Misc. Ideas I've Done Before

Some fun ideas I've used for previous sub jobs in primary music, I plan to reuse these when I need a filler:

A fun way to do the song "Hinges" pg 277, is to bring in a smooth leather belt and show the kids how to fold it in half, then open the middle, then while holding the ends closed, draw your hands apart quickly and the middle section will close and snap quickly, making a loud cracking noise if you do it right.  You can let a few kids try it themselves and see if they can get the hang of it.

I love the song "We Are Different" pg 263, because its got a good rhythm, and I like the progression of each verse.  It's also a nice song to use for a Welcome song.  I had fun last Sunday with this, having the kids sing the first two lines "I know you, and you know me..." and shaking the hands of the two kids on their side of them.  Then on the next part when they repeat the same thing, I had them do the same, except cross their arms and shake opposite hands.  They thought it was fun and a good way to meet their neighbors and introduce new kids as well.

*For a more recent review of this song, I did a slight modification and had them continue to hold hands after shaking, to form chains, both with arms regular and arms crossed.  The arms crossed was a big hit and got them laughing.

I Stand All Amazed

"I Stand All Amazed" pg 193, is a pretty difficult song to teach the younger children, lots of big words and hard concepts.  So I used pretty standard visual drawings and pictures for the first verse and then did more focus on the chorus, which has a lot of great material in it and some repetition which always helps.  I worked a lot with the junior primary on this so they could at least join in strong with the chorus. 

First, I talked about the word "Wonderful" and we talked about why something so terrible as Jesus dying was actually a wonderful thing for us.  This helped them understand the two seemingly different ideas of death and wonderful.  Then I had them listen to me say the word a couple of times and then I had them clap out the three syllables, with a little longer on the first syllable.  We practiced the rhythm over and over, and then whenever we sang the word wonderful, they clapped the rhythm along with singing.

Also, I had the kids make an "O" with their hands and they did this each time we sang "Oh it is Wonderful..."  They really paid attention and sang well, waiting for their chance to lift up their Os and also clap the word Wonderful.

Simple ideas, but effective for the younger children especially.

*Eventually, if I have time, for the senior primary I'm going to copy the song from the book itself and give them each a copy and we are going to go through the song a bit and talk about some of the words, maybe dynamics or other notations.  If there is time I'll let them use colored pencils to make notes on the music itself, to help them sing the song with more feeling and thought.

Remote Control

I made this giant remote control based on the idea found here:

One kid got to come up and push the buttons for the following actions as we review a song:

On/Off: start piano
Play: start singing
Pause: stop singing
Fast Forward: sing faster
Rewind: sing slower (or you could jump back to previous line)
Vol Up: sing louder
Vol Down: sing quieter

At first the kids went crazy pushing buttons too often, so I had to explain that you had to have some space between buttons.  Also, this was tough for the pianist to follow but I'm glad she tried keeping up!

Also, made these signs as they are very handy to have for last minute activities (soft/loud, go/stop, slow/fast):

 

Favorite calling here I come!

I finally got my favorite calling, one I have long coveted!  PRIMARY CHORISTER!

My mother was one of the best primary choristers there ever was, and my sisters all had a turn before I finally got the chance, so I have lots of great ideas and props to pull from, not to mention so many clever ideas from pinterest.  And some ideas of my own.

I am mostly creating this blog to help myself remember ideas for the future, what worked and what didn't.  Many of these ideas could be easily adapted to lessons, and I will include some of my lesson ideas that have worked well, from past years of being a primary teacher and primary counselor. 

I don't always know all the words, or have a perfect voice, or make the most perfect visual aides, but I have a lot of fun, am enthusiastic, definitely don't take myself too seriously, and love the music and the kids I teach.  I'm so excited and can't wait to get started!