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.

Keep the Beat - simplified

For the second week of August, we reviewed the first and second verses of "Did Jesus Really Live Again?" with a technique I found on Divine Secrets of a Primary Chorister: Keep the Beat. (Good for reviewing songs and also good for introducing songs.)

It's common knowledge and scientific fact that the more parts of our brains we use while learning, the better our brains retain the learned knowledge--hence the popularity of mnemonic devices in memorization. Rhymes, music, and rhythms make it especially easy to memorize words. We already have rhymes and music on our side when learning Primary songs; adding rhythms just locks the words even tighter into our brains.

Keep the Beat is especially good for teaching more boisterous songs like "To Be a Pioneer"--in fact, when I taught that one for Pioneer Day, we did use Keep the Beat, but that's a topic for another post. Anyway, I thought it could also be useful even in more reverent songs like "Did Jesus Really Live Again?"--but instead of making it complicated (which I will detail in the "To Be a Pioneer" post, yet to be written...), I made it as simple as possible. Junior Primary was especially simple, and Senior Primary was a little more advanced.

Junior Primary:

I divided the kids into two groups and assigned a 4-count beat to each group. The group on the left had lap-clap-lap-clap ("lap" being slapping their hands on their laps); the group on the right had lap-lap-clap-clap. It sounds really basic but it was more than enough for the majority of these kids--the bulk of our Junior Primary are 3, 4, and 5 years old.

Then I did a variation on the Teachers vs. Kids theme of the previous week, by having the 2 halves of the room each sing a line in turn. Left side of the room sang 1st line, right side of the room sang 2nd line, left side sang 3rd line, etc. And of course we added the beats. The left side sang their lines with lap-clap-lap-clap (done twice for each line). The right side sang their lines with lap-lap-clap-clap. It was great and everyone got into it.

Another note: most of the lines of this song begin on the upbeat, and we didn't clap until the downbeat. So that gave us a chance to talk about upbeats and downbeats.

Once we had done that a few times, I had everyone sing every line and do the corresponding beat for that line--two 4-count beats for each line. To wit:

(lap-clap-lap-clap) Did Jesus really live again?

(lap-lap-clap-clap) Yes, when the third day came.

(lap-clap-lap-clap) He wakened and He left the tomb;

(lap-lap-clap-clap) He called Mary's name.

We did it a few more times until they really had the first 2 verses.

With the remaining time, once they had settled down from all the clapping and slapping, I explained that the third verse was an especially reverent verse because it talked about the nail prints in Jesus's hands. We reviewed the ASL sign for "Jesus" and talked about how it represents the nail prints. Then I had them touch their side as we did the line "and a spear wound in His side." Then we asked the question again: Did Jesus really live again after He had died? And the answer is not just "Yes" but "OH yes--and so shall I." We sang it a couple of times through (no beats) until they had it.

Senior Primary:

I divided the kids into two groups and picked a leader for each group. Each group then had 2 minutes to come up with a 4-count beat--and I asked that it not be too complicated. So our pianist played "...Live Again" for 2 minutes while the groups auditioned to their respective group leaders. When the 2 minutes was up, I invited the 2 group leaders to come up and demonstrate their 4-count beat to the whole room.

Then I did a variation on the Teachers vs. Kids theme of the previous week, by having the 2 halves of the room each sing a line in turn. Left side of the room sang 1st line, right side of the room sang 2nd line, left side sang 3rd line, etc. And of course we added the beats. The left side sang their lines with their particular 4-count beat (done twice for each line). The right side sang their lines with their 4-count beat.

Again, I talked about upbeats and downbeats, going a little more into detail with the older kids than I had with the younger kids and making it more of an interactive discussion.

Once we had done that a few times, I had the group leaders come up again so they could help demonstrate their beats. I had everyone sing the entire song, alternating the beats again, but this time everyone had to sing each line and do the corresponding beat, even if it was the opposing group's beat. Since I have no idea whether I explained that correctly, here's a breakdown--remember, each line has a 4-count beat done twice.

Beat 1. Did Jesus really live again?

Beat 2. Yes, when the third day came.

Beat 1. He wakened and He left the tomb;

Beat 2. He called Mary's name.

It was tricky...especially because the kids had come up with fancy beats! I knew that they would do complicated beats despite my instructions--that's why I only had them sing in 2 groups and do 2 beats, because 4 groups and 4 beats would have been a little too much. Examples of beats these kids have come up with:

Lap-clap-snap-stomp

Stomp-bam (right fist hits left side of chest)-snap-snap

Tap head-tap shoulders-snap-clap

Clap-snap-stomp-stomp

For verse 3, I did the same as I had with the junior kids, letting them calm down and then talking about the 3rd verse before learning it and singing it (without beats).

As complicated as it was to explain on a blog post just now, it was really not very complicated at all to explain in person or to do. And, no bulky visual aids to cart around church--even better!