The "Vigor and Vim" Song

Yikes!! It has been a few weeks since I posted.

Last week I taught the kids "Hum Your Favorite Hymn" (or as my 5-year-old calls it, "the vigor and vim song"). I found this idea on Sugar Doodle: Hum Your Favorite Hymn Visual Aid, which I loved and quickly adapted to my simplicity requirement.

If I had had the time or inclination I really love the way she did it, but to simplify it I drew a large picture of a face on the chalkboard (in senior Primary I had some kids come up and draw it for me) and then just stuck the pictures up with a magnet on the face's forehead as we sang. Super easy and really fun. For the first line ("if on occasion you have found your language is in question"), I wrote each word out and had the kids repeat after me one by one, since it's sort of a confusing line. We talked about what it means (e.g., "if sometimes you say something or think something that isn't so great") and went over each word individually. The rest of the song was pretty easy to teach with the image ideas from the Sugar Doodle link.

The kids especially liked the purple hippo, pink elephant thing, and in fact I printed out pictures of a purple hippo and a pink elephant and put those up on the face too, which they thought was funny. They also quite enjoyed the phrase "vigor and vim." By the end of singing time they all had the entire verse mastered.

I have mentioned to my kids many, many times that the songs they learn in Primary will help them throughout their lives. President Packer has said on a few occasions, including one of our stake conferences a few years ago, that a favorite hymn can be like a "delete key" in our brains. I have used this tool throughout my own life. For me, it is not necessarily my "favorite" hymn, but the first lines of "A Child's Prayer" always come to me when I need comfort or help. "Heavenly Father, are you really there?" It has been such a blessing in my life and I love to remind my Primary kids that they can use that tool as well. It's as simple as choosing a song and turning to it whenever things get haywire up there in our brains.

Getting organized.

I continued with "Every Star Is Different" last Sunday and it didn't go as well, despite how well it went the first week. So I am shelving that for a while. It was kind of a weird day--in junior Primary I had 25 minutes as opposed to the "official" 20 minutes (and usual 15 minutes) and then in senior Primary I had more like 10 minutes. And the kids were all just wild for some reason. So I just sort of felt "off." Plus I had done a singing time for a ward conference earlier that morning so I was really pretty tired. The ward conference singing time went well though, so at least there was that! Maybe later today or next week I'll post about what I'm doing in ward conferences. So far, so good.

It is taking me a while but with the new year I am trying to get organized in every aspect of life, namely: 1) my house/home and family, 2) my outside-the-home job as a librarian, and 3) my calling in Primary. Getting organized for those is all connected so I guess that's why it's taking me a while. Every month I put together a calendar of what songs we are going to sing in Primary and send it out to the pianist and the presidency and secretary. It helps keep me focused for the month and lets them all know what to expect. I've been doing it the same way for 2 1/2 years and decided I want to simplify things. Today I'm going to Target to get a 1/2 inch binder and try to get my week-to-week Primary stuff a little more organized a la ideas from Camille's "Primary" blog (on my sidebar). We'll see if I can get it together in time for tomorrow.

I also want to organize all my old stuff--handouts, visuals, etc. I don't have much of that since as a general rule I don't bring anything to church that can't fit into my purse.

Maybe by the end of February I'll feel more organized at home, work and church. In the meantime, February's song is "Choose the Right." I have no idea how I'm going to teach it tomorrow. I think with junior Primary I am going to start with just the chorus:

Choose the right, choose the right
Let wisdom mark the way before
In its light, choose the right
And God will bless you evermore.

I'm sure the older kids can learn the whole thing in one session, but I think with the younger kids I will do some sort of game with just the chorus. Honestly what keeps popping into my head is the song we sang at girls' camp when I was a kid: "Choose a Sprite, when a Coke is placed before you." Knowing how many Coke (as in the soda, of course) addicts we have in our ward--my husband included--I think I will sidestep that dicey topic. But it keeps popping in my head just the same.

Anyway, I've got 24 hours. I'm sure I'll think of something. I'll update when I do.

