Block Posters - my new favorite web site - and the temple game from the OCD primary chorister

So I don't know if you have seen it, but the OCD Primary Chorister made this fabulous game board. However, it seems as if I am not the only one that was having problems with the pdf she attached that you could print and cut and paste to a posterboard. For me, when I looked at the pdf, the bottom right hand corner was completely missing. I wanted to be lazy and just ask her if she could post a normal sized game board as a pdf (and then tile that pdf as I have chronicled in a previous post) rather than the jpeg she posted, but instead, I followed her advice and went to blockposters.com. I had a jpeg or a png (I can't remember which one I saved it as) and I downloaded it to the site and I was able to print my poster! It has a logo in the bottom right hand corner, but I will totally take it! The logo doesn't get in the way of the artwork and I think that I am in love with this new site! I don't know if it's one of those things where you can only make so many prints and THEN they want you to pay for the service, but it worked for now, which is awesome.

And since I was able to get a pdf of the game in its enlarged state, I now have it on my computer. I won't post a link, since it is not my work, but if you would like a copy of my pdf, email me at :
houseofhenckel7 (at) gmail (dot) com.

In preparation for this game, I counted the types of spaces in the game board
Text Bubbles: 16 (which, when landed on, you read a line of text from a song and omit one word and have the child guess the word)
Question Marks: 14 (which, when landed on, you ask a question that can be answered by the songs)
Notes: 14 (which, when landed on, the primary sings a line of a song)
Stars: 7

The OCD Primary chorister provided an example for the text bubble and the question marks, but I have compiled a list for each category

Text Bubbles
1. Kings shall _________ him and nations revere.(Hymns 29)
2. Fair is the ____________, fairer the moonlight (62)
3. Beautiful Savior! Lord of the Nations! Son of God and Son of __________! (62)
4. I ________ the living prophet speak (outline)
5. He _________ me in times of need, he testifies of Christ. (outline)
6. Hail to the prophet, ____________ to Heaven (Hymns 29)
7. My life is a gift, my life has a __________ (164)
8. Holding fast to his word and his ___________(164)
9. Our prophet has some ____________ for you (159)
10. At __________ or at play, in darkness or light (159)
11. I feel the spirit start to grow within my heart, a ____________ that they're true. (109)
12. I'll come to understand, I'll _______ the Lord's command (109)
13. Search, ___________ and pray (109)
14.I love to see the temple, I'm going there some day to _______ the Holy Spirit (95)
15. For the temple is a holy place where we are _____ together. (95)
16. For the temple is a house of _______ , a place of love and beauty (95)


Question Marks (I did NOT come up with 14 questions - I just hope 7 will be enough)

What do you do in the temple?
        Feel the holy spirit, listen, pray, covenant with my father, promise to obey, get sealed together

How do you know the scripture are true?
       Through the holy spirit

When should we do what the prophet asks us to do?
       At work or at aplay, in darkness or light

Who anointed Joseph Smith
        Jesus

Who has a plan for us?
       Heavenly Father (God)

What are some other names for Jesus?
       Beautiful Savior, Lord of the Nations, Son of God, Son of Man

What are some of the things the Holy Spirit does for us?
       He teaches truth and right, he comforts, he testifies of Christ, he fills my soul with peace



Musical Notes
1. Traitors and tyrants now fight him in vain (Hymns 29)
2. Praise to the Man who communed with Jehovah. Jesus anointed that prophet and Seer (Hymns 29)
3. Robed in the flowers of blooming spring. Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer (62)
4. Thee will I honor, praise and give glory (62)
5. If I had been a little child when Jesus lived on Earth (outline)
6. He speaks to me in quiet ways that fill my soul with peace. (outline)
7. My life has a purpose; in heaven it began (164)
8. I will work and I will pray. I will always walk in his way (164)
9. And These are the words, be true, be true (159)
10. Be true, be true and stand for the right (159)
11. The spirit will guide, and deep inside, I'll know the scriptures are true (109)
12.  So prayerfully I'll read the scriptures, each day my whole life through (109)
13. I'll covenant with my father, I'll promise to obey (95)
14. As a child of God, I've learned this truth, a family is forever (95)

Search Ponder and Pray from Facebook

Thank you to Cami B, who posted this on Facebook!
I've finally decided on a song to teach for April. I had gone back and forth between Beautiful Savior and I Lived In Heaven, but today I felt inspired to use Search, Ponder, and Pray. I looked through some files on here and I saw the words SPP stacked almost like a traffic light. I had an "Aha!" moment! I drew an amateur stop sign with the letters S, P and P in each light. I'm going to relate it like this; If you ever have a problem, or if you need some guidance or if you just need some inspiring words, STOP what you're doing and search the scriptures. After you've read, SLOW down and Ponder what you have read. Then, GO Pray about what you have read and Pondered.

