Primary program coming up!

I'm looking back at 5 years of being a Primary chorister and how much I have learned and what I believe I have contributed to our ward's Primary, and I have to say my biggest regret is not recording better. I won't say I "should have" posted every week, because I have a life, and I like the way I've lived it, and dwelling on the fact that I didn't write blog posts is kind of silly. But still, it would be nice to have a more complete record of alllllll the things that I tried and either failed miserably at, or gloriously succeeded at. :)

I have other minor regrets, like putting my foot in my mouth on occasion during singing time. But that's par for the course of my life. :)

I feel good about this. My testimony has changed--it has become simpler in some ways and more complex in others. It has become stronger and also more vulnerable. I feel so connected with these precious kids. I feel so strongly about the importance of becoming like a child, and of valuing the children in my life. Lines from Primary songs drift in and out of my head daily. I am thankful for this immense blessing in my life--of spending so much time teaching the kids, bearing testimony to them and also listening to them sing their little hearts out.

Our program is in 5 weeks. This will be my 6th program. I think we've always been well prepared, but for the first time at this point in the year (mid-August), I think I can say that if the kids had to get up this Sunday with no rehearsals and sing their songs, they'd do great. I'm so happy about that. The only things we really need to do are fine-tune some trouble spots in a few lyrics, and I need to assign a soloist or two.

Songs they'll be singing:

Prelude- Families Can Be Together Forever: we'll invite the congregation to sing this as the kids take their seats on the stand at the beginning of the program. We did this last year with "I Am a Child of God" and it was so great! So we're doing it again.

1- He Sent His Son - with ASL signs. The signs I taught the song with last January, and that they'll be doing in the program:

Tell
World
Love
Tenderness
Son
Peace
Show
World
Pathway
Son
Walk
Earth
Know
Tell
World
Sacrifice
Death
Son
Die
Rise
Breath
Ask
Scriptures
Faith
Son
Help
Way
Ask
Son

As I've mentioned before, signingsavvy.com is a fabulous ASL resource. I use it frequently.

2-  I Will Follow God's Plan - nothing fancy here. Love this song though

3- I Stand All Amazed - just one verse and the chorus. Maybe the congregation can join in on an additional verse, or on the chorus? Or maybe I could have a soloist do the second verse and the congregation join in on the third verse, if we're dying to fill up time, which I doubt...

4- The Family Is of God - just one verse and the chorus. The last time we had this in the program (my first program, 2009) I had an elaborate setup with 4 married couples singing the other verses and the kids joining in on the last verse, and I'm just not in the mood for that this year. Simplify!

5- Build An Ark - both verses. The kids love this song, and so do I! A beautiful message about listening to the prophet and most of all about preparing for hard times ahead by building a strong testimony.

6- I Love to See the Temple - both verses. Simple, and a favorite with all the kids.

7- Baptism - I think I will have the kids sing the first two verses with a soloist on the third verse--or maybe two soloists, one for 2 and one for 3--or maybe the kids sing first and third verses with a soloist on the second verse. Anyway, I'll figure it out. The kids love this one.

8- Seek the Lord Early - I'm happy to say the kids have learned this one really well. There's a mildly troublesome spot in the middle, but I only spent about 2 Sundays on it and they have it like 99.5% down. We also had this song in the program in 2009, but I had a class--maybe the Valiant 9s or the CTR 8s?--sing it because I had trouble teaching it to everyone. Granted, I got put in that year 3 months before the program. So I had to roll with what I had.

Program time! I'm totally looking forward to it! I need to find out from my Primary presidency what the rehearsal plan is.

Plainness

I just ran across this verse this morning and thought it applied so well to Primary. We teach the kids plain and precious truths. They respond plainly and honestly. It's so refreshing and it's the reason I love to go to Primary, I look forward to it, and every single week it rejuvenates my spirit  and blesses my life.

Ode to ASL

My Primary-related project I want to do this year is to take videos of myself signing Primary songs in case they might be helpful to some googling chorister out there, which is how I stumbled upon how easy it is to teach using ASL. I have taught SO many songs using ASL signs, and I just swear by it. It is so simple, so easy, so beautiful to watch, so fun to do, and so effective for learning the lyrics. A few songs they have learned using ASL...

-As a Child of God (the first one I did! inspired by a YouTube video I have linked in a past post, and which I'll link again when I'm posting from my PC since I haven't figured out linking on my Blogger app)

-Had I Been a Child

-Choose the Right

-I Stand All Amazed

-I Feel My Savior's Love

-I Know Heavenly Father Loves Me

-When I Am Baptized (kinda...a few ASL signs, not as many as usual, this is one I did five years ago when I was first in Primary. "rainbows," "rain," "clean")

-Sing Your Way Home (love this one!!)