Every Star Is Different

We had a lot of fun this week as I taught the kids the first verse of "Every Star Is Different." I never sang this song as a kid but I love its message. Before introducing the lyrics to the junior kids, I asked them to raise their hands to answer certain questions, e.g. "Do you know anyone who is tall?" "Do you know anyone who is funny?" "Do you know anyone who is nice?" "Do you know anyone who is not so nice?" "Do you know anyone who has brown hair?" "Do you know anyone who sits in a wheelchair?" etc. etc. Then we talked about how everyone is different, how we all have different personalities and we often look different, have different colored skin or hair or different types of bodies, but Heavenly Father loves all of us and we are all His children.

For the senior Primary, I read them the lyrics of the first verse and asked them what they thought it meant. I got answers like "be yourself," "follow your heart" (I loved that one and had to stifle a laugh), "you're important." I told them I loved all their answers and thought maybe they could apply it to other people too. Everyone is special and important and different. Even if we meet someone we don't get along with, we should still be kind. We don't have to be best friends with them, but we should try to understand them and always be kind because Heavenly Father and Jesus love all of us.

As far as how to teach the kids the actual song, I was inspired late the night before by the remix of the song on this YouTube video.

 

We did one of my favorite singing time activities, Keep the Beat. For senior Primary, I divided the kids into 4 groups, gave them each a line of the song and had them make up a beat for it. It kind of turned into made-up actions instead for most of the lines. Here's what the kids came up with:

Every star is different (hands do "popcorn popping" motion up in the air 3 x)
And so is every child. (pat left side of chest with right hand 3 x)
Some are bright and happy (pump arms in air 3 x)
And some are meek and mild. (Charles dance step--the one with hands crossing back and forth over knees)
Everyone is needed / for just what he can do. (a variation of the Macarena here--left arm out, right arm out, cross left arm to right shoulder, cross right arm to left shoulder. repeat for second half of line)
You're the only person (pat head and rub stomach)
Who ever can be you. (flap arms like chicken wings)

The kids loved it and it was really fun to do. They sang beautifully.

In junior Primary, we actually didn't have much time so I just taught them the words by repeating each line over and over--having them echo me--first we just said the words, then later sang them. Both with singing and speaking, we alternated clapping and slapping hands on their laps. Next week when we review the verse, I think I will teach them the actions the senior Primary came up with.

Also next week I plan to teach them the chorus. I think for both junior and senior I will keep it very simple and just do a beat like the one in the remix video above--long, long, short long. No idea if that makes sense. We'll either alternate lap-clap lap-clap, or stomp-clap stomp-clap. Anyway, then we'll do the second verse either with the same actions as the first verse, or maybe new ones if they want to.

This is a really great song and I think it will become a staple of our Primary.

As a Child of God - simplified ASL

New year, new resolution to post every week! Really! This time I really will! This is what I am planning to do today. I have used a few ASL signs here and there on past songs ("When I Am Baptized" and "My Mother Dear") but despite the many hours spent watching Signing Time videos when my kids were toddlers, I am really not very familiar with the language, although I love it. This is a very simplified ASL version of "As a Child of God" posted by another chorister. I think the senior Primary will be really good with it and I am hoping the juniors like it too.

 

Happy New Year!

New Year's Day

I was out of town on New Year's Day so my "assistant chorister," who is AWESOME, did singing time. Here is a very brief recap of what she told me she did--including some "junior Primary" songs for the senior Primary, complete with "When We're Helping" sung opera style and "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" in Swedish. It sounds like it was really fun!

The suggestions in the JanuaryFriend for making a great 2012 are read your scriptures, move your body, tell your family you love them, serve someone once a week, and make a new friend. We sang the "It is fun to have a friend who will play with you" song, which I didn't figure they knew but it's pretty simple and they picked it up quickly, "When we're helping," "If I Listen with my Heart," etc. 

I had a couple songs ready for when I'd want to sing a different one for Junior and Senior Primary, but I ended up singing the younger-kid-geared songs with the older kids anyway. I did have Senior Primary open their Books of Mormon to the contents page and sing the books a few times (getting faster each time), because the older kids are studying the Book of Mormon this year. Some of them knew the song already, but I think they enjoyed it. ...

