I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus

[jkkd80]

I'm teaching "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus" in April. I've heard several other wards are also, so I thought I'd start a thread to share ideas.

I'm planning to make a poster with small clipart pictures and pictures of Jesus since I'm hoping most of them will already recognize the tune and maybe even know some of the words.

Other ideas?

[prsd4tim2]

Our Primary has sung this song for many years, so as far as teaching the song itself, I don't have a lot of input. I originally made a poster (I like them better than flip charts because they are easier to see from the back of the room). Every now and again I pull it out and use it when we sing the song, if we haven't sung it for awhile. When I make posters, I print most of the words, but substitute clip art or drawings for some so that the Juniors can understand it too.

Since this song is so familiar to us, and because I believe that we don't spend enough time teaching the children what we used to call "Bible Stories", before we sing, I always ask the children to share a story about Jesus. Over the years, the children began to relate the same stories over and over. "Jesus walked on water." "Jesus healed the blind man." "Jesus healed the lepers." So I began to think they really weren't getting the meaning of what I was trying to teach them.

Then, I found in the December Friend on page 10 a picutre of Jesus and some scripture references to many of the stories about him. I printed this page from the church web site onto card stock and cut them out (they are in the shape of little scriptures). Now, what I do is have one or two children draw one of the scripture references, look it up in their scriptures, and read it to the Primary. The Juniors have their teachers help them tell the story. To me, this accomplishes two worthwhile things: it gives the children a knowledge of these stories about their savior, and it gets them using their scriptures.

While I was looking for the Friend article, I found two other things I plan to add to my "Jesus Jar". In the October Friend on page 45, Elder Holland shares some thoughts on how to speak like Jesus. I am going to print this page on card stock and cut out the leaves, and add them to my jar. Then if a child draws one of them, I will have them read what is printed on the leaf.

The other is in the January Friend on page 26. Their is a Word Search of the names of the Savior (advocate, anointed one, bread of life, etc). I am going to make a list of the names on card stock and add them to my jar. When the children choose these, they can tell the others about what this name means in relation to Jesus. The juniors may not be able to do these very well, but they will learn as they listen to the older ones share these attributes of the Savior.

I hope this helps someone. I would love to hear other ideas too.

[prsd4tim2]

By the way, in reading over my post, I realized I wasn't very clear. The references are to the October, 2008 Friend Magazine, the December, 2008 Friend, and the January 2009 Friend.

[jkkd80]

Those ideas are GREAT! Thank you for sharing! I emailed them to the yahoo group as well, giving you credit of course. I'm going to use your ideas to review the song; here's what I'm going to do to introduce it on Easter Sunday:

I'm showing a clip from Family Home Evening video #2, segment # 8 “What think ye of Christ?” to introduce the song. On this video is a nice piece that shows snippits from Jesus's life and things that he did. I'm fast forwarding it to the part where he is forgiving the woman for touching his robes and starting the video there. (I'm only teaching the 1st verse. For both verses, start at the calming of the seas.) I'm going to turn down the volume on the TV and play "I'm trying to be like Jesus" from the CS CD, and have the children just listen.

Then I'll teach the song using these pictures:
• "I'm trying to be like Jesus; I'm following in his ways. (208, John the Baptist Baptizing Jesus)
• "I'm trying to love as he did, in all that I do and say. (226, Jesus Washing the Apostles' Feet)
• "At times I am tempted to make a wrong choice, (221, The Ten Lepers)
• "But I try to listen as the still small voice whispers, (217, Woman at the Well)
• " 'Love one another as Jesus loves you. (216, Christ and the Children)
• " 'Try to show kindness in all that you do. (218, The Good Samaritan)
• " 'Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought, (213, Jesus Healing the Blind)
• " 'For these are the things Jesus taught.' " (212, Sermon on the Mount)

I'm going to have very simple clipart on a piece of cardstock taped to the picture. (ie: feet, a heart, an ear).

I got these ideas from a few different websites, and they'll all work so well! I appreciate everyone sharing their ideas!