2 months ago I found a new tool to put in my "learning a song toolbox." So now I:
1. Use recordings to help teach the melody part of a new song. See the post just below this one. 2. Use paper activities to help teach the words of a new song. I pass these out before Church and after Primary. Today we sang My Own Sacred Grove for the 1st time in Primary and the children who have been doing our paper activities for the past few weeks pretty much had the words down. Since it was our first time, we did sing with a recording that has other people singing, but these children knew what they were singing as far as words, and also the melody to some degree because they listened to the song to prepare for The Bishop's Challenge in January. So today we could focus on the message. Here are the paper activities that I have sent home:
Talked Ran Answer Communed (Praise to the man who TALKED with Jehovah!) Talked Ran For all of the activities I include the words to the songs to help them with the activity. These activities aren't fancy, but they have been super easy and super effective!
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First why? 1. There have been times we didn't have a pianist and so I was doing double duty. If I had a technology option I could go back and forth but I could also just use technology and focus on leading. 2. I want to sing songs, but don't necessarily want to take the time to teach them. So the one or two times a year I put them in the lesson plans we just sing them with help. 3. This is my main use - pre-teaching. I really like doing this because:
Second How?
Speaker with flash drive tips:
Okay so for this post I went straight to the horse's mouth. I asked older kids what their thoughts on this were. I asked a wide variety of kids, ages 10 - 17 from those who really like to sing to those that proclaim that they don't like to sing. These children come from a variety of places as well. I also give their input into solutions.
Here are there thoughts in no particular order:
That doesn't mean that I won't get right in front of our rows of youngest students and "put on that younger version" while we are singing. I'm going to describe that version as over the top exaggerated actions - either super excited that we are going to clap on the word coming up, or really emphasizing that we are folding our arms. Yup super excited that clap is coming :) But when I stand back up straight to focus on the back again that exaggeration will tone down. (Not that we can't be excited, but there is a difference.)
What I have found is that if I do gear singing time to my OLDER children and have super simple actions for the younger ones to do, the younger ones stay with us. Great music and pictures can capture anyone's attention. The younger ones may not completely "learn" all of the words to some of our longer songs, but they ALWAYS get the chorus down and usually even more. And they will understand many of the main messages in the song, even if they don't understand every word. Line upon line. In fact, as a way to prep the very youngest, we started doing To Be His Child in nursery whenever we are doing it in the main Primary instead of I Am A Child Of God. I give them a mirror and point to the pictures of Jesus while we sing. It has been working. Throughout the year we will include a couple of other longer songs in nursery that we sing in the regular Primary. Most of my lesson plans are geared to the older kids, but my younger ones do great with them too. If I had a split Primary I would probably replace one song each week for Jr., but otherwise keep it similar. - richinshappenings.weebly.com/singing-time-lesson-plans
I have a separate post on this page where I talk more about my philosophies on posting words. I share both personal aha experiences as well as classroom.
We have found that by singing it with a recording for the first 2-3 times the following things happen as far as capturing the attention of the singers and non-singers right out of the gate:
Here is an example from teaching piano - I taught private lessons while my children were young and now I teach an after school group piano class at my school. There is a set of books that I really like, but there are a couple of songs in there that most of the boys don't like to play. So I have a different song that we play that teaches the SAME concept that the other song was meant to teach. If I sent the first song home they didn't practice it at all, or practiced it very minimally. If I sent the second song home, it came back memorized. Hmmmm . . . . which to choose, which to choose? I treat picking songs for Primary the same way, with the added benefit of being guided by The Spirit:
With that being said it's okay to throw in other songs here and there, but if I am looking at my line-up for the day and I see I need to up the "cool" factor I will make sure to add in an absolute favorite. Example on March 22nd. I really want to do "vinyard" songs so that it becomes an experience something like Lehi's Dream was for us. In looking at the songs I made sure to add in a couple of their favorites so that I can sing If I Planted A Garden, but go right into The Tree Of Life and not lose anything if they don't connect as well with If I Planted A Garden. See a list at the bottom for a list of many of the cool songs that the older kids I know like.
