Sunday, June 10, 2012

It had to happen sometime...

Well, after over four years in primary...I was called into Relief Society again.  Strange trade off, and many tears.  I love those kids.

So, as much as I hate to say it...The Crazy Chorister is offically retired.  I will keep the blog up for all of you who still desire to gather ideas.

Thanks for all the kind comments over the years.

-Melanie

Monday, February 13, 2012

Happy News

Hey ya'll,

My dearest friend was called to be the chorister yesterday in our ward!  I'm totally thrilled beyond measure because she's a zany as I am and I know will come up with some GREAT chorister ideas.

I'm going to see if I can talk her into blogging her ideas here.  We'll see....I might just have to be that primary spy that writes all her great ideas down.

Have a great week!

Monday, January 30, 2012

A Sub for the Sub

Hi guys,

Well....I'm up for sharing time this month so I had to pass the chorister hat to another fantastic sister.  Thanks Dee!

I had a few ideas that I'm going to use for sharing time that you could also use for a singing time if you wanted...so I'll see what I can do to post them.

Hope you all are having the best time each week!

-Melanie

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Captain CTR--Choose the Right

Howdy folks...

Still filling in for the chorister position.  My primary kids have learned our song really well, and after a short review I plan on moving to the Feb. Song..Choose The Right.  Here's my plan.

Prep:

1 willing adult volunteer who would like to dress up as Captain CTR (Green Cape, CTR Badge or Tie, The CTR shield from last week.....nothing major)

Enough small CTR signs for each child (these can be printouts from your computer)

Words or Flip Chart for "Choose the Right"

Presentation:


Review January song.  Then tell the children that there is a special guest today.  Have your pianist play "Choose the Right" vigorously as Captain CTR comes into the room.  Have Captain CTR tell the children why it is so important to always choose the right...and perhaps why he loves to choose the right (it makes him happy).  Have him give the children each a CTR sign to hold.  Then have him exit to the pianist playing the song again.   Proceed to teach the children Choose the right....and each time they Sing "right" have them lift up their CTR sign.

Sounds like fun...can't wait.

*thecrazychorister

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

SNOW!

Hello,

We finally are getting snow here in the Inland Northwest!  Sure took a while this year, but I'm actually really enjoying it....as long as I don't have to drive in it.  :)

Anyhow, I thought I'd post a version of Pop Corn Popping that I sing with the kids when it snows...it's kind of fun....

I looked out the window and what did I see?
Snow has covered my Apricot Tree!
Winter has brought me such a nice surprise
Snow is falling right before my eyes!

I can take an armful and make a Man.
I'll build him up just as fast as I can.

It was a lot of snow,
and it seemed to me!
Snow had covered my Apricot Tree!

Author Unknown.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Questions

Good Morning...

Some of you have asked questions recently in the comment boxes.  I've done my best to answer them as I can.  I answer them in the comment boxes..so if you want to recheck there, I hope I can be of some help to you.

Have a great day!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Week 3: Shield of Protection

I hope all of you are having a great week.  This week the primary president and I are combining efforts for singing and sharing time because of the suggestion for week three in the 2012 sharing time outline for January.  It has the person doing sharing time teach a simple concept and then have the children sing a song to support that concept.  It makes sense to combine efforts.

Anyhow, here is the idea I came up with to make it a little more interesting on the singing side of things beyond just having the children sing the song, but it also keeps a reverent atmosphere because all of these songs are reverent songs.

Preparation:


A Large Poster Board cut into the shape of  the CTR Symbol---after making the shield cut it into 6 pieces.   The Front of the shield should be the CTR Symbol when all pieces are combined.  On the back of each piece, write the title to each song listed in the outline for week three.




Presentation:


Have the person doing sharing time explain the first concept.  When they are done, explain to the children that you would like to have them help you build a shield of protection.  Have them choose the title of the song that best fits the concept that was just explained to them.  Then put that corresponding piece up on the chalk board with tape or a magnet to hold it in place.   You can have the child choose a reverent way to sing the song (girls sing, boys sing, teachers sing, acapella, ooh the song, hum the song, sing really quite..etc)


Repeat the process with the other concepts and songs going back and forth between you and the person doing sharing time.  When you are finished, you and the children will have built a CTR shield.  Explain that each concept helps to build a shield of protection for us.  Each good choice we make helps to protect us from Satan and helps us make it back to our Heavenly Father.  Encourage them to always strive to have a strong shield of protection by always choosing the right.


Have a great week!


*thecrazychorister





Thursday, January 5, 2012

Repeat Week: Which Brick Will It Be? (As A Child of God)

Howdy Folks.  We still do not have a chorister called, and so I have the privileged of taking on week two for the new song this month.  When I was chorister, I really liked to take week two to cement the words and music in the children's minds by playing a game that accomplished that, but also was fun enough to distract them from the fact that they were singing the same song a bajillion times in 20 min.

Here's my plan for this week.

Prep:


Enough card board bricks to make a small wall.  (Now I realize that most of us do not have these readily on hand.  I happen to find them at a garage sale years ago....but here are a few replacement ideas that will still allow you to do the same thing.  Small flat rate shipping boxes (you can get these at no charge from the post office), empty baby wipe containers, Empty juice box boxes (the long boxes that come with 12 juice packs in them, 12 pack soda box containers, or simply wooden building blocks or a jenga set.


One Word of the song placed on each brick (or if you do not have all that many just group them by 2-4 words to cut down on the box or block needs.   If its for Jr. Primary, you might want to consider some pictures for key words to remind them since many of them do not read yet.




Presentation:


Before Primary set up the wall.  Make sure all the words are facing front so they can be easily seen.  Put them in order as well.


Tell the children we are going to review "As A Child of God" by practicing making good choices.  Show them the wall.  Tell them that the goal is to remove one word (or group of words) at a time (singing the song after each removal) and trying to see how many words they can remove without having the wall fall down.  They must choose wisely, for if the wall falls down we have to sing the whole song without any helps to rebuild it.  To spice it up a bit, you can have the children sing the song in a different way each time to keep it fresh...such as staccato, acapella, oohing, standing on one leg, covering one eye....etc.


This activity acts as a memorizing game since they must remember the words that have been removed.  It is very helpful for the boys especially because besides memorizing, they are each trying to solve the puzzle of how to keep the wall standing and so it minimizes boredom and non participation.




Have a great week!  Is it awful to hope they keep taking their time with calling a new chorister?  :)


*thecrazychorister (sometimes)