These words are up on the whiteboard or blackboard at the front of the room.
earlier, ere, before
morning, sunrise, before noon
speak to God, pray, offer thanks
authority, commander, name
sue, ask for, petition
kind actions, loving favor, looking after
defense, shield, protection
tired, discouraged, weary
night, darkness, hopelessness
dreary, gloomy, really hard
Tell the children:
Some of these words are not in the song. Your job, when you receive the eraser, is to erase one of the words that is NOT in the song. As soon as you erase a word that is NOT in the song, hand the eraser quickly to someone else. I will sing the song 5 times. Can you work together to erase all the words that are NOT in the song by the time I finish singing? (Notice how many times I emphasize “NOT” in the song… experience has taught me that someone invariably is not listening well enough and needs me to repeat that particular instruction a couple of times<grin>.)
I keep a writing utensil close so that if a child makes a mistake and erases a word in the song, I just write it back up as I keep singing.
Once I have handed the eraser to the first child, they then hand it to another child, and that child to another child and so on, until all the songs that are NOT in the song are erased.
When only the words “ere, morning, pray, name” and so on (some of the words of the song) are left up on the board, I then ask the children to sing only the words on the board and I will sing all the rest. (That way they are hearing all of the words of the song in their head and singing outloud only on the words up on the board. Called audiation, it is a VERY stong way to learn a song.)
Now switch. The children sing all the words of the song EXCEPT the words on the board. I will sing those.
It is fun, challenging, and the pattern of the words of the song and some of their definitions slip into the backdoor of the their memory.
Ami
THIS WORKED SO WELL!!! I didn’t have this list, but remembered the concept from your workshop. AMAZING with Senior Primary!!! Thank you!!!
Laurie L Gessel
This looks fun and easy to plan. Thanks!
chelsea
Love this idea for senior, How do i teach this to Junior primary?
Sharla Dance
Dear Chelsea,
I have a draft ready with three ideas for Junior, but have never published it! I’ll try to get that out there. (Scarves, Make the Picture Come Alive, Action Word Melody Map). Thanks for asking!
Lisa Kuykendall Crowther
Is your action word melody map something that can be accessed here or in another location?
Tina Mae Heaton
Was just called to be our Primary Chorister. Have never had this calling before. Haven’t been in Primary for 10 years. A littler nerve racking!
Sharla Dance
I hope that you have had some great experiences! Have you been able to see any of the training videos from this year and past years? How is it going?