"Praise to the Man" Bagpipe intro and Singing Backwards with helpers

After searching, praying, thinking, stressing, and racking my brain to come up with a great idea of how to teach "Praise to the Man" to the Primary, the answer came so simply: let the children teach.  Usually when I invite the children to help me teach, or assign different parts to the older children to teach, I am humbled and reawaken to the ever so true fact: their ideas are SO much better than mine.  So it will be with this powerful song.

We will be working on this hymn all throughout May, so my schedule will be as follows.

May 1st:  Intro with guest Bagpiper on history of W.W. Phelps with emphasis on learning the melody.  See Below for Lesson Plan.
(Any extra time will be spent working on our Mother's Day song for next week's sacrament meeting.)
May 8th:  CHORUS
May 15th: 1st verse
May 22nd: 3rd verse
May 29th: Silent Sing with both verses and chorus.  This is an idea from Sharla Dance.  She has a great blog filled with so many good ideas.

*Any extra singing time this month will be spent learning a song for Father's Day on June 19th.  

CLICK HERE for Teaching Assignments

The Chorus, 1st Verse, and 3rd Verse are broken up into four lines each.  

So there will be 4 helpers each Sunday.  

I used THIS CHART  to stay organized.
How I give out teaching assignments (Give out assignments the week before they teach):

1.  Call/Talk to the parent of the child to see if they'll be here the week they will teach.  Explain to them what his/her child will need to do to prepare (Learn the line, be prepared to teach it to the whole primary using a prop of some sort and or actions).  Tell the parent I will be over to give a personal invite to their child.

2.  Go to the house of the child.  I do this so they will feel important.  Also, if I hand it out at church other children might feel left out or not special.

3.  Give them a slip of paper with their assignment.

4.  Call/Text a reminder to the child's parents the Saturday before the Sunday they teach.

5.  Be prepared to help a child who didn't come prepared.

6.  I try to take a little Thank You note to them after church the day they teach.

Teaching Backwards!

We will be learning "Praise to the Man" backwards.  Here's the order for the chorus, 1st verse, and 3rd verse.

Chorus:
1.  Death cannot conquer the hero again.
2.  Mingling with Gods he can plan for his brethren.
3.  Traitors and Tyrants now fight him in vain.
4.  Hail to the Prophet, ascended to heaven!

1st Verse:
1. Kings shall extol him, and nations revere.
2. Blessed to open the last dispensation.
3. Jesus anointed that Prophet and Seer.
4. Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah!

3rd Verse:
1. Crowned in the midst of the prophets of old.
2. Faithful and true, he will enter his kingdom,
3. Ever and ever the keys he will hold.
4. Great is his glory and endless his priesthood.

I will have the first helper come up and teach the first (last line).  We will sing their line a few times then I will call the next helper up.  We will sing their line and the line we just learned.  And so on and so forth until all four helpers are up in front  of the class and we sing the whole chorus or verse.

Introduction to "Praise to the Man"

Source for W.W. Phelps story
My intro will be something like:
"Remember how we talked about how a lot of songs are poems?  Well, we have another song that is a poem, written by this man."  Show picture of William W. Phelps. "He jointed the church after reading the Book of Mormon."  Show first edition Book of Mormon.  "Later, he left the church and made some wrong choices.  After awhile, he was sad and felt really bad for the choices he had made.  He decided to come back to the church.  He asked for forgiveness from the Lord and the Prophet Joseph Smith.  He was welcomed back into the church again.  He loved the Prophet Joseph and he wrote a poem about him.  William W. Phelps has ancestors from Scotland." Show Scotland on the globe. "They put his poem to a song from Scotland when they made it a hymn.  I thought it would be fun to go visit Scotland and hear this song. It's played on an instrument from Scotland.  When I say go, start singing 'I am a Child of God' and line up behind me.  We are going to pretend to go to Scotland.  Ready GO! I am a Child of God..."
I invited a young man in a different Stake to come play the bagpipes for the Primary.

Will replace with a real picture after tomorrow :-)

We will walk around the church to where he is and he will say, "Welcome to Scotland!  Does anyone know what these are called?  That's right, Bagpipes!  This tune is called Scotland the Brave and it's the tune for "Praise to the Man."
After he plays the song through, "I have another Bag of pipes for you.  Come get one and try to play the tune with me this time by saying DO DO DO in the pipe to the same tune."

"Thanks for visiting Scotland!"

