Stand for the Right: Monthly Plan for Younger and Older Children

by | posted in: Activities for Older Children, Activities for Younger Children, Interaction, Lesson Plans, Movement, Teaching Principles, Visual | 11

SODA (5)

Emotions, Long Term Memory, and Associations

“Music is a very complex stimulus.  It affects us emotionally.  It engages our long term memories and feelings about places and people throughout our lives.  The moment we are born we start to associate sounds and feelings with people and events in our lives,…”

Dr. Concetta M. Tomaino, pioneer in the music therapy world.

 

What can we do as Primary music leaders to stimulate appropriate memories and feelings about a song in Primary?  I think we try to present the song in a different way each week (reaching individual learn styles) and make sure that our activities are appropriate to the feel and meaning of the song.  This is a strong song about being true at all times.  Here are some ideas for this song:

 

Younger

  1. Body Rhythm Activity
  2. True and all Times: Work and Play Category Game
  3. Work or Play Objects Activity for Younger Children
  4. Drum Activity for Younger children

 

Older

  1. Partner Body Rhythm Activity
  2. Mirror Stances
  3. True at All Times: Work and Play Category Game
  4. Maori Stick Passing pattern
  5. (See also the Drum Activity for Younger Children)  You may be able to have more children do the complex rhythm with Older Children.
  6. Handbell Activity

 

 

11 Responses

  1. Jane
    | Reply

    Thank you for your wonderful site that has helped me tremendously! I have a question for you. My Primary President thinks it’s best to use flip charts and pictures to teach the songs. Through my research and own teaching background I see the need to teach multiple ways for each child to learn through their strength. I have tried to incorporate more visuals as well as your approach, but do you have any suggestions on if you’ve ever run into this problem, etc.? Thank you!

    • Sharla Dance
      | Reply

      Dear Jane,
      We often have an inside need to teach as we are taught. Also, I’m sure that when looking at the flip chart, the children are able to sing better. The only problem is that the song is not in their soul or their memory. They don’t have any other experiences with it. They don’t have to puzzle about it, or experience the beat and flow of one particular song as compared to another. Their experience is so one-sided and their memory doesn’t have much depth because of that. The only thing that would help someone change their own perspective of using flip charts is to see success in a big way with other methods. You might ask if she could trust you and try to explain your philosophy. You know her best, so use your relationship and knowledge about her to most effectively communicate your feelings. Thanks for asking!

  3. Jane
    | Reply

    I don’t think I responded to your feedback. Thank you, tremendously.

  4. Christine Nelson
    | Reply

    I was really impressed with the melody map for As A Child of God!
    Are the other verses also available in this method?

    • admin
      | Reply

      I use a couple of different methods to teach each verse, and I try to treat each verse as if it were a separate song. I will bring out the melody map again in a couple of months to review the first verse, but I don’t use it for the other verses. Other suggestions for the other verses are a rhythm stick activity, a crack the code activity, or a put the pictures in order activity.

      Thanks for asking.

  5. Roseann
    | Reply

    Thank you so much for listing out multiple ways of teaching this song! It really makes my organizing easy. I am new and feel quite overwhelmed, but you really help me get an idea of what to do, and how to do it. I came to your training in Payson last month and really appreciated what I learned.

  6. Dantzel
    | Reply

    Sharla, would you repeat these same activities this year, since it’s been a year in between? Or if we used these ideas last year, do you think we should present it differently this year?

    • Sharla Dance
      | Reply

      Dear Dantzel, If you used these activities last year, I would probably use something different (at least for sure with the Older Children). Steady Beat Scramble would be fun for them (I’ll try and get that posted this week!) as well as a Paper Cup Pop pattern (I’m thinking patsch, hit, hit, patsch, hit, hit, patsch, hit, hit, freeze and grab with both hands/switch sides). For visual you might want to use a Concentration Match game with prophet pictures and perhaps a short quote under it from that prophet.

      Using some different activities with the song helps build their experience with the song and deepen their memory. It also gives you another opportunity to grab a quiet moment (perhaps on a freeze) to bear testimony about the prophets.

      Thanks for asking!

      • Ruth
        | Reply

        Sharla, thank you for all of your wonderful ideas! I receive compliments all the time for my Singing Times and I owe it all to you, and the guidance of the Holy Ghost of course. I did a concentration match game with Stand for the Right and it worked really well. For anyone doing this in the future I would recommend only 3 or 4 matches for Junior and 5 matches for Senior. The song is so short that I felt like I sang it a million times, especially in Senior where I had 7 matches for them to find.

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