Creative Distractions

On Sunday I was the first adult to primary, but not the first person. The room already held several children. We have a two-deep leadership policy, which for me means, in part, not being the only adult in the room. While I waited for another grownup to come in, I leaned against the doorway and asked who wanted to draw a picture of a temple on the chalkboard. Several hands went up and I encouraged them to go for it.

This temple has a mustache instead of an Angel Moroni. I didn't realize this until one of the kids pointed it out during singing time. I thought it was a propeller.

Topher drew the temple on the right. He said he patterned it after the Washington D.C. temple.

The kids were all pleased with their art and none of them seemed to realize it was a diversionary tactic.

Choose to Serve the Lord

A new year means a new course of study at church and home. This year we're studying the Old Testament. In primary we're focusing on the heroes we'll read about. To reflect that, we switched out our Doctrine & Covenants bulletin board from last year and put up pictures of people and places the kids will be learning about this year. We plan to add a banner at the bottom that says "I will choose to serve the Lord," which goes along with a song we're learning. I love the way it turned out!

The Work of Christmas

Before we get to Christmas, the Saturday prior to Christmas was full of celebration. 

In the morning we had our ward Christmas party. After the movie nativity we made last year, I wanted to do something a little simpler. In March the idea came to me that all the Primary kids should draw pictures of the scenes of the nativity and we would put them on the wall like an art gallery. We asked the kids to draw them during singing time a few Sundays in November and December. But the last Sunday we planned to finish the project, church was canceled due to snow. We sent out a message to all parents of primary kids and asked them to have the kids do the final picture at home. We got fewer of that one, but the ones they did were awesome.

We set it up before the party started. I love how it turned out.

The first picture was of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus.

The second picture was of the angels and shepherds.

The final picture was of the Wise Men and the star.

When the party was over we rushed home and loaded up the car for our final kid choir performance of the season. We had been invited to sing downtown in a nearby city that is famous for its Christmas traditions. We sang to draw in crowds and bring their attention to an emergency shelter that our youth serve at once a month during the cold time of the year. Our set was about an hour long. We performed the same songs we'd done at the interfaith concert, as well as standard Christmas carols. Bryan came as the sound guy and set up the mics and speaker. Just as we were about to start we discovered that our entire file of audio tracks had disappeared. While my friend and I directed the singers, Bryan recreated the set list on the fly by remotely connecting to his desktop at home. He's amazing and I'm so thankful for him!

We were all chilly, but it was warmer than it had been for most of the week, a miracle that we were grateful for. Many of our singers couldn't be there, but we had some bonus singers in friends and siblings that joined us, so we had enough people to be heard! We performed in a courtyard next to an inn on a busy street for foot traffic. We had a steady audience the whole time, though not everyone stayed for all the songs. Those that listened seemed appreciative of what the kids were doing. And we're glad we could help the emergency shelter in their fundraising efforts.

Day After Day After Day

This has been a long week. A looooooong week. It started with the Primary Program on Sunday. It went really well, but it was just part of a full day. I could feel myself getting sick at the end of last week, though I told myself I couldn't succumb until Monday when the Primary Program was over. I've spent the week coughing and sneezing and trying to balance resting with still getting everyone fed and where they need to be on time.

Actually, I think it's been a long month. I've been staying up late with some kids and getting up early with other kids. I keep losing track of what day it is. I'm pretty sure sleep deprivation has something to do with it. Maybe I'll find a day during Thanksgiving break to sleep in.

Maybe.

In the Leafy Treetops

On Saturday night we had a big ward activity that I helped plan and run. There were several stations, one of which asked the members of the ward to write their name on a leaf and add the lead to our ward family tree. After the activity, somehow the extra leaves ended up among my party supplies. I decided to use them for singing time the next day.

The leaves on the left have song titles, the leaves on the right have instructions on how to sing the songs. I scattered the leaves on the ground at the front of the room and the kids got to pick which leaves we added to the tree that Bryan drew. I've done similar activities with them in the past, including making a thanksgiving tree. But either the kids didn't remember or they were nice enough not to point it out.

Sometimes the kids get carried away with the actions and forget to really sing. This time I brought a handful of blank leaves. I called them our bonus leaves. I told the kids that our primary pianist would listen to how they sang. If they sang the words clearly and used strong (but not yelling) voices, they could earn a bonus leaf for each song. That made all the difference! They didn't earn one on the first song, and that really pushed them to do their best for the songs that came after. I realized after I took the picture that they'd earned one more bonus leaf that I'd forgotten to add.

The bonus leaves are in the middle.