There was a fantastic Primary President a few years ago that I got to observe and she had Cheever's Challenges. It was trivia at the end, but you could apply this idea in other ways. My son did say that waving things around was not something he enjoyed and that he usually goofed off if that was what they were doing :(.
I took a games class at BYU - and yes it is a thing! Best class ever! The biggest take away was stop something while it is still fun. That is something that we always did for my children's parties. I do it at school. If we play a game we cut it off while we are still having fun. If we are singing we cut it off while we are still engaged - very little talking at the end. Let them leave with the feeling of the music. Here's an example: if a song went really well, I might drop a song from my line-up for that day and choose to repeat that song again that day. However, I probably won't do it a third time - unless it was in my teaching plan. (If I'm teaching usually it is singing it 3 times in a row, but usually not past 3 in that sitting.) There is a concern that singing a lot will not allow for learning the song. In fact last year when I was first called, the Primary Presidency voiced this concern to me and I said trust me it will work BUT it did take about 3 months to get everyone into the groove. By the end of the year they had WAY more songs that they knew than just the suggested list. As always this post is my musings and doesn't fit every style and that's okay. List Of The "Coolest" Songs From The Kids I Know - in no particular oder: I Am A Child Of God A Child's Prayer I Pray In Faith - the split parts Children All Over The World - the different languages For Health And Strength - a round He Sent His Son Samuel Tells Of The Baby Jesus Stars Were Gleaming When Joseph Went To Bethlehem The Shepherd's Carol Once Within A Lowly Stable Picture A Christmas The Nativity Song Christmas Bells - with bells :) Other Christmas Songs From The Regular Hymnbook Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam - with popcorn jumping (jump when you want) Beautiful Savior Did Jesus Really Live Again? Jesus Has Risen I Feel My Savior's Love The Church Of Jesus Christ I'm Trying To Be Like Jesus When He Comes Again The Golden Plates I Love To See The Temple Faith Baptism - but this is kind of hard to play for some pianists so it's not used as often When I Am Baptized Listen, Listen - a round Search, Ponder, and Pray Follow The Prophet All of the Books of Scriptures songs Nephi's Courage Latter-day Prophets Love One Another Where Love Is I'll Walk With You Dare To Do Right Stand For The Right Choose The Right Way I Will Be Valiant I Will Follow God's Plan I Want To Be A Missionary Now I Hope They Call Me On A Mission We'll Bring The World His Truth Families Can Be Together Forever Called To Serve Love Is Spoken Here To Be A Pioneer The Handcart Song Whenever I Think About Pioneers My Heavenly Father Loves Me Popcorn Popping - with popcorn jumping (jump when you want) Oh, What Do You Do In The Summertime? Once There Was A Snowman Sing A Song - with challenges and in a round If You're Happy Smiles Healthy, Wealthy, And Wise Songs From The Regular Hymnbook Patriotic Songs Come Come Ye Saints Joseph Smith's First Prayer We Thank Thee Oh God For A Prophet Praise To The Man Come Follow Me Many Of The Christmas Songs I Stand All Amazed True To The Faith The Iron Rod Other Songs On The Church's Website - ones we know right now, but there are others: Gethsemane The Miracle I Will Build An Ark Holding Hands Around The World Scripture Power I Know That My Savior Loves Me If The Savior Stood Beside Me Follow His Light Do You Have Room? That Night In The Stable I Will Walk With Jesus 1 Nephi 3:7 If I Listen With My Heart - on our list to get to sooner than later Peace In Christ This Is The Christ Other Cool Songs We Do That Needed Permission To Do and then we had to purchase the bundles: More Than Enough I See A Hero In My Father's Hands Their Mother's Knew Behold Their Little Ones Liken The Scriptures The Tree Of Life I Will Be What I Believe To Be His Child I Will Choose Him Again Risen Thankful Some Of MOST Successful Singing Times from the past year: Stump The Bishopric Free To Choose - Escape Room Journey Into The Wilderness The Lord's Army Boot Camp Lehi's Vision Singing Time With Nephi Book Of Mormon Kick-Off - uncovering the truths Top 10! Firm Hold On The Gospel Recording Two-Way Radios - how far can the person holding the radio go and still hear the primary Are You Smarter Than A Primary Child? Mighty In The Scriptures Pioneers Around The Campfire Summer Break! The Kids Take Over Parables It Is Finished - using hymnbooks Missionaries In The Last Days Defending Beliefs - Samuel On The Wall Coming Closer To Christ - Testimony My Sheep Hear My Voice - Come Listen To A Prophet's Voice Easter Singing Time - Or - Singing Time With Instruments What Song Would You Choose? Why Wiggle?
