For Jr primary we are still working on “I’m trying to be like Jesus,” but Sr Primary has it down. So, after a blog I follow mentioned that she has a ‘reminder’ picture for each song in the program, I though I’d let Sr Primary choose the pictures!

I put a lot of pictures on the board with magnets, including the ones I would have chosen for each song, plus lots of others. I asked the kids when the primary program is and was blown away that they remembered the date! However, when I asked them how many songs we were going to sing and none of them had any idea! So I said I thought it would be a good idea to have a picture to represent each song so that when it’s time to sing the song in the program I could hold it up and they would know what song was next.

And that I would like their help choosing pictures that represent the songs. So, we sang each song’s first verse quickly and I reminded the kids to think about the meaning of the song and which picture would represent the ideas of the song best. I had them point to a picture they liked, and then I would pick up two (or three) pictures and have the kids hold up hands to vote for one. I also gave them the option of drawing a new picture.

Here’s what we came up with:

As a child of God

Choose the Right

(you may remember this shield from January)

Stand for the Right/Dare to do Right Medly (link here)

I’m going to have to make a sword with the word “Right” on it… instructions to follow!

When I am Baptized

(the kids’ comment was, “that’s obvious!” But, lots of kids wanted a rainbow…so I said I’ll tape a small rainbow to the picture)

Nephi’s Courage

(there was a lot of debate between this one and the Lehi on the Boat picture)

The Wise Man

I’m Trying to be like Jesus

Our Choice:

I think I’ll choose a picture for each verse of each song, and have someone else hold them during the program.

At this point the Sr Primary knows the first verse and understands what they are singing mostly.

Jr Primary knows the chorus really well with ASL keywords.

For Week Two of “I’m Trying to be like Jesus” I’m going to work with Jr Primary on verse 1 and Sr Primary vs 2. I have been racking my brains to find some visual imagery for “Try” and I finally did a Google image search for the word and this is what I came up with:

BRAINSTORM!! I’m going to bring in the book (Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss) and read the appropriate pages (53-62). Then we’re going to have a great discussion about what it means to “try to be like Jesus”

Henry B. Eyring

“Love is the motivating principle by which the Lord leads us along the way towards becoming like Him, our perfect example. Our way of life, hour by hour, must be filled with the love of God and love for others. There is no surprise in that, since the Lord proclaimed those as the first and great commandments. It is love of God that will lead us to keep His commandments. And love of others is at the heart of our capacity to obey Him.”

President Uchtdorf

“Jesus Christ instructed His Apostles at the beginning of His mortal ministry, “[Come,] follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). We need to “follow Him,” and as we do this, the Savior will bless us beyond our own capacity to become what He wants us to be.

To follow Christ is to become more like Him. It is to learn from His character. The Savior invites us to learn His gospel by living His teachings. Ancient and modern prophets described it with three words: “Keep the commandments”—nothing more, nothing less.

The scriptures describe a number of Christlike attributes we need to develop during the course of our lives. They include knowledge and humility, charity and love, obedience and diligence, faith and hope.”

I’ve picked out some pictures of Jesus from the gospel art kit (you can download print out LDS pictures here if you want). I’m going to put them on the board and briefly share the stories that go with each one, emphasizing how Jesus or the other person is showing the love of God or another attribute of Christ. Also on the board I’ll have pictures I printed out from the 2012 outline online (the link is in August) that went with the first verse. Then I matched them together (with a few other pictures):

I’m Trying to be like Jesus

I’m following in His ways

I’m trying to love as He did

In all that I do and say

At times I am tempted to make a wrong choice

But I try to listen as the still, small voice whispers;

I’m going to have the Jr Primary come up and hold the picture that go with the line we’re learning. We may play a matching game if time permits. For Sr primary we’ll continue on with the second verse. Here are the pictures I’m going to use for vs 2:

I had to draw a lot of them myself…

I’m on my way home from vacation. We’re going to be getting in late Saturday night, so my plans for Sunday are really simple this week:

I’m trying to be like Jesus
My kids know this song pretty well already, so my goals for this week are:
1. Teach the Sunbeams the song.
2. Help the kids think about the meaning of the words.

For Sr primary I’m going to experiment with the overhead projector. I’ll print out the words to the two verses and chorus onto a transparency. Then I’ll ask the kids to sing the song and find words that answer some questions. They can come up to the projector and mark the answers in colored wet-erase markers.

Here’s my list of questions:
1. What words rhyme?
2. What words describe Jesus?
3. What things did Jesus teach?
4. What does the Holy Spirit say?
5. Circle the action words (verbs)
6. What does this song say we should do?

Then, for the kids who are not strong visual learners, we’ll run through it with ASL keywords.

For Jr Primary I’m going start with the ASL reminder words. Here’s a link to kid-friendly ASL:

http://singingasongisfun2do.blogspot.com/2012/08/signs-for-im-trying-to-be-like-jesus.html?m=1

Update:

I’m going to use the overhead projector in Jr Primary too! While I teach them the chorus of “Trying,” I’m going to draw some friends on the overhead. It’ll be a little like reverse hangman: we’ll learn a line and when the kids sing it confidently I’ll draw some part of two kids (a girl and boy dressed for church). I’ll also draw pictures around the sides of ways our friends can help us choose the right.

Picture to follow!

Last week’s overhead projector was a hit! One to the primary teacher’s is a substitute teacher in the public school and she got a Huge kick out of the kid’s reaction to this “new technology” 🙂