SING-O! BING-O!

Who doesn't LOVE Bingo?  This is a fun version of it that I made up for singing time.  Easy to do!  Create a Bingo card with the letters S-I-N-G-O across the top.  Then under each letter are the numbers 1-5 in mixed up orders.  I made a card for each class.  Make sure no two cards are alike.

I have no printer ink, so I had to hand make my Bingo cards this time!!

You can use this to teach a new song or for review other songs.  I have in a jar pieces of paper to draw out after they sing what ever song or portion of a song I ask.  They get a number of letters based upon how well they sing.  I would draw any where form one bingo piece up to four!  The pieces were in a jar as follows;
S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, I1, I2, I3, I4, I5, N1, ...etc. I think you get the idea.  When I drew the pieces I would call out the coordinates.  The teachers had each been given a marker to mark them off.  Some teachers did it themselves, some let a child do it.

Here are some examples of how teachers marked them.

So...what do you win if you get a SING-O BING-O?  When a class gets a bingo they get to choose which song we sing.  I let them know this right at the start so that they would all be thinking of a song!

I was a lot of fun and an easy way to get A LOT of singing done!

COURAGEOUS SUNDAY!

It is time to start teaching Nephi's Courage.  Most of our kids already know this song so we were able to spend only one day on it.  We called it COURAGEOUS SUNDAY.  On the chalk board I listed the following things:

Sing a Solo
Quote and Article of Faith
Conduct a verse of the song
Read a Scripture
Bear your testimony
Act out what we are singing
Escort a teacher around the room while we song
Dance to the song

I read the list aloud and talked about how these things take courage for us to do.  We then talked about the great courage that Nephi had to do the things that he was asked to do by the Lord.  For courageous Sunday, I was going to see who had courage to do some of these things.

We began by singing the chorus of the song.  I then drew a name out of the jar and asked, "Do you feel courageous today?"  I emphasized that it was ok if they didn't.  If they did, they got to pick one of the things to do.  Then that item was erased.  If they chose something that involved music, we would do that on the next part of the song.

Next we sang the first verse (if someone for instance picked to dance, this is when they would do it.)

After we sang I chose another name and asked again, "Do you feel courageous today?"  I did have several kids say that they weren't feeling courageous today and that was OK!  I put there name back in the jar so that they would still be chosen on another day.

We continued to do this until we had got through all the courageous deeds, or ran out of time.  I broke up the singing as follows.

Chorus
COURAGE TEST
Verse1
COURAGE TEST
Chorus
COURAGE TEST
Verse 2
COURAGE TEST
Chorus
COURAGE TEST
first half of verse 3
COURAGE TEST
second half of verse 3
COURAGE TEST
chorus
 COURAGE TEST
Then we ended by singing the entire song.

I had so many kids come up to me after wards that had not been picked who said they had courage!  They wanted to do one of the tasks for me!  it was amazing to see the response that i got out of this activity!  They learned much more than the words to a song.

Does our Singing MEASURE UP?

I adapted this idea years ago and cannot remember where the original idea came from.  But I use it often in Junior primary.

The idea is that we are going to "measure" how well we have learned our newest song.  I use a very large flower vase.  With a marker I mark a line near the top. I have then also have a pitcher filled with water.  What is so fun about this is I use food coloring to color the water.  You can use a color that matches the song.  This time we were singing Beautiful Savior, so I used green to represent all the beautiful things he has created (meadows, woodlands, flowers, etc).

I broke the song up into sections.  Aster we sang a section I would rate how well they sang it.  I then chose a child to come pour colored water into the vase a bit.  (I would just tell them when to stop).  This continues until the vase is almost full.  Then to reach our goal we stand up and sing the song through in it's entirety.  I ask them before if they think they are going to make it to the top.  The suspense is so cute and they get so excited!  Of course they always make it to the top.  What's great is they really earn it!

Four Corners

Well, today was a crazy Sunday.  I had to speak in sacrament meeting.  So since I had to spend a lot of time this week planning my talk, it restricted my primary planning time.  I decided to do an activity that I hadn't done for a while that the kids all love!!  I like this particular activity because EVERY child gets to participate in some way.  It is also great to use when learning a new song because it is repetitive.

