"When there is a fifth Sunday, use this time to review previous lessons. The Spirit can guide you as you plan and prepare activities for lessons."
If a chorister is given the entire 35 minute block, it is probably best to create something similar to an integrated singing and sharing time that focuses on the monthly sharing time theme. It is still completely possible to practice and/or learn whatever songs you wish in this format.
Here are some ideas to use this month, whether you are given the entire 35 minutes or the normal 20 minutes:
- Feast on the Words: There are a ton of things you can do with this idea. You could have the kids pick different place settings with each piece representing a different song, a different verse, different ways to sing a verse/phrase, or new phrases to learn. This idea can work really well with the 3rd verse as it describes different functions of the Holy Ghost. I have seen a few different choristers on other sites suggest concluding this integrated singing/sharing time with the scriptures as the main course. However you may choose to execute this idea, it lends itself nicely to discussions in between the songs/phrases/verses of the words or principles sung by the kids.
- "The Bread of Life": I haven't really fleshed out this whole idea, but just come up with the general concept. The idea is to take a bread recipe and have different songs represented through the different ingredients. You could have each ingredient represent a different scripture story of Jesus, with a corresponding song. You could get really detailed and find a way to incorporate different numbers in scripture stories with the measurement of each ingredient in the recipe. An example would be for 1/2 c. you could use the story of Noah and the Ark since they took 2 of every animal. The conclusion and wrap-up of this integrated singing/sharing time would be calling the kids attention to the verse in the scriptures where Jesus explains that He is the bread of life and helping the children understand what this means. This principle goes great with the New Testament study of most kids in the SP.
- Tell Me the Stories of Jesus: In this activity you would need to display/hide representations of different stories in the New Testament. This could be GAK pictures, objects, letters, etc. As each is chosen you can go directly to the scriptures to read key verses or just discuss the story with the children. Have a corresponding song to sing after each story is discussed. You can also have fun things to do during each song to keep the kids busy and moving if necessary. Conclude this activity by reminding the children that when we feast on the words of Christ we learn more about Him, develop a testimony of Him, and learn what we can do to choose the right in our lives.
- Matching: This is just a matching game that can be done a couple different ways. You can match the GAK picture to the scripture reference, or match the exact same GAK pictures. Either way have a corresponding song to sing when a match is made and have some fun things for the kids to do as they sing some of the songs. Remember that if you want to include scriptures for the JP without asking them to look up references, have the key phrase of the desired scripture written on the paper and read it for the kids. You can also just read the verse or important phrase when the match is made. It is always great for the JP to hear the scritpures read and understand where the principles are actually coming from. For SP, you can add a little difficulty by asking them to guess which song their match goes with. To decide on the scritpures for JP and SP, try looking at the references at the bottom of each song in the Children's songbook.
Hope these ideas can help get the creative juices flowing for your planning!
Happy Singing!!
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