How to make little pipes out of PVC, ribbon, and mod podge
1.  Two 10 ft long 3/4" pipes at Home Depot (mine were $1.49 each)
2.  Cut 5" increments with chop saw.
3.  Drill out 5 holes in front of pipe and one behind.
4.  Dip ends in Mod Podge.
5.  Tie ribbon in hold in back of pipe.

My Mother Dear - Creating a Flipchart with the help of the Primary Children

With Mother's Day just around the corner, I'm getting a head start on learning our two songs for sacrament meeting:  My Mother Dear and Grandmother.  This lesson is just for My Mother Dear, since I will be doing actions for Grandmother (which if you look at the lyrics to Grandmother the actions are pretty self explanatory.)

With this lesson, the children will get to choose a word that's missing.  Have fun and maybe sing the wrong word on purpose :-) After each word, they will sing a song that gets the wiggles out. At the end, you will have a Flipchart to continue learning and reviewing the song for Mother's Day. For Senior Primary, there is a Relay Game using the words of this song. 

Click here to Print FLIPCHART PDF
Click here to Print Senior Primary Relay Game

Images were found on Google Images

Introduction:  "Who knows what a poem is??! That's right.  It's a different way to tell a story or feelings.  Sometimes it rhymes or has a unique rhythm.  Did you know that a lot of songs are poems?! In fact, the song we will be learning today is a poem.  Now, I learned about poems in school, so let's pretend we are in Singing School today!  When I say go, you guys can come sit in front of me on the floor and I'll be the teacher.  You guys are going to help me write this poem for our song.  Sing reverently as you come and find a spot on the floor.  Go."  Start singing I am a Child of God as the children find their spot.

Have the Flipchart papers displayed on the board with 

only the first line showing and the rest turned over.  

Read the 1st line with the missing word, "Like blank in the morning that wakens day from night. Hmmm...what would waken day from night?  Sunshine or Raindrops?  Raise your hand if you think Sunshine.  Raise your hand if you think Raindrops."  Whichever one they pick, sing the line with that word until they pick the right one.  "Yes, I agree.  I think Sunshine fits best for this poem!  Let's sing a song about Sunshine."  Stand up and sing Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam.

Flip over the next two papers.

Read the 2nd line with the missing word, "Like blank in the springtime so colorful and bright.  Hmm...what is so colorful and bright?  Flowers or squirrels?  Raise your hand if you think flowers.  Raise your hand if you think squirrels."  Whichever one they pick, sing the line with that word until they pick the right one.  "Yes, I agree.  Flowers fit best for this line of the poem.  Let's sing about flowers."  Stand up and sing Popcorn Popping. "Did you know Popcorn popping is about flowers?!"

Flip over the next two papers. 

Read the 3rd line with the missing word, "Like blank of bluebirds that fill the air with cheer.  Hmm...fill the air with cheer?  We have either happy songs or scaly feet.  Raise your hand if you think happy songs.  Raise your hand if you think scaly feet."  Whichever one they pick, sing the line with that word until they pick the right one.  "Yes, I agree.  Happy songs fits best and scaly feet is just silly.  Let's sing a happy song."  Stand and sing If You're Happy.  

Flip over the last two papers.

Read the last line with the missing word, "A blank bright and lovely is my mother dear....Hmm...what is your mother?  A person or a starfish.  Haha I think we all know.  But let's vote to make sure.  Raise your hand if your mother is a person.  Raise your hand if your mother is a starfish.  Oh good!  No one has a starfish mom :-)  Let's sing about being a person."  Stand up and sing Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.  

"Hurray we finished our poem!  We will be singing this one quite a bit so we can sing it to your mother's on Mother's Day!  Thanks for helping me with it!"

Bear your testimony. 

Senior Primary Relay Game (Printable PDF at the top of the page).  I put magnets on the back of the words, but you could use sticky tack or tape.

Write before Singing Time or have them sing a song while you write it on the board.

1.  Sing through the song one time using the Flipchart above.  Before singing, remind the children to listen carefully and try to remember the words.

2.  Split the children into two teams.  Have them line up facing the board.  Explain the rules of the game, which are:

                   The person at the beginning of the line will come to the board.

He or she will choose a word and place it in one of the blanks where they think it should go.

Then they race back and touch the hand of the next person in line.

That person will go to the board.

They can choose to place a new word, or move a word that has already been placed to a different blank.  

When all the blanks are filled on any team the race is over and everyone must STOP.

3.  Sing the song as written on the board; even with words in the wrong spaces. Keep playing until all the words are correct. 

*If they know the song, remove more words.

*Switch out words and do different rounds. 