To start I post the number 1, 2, 3, 4 on a large piece of colored paper in each of the four corners of the room (hence the name of the game...four corners).  The I choose my first helper.  This child comes up front and closes his/her eyes.  I then choose a class to go first.  While we sing, the class moves around and positions themselves in any of the corners.  When we are done singing the child with their eyes closed "chooses" a corner.  (see how I snuck in this months theme to the game )  Everyone in the corner that was named is "out" and has to sit down.  Then the child up front closes their eyes and we sing again.  etc.

Tips:
If a corner is empty I let the guesser know not to pick that corner.
When I am down to four or less kids, I tell them not to be in a corner with anyone else and at that point the guesser chooses the corner to be the "winner".  The winner is then the guesser for the next class.
Sometimes I have more than one class up at a time.
I have had just the teachers move to the corners before. The kids love that version too!

Singing:
Today I used the second verse of Choose the Right.  I split it into two parts.  We sang the first part over and over again until a winner was found.  Then for the next class we sang the second part over and over.  For the third class we sang the whole verse.  The fourth class we sang the chorus only.  Fifth class we sang the entire second verse with chorus.  Finally for the last round we sang both verses with chorus.

Hopefully this explains it well enough.  Please let me know if you have questions!!

UNO!

I have seen this idea on numerous blogs and have never tried.  Today I finally got an opportunity to use it and I am SO glad that I did!  What a HIT!!  So here is my modified version of the several other versions that I saw.

First I made my UNO board.

I did it on one black piece of poster board.  I then covered it with contact paper so I could use it over and over again.  I went through my family version of UNO and collected cards that I would use.

I used this to teach the song CHOOSE THE RIGHT.   I taped the words to the song in the four squares.  Each card when drawn meant a different thing.



When a number card was drawn we would sing that
square the number of times the card indicated.
Note that I only had numbers going up to three!







Then there were these, the reverse cards.  When one of these
was drawn the kids had to turn around and sing that colored
square without looking!





Next were the WILD cards.  When one of these were drawn the
kids had to sing the entire song (all the squares).  That is because
the card shows all the colors!





And finally I used the SKIP cards which I really liked!  These allowed
a kid to remove some of the words from that colored square.  Then
we sang that color once.




For Junior Primary, I only taught them the chorus today.  We have a lot of new sunbeams and our Junior primary is quite large.  I felt just the chorus was enough for them.  Here is how their board looked at the start.

 They had so much fun!!  After about 10 minutes, I then started letting two kids come up and we would do two cards at a time!  This got really fun!!  We'd sing the yellow square twice then turn around and sing the green square without looking! FUN!  By the end of singing time every child in junior primary knew the chorus and sang their hearts out!!

For Senior I included the first verse as well (sorry no picture).  I split the first verse into two (yellow and red) and then spilt the chorus into two (blue and green).  It was so great to see them learn a song so quickly and so well, and have a great time doing it!

To all of those other choristers who have been using this and posted it on your blog, THANK YOU!  I loved this sooooo much!  It was such and effective tool to teaching new songs to the kids!!!

***EXTRA NOTE*** To make this easier on my pianist I photocopied the song for her and marked the portions on the song with the corresponding colors.  That was if I said "Blue square twice" she knew exactly what to play!

"CHOOSE" a door

I have tried to make my singing time activities match the theme for this year about Choices and choosing the right.  Tomorrow I plan on doing an activity that I did last year and it was a big hit!

I used two poster papers to make Door #1 and Door #2.

Since I am teaching the THIRD verse of As A Child of God tomorrow, I took the verse and omitted some key nouns and verbs.

In my own ___________, I'll happily ______________.  I'll ____________ my ______________ by my _______________   _________________.   You could either have this on strips of papers or write it largely on the board.

To begin we sing the first two verse for review.  Then I tell them we have one more verse and they get to "choose" doors in order to build it.  I choose a child from my choosing jar to come up.  They get to pick a door to fill in our first blank.  Inside the doors are words that could fit in the blanks.

I then cover each word with numbers that match which blank they could fit into. Then I cover then with the numbers 1-6.

