“Here’s the pattern!” Point to the poster. (Ask a teacher to hold the posters as you demonstrate the body rhythm pattern for the children. He or she will have to change them as you come to the end of each phrase.) Sing the song and demonstrate the pattern.
Show poster #1 again and ask the children, “What movement do the black dots represent?” (pop of the hand)
“What movement do the upward arrows represent?” (arm motion)
Sing the song and ask the children to do the pattern with you for the first poster. Ask the children “Can your hands follow my hands when we do the whole pattern as I sing?”
Sing the song again, doing the pattern on the posters.
Ask the children, “Why are some of the dots low and some of the dots high?” Receive their answers (usually louder or softer, or higher or lower). “Let’s check it out to see if that is right.”
Sing the song again and do all of the pattern.
Extenders: Ask the children what words go with the dots on poster #1 and #2. Receive their answers. Ask them to sing only the words to the song that go with the black dots. Do the same with posters #3 and #4. (You can actually do it with each poster depending on the attention span of the children. Short and sweet is better than drawing out the activity.)
The children are moving to the beat and words of the song in a way that mirrors the ups and downs of the melody. They get the feel of the song into their body. They understand the energy of the song because of the energy it took in their body to do the pattern with the song. And it is fun!
Here are the posters:
Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah
Jesus annointed that prophet and seer
Blessed to open the last dispensation
Kings shall extol him and nations revere
Hail to the prophet, Ascended to heaven
Traitors and tyrannts
(Now) fight him in vain….
Mingling with Gods he can plan for his brethren
Death cannot conquer the hero again.
(Notice that 1, 3, and 8 are the same posters. Notice that 4 and 9 are the same as each other.)
Here is a video of the actions that go with the posters:
Kristina
I love this! How big are your posters?
Sharla Dance
24 x 18. I bought smaller poster board because there are so many
Kristina
Perfect, I have a whole stack that size. Thank you!
Karrie
I love this!!!! Thank you for sharing.
Ashley Clark
What a great idea! Would you recommend using this for Junior Primary as well?
Sharla Dance
I have a movement idea for younger children that is less complicated, yet moves to the steady beat, plus helps them with some words of the song. I will try to get that posted this week.
Ashley Clark
Thank you so much!
Ms. Dani
LOVE! Would you do the same patterns for the third verse?
Sharla Dance
I do a different activity where the movements are specific to the words of the 3rd verse. I will go ahead and post it, then add the video later once I have it filmed.
Laura
Sharla you are amazing! Thank you so much!!!
Just wondering if you make a separate poster for all 9 pages, or do you just point to the one they are to use if it is a repeated action? (I hope that makes sense!)
Sharla Dance
I made all 9 of them, then I realized how many of them were the same. You can improve on my method! Thanks for asking!
Desiree Roberts
I love this and want to use it but my senior primary and junior primary are combined into one. I have this problem every week. If I teach something that the senior primary will grasp then I lose the junior. If I teach something simple for the junior primary, then the senior primary seems bored. What would you suggest for this particular song. I really want to do the hand actions to help them learn.
Sharla Dance
I would probably do the younger movement version with both groups. Sometimes I ask the older children to each pair up with a younger child to be their special helper and do something just a bit too challenging for the younger. It has worked for me in the past.
pamela friske
amazing as always! Thank you again Sharla! I have been a chorister many times in my not so young life and I love your ideas so much. Your teaching style reminds of Merrilee Webb. Learned so much from her years ago. Thanks!!! Pamela
pamela friske
I have signed up for your newsletter and new posts several times and never get them 🙁 Pamela
Sharla Dance
Dear Pamela,
Did you get the newsletter sent out last week?
Sharla Dance
I just sent an email to your address listed here and it bounced back to me. How can I get a message to you? Take care, Sharla
Nicole Babcock
I just love this. I feel like it’s a tender mercy that I found you. I’ve already made my posters and memorized the actions!
Sharla Dance
Thank you Nicole. Sharla
Amanda Hopkin
I love this idea. Thank you for sharing.
Marili
I have signed up for your newsletter several times and do not get them either.
Sharla Dance
Dear Marili, Did you get one yesterday? Sharla
Erin
I’m not getting them either. I check back often enough that it’s not a huge deal but I would love to get a newsletter as well!
Becca
This is so helpful!!
Collette Davis
I love your ideas. Thank you for sharing!
Laura Barnard
Do you have a copy of the visuals for this or do i need to make my own? I love this.
Sharla Dance
I just drew them up on poster board. I think they would be quite simple to make (I’m not an artist). Take care, Sharla
Annie
I love this idea. I’d love to use it with The Iron Rod song. What do you think? Any suggestions on how to draw that one? I’m trying to figure out which beats I should emphasize with hand pops and how to fill in the rest. My brain wants to represent every note, but I love the simplified way of using sweeping arm movements instead for in between the hand pops.