-God Is Watching Over All (also ADORE this one!)

-these are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head. I'm pretty sure there are more!

2013 catchup!

And, 4 months later. This year is flying by. January's song was "I Am a Child of God," February's was "My Heavenly Father Loves Me," March's was "If the Savior Stood Beside Me," April's (my choice) was "On a Golden Springtime," May's (my choice) was "We'll Bring the World His Truth," June's will be "When I Am Baptized." 

The bulk of my kids already knew all of these songs except for "My Heavenly Father Loves Me," which is good because we've been doing lots of other songs. They sang "Had I Been a Child" on Easter Sunday which went fabulously!--despite the 3 gigglers in the front row at the end, that was too bad but, could be worse--and I was so proud of them. On Mothers Day they sang the first verse of "Home" ("Home is where the heart is and warmth and love abound / Home is where warm, circling arms go all the way around"), first verse of "When We're Helping," and then all three verses of "Grandmother," but I had them substitute the word "Mother." "I wish every child in the whole wide world had a mother just like you!"

We did the tried-and-true method of simplified ASL signs for "My Heavenly Father Loves Me." For the other songs, which were reviews for most kids and some were learning them for the first time, we did various actions. I've tried a few new things this year: The Wiggle Worm Jar as inspired by Camille's Primary blog; and also the reverence butterfly which I love. (inspired by this story.) I use a pretty realistic looking fake monarch butterfly from Michael's. I tied it to a wooden BBQ skewer with thread and when we're trying to "catch a reverent feeling," walk around the room as we're singing a reverent song that they know (some good ones are "I Feel My Savior's Love," "I Am a Child of God," "I Love to See the Temple") and letting the butterfly land on kids who are singing and engaged. The idea isn't to sing quietly necessarily--just to sing and to pay attention to what we're doing.

I didn't tell the actual Friend story when I first introduced it, but used the same info about catching butterflies by being still, and how we can catch a reverent feeling by being still. The kids really like it. I use the butterfly maybe every other week. I keep it in a large Ziploc bag in the Primary closet to try to keep it from being damaged. I originally saw the idea on the Yahoo! group a few months ago; thanks to whomever posted it!

The songs they have to learn next are "Fathers" and "Daddy's Homecoming" for Fathers Day sacrament meeting. We reviewed the chorus for "Fathers" this past Sunday. I'm going to have a boy soloist for the first verse of "Fathers," then have all the kids join in on the chorus, third verse, and chorus again. Skipping the "bishop" verse this year. It's my favorite Fathers Day song so I'm pretty sure I've always made them sing it! Most of them know "Daddy's Homecoming" so we won't need to practice that much. Not a lot of time to practice this year because I'll be out of town the first week in June and we have stake conference right before Fathers Day.

Since the kids all know June's song, I think the two weeks we do have in June will be reviewing the program songs up to this point. I usually do way more review earlier in the year, but since the songs were so familiar this year, we haven't done that very consistently, at least not formally. So I'll do that with some type of game that takes minimal time from actual singing. Now to paw through my files and find a game like that.

July's song is "Families Can Be Together Forever," which is so great because although a lot of them know it, we haven't sung it in a while. They may do a pioneer song or two as well. August's song is "A Child's Prayer," which my senior Primary LOVES and always requests. Will need to bring the juniors up to speed on that one. I also really want everyone to learn "I'll Follow Him in Faith." I had the seniors sing it a few weeks ago with sheet music because I just really felt like they needed to learn it. But I'm going to teach it to everyone starting soon. I've been the chorister for 4 years now and although I keep hinting to the bishop and Primary presidency that I never want to be released for as long as I live, I know that won't happen. :) I guess I feel like this could be my year that I have to say goodbye to my favorite calling of all time! Hopefully not, but I want to be prepared and make sure that this summer I teach them this wonderful song, "I'll Follow Him in Faith." I've been singing it with my kids at home and even by myself. It has become so dear to me. I love Primary songs!

The Lord has blessed me with gospel truth.

I have learned His ways in my early youth.

I will share His light, for I know it's right

To testify of Him.

The Lord has blessed me with simple faith.

If I pray for help, He will give me strength.

I will do His work; I will gladly serve.

I'll follow Him in Faith.

The Lord has blessed me to feel His love.

I have felt His promptings and learned to trust.

So in all I do, I'll be faithful to

The things I know are true.

The Lord has blessed me in many ways.

With a thankful heart I will sing His praise.

I will raise my voice and proclaim my choice

To follow Him in faith.

He has shown the way, and through all my days

I'll follow Him in faith!