If the child picks Door #1 they lift up the flap for space one, in Door #1.  If they picked Door #2 they lift up the flap for space one in Door #2.

So for example, if my first child picks door number one, our song would be... In my own DONUT.  We talk about why that would not work.  Then we get the right word out of the other door.  Notice I made sure that the words are placed randomly in the doors.

We continue to do this until the entire verse is built.  After each word is added we sing what we have built so far, until finally we are singing the entire verse.  This activity really emphasizes the words in the song and I get a chance to clarify their meanings and the importance of having them there.

Happy singing!

Building A Child of God

Today was SO much fun!  We are working on the second verse of As a Child of God.  I teach the verses in sections.  Then build the song as we go.  Today was a reverse version of Hangman.  We did girls against boys, which aways works great in our primary.  I had the kids move so the girls were on one side of the room and boys seated on the other (in junior I did leave the Sunbeams where they were).

Here are the finished bodies.

After I taught the first portion of the second verse we sang it together twice:
"I feel so safe and happy because."

Then it was contest time!  The girls sang, then the boys sang it.  Who ever sang it loudest and pronounced the words the most clearly got a body part on the board.  I then did this for the second portion of the verse:
"such feelings of peace come from family love."

Contest again.

Next we sang those two phrases together twice.  After that it was contest time again.  Following that we added the chorus and etc.  I hope you get the idea.  It was a blast.  All the kids enjoyed it! Eventually we were singing the first and second verses with the chorus to earn the final body parts.

Girls won in junior, boys won in senior.

Some added extras.  If they were irreverent when the other side was singing they could lose a body part.  I sometimes ask visiting parents to help judge because it can get too close to call!

Choose Your Own Journey

Since this year's theme is all about choices, I planned a fun way to learn the first verse of our new song, As A Child of God.  I told the kids we would be going on a journey together and that they got to "choose" what and where we would be going.  I taught them the first line of the song with some sign language to help (I will post about those later).  Once they sang it well they got to make their first choice.  After each choice was made we would then add the next line to the song.  So it went song, choice, song, choice, etc.  By the end of singing time today both junior and senior have the frist verse and chorus down perfectly!  Here is how our journey turned out!

I would read the three choices, then I would put thenm in a bag.  I chose a child from my chosing jar and they got to reach into the bag.  I then pinned up what they drew on the board.

Choice #1: WHERE ARE WE GOING TO GO.
Choices:   The Beach, Disneyland, The Dentist

Choice #2: WHAT ARE WE GOING TO PACK?
Choices: Toothbrush, Piano, Mayonaise

Choice #3: WHO ARE WE GOING TO TAKE WITH US?
Choices: Our pet, Our Primary Teacher, The Boogey Man

Choice #4: HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET THERE?
Choices: Jump on a pogo-stick, Fly, Pull A Handcart

Choice #5: HOW LONG WILL WE STAY THERE?
Choices: 5 minutes, 5 hours, Forever

By the end of primary our journey was decided.  Senior primary's was the best!  They ended up with this:
We are going to the dentist with our pet. We will take our toothbrush in a handcart.  We are staying there FOREVER!

After the kids laughed I then asked them how they felt having someone else make their choices for them.  We had a great discussion about free agency and choosing the right!

What's even better is this could be used with ANY song!

I PRAY IN FAITH

This was a song we chose to teach the primary for the month of June.  Today we taught them the first portion only.  I really emphasized what the song meas with the Junior primary.  I asked them questions that led to the lyrics of the song.

1) What do you do with your body when you pray? I gave silly choices like swim? jump rope? etc.  When I got the response I was looking for KNEEL, I then had everyone kneel on the ground while I said, " I kneel to pray"  then we sang that.
2) When do you pray?  Wednesday? Sunday?  Quickly I got the response of EVERYDAY!  so we added that in to the song, "I kneel to pray, everyday"
3) Then I asked who had a dog.  What do you say to a dog when you want it to bark (or talk in dog language)?  It took a bit but then a boy got it! SPEAK!!
4) Who are you speaking to when you pray?  HEAVENLY FATHER!  We added that part into the song as well.  We slowly were building the song."I SPEAK to HEAVENLY FATHER."
5) Why do you pray to him?  These kids were great.  It didn't take any coaching for them to say because he hears and answers our prayers.  So we added in, " He HEARS and ANSWERS me."
6) Then I finished by asking them how they knew all of this was true?  What gave them this testimony?  FAITH so we finished the song ," when I pray in FAITH."

