Dec. 10 Singing Time, Christmas

 For Younger Children:

Every other song: If You're Happy & You Know It with Nativity figures 

Nativity (minus stable) from Susan Fitch Design

 

For Older Children:

In between each song I share about one of my special ornaments. (They choose which one I talk about and then I put it on the tree. I do not pass them around in this primary)

When Joseph Went to Bethlehem - Rhythm Stick Pattern

Pattern on YouTube: https://youtu.be/dvjj6hBNh9w

Samuel Tells of Baby Jesus - Crack the Code (from TeachingPrimaryMusic)

“Look at the code on  the board at the front of the room.  What does it have to do with this song?”

HHOLUGS

SSWFY

ABJWBB

ANWBAD

IALFFA

HBTOLWB

LERHK

I sing the song and receive the children’s answers.  Often one of them will guess that it is the first letter of each word.  I then ask, “Which one of these comes first?”  I sing the song again. When a child raises their hand, I motion for them to come up and move the word strip to the top.  All the while I keep singing (as much as possible – sometimes stopping to give instructions).  I sing over and over again while the children put the “code” in order.

We sing the song together once they have finished putting all the word strips in order. I will also do the actions listed in Idea #1 as we sing.

What the children don’t realize is that they have heard the song all the way through at least 4 or 5 times while focusing on the specifics of the words… a very strong memory method (whole to part to whole).