One thing we didn't do that you may want to do next week is make sure to sing the welcome song to all the new teachers in Primary. So many people were traveling this week that next week would be better, anyway, but I felt bad we didn't even really recognize the new adults (there was a lot going on). They would probably appreciate it.

My goals for this year in Primary are:

1) Feel the Spirit
2) HAVE FUN!

I think we are well on our way :)

Popcorn Popping

I came across some notes from a singing time I did sometime in the past year. It didn't take the whole singing time, maybe 5 minutes, 10 tops, but was a fun exercise in dynamics and getting the wiggles out. I guess I must have done it when I had a singing time activity that wasn't going to take very long.

For once this is actually all me (I "borrow" ideas from blogs all the time!!). I talked to the kids about dynamics and how they could look at the way I was moving my arms to know whether they should sing loudly or softly. We also talked about how my arms would tell them when to stop singing and when to start again.

We sang through Popcorn Popping (actions included, of course--for the kids anyway, since they were supposed to watch my arms) with differing dynamics. For the first few lines I conducted with tiny movements and crouched down a little, and we almost whispered the song. Then I moved my arms wide, back and forth and up and down and got into it with my body too, and we sang it loudly ("Never Louder Than Lovely" of course...although in my opinion it's hard to be too loud when singing. Screaming is too loud, otherwise the louder the better!). I love getting way into this with my body and the kids respond well to it too. I love watching conductors who really get into it at classical performances. I could never be a real conductor, since I lack all the training and most of the talent, but I always think it looks like so much fun.

Anyway, we did that a few times until we got to the line "A popcorn ball that would smell so sweet," at which point I cut them off and we all pretended to smell our popcorn ball with a deep breath in and out (in through the nose, out through the mouth). Then we sang the rest of the song.

It sounds totally corny (bahaha) but it was very fun and the kids loved it. We still sing "Popcorn" that way sometimes (pausing and smelling the popcorn ball) especially if they need to get wiggles out. I have my kids do deep breaths a lot--my own kids at home as well as the Primary kids--in order to calm down. Just kind of a fun, random way to incorporate it into singing time.

Saturday Pictionary

Well, I'm trying. I think maybe I need to set an alarm on my phone to remind myself to post each week about what I did in singing time.

Have I said that already?

This week I planned to do a Halloween sort of thing, I had these paper jack-o-lanterns left over from last year and thought maybe I would do Spin the Teacher with them. (Spin the Teacher is a big favorite with my kids, an idea I got from The Crazy Chorister long ago.) But then I was checking my blog reader on Sunday morning and saw a new post from Camille's Primary Ideas about teaching the song "Saturday". I thought it sounded perfect so I blatantly copied it. The kids loved it! Some of them were familiar with the song already but practically none of them knew the actual words.

To sum up, I had slips of paper with lines from the song:

clean the house

shop at the store 

brush our clothes

shine our shoes

trim our nails

shampoo our hair

and we basically played Pictionary. For Junior Primary I had the teachers come up and draw. For Senior Primary I had the kids draw. It was really fun.

In Junior Primary we sang the song a little at a time, over and over to really get it into their heads. For example, once we learned the lines about cleaning and shopping, we sang up to that point. Then when we learned the lines about brushing clothes and shining shoes, we sang again from the beginning up to that point. Etc. That took up all of singing time. For Senior Primary I didn't think we needed to sing it quite so many times, so we drew all the pictures before singing the song all the way through. Then we had a little time left over, so I chose kids to make up their own "chores" (they whispered them in my ear first to make sure they were appropriate) and draw them. Then we sang our own made-up verse.

Also, before we started in Senior Primary I asked all the kids who had their own Children's Songbooks to hold them up in the air. Then I pretended to collect them, and kids who didn't have Children's Songbooks also pretended to turn theirs in. It's great sometimes to have the kids have their own songbooks, but for something like Pictionary that kinda ruins the game.

Also, both Junior and Senior Primary got a kick out of pretending to shampoo their hair. That kind of surprised me but it was fun.

I love using the chalkboard because it's so simple and the kids love it. Definitely a successful day.