Then we sang the song through completely doing various rythmn beats, like clapping, slapping legs, marching, etc.  To wrap it up we had a contest...teachers versus kids.  The kids won!  They usually do!

KNOCK MY SOCKS OFF!

I have used this phrase when I encourage the kids to sing loud.  "Sing so loudly that it knocks my socks off!"  I saw an idea similar to this on another blog (can't remember who or when sorry) and modified it.  It was a HUGE hit, especially with the Junior Primary.  I strung a clothesline up and attached 6 outlandish socks on it with a clothespin.  I explained what it meant to knock someones socks off.  Then I told them they would get a chance to knock all the socks off the line.  I used this to teach the first verse of Scripture power to the Junior primary.  We broke the verse into parts, had an object for each part.  I taught them the part, we practiced and then we tried to KNOCK A SOCK OFF!  To do this they had to sing the part they learned, correctly and with volume and energy.  If they did (the pianist was the judge) a child got to come yank any sock off the line and throw it into the air.  If they didn't we sang it until they did.  After a sock got knocked off we went to the next part of the verse.  To knock the second sock off they had to sing the earlier learned part plus the second.  It slowly built.  By the time we got to the last sock they were singing the entire first verse with chorus beautifully!  Here is how I broke it up:

PICTURE OF THE SAVIOR:  Because I want to be like the Savior and I can
BOOK OF MORMON AND CLIP ART OF PLAN OF SALVATION:  I'm reading his instructions I'm following his plan.
CLIP ART OF A MUSCULAR ARM FLEXING: Because I want the power his word will give to me.
PAPER DOLL WITH A FEW OUTFITS (I discussed what it meant to "change"):  I'm changing how I live, I'm changing what I'll be.

SCRIPTURE POWER

Since the theme this year is about the sciptures, we chose this as one of our optional songs to teach.  Our kids already know the first verse very well.  Since today was such a crazy day with kids finding new classes, we decided not to start on a brand new unfamiliar song.  So we had a fun activity for learning the second verse of scripture power.

I had five gospel pictures of various scripture stories.  Behind them I placed:

1. a sword clip art with a word strip reading FIND
2. a shield clip art with a word strip reading  TAKE
3.armor clip art with a word strip reading WEAR
4. word strip reading FIGHT
5. word strip reading WIN

I had a reverent volunteer come up and draw a word strip from a basket.  The word strip matched with one of the gospel art pictures.  They had to figure out which one it went to.  For example, I had a picture of Lehi preaching to the people in Jerusalem.  The corresponding word strip for that picture was "Listen to the Prophet" .  You could use any pictures and matching phrases that you wanted.  When they made a match they got to remove the object from behind the picture.  Here is where it gets fun, but probably difficult to explain.

On another board I had the letters POWER.  The helper put whatever object they found under the correct letter.  For example, the sword is number one so it went under the P, the shield is number two so it went under the O, etc.  Each letter corresponds to a portion of the 2nd verse as follows:

1 (sword) I'll find the sword of truth in each scripture that I learn
2(shield) I'll take the shield of faith from these pages that I turn
3(wear)  I'll wear each vital part of the armor of the Lord
4(fight) I'll fight my daily battle
5(win) and win a great reward

Once the put up the clip art and word strip I told them what the line of the verse was.  Then the pianist played just that part for them to hear, then we sang just that phrase.  Once they had it we started our game.  The pianist played the entire second verse (minus the chorus).  We hummed the parts we hadn't learned yet and then sang the phrase we new.  The first time through was mostly humming.  The game continued with the next helper who matched a phrase with a picture, took the objects from behind it, and matched it on the board to our word POWER.  Then we repeated the song, now with two phrases and the rest humming.  It was fun.  By the end of singing time we knew the whole verse!  The humming made them really pay attention!

I hope this makes sense!  Just let me know if you have any questions!
Happy singing!