Boarded Up

I collaborated with the other two Primary presidents that meet in this building to design the two bulletin boards in our room. If there were three boards we probably would have each gotten one, but with three wards and only two boards, we decided teamwork was the way to go. We brainstormed over text, gave approval to act on our plan, then two of us met to put that plan into action.

We decided one board should be about the restoration and the other board should be about the Savior. We bought one picture on Etsy (the large one of Christ), one set of bulletin board posters designed for Primary, and cut up old Come, Follow Me manuals for the rest. Yes, my side (the restoration side) is missing two elements (this is round two since my first version was too chaotic), but I'll add those on Sunday. I'm pleased with how they turned out.

Tell Me About When Jesus Was Born

Remember that video I was editing together a week and a half ago? Well, here's the finished product. There was a lot of inspiration involved in this project, including asking the kids to tell me about when Jesus was born and recording their answers. I got those done the day before we had to show the movie at our ward Christmas party. There's nothing quite like editing and rendering until 2:15 in the morning the day the project is due.

I'm quite pleased with the result.

We'll Fix It In Post

Our primary was asked to provide the nativity for our ward Christmas party this weekend. I said yes and had a flash of inspiration to have the kids act in a movie instead of doing a tradition nativity the night of the event. This seemed like a great idea. I cast the roles, made costumes, hauled all my supplies to church for a few weeks, used a half-day of school to get some extra footage, and wrangled many very excited children. All of that was fine.

And now I'm editing.

This is not a quick process.

So Many Leaves

I was in charge of singing time on Sunday. We needed to start learning When Joseph Went to Bethlehem, but I also wanted to include Thanksgiving in our activity. I had several ideas, but nothing really gelled until I was walking down the hallway to set up right before primary started.

I asked the kids what holiday was happening this week. A few said Christmas, but at least one knew it was Thanksgiving. Then I asked about their Thanksgiving traditions. After a few of them answered, I told them about our Thanksgiving tree tradition. Then I drew a bare tree on the chalkboard. If I had known beforehand that this was the plan, I would have asked Bryan to draw it. The kids had to make do with my artistic attempt instead. I told them they were going to help me fill in the leaves on the tree.

Then I taught them the first verse of the song. After we'd sung the whole verse at least once, I told them that they would get to decide how we practiced it, but they would need to pay a price first. They all looked shocked. I told them that the cost of a practice suggestion was saying something they're thankful for. For example, the first little girl that I called on said she was thankful for her family. After I wrote that on the tree and drew a giant leaf around it, she said she wanted us to sing opera-style. It was awesome.

The kids were creative (we sang county-style, danced disco, mooed like cows, took turns between the boys and the girls, and spoke the words in fancy British accents along with the music) and we all got to think about things we're thankful for. I added the last item: I said I'm thankful for primary and then we all stood and sang like we will in our Christmas sacrament meeting. 

I think it was a success.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sing Out Strong

I was in charge of singing time this past Sunday. We were practicing songs for our upcoming Primary Program. After singing through a verse, a nine-year-old girl raised her hand and said she could hear me singing more than she could hear the Primary kids singing. I agreed and asked them if they thought they could sing louder than me without yelling. I told them that might be tricky because I'm exceptionally loud.

They accepted that challenge and ran with it.

I love that her observation did more to get the other kids to sing loud than me just asking ever could have. Yay for simple, unplanned teaching moments.

A Living Witness

A week ago Saturday I had the wonderful opportunity to listen to an apostle of the Lord. We had a regional training meeting with Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Sister Tracy Y. Browning of the Primary General Presidency was also there. I drove two hours to the same church building where the kids had church prom the week before. I had had an impression that I should be the one to drive to the dance so I would be familiar with the area. That was definitely inspiration. When I was just a few minutes away from my meeting the GPS sent me in the wrong direction. I only knew because I'd been there a week before and recognized my surroundings.

The training was fantastic! We had a general meeting with leaders of all the church organizations from several surrounding stakes, from Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Leaders all the way to New Hampshire watched a video broadcast of the meetings. I have many notes about what they said and ideas for our own Primary. Elder Cook bore his apostolic witness of the Savior at the end of the meeting. It was so powerful and worth the four hours I spent in the car that day.

After the general meeting we had a meeting for Primary leaders. I had been asked a few weeks ahead of time if I would lead the opening and closing songs for that meeting. That meant that I sat on the stand with Elder Cook and Sister Browning. When the meeting was over I met them both! I shook Elder Cook's hand and gave Sister Browning a very awkward hug, but she was a good sport about it. I was able to chat for just a few minutes with each of them. Sister Browning said something during that chat that I keep thinking about. "Singing time is Gospel Doctrine for Primary." That's exactly what it is! It's our opportunity to teach the gospel to these kids, through music and testimony.

It was a long, wonderful day.