Easter Hosanna

I use puppets to teach harmony.  Once they know the notes, then I teach the song in a sacred reverent manner without puppets.

For Easter Sunday, our primary will sing Easter Hosanna in sacrament meeting.  I am having two children sing the two verses as solos since they will soon be moving out of Primary.  The verses could be split up into two parts to allow for more solos or could be done in small groups.  Since its just the chorus being taught, I decided to teach them two-part harmony on the "Hosanna".  It turned out to be really fun and beautiful.

SIDE NOTE: When looking for ideas for singing time, I always turn to The Friend first.  This was advice given to me at a stake primary inservice meeting.  It has never failed me.  I love The Friend and the subject matter is always on theme with the song of the month. 

Easter Hosanna

*This was presented as two lessons by the way.  Harmony just on Hosanna one week, and "Blessed be the name of the Most High God" the next.*

PART I

Introduction: "What are some things you can follow?"  Jesus Christ, our Prophet, the music leader.  Give them clues to finally say chorister or music leader.  Then sing Do As I'm Doing as a warm up song or Follow the Prophet and have them go different speeds and volume as they follow you. 

"Great job following me!  I saw you watching me closely so you could know how I wanted you to sing.  There is something else that has to do with music that you can follow.  Does any one know what that is?  They are on pages of music...NOTES!  That's right!  And our piano player always has a bunch of notes, I need some helpers to go get them from Sis. Porter." *I've been making an extra effort to involve the pianist more in singing time so the children know how valuable she is and we couldn't do without her.  It's made a difference and has been so fun*

Have the children get the notes from the pianist and bring them to you.  I just cut them out on colored paper.  Four of each color for the top and bottom harmony and then placed them on a staff I drew on the board with chalk.  I taped them to paper so the children could look at them for the sacrament meeting singing.  

"These are notes!  Listen to the Pianist play the notes as I point to them.  They are going to tell us the tune to sing."  Point to the Red only.  "Can you ooh along as I point again?"  Have the children ooh 3 times.  Then start over again with the Purple notes.  "Listen to the pianist..."

"There is something else we can follow today, and that is our helpers!"  Pull out two puppets.  *I found these at D.I. or you could make some out of paper, stuffed animals, or borrow some* 

"These guys like to say one word: HOSANNA.  HO-SAN-NA.  When they follow the notes it sounds like this:" Sing Hosanna just with top notes (RED).  "Elmo likes the high notes because they are red like him and he has a high voice. Let's sing Hosanna with him!"  Sing it 3 times.  Repeat with the other puppet for the low notes. "When he follows the purple notes it sounds like ..." Sing it 3 times.  

"Now these helpers like to sing their notes at the same time.  So this side of the room, follow Elmo singing the RED notes and this side of the room follow Larry singing the PURPLE notes. Notice that you both start on the exact same note."  

Sing the harmony over and over, switching the helpers so both sides of the room get to sing both parts.  Make it interesting by saying only boys, girls, now teachers only, close your eyes, turn the lights off, stand up, turn around, etc.  

Bear your testimony about Following the Prophet.

PART II

Introduction: Review the notes and put them back on the board.  Sing "Hosanna" a few times to review. 

"Now we are going to learn a few more words to this song.  Listen as I sing them to you."  Sing "Hosanna, Blessed be the name of the Most High God."  

Sing it a few times with the children.  Switch with the harmony.  Singing just RED, then PURPLE.  When doing both together, it helps to pull out the helpers (puppets) one more time.  

"These are very important words.  One of our Apostles tells us this quoting scriptures."  This is from the March 2016 Friend

Briefly talk about the people said this to Jesus before Easter as he came into the city.

Talk about the Palm Leaves using this picture.

I have some palm leaves here today!  We are going to wave them as we sing this phrase "Hosanna, Blessed be the name of the Most High God."  Now we have to wave them reverently and happily as we sing."  Call up three at a time and sing the phrase over and over. 

Just traced my kids' hands on green poster board (50 cents) and stapled to cardboard

Inspiration from the March 2016 Friend

*The hands that make the Palm leaf can be a guide to learning the words if needed:

Blessed: hands are used to bless people

be the name: our finger prints are special to our name

of the Most High: hold hand up high

God: the ASL sign for God is your hand up by your head*

Handout for them to practice at home.  It says, "I can sing, "HOSANNA! Blessed be the name of the Most High God!"

Bear testimony about Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. 

Other Ideas for this lesson:

Use the Giant Book of Mormon and talk about how the people and angels said the same thing to Jesus when he came to the Americas after Easter.