Primary Fun

I had the opportunity to substitute for the 11-year old Valiant boys today.  They were great.  I enjoyed studying the lesson on Christ's life as a child and youth and learned something new in my studies (reading from Your Study of The New Testament Made Easier by David Ridges who quotes from Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith).

Since John (who became John the Baptist) was only six months older than Jesus, he should have been killed during the massacre of all the babies two years old and younger.  Zacharias, his father, told Elizabeth to take John to the mountains, where he was raised on locusts and honey.  When Zacharias refused to tell where Elizabeth had hidden John he was then killed.  I think I knew bits and pieces of this story but hadn't really put all the parts together.  I love studying and having an aha moment.  This doesn't impact my testimony at all, but it just contributes to a sense of understanding the story.  Another point that I made sure to emphasize to the boys in class was, after Joseph and Mary found Jesus teaching in the temple he went home with them and was "subject" to them.  We talked about what that meant and they were astonished that he had to do chores and mind his parents and take on family obligations and responsibilities.

Since it was the 5th Sunday, the chorister took the whole Sharing and Singing Time for a game.  It's nice to use these extra Sundays during the year for song practice and review and the kids enjoy participating if the chorister can come up with a fun game to get and keep their interest.

This week Sister Gibbons decided to use a variation of THE SINGING BEE. 

She brought in a microphone from a karaoke game (unfortunately it didn't work, THAT would have been really fun for the kids I think) and had two children come up to the front for each song.  She then had the entire Primary start singing through one of the songs until she cut them off and the first "Contestant" had to sing the next line.  If they got it right they put a fuzzy ball in her jar (an ongoing reward process I assume), and if they got it wrong they passed the mike to the second "Contestant".  If they got it right, fuzzy ball into jar.  If they got it wrong they were able to ask a friend to come up and help them.  After they finished the line, the Primary sang through to the end of the song.  It was fun to see the kids who felt so confident sitting in their seats, just chomping at the bit for a turn.  She had a mix of harder, more challenging songs, and easier, familiar songs.

Another fun part she added in was Commercial Breaks!  She had four products (we only had time to get through three) on the piano with a very short, little script written out and the teachers had to come up to present the commercial.  The kids LOVED having the teachers have to participate and there was lots of pointing and encouraging.  Then the kids had to guess which song they were going to sing based on the commercial.  The three we did were,

1. Thermacare - the script talked about hinges aching and we sang, "I'm All Made of Hinges so Everything Bends"
2. Bayer - "Do your Head, Knees and Shoulders Ache?  If so, use Bayer and your Head, Knees and Shoulders will feel better in no time at all"   (you're smart, you can guess the song.....)
3. Happy People (she had a picture of her own family all smiling and laughing and having fun) - "Do You Know Happy People?  If you do, and you want to be part of the Happy People Crowd, then clap, clap, clap."  (If You're Happy and You Know It, of course)

This was a fun way to get the kids to sing a bunch of songs without losing interest.  It was a good way for them to think about and focus on the actual words.  So often in Primary we teach a song one year and then assume everyone remembers it, and that the Junior Primary children will just automatically pick it up.  Sometimes it's necessary to reteach a song, or at least have a good solid review session.

I liked the way she managed the children too.  Of course they got excited and a little loud.  She used several methods to get them quiet and to get their attention.  One way was whispering - this one never seems to fail.  It quiets the children, because they want to hear what she is saying.  Once she told them that they were being too loud and over-excited and they wouldn't be able to continue the game until they settled down.  She even went so far as to say she would be so sad if they couldn't continue because they wouldn't be able to fit any more commercials in (that worked like a charm, these kids loved seeing their teachers go up and present the commercials).  Several times she said something to the effect that friends support one another, so they can hear each other and sing together, they don't all screech over each other like a bunch of owls.  (I suspect this is a recurring theme that she brings up with them during Singing Time).  It's so important for Primary leaders to understand that it is appropriate for them to have fun with the children and to let the children have fun in Sharing and especially Singing Time but they need to know how to bring them back down to quiet and appropriate behavior.  Sister Gibbons is a wonderful example of this.  I wish I could bottle her up and share her at our Stake Auxiliary Leadership Training Meeting.