prophet speaks for the lord. I like the idea of using stories from the prophets to emphasize how they spoke for God and how they taught us to "be true, be true." (2011 March sharing time outline) I can't do the cute little prophet wheel because I don't have any brads. How lame is that!? so I'm putting the pictures and words in a binder and we'll just flip through.

So here's how it will go. I'll ask the kids what they learned last week in sharing time and music time. I'll let them know we are going to learn more about how the prophets speak for Heavenly Father and teach us to be true.

I'll shoe them a picture of Adam and ask them who it is. We'll sing the follow the prophet verse about Adam. I have the words next to the picture in the binder. Then I'll share the story in Moses 5:4-12 about how Adam did exactly what the Lord asked him too, even though he didn't understand why. We'll talk about how this relates to being true. Then we'll sing Stand for the Right. I think I'll take some instruments and pick 4-5 kids to play their instruments on "be true" to emphasize the message. Then I'll collect the instruments quickly and move to the next prophet.

I'll follow this pattern with each prophet using the following scriptures and stories for each prophet.

Genesis Chapters 6-8 : Noah was the only righteous man among all that wickedness. It couldn't have been easy to be so true when no one would listen to him and they laughed at him. It must have been strange to him to build a boat on dry land but he trusted the Lord and followed His commandments.

Exodus 3-4: Moses sees the burning bush and hears the Lord's commands for him. He is nervous because he doesn't speak well and thinks maybe the Lord should choose someone else. God reminds Moses that He created his mouth and He will tell him what to say. He even send Aaron to speak for Moses. Moses believes the Lord will help him free his people fro Egypt and he takes his family and goes to do the Lords commands. And, of course, we all know he was successful.

1 Samuel 3:1-10 : Samuel, just a little boy hears the lords voice and answers. He is the Lord's prophet and does as the Lords asks.

Daniel 6 : Daniel prays to the Lord and doesn't worship the king even though he knows it will get him killed. The Lord protects Daniel from the lions because of his faith.

For president Monson I will share the story from last month's Friend from the Prophet.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Fly Swatter - Stand for the Right

Here's the lesson plan for the first week of March. They will be learning Stand for the Right, but I will not be there that week either so here are my plans for my sub.

Fly Swatter Game - Stand for the Right
3/6/2011

I’m sending you a flip chart of the words for this song. It’s very short and they should catch on pretty quickly. Sing through it once for them while showing the flip chart. Then have them sing with you a few lines at a time. Once they seem to have a little grasp on it move to the fly swatter activity.

I’m sending the White board to you. Use the Wet Erase markers to write the words to this song on the board. That way the words won’t get messed up when the kids smack them.

Tell the kids we’re going to sing through the song again but you need two helpers. Use popsicle sticks to choose two kids. Give each a fly swatter. (don’t worry they’re clean) Tell them that you’ll stop the singing some time during the song and they have to smack which ever word would have come next. Whose ever swatter is on the bottom wins. The other person picks someone else to challenge them. The “winner” only stays up 3 turns at most and then they have to pick someone else to play too.

Chair Hop

I just typed out a lesson plan for my substitute for the next two weeks and I thought I'd kill to birds with one stone and just post my lesson plans on here. I know it's cheating and the format will be a little different because these plans are for my sub, but I think you'll get the idea.

Chair Hop - Program review
2/27/2011

I’m sending you a big blue Die. The kids can roll it to determine which song you are going to sing. Use the Popsicle sticks to choose a kid.
  1. If I listen With My Heart (IILWMH) vs 1
  2. IILWMY vs 2
  3. IILWMY vs 3
  4. Books in the Book of Mormon
  5. I Will Follow God’s Plan
  6. Wiggle Song


After a song is chosen tell them which word they are going to move chairs. Below is a list of ideas for each song for words. If just moving one chair over starts getting old you can make it more challenging by adding a spin before sitting or jumping 2 or three times. You get the idea. They don’t do the chair hop on the wiggle songs.

If I Listen With My Heart - Choose a few of the kids like Emma Maughn or Madeline Callis to help the other kids with the signs. If it seem to be too hard to do the signs and play chair hop they can not do them.

