August Week 1: Puzzle Time!

August is a song-of-your-choice month, but the theme is: Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and He is a God of miracles. Of course everyone's song choice will be different, but I figured any teaching ideas can be tweaked to meet the needs of your ward. I have the fun privilege of filling in this week for our chorister and teaching "Tell Me the Stories of Jesus". I am very excited about it! (In sitting down to come up with ways to teach this song, I thought up about 6 or 8 different and fun ways to introduce and teach the song....I will be sure to include these other ways to teach the songs in my post tomorrow.)


My plan for introducing and teaching this song will be a little different for Junior and Senior primary, but both ideas include actions (this song works wonderfully for this) and using one of my son's shape puzzles to solidify the words so the chorister won't have to worry about it in the coming weeks.

JUNIOR PRIMARY:

Introduce "helper hand" (more on this guy in a later post) and encourage the kids to use their own helper hands as we learn and sing the words to the new song.

*Remind the children of the sharing time (presented by the 1st counselor) and how we can learn all about Christ's miracles by reading the stories about Him. Where can we find those stories? Hold up the scriptures.

*Run through each line of the 1st verse, singing the words and teaching the actions for the major words. Address any vocabulary necessary at this time. (I only plan to run through the full song once as we will be singing it through a number of times during our puzzle "game".)

*Introduce the puzzle, with puzzle pieces in a bag, and explain that now we are going to use our helper hands to complete the puzzle. Ask the children if they think they will be able to figure out where the pieces belong when they pull them from the bag (this increases their enthusiasm and anticipation of the game). Explain, with a smile, that it may not be as easy as they think since they will have to complete a task with each puzzle piece. Challenge them to complete the puzzle by the end of the day. (Sidenote: I don't like issuing challenges if the time does not permit completing them, so I may decide to make a few of them freebies or already have them placed if time is running short)

* The Puzzle Game:
On the back of each piece, or on the actual puzzle, place actions or questions. When a child pulls a piece the primary must complete the direction before they can place the piece. Here are my plans for the 9 pieces:
1. Square: Use a magic crayon to continuously draw a square in the air as we sing the 1st two lines of the verse
2. Octogon: What does "scenes by the wayside" mean? (Have a picture example ready) Sing through that line.
3. Oval: Close your eyes and do the actions as you sing through the whole song
4. Trapezoid: Show a GAK picture of a miracle performed by Jesus and ask the children to describe it. Sing the last line.
5. Circle: Use a magic crayon to continuously draw a circle in the air as we sing the last two lines of the verse
6. Rectangle: Where can we read the stories of Jesus? Pick a favorite song about scriptures to sing.
7. Triangle: Freebie!!!! Sing a fun song :) (if time is running low, just make this a freebie)
8. Diamond: What does "tales of the sea" mean? (Have a picture example ready) Sing through that line.
9. Pentagon: Sing through the whole song; children only.

*Conclude by bearing testimony. Sing through the song once more if time permits

SENIOR PRIMARY:

*Ask the children to name some of the miracles Christ perfomed on earth. How do you know about these? Reiterate the importance of reading the scriptures to learn about Jesus and develop our faith and testimony in Him.

*Explain that today we are going to add to the one verse the children already know from "Tell Me the Stories of Jesus". Explain that the second verse highlights Jesus love and kindness to children.

*Sing through the verse for the kids as they hum and follow along with the actions (just listening to the words). Quickly teach the words to the children and run through each line once with the kids (just as in JP, they will have ample time to review the words throughout the rest of singing time)

*Display your puzzle (with pieces in the bag) and explain that you have brought a very difficult puzzle for them to complete. Assure the children that you have complete faith in their ability to use all their smarts and hard work to complete this challenge. (This is all done in sarcasm as a way to build interest and anticipation in the activity :)

*Explain the puzzle game: Each side of the room will take turns looking up the scripture on the back of each puzzle piece. As one side is looking up a scripture, the other side will be singing through the verse. Once the scripture is found, the children must decide which GAK picture it belongs with and be ready to match it by the end of the singing. Once the match has been made, you can talk with the children about GAK picture, thus reviewing the meaning of the words in the verse. One final component that can be added for a little fun is to invite the teacher of the child who matched the verse up to the front of the room. This teacher will lead the kids in singing and actions for the next run-through. You could even let the kids know that as a reward for completing the puzzle, you will be asking the teachers to stand and sing through the song, with actions, at the end. (A little added incentive and teacher inclusion :)

*Here are the GAK pictures and scriptures I will be using for this song:
1. Line 1: GAK 216; Mark 10:14
2. Line 2: GAK 213; John 9:1, 6-7
3. Line 2: GAK 214; Mark 4:39
4. Line 3: GAK 230; Luke 23:33-34
5. Line 3: GAK 226; John 13:5
6. Line 4: GAK 240; John 13:34

I plan to give 3 freebies to help with time management. If there is time, I will use the freebies as a chance for the kids to sing a favorite song about Jesus or the scriptures.

*Conclude by bearing testimony and sing through both verses of the song if time permits.