Had I Been a Child

I'm excited to teach the kids a brand-new song (brand-new to me and them anyway), "Had I Been a Child," starting next week. I'm going to use ASL signs to teach it. Probably this week will just be the first verse. I'm hoping to have it ready for Easter. I'm not sure if they'll sing in sacrament meeting, since they never have since I've been the music leader, but I'd like them to. We'll see! If nothing else, we will enjoy it in Primary.

1. Had I been a child when Jesus came
Unto the Nephites that blessed day
And showed them the wounds in his hands and his feetAnd knelt with them to pray

2. Then he might have held me safe in his arms;
He might have looked in my eyes and said
A word, with his blessing of kindness and love,
His hands placed upon my head.

3. Someday, when the Savior comes again,
Oh, how I hope that my heart will be
As pure as the hearts of the children that day
Who gathered around his knee.

Signs: (mostly found at signingsavvy.com--love that site!)

I

child

Jesus

come

bless

day

show

wounds

hands

feet

kneel

pray

hold

safe

arms

look

eyes

word

blessing

kindness

love

hands

head

Savior

come

heart

pur

heart

children

day

around

knee

New year coming up!

Uh-oh. It has been SO long.

I just wrote up the list of songs we will be learning in 2013. I'm so excited! So I thought I'd post it.

I did this last year too--made a list of songs for each month, since so many of the prescribed program songs were ones we already knew. Then the same thing happened this year, with songs like "I Am a Child of God" and "When I Am Baptized." My kids know almost all of 2013's program songs. So we are going to learn lots of other new songs as well. I wasn't sure how it would turn out last year but I think it worked really well and the kids learned tons of new songs. I'm excited for this year too! I'm especially excited for "Had I Been a Child" and "I'll Follow Him in Faith," two songs I didn't sing as a kid but fell in love with after becoming a Primary chorister.

Yay :)


2013 SONGS

January   I Am a Child of God - p. 2
          I Will Follow God's Plan - p. 164
          I Lived in Heaven - p. 4
February  My Heavenly Father Loves Me - p. 228
          Life Is O'erflowing with Beautiful Things
          I Know My Father Lives - p. 5
March     If the Savior Stood Beside Me
          Had I Been a Child - p. 80
April     Joseph Smith's First Prayer - Hymns, 26
          The Sacred Grove - p. 87
          On a Golden Springtime - p. 88
          I Often Go Walking - p. 202
May       The Word of Wisdom - p. 154
          Latter-day Prophets - p. 134
          Fathers - p. 209
June      When I Am Baptized - p. 103
          Help Me, Dear Father - p. 99
          I Believe in Being Honest - p. 149
July      Families  Can Be Together Forever - p. 188
          The Family Is of God
          To Be a Pioneer - 218
August    A Child's Prayer - p. 12
          I Pray in Faith - p. 14
September  I'll Follow Him in Faith
          I Will Be Valiant - p. 162
          I Am Like a Star - p. 163
          Called to Serve - p. 174
October   Friends Are Fun - p. 262
          I'm Learning the Ways of Jesus
          I'll Walk with You - p. 140
November  Reverence Is Love - p. 31
          Thanks to Our Father - p. 20                    
          Sing Your Way Home - p. 193
December  When Joseph Went to Bethlehem - p.  38
          Little Jesus - p. 39
          The Shepherd's Carol - p. 40

By the way, all the songs without a page number are songs which have been published in the Friend but are not in the Children's Songbook or hymnbook. They are available for download on the Friend Music Playlist page at lds.org.

Where Do You Belong?

I ran across an old Senior Primary singing time which I thought was really successful. "The Church of Jesus Christ" was a program song a few years ago and I got this idea from a blog somewhere--unfortunately I'm really not sure although it's likely it was The Crazy Chorister, who was my muse for at least the first year I was chorister.

Anyway, I printed out the Church logo extra large--I think I enlarged it on the photocopier at church and it was probably on an 11x17 sheet. Then I covered it up with several easily recognizable "worldly" ;) logos which I found on Google Images. Here's the list I have in my files--I won't upload the actual images since that would take too long and I already should be getting ready for church right about now:

Apple

Mercedes

McDonald’s

Disney

Target

Wii

Xbox

Barbie

Bakugan

iCarly

The Suite Life

Hannah Montana

Guitar Hero

High School Musical

Washington Redskins

Halo

Lego

Where the Wild Things Are

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Yu-Gi-Oh!

Anyway, I taped all the logos so that they covered the Church logo. As we sang "The Church of Jesus Christ," I walked around with my poster and offered it to various kids inviting them to take one. Each took one until the Church logo was revealed. We had a nice talk about where we "belong," what we value and how long things of the world last versus things of eternity. I am 99.9% sure that I didn't use this activity for junior Primary, I think we did something else, but it was a nice opportunity to talk about the meaning of the song for the senior kids, who already knew the song anyway.