A light to all the world

We FINALLY had our primary program today.  HOORAY!!!  I am so happy to have it behind us as it's been months of hard work in preparation (as anyone in this calling can attest). 

I had to share the next few photos just because I thought they were so cute.  Yesterday I got the following card from my 8-year old daughter.

 It reads "Hope everything turns out great...at the program.  When I think of hard work I always end and start with you MOM.  I mean it Mom!  You deserve it to be a good program and you have it"!

And indeed we did have a great program and I am so pleased with all of the kids.  They were wonderful!

 

This is what our front room looked like yesterday with a homemade podium (complete with a lego table, an ottoman, a box, some duct tape, a few blankets, and a microphone-so funny) as my girls rehearsed the program from start to finish.  They wanted to make sure they had their parts polished and songs perfected. :)

 

Moving right along to music time today.  For weeks I've been stressing the importance of the children having conviction in the songs they sing for the program.  We had lots of visitors so it was important that the kids had that conviction so that the message, and the spirit, would be received by all present in the audience.

I started out by turning off the lights in the primary room (the security lights were still on and there were windows so it wasn't completely dark but just enough so that the kids would really get the point I was trying to make.  I got out a glow stick and showed the kids how brightly it shone in the darkness.  I then read the scripture in 3 Nephi 12: 15-16, "behold, do men light a candle  and put it under a bushel?  Nay, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light to all that are in the house;  Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven".

I explained to them that we live in a world that can be dark sometimes.  So many people don't have the light of Christ or the gospel in their lives but today they were a light that shone bright to many of those people.  They shared the light of Christ with everyone that was present at the program.

Because each of them had been leaders (or examples of Christ), I was going to let them lead the music during our music time.  I had purchased enough glow sticks for everyone in the primary (they came in a pack of 15 from Target Dollar spot).  I had each class come up one at a time and had each of the kids in that class pick a glow stick. As a class they selected a song to lead us in singing.  I thought for sure that we'd be singing all of the fun songs but instead they mostly wanted to sing the songs we'd done in the program.  Then again, we've pretty much been working exclusively on the program songs for months so they probably don't remember any of the others anymore. :) 

Prior to giving the kids the glow sticks, we'd set a few ground rules to ensure this activity remained reverent (i.e. the glow sticks were not weapons and were only to be used in leading the music). The kids were so well behaved and engaged.

Many of them tried really hard to replicate the pattern I did for leading so I'm thinking I will spend some time another day teaching them how to lead correctly, as there seems to be some interest with this.  But for now, I don't want to think about anything other then heading off to bed for a good night sleep.  What a day-a great one, but definitely tiring!

The Past is the Past Quote

I love Subway art.  I'd seen this quote and thought it would be fun to display in my home so I whipped this together in my favorite colors.  You are welcome to use it (right click and save to your own computer). I blew it up to 11x14 for myself.

"Mormon Idol" music time idea

I am pretty certain that our ward is the only ward in the world that has yet to have the primary program for the year but we are so close-WAHOO!  Today was our final music time before running through the program in its entirety next week.  

Today I wanted the kids to take ownership of the music and to recognize the power that they have to really touch the congregation with their message through.  I also wanted them to get some positive feedback and constructive criticism-from someone other than me- on what we could do to polish our music.  I decided to do "Mormon Idol" for our music time.  

This ended up being super easy to pull off.  As far as prep work, I just made a big sign with the "Mormon Idol" logo and then made 3 scoreboards for the judges.  For the scoreboards, I had intended to just do the "Mormon Idol" score sheet under 8x10" frames and then the judges could write directly onto the glass-erases quite easily and is sturdy.  Turns out I didn't have a single 8x10" frame in my house so I just put the scorecards in sheet protectors instead backed by a couple layers of card stock to firm them up.  They were easy enough to write on and erase.  

I had three adults (that I'd made arrangements with earlier) come in to be the judges. The judges all sat up front.  I introduced each of them to the kids and then explained that each judge had a different purpose.  

(1)The first judge was going to score them on how they sounded: volume, how well they could understand the words, etc.  

(2)The second judge scored them on how they looked-was everyone participating, were all eyes up front, did they look cheerful, did they watch me when they stood and were seated, etc.  

(3)The final judge based her score solely on how the music made her feel.  I thought this was important as we've been talking so much about having conviction in our music.  I wanted them to see that the message of the music, and the way that they present it, had am impact on others.   

I love it when we get some fresh faces in there because the kids really try to "wow" them and they did a fantastic job.  It was great to have the feedback from the judges and some suggestions on what we could do improve on any areas.  Overall, a great success!  I feel like we are FINALLY ready for our primary presentation. :)  I can't wait to put both Junior and Senior Primary together over the next two weeks and see how it goes.  Wish us luck!

 

Although my 12-year old son said that my logo looked nothing like the American Idol logo, you are welcome to use it.  It's the best I could do with the fonts I had available to me.   Just right click on the image and you can save it onto your computer.