1. It helps in the learning and retention by engaging another sense and bringing focused attention. 2. It avoids boredom. In my lesson plans I may have something that fits in specifically with what we are doing that day that is not included in this general go to list. I also have this "general" post. Make any song a wiggle song. Why I rarely use things for the children to hold. This is simply my personal preference: #1 reason - I just don't want to spend the time passing them in and out. Truly. #2 reason - there is so much we can do with just us. #3 reason - often I am setting them up for some sort of experience and I don't want to take away from that. #4 reason - some of the feedback from some in my flock is that it was fun, but not their favorite thing to do so why do it? (This may not be the case for someone else's group though.) #5 reason - with my focused attention methods we are making a movement on certain words and so that's easy to do with just us. Also, it's easy to layer in more challenges ie snap on this word, clap on this word, jump on this word, etc. Here is another link to general ideas for teaching a new song. However, I do most of my teaching of the music part of new songs with a recording during transition time. Then I do overall experiences for singing time where the message(s) is/are taught. Also, in my lesson plans sometimes our "movement" is that we are in a different place so we don't need as much movement while we are singing. If a song isn't listed:
A general challenge: Sometimes I ask them to watch me carefully while we sing and see if they can guess the key word. (I'll do one movement on one certain word every time we sing it. If I want to make it harder it's a small movement.) Or see if they can catch my mistake. This is list is my easy go to list to move us and get attentive listening/learning. I don't often use set movements that I have to learn and teach on top of teaching the music and the words. I personally just don't have time to learn or come up with something else. So my go to movements are really more spur of the moment things. A Happy Helper - mainly one we do for nursery
The Books In The Scriptures - for all of these we just try to race the pianist (the pianist can go melody only if needed, but usually I could still beat them even though they tried hard) The Church Of Jesus Christ
Most Christmas Songs we don't have actions to because they are just happy to be singing Christmas songs and just love them. You can substitute any other action for clap, snap, etc. to make the possibilities even greater. An easy way to review, or simply challenge the children. Tell them you are having a Bishopric member come next week and they need to think of questions from the songs you sang that day to ask the Bishopric so that they can STUMP THE BISHOPRIC!
With anything storage is always a consideration. Here is the storage of my general stuff. (In a week or two I will post what is in the box.)
I've never been one to use too many wiggle songs, because I always thought singing time was precious, and there were too many songs I wanted to sing with them, but especially now that we are a Gospel teacher. So here are some of the ways that I get the wiggles out if needed. I say if needed, because if they are singing and we are feeling something, I don't want to break up what we are feeling. But I DO think MOVEMENT is important to learning so we move A LOT. It's my Sunday "workout".