VS 1
  1. If
  2. I
  3. Hear & Listen

VS 2
  1. Savior, He, Christ (any reference to Jesus)
  2. I
  3. Prophet

Vs 3
  1. Spirit, Soul
  2. I
  3. Hear, Listen

Books in the Book of Mormon
  1. And Number (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th)
  2. Book
  3. On every book name

I Will Follow God’s Plan
  1. My
  2. Words beginning with “P”
  3. I, My, Me (any reference to self)



Wiggle Songs
  • Snowman
  • Head Shoulder’s Knees and Toes
  • Hinges

Saturday, February 5, 2011

I Will Follow God's Plan For Me week 1

Alright, I think that I will use the idea I posted last week as a review activity for the second week of February. On the first Sunday of the month I do both Sharing and singing time so I need a longer more lesson infused plan. So here it is.

I'll ask them to imagine they are going on a trip to California. We'll get in our cars and start the engine. I'll tell them to start driving only there are a few problems. We don't have a map. How likely is it that we will get there? Not very. Then I'll bring out an atlas and we'll figure out a route to get there. We'll talk about how important it is to know how to get where we're going. We need a plan.

How many of you want to go back to live in Heaven with Heavenly Father? Does anyone have a map to Heaven?

Do you think Heavenly Father wants us to live with Him again? YES!

Do you think He would send us here and not give us a map to get home?

Heavenly Father’s map is just a little different than what we are used to seeing. What are some things that could be Heavenly Father’s Map?

  • Scriptures, which contain the commandments [show object or picture]

  • Following the living Prophet’s council

  • The Savior’s life is an example

  • Our parents teaching.

Heavenly Father has created a plan for all of us to get back to live with Him. It is called the Plan of Happiness. Heavenly Father presented us this plan when we lived in Heaven before we were born. We all heard the plan and chose to follow it! Talk briefly about what the Plan is. Us a diagram of the plan. We're going to learn a song that will help us remember what the Plan is so we can always remember how to get back home.

  1. I'm going to start with a wrapped present with a paper that says "My Life" inside. I'll tell them there is a really wonderful gift inside. It's something priceless that we all have. After they guess we'll unwrap the gift hang the sign on the board.
  2. I'll remind them that our life has a plan that Heavenly Father gave us. Move the Plan diagram next to the "MY LIFE" sign.
  3. Referring to the Plan diagram remind them we started in Heaven with Heavenly Father and all our brothers and sisters. Hang up a picture of stars and space dust from Gospel Picture book.http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=5896517323609932208
  4. Picture of earth
  5. Picture of Light and a Baby
  6. Map
  7. Little girl holding scriptures and rod
  8. Hammer, rake, dishes / person working
  9. Person praying
  10. person walking on a bright path
  11. Smiley face
  12. House in the clouds.

Friday, January 28, 2011

I Will Follow God's Plan For Me

This week we will be learning "I Will Follow God's Plan For Me." I found a great idea on Sofia's Primary Ideas. She suggested hiding objects around the room that represent the different lines of the song. Then the kids have to sing that line over and over until the object is found. One child will look for each item. They have to sing while they look though. If I catch them not singing, they loose their turn and have to give someone else a chance.

For example I may use:
My life is a gift, my life has a plan, my life has a purpose in heaven it began
- a small wrapped gift
My choice was to come to this lovely home on earth, and seek for God's light to direct me from birth
- flashlight with picture of Christ taped to it
I will follow God's plan for me, holding fast to His word and His love
- scriptures
I will work, I will pray, I will always walk in His way
- pair of shoes
Then I will be happy on earth, and in my home above
- small globe or a toy house.

I think I may make a few changes for my primary. Rather than doing this hot and cold style I may actually hide all the items before Primary starts. Then I'll tell them the line of the song and we'll start singing while the searcher looks. I won't tell them what they are looking for just give them an example and have them look around and think about it. I'll let them have three guesses. I think I'll take my PIT bell and give them a good ding ding ding ding if they get it right. If they can't guess in three guesses it will be someone else's turn. I think this may work best in Senior primary

In Junior Primary I think I will just tell them what they are looking for as we learn each line. I don't know I may be underestimating them. They are pretty sharp.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

If I listen with my heart. 1st verse

I pulled this idea from Teaching LDS Children. This seems to be a great site with lots of fabulous ideas.

Crossword Puzzle

Last week I drew a 8 word crossword puzzle on my white board. Each word in the puzzle was part of a song or a well known line in a song. The clues were the titles or lines with the word missing. I gave the kids a choice between the clue or having the pianist play the tune. After they filled in each word they sang the song.

I also had some letters circled in the puzzle. At the end the circled letters could be unscrambled to say Happy New Year.

I wasn't there last week and had a substitute do this activity with the kids. I'll find out tomorrow how it went.