ideas for teaching HFAF for JR. primary

[avsfan]

Well, tomorrow is review/relearn day. =) Or in the case of Jr, "learn it again" day.

I am going to review the stories I told them last week:

• Jesus' parable of the wise man who hears and does, and the foolish man who hears and does not.
  
• Helaman 5:12 paraphrase- Jesus Christ is our foundation, if we build on Him, we cannot fall.
  

But I'm still trying to figure out a way to review the phrases again...

Some of the ideas from perusing the yahoo group:

• to sing little "Bites"? I could take in a baby eating untensil and show it to them and tell them that this was a hard song to chew so we were just going to take little baby bites.
  
• learn a piece backwards....play the last phrase until you get it right, then add the 2nd to last phrase, then add the 3rd to last phrase, etc.
  
• I had fun repeating the words "Ex-x-cel-lent" and "He-ee" hath said, explaining how to hold out a word while the music moves. They moved their hand with mine and we also had fun with the word "hath" since not many of them had heard it. And "Sa-id" moves also. We called it our moving song.
  

Other ideas?

[avsfan]

Okay, I feel like I'm the only one posting on this board, but oh well. I just laid down to rest, as that is the position I think best in. Here's what I came up with:

The post below will detail my HFAF plan, but for the wiggle song in between, I'm going to throw a new spin on "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man." As I read the parable from Matthew, I was really impressed that Jesus was talking about PEOPLE, not houses. When I sing the song, I usually focus on the house and what happens to the house.

So I'm going to challenge them to change it up! Really slowly we'll sing
The wise man built his LIFE upon Jesus,
The wise man built his LIFE upon Jesus,
The wise man built his LIFE upon Jesus,
And his life on Jesus stood FIRM.

If they ask to sing the other verse, we might do something like
The foolish man built his house upon the world....and his life on the world washed away.

For hand motions, we'll probably do "life" will be sign language for 'stand' (an upside down 2) and "Jesus" will be the other hand that our life is standing on.

If they master it well, or seem to enjoy it, we'll sing it throughout singing time (to break up HFAF repitition) by singing it s-l-o-w or FAST! Jr. always loves that.

[avsfan]

Basically I am going to teach the first verse again, but very slowly.
I have props for each of these phrases:

How firm a foundation = pic of Jesus on a brick
Ye saints of the Lord = drawing of stick figures with the word Saints
Laid for your faith = "faith" written in block letters with a stick figure 'laying' on top of them
in His excellent word = scriptures propped up
What more can He say = big red question mark drawn on paper
Who unto the Savior = (still working on this one)
For refuge have fled. =pic of Jesus holding children (conveys safety)

I am NOT going to dissect each phrase and explain each word. I did that a little bit last week. I will reinforce the DOCTRINE that Jesus Christ is our rock, our foundation, our salvation, and that is the message I want them to remember.

Now, with those props, I am going to use the 'singing people' props I described here (post 5): primusic.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=tips&action=display&thread=11

So to start out, and we're going to go slow, with the first phrase I will put my pic above foundation and saints and I will sing.

Then I'll sing it again, and put my pic above foundation, and the 'children' pic above saints. We'll repeat it again, and I can mix up WHO is singing the first part or last part of each phrase. Kind of the 'bite size' idea.

[Nicole]

It's okay if you're the only one posting here now - I'm sad that more people from the Yahoo Group haven't been willing to join us here, but I'm sure if we persevere we'll grow!

[beckyb]

Thanks for the helps, Im having a really hard time with this one for some reason. Especially with the jr group. I feel like last week was a total wash.

So I think that this week Im going to work on building the house that is here 1.bp.blogspot.com/_smAmvUy-CqE/SX6O40Hpo0I/AAAAAAAACDA/cnR8OCmCw3c/s1600-h/100_4158.JPG. Except with picture props being the main focus and not words.
So for "how firm" I will have a rock. and talk about rocks are hard, and the wise man built his house upon a rock. "Foundation" will be a picture of a brick wall.
"Ye saints" will be a halo, and "of the lord will be a picture of our heavenly father/jesus (bearded man picture from friend)
Then the steps
Will have a person laying down (laid)
and a picture of the scriptures (his word)
then the pillars have pictures of Christ
then the roof will be the picture of Christ and the children.
We are going to start and just sing each line until it is stong enough to "hold" the line above it.

[lizbrown98]

Hi, I just wanted to say thanks for your great ideas. I used the suggestion from the Feb Friend to teach the 1st verse to both JR and SR, and I think it went really well...based on the short time I had to do it.

I repeated this again today for JR. as I think they really need the repetition. We did not have time to go on to the 3rd verse.

In SR today, we had less than 5 min left for the song, so we quickly ran through the 1st verse which they mostly all knew. Then went through the 3rd verse, and since it is such an easier verse, with all the repetition at the end...they got it.

For next week I am planning to have the JR act out the different phrases for the 3rd verse. They like to have actions. I also have some great visuals for the entire song which I got from someone on the Yahoo group.

For SR I am planning a variation on the conversation heart idea. I will cut out some hearts and write a song on the back. We will then start singing HFAF and I will randomly stop and choose someone to tell me what the next few words of the song are. If they get it right they can choose a heart, and we will sing that song. We'll keep going until we get through the 1st and 3rd verses.

Hope this helps anyone out here!

[parnellerica]

I'm new to the website- but I have absolutely LOVED the primusic helps that I have had. I'm not very good at coming up with my own ideas- but love getting helps from everyone and combining them etc.
Just to share what I am doing this week- because it is valentines day Saturday... I have about 60 hearts. I will stick them up all over the room on the walls and chairs etc. On the backs of some will be a beginning to a phrase from HFAF... if they get that then we will have to sing/review that phrase. I will also have wiggle songs, & "I choose you" on the backs of some. If they pick an "I choose you" then they get to choose their favorite primary song. I will have them put the hearts on the board around a picture of Christ and remind them that our love for him can help build his foundation... or something like that. For Sr. primary we are going to do a "heart attack" to the bishops door... and possibly try to put the song in order on his door- or something like that! Not sure of all the facts just yet... will have to play it by ear!

[avsfan]

parnellerica, that sounds like a fun idea!

This is what I'm doing for Jr tomorrow:
We will first review the song (1st verse only) using the picture props I taught with.
Then I will have my Jenga blocks there, and we will sing the song over and over as each Sunbeam and CTR 5 child comes up when I point to them and put three blocks in the stack. So the 2 youngest classes will build the tower while we constantly sing.

Then we'll do some wiggle song. THEN we'll get to sing again while the older classes remove the middle pieces (my rule will be only the middle block can be removed -I don't want it too shaky). We'll just keep singing and singing while each child in a row comes up. I'm excited, because for once they will all get a turn!! And I won't have to choose a singer, we'll just go in a row.

I'm hoping that the excitement of building it and removing middle pieces will keep their attention, while we sing and sing and sing. I think it will be fun.

Sr will be something similar, AFTER they have done a phrase-matching exercise (with paper) in groups of 3. The Jenga will be their reward. =)