If you look at my lesson plans each of the songs will have listed by it more action/challenge ideas. There are also more ideas in posts on this tips/tricks page. As you can see, I don't use very many singing time props. I really only have 4 go to things: My phone My speaker My flash drive My flip charts Things I have used this year: remote control car PVC pipe sections robot skeletons game show supplies campfire - I will use this every year lemonaid Goliath shield - this is something I will use most every year at least once vacation stuff light that changes color flashlights - use these a lot instruments hymnbooks treasure box present poster board - use often and not just for flip charts missionary tags wise man song demo supplies seed, dirt, water growth chart sticks and tape tubing and pvc recorders - will use these every year radios - will use these every year "brick" wall - will us this this year giant snowman - will use this more than once Christmas bells - will use these more than once Bounce dryer sheet box and small basketballs Leprechaun hat Most of my lesson plans are set up in a way that lets the words of the songs teach the Gospel message. Here is one example: Using The Song Follow The Prophet - 1 Example: For one lesson I am highlighting Gospel Truths. I am using Follow The Prophet to help teach the truth that we have a prophet. We are only singing the last verse and chorus and for this one I am highlighting - pointing to the words on the flip chart - as we sing the last line of the last verse. That is the message - We can get direction all along our way, if we heed the prophets - follow what they say. There is a word in that verse that they may not know and it is heed. However, the song actually defines it the same way I would so again I would let the song do the teaching and I would simply point to follow what they say to bring it to their attention. In my example of following the examples of Paul and the Savior I am just highlighting the word follow. That's the message that I want them to leave with. So that song is included in the mix mainly to get the follow part in their brains. However, I am using the Noah verse because it too talks about repentance just like one of the things Paul was trying to teach in Thessalonians. Not Using The Whole Song? I will also specific verses during the year where we focus on The Old Testament. I might sing the 4th verse one week. I might just sing the chorus. Whatever is going to help support the message the best. Teaching Feeling A Song: I also use this song when we are talking bold and valiant. That's the feeling that this song gives us. Learning a song so deeply that the message lives in your heart and soul. The difference between learning a song and LEARNING a song. It's pretty easy to "learn" a Primary song in a week or two, since they are written for children. They are usually rather short and pretty repetitive. However, have you ever felt frustrated that you taught them the song in January, but when you tried it in May they forgot it? Do you ever feel that all you can ever sing are the program songs, or they won't remember them? Do they remember the songs from last year? I set up my songs in such a way that we are gradually learning them throughout the year. We sing them enough that it almost seems like magic that they have them memorized for the program AND they retain them so I don't have to reteach them. Here are a few key elements: #1 Pre-teaching - singing the song with some sort of accompaniment that has voices singing with it. Usually You-Tube on my phone, but sometimes I have the music on a flash drive and put the flash drive into my speaker. I usually do this the 3-4 minutes before Primary starts as they are settling in. This helps because then:
#2 Use The Songs - I don't usually spend too much time teaching a specific song. I DO make sure that I put them in when they fit the Gospel message. I might only focus on teaching/reviewing the message from one or two lines from the new songs on a particular day. If those lines support the overall message they will learn that part of the song better because they will have a better understanding of it. It is sung within the context of other songs that they know with the same idea. With that being said sometimes in the plan is to sing those 1 or 2 lines 3 times in a row without stopping. (See my post about teaching new songs for ideas on how to do this.) #3 Review The Songs - For the program songs we use the same method as pre-teaching. It's our opener before Primary starts. We start this in about June. To review songs already learned we just make sure to include them a few times during the year. #4 Use Pictures & Words - the flip chart pictures are super important to help teach/reinforce the message. A picture does fill in some blanks and says sooo much more than words. Sometimes I point at the picture, or the words on the flip charts when we sing the part that I want to be emphasized that day as the way to emphasize those words. Instead of talking about it, we sing about it. #5 Use An AHA Activity - something that will help reinforce the message. Sometimes it's simply a set up for the rest of the time. Sometimes it's FULL immersion, like singing in a tent. #6 Use Other Songs - if you sing 6ish songs that all support the same message for the day, you will have a stronger chance that they will really get the message you are trying to help them get. Specific Example: Their Mother 's Knew for next year.
And just like that we have used the song to teach several Gospel messages throughout the year and in doing so they will have "learned" this song, but more importantly they will have learned the message, they will have seen the pictures with the words that are supporting other songs and they will have it in their hearts. They will have sung it a minimum of 14 times, but since we may sing it twice sometimes it will probably be closer to 20. I added a tab at the bottom of my 2020 plan that gives more of a timeline on a few more specific songs. (Like what I did with Their Mother's Knew on this page.) docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1P76dgx2awsR_YHIg5KfF4UKBtqmLw6mgoApTjnXrGHs/edit?usp=sharing |
Here are my tried and true tips/tricks based upon my past experience, CFM, Preach My Gospel, and also using my teaching strategies/philosophies that I also use in my day job.
Most are simple directed listening (Focused Attention) based for easy memorization and then also focusing in on topics for internalization of the Gospel messages. Lot's of my different ideas on a few pages :) Archives
March 2021
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