I had searched others blogs and saw many fabulous ideas, but alas, my printer decided that it can't print at all if it is out of the color yellow. I was even willing to color the black and white pictures with my children's markers, but...well...you know.
So I am reverting back to what I know best and what has worked for me time and time again...Sign Language. I graduated with my bachelors in teach ASL, so this just comes natural to me. I will also be using other actions, simplified signs and pictures to help them learn the words to this long song.
I think this song is very beautiful, but not sure how well the primary children will do and how long they will last, especially the Jr.
Last week I did a game, called "Gossip." I'm sure most of you have heard of it. You tell a secret to the first person and then they pass it along and we see if the message is the same or jumbled up by the time it gets to the last person on the thread. I introduced the song this way, kind of mixing it up and a little fun for the kids to loosen up and also think more about the song. I asked them how they listened to the message that was whispered to them during the game...they said their ears. So then I asked them if Jesus Christ was speaking to you, would you just use your ears? They had some fun answers and some good ones. I explained to them that you listen with your heart (and mind, they had to make this clear :) ). And then the only part of the song we learned was the chorus, last line of the song.
For Senior Primary I was able to download the mp3 of the song from the Sally DeFord website (the last verse is different than printed) and they older children were able to listen to what the song sounded like before they learned the last line as well.
So for this week...
The Plan:
The Plan:
For teaching the first verse I will be using a few props, pictures and actions to help the children learn the verses. I will pick volunteers to come up and hold a prop/picture or do an action for us learning the verses of this song.
Verse 1: Doll for "little child" and a picture of Jesus Christ, for...you guessed it...Jesus Christ. Also a magnifying glass for "searching" and a cut out heart (paper) for the chorus. I will also have signs/actions throughout the song.
Verse 2 & 3 will be mostly signs, with a few pictures here and there. I am hoping that my printer will cooperate (buying yellow ink my help) and then I can do some more ideas that I have that would be more fun than just me standing in front of the children and signing. (although most of the children have liked it when I do this)
I was also thinking that this song would be very beautiful if we did sign the entire thing and continued with that for the primary program. We'll just see how it goes tomorrow.