As far as teaching the actual song, I have some ideas with hand motions, but it would be really cool to come up with some type of game to match the stop sign. 


I can't copy her pic, so here is mine

And the plan is to hum when the chopstick is pointed at red, whisper when the chopstick is pointed at yellow and sing when the chopstick is pointed at green

Intro for Praise to the Man

Someone posted on the facebook group, that the Friend published a cute little graphic on Praise to the Man in 2011. HERE is the link for that.
But, if you are like me, you might want something bigger than an 8 1/2 by 11 1/2.

That is where tiling a Pdf comes in. Except adobe has changed, and it appears that there is no longer a convenient little "tile" button.

But FEAR NOT! It is still doable. And I will tell you how.
When you go to print, click on the "poster" button. Then, you will have to adjust the tile scale - I used 300%. (*USE 250% , 300% DOES NOT FIT A STANDARD POSTER BOARD*) At this point DO NOT click "return" or else it will print. Instead, click on the "cut marks" box, and you will have a lovely 12 - 15 page layout - WHICH, will work, HOWEVER, if you unclick the "cut marks" box, the print format will readjust into a lovely 9 page format that you see below (and then you won't have to cut out as much white space as I will, since I realized that you need to unclick the "cut marks" box just a little too late)

I also plan to print the picture that has Joseph Smith standing like this, which you can find HERE, 
just in case the little ones have a hard time getting it .

Stand for the Right in C Major

As, I have stated in earlier posts, it is relatively easy to go to lds.org, find your song and then transpose the key (in this case to have a song with no or little accidentals so that it can be played with an 8 bell set){I have also done this for "Once There Was a Snowman to play with my 8 bell set}. Then lds.org transposes it, (it almost doesn't look different other than the notes being different) and you hit print.

However, as Camille at Camille's Primary Ideas pointed out, The Friend published a simplified version of "Stand for the Right" which is also in C Major

(and it's cuter than my screenshot of the transposed song from LDS.org!) (And since it is a full size pdf, it prints in a larger font than when you transpose)

And to go along with Camille's plan for Stand for the Right with ringing the bells on the "be true" part, I made a bell chart:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B27MQYRIn4kNMDBTRlJKNjRpYlk/view?usp=sharing

Stand for the Right Boxes

I am planning to do the Stand for the Right Boxes. I looked and looked and looked for a blog post on it, but came up with nothing. So I went to the best time sucker on the internet - The LDS Chorister's facebook page. I typed in  "Stand for the Right boxes" and it took a bit of scrolling, but finally came across Melanie M. B.'s post.(dated March 2) She submitted a file titled: "Stand for the Right Building Blocks" (that you might be able to find under the files tab.)

Took me forever to find that.

But before I delve into wrapping 12 boxes, I will use Camille's Stand for the Right lesson plan with the bells. I have the song transposed into C major (you can do so using the tabs at the top of the song in lds.org) and then hit the print button. (Right next to the tempo button). I only have an 8 bell set, so I needed to transpose so that I could use my bells. I will have to make a new bell chart since it no longer matches Camille's chart (of course, NONE of her charts match my bells, because my notes are different colors than hers)

2016 Outline Songs!

Yes, as you may have heard, the 2016 Outline for Sharing Time is now available and therefore the songs are out!

You can find the Outline HERE

However, you might notice that I did not say "new" songs because they aren't new. They are the same exact songs used in 2011, when we had the same theme. In fact, (as far as I can tell, because I think I only went through January to May), the entire Outline is the same. Word for Word. Picture for Picture. Song for Song. (The only different thing is the picture on the cover - which I think actually looks like the same model used for the 2011 cover, just older)

(so cute, huh?) (You can decide if you think they look like the same child)

If you can't tell, I really wasn't excited by this discovery. Actually I was quite disappointed. The new outline form started in 2010, so I can't be 100% sure that this pattern will continue, but if I were in charge, I would definitely see the advantage in just recycling the material. 

Because it is GOOD material. And they are GOOD songs. And in my ho-humness discouraged state, I went to one of my favorite sites, that I know has been going on for more than 5 years - Sofia's Primary Ideas. Each month (for YEARS) she goes over the monthly theme and week by week, she expands on the theme presented in the manual. It is an EXCELLENT resource for the primary presidency. And occasionally, she also goes over a song (which I love!!!!).

And I tested her: I went to September of this year and September of 2010 (same exact monthly and weekly themes) AND HER ACTIVITIES FOR THE SAME EXACT THEMES WERE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How super amazing is that!!!!!!!! So if she can do that for 3-4 weekly themes EVERY MONTH for the last 5+ years (not completely sure if 2008 and 2009 are repeats of 2013 and2014, because the new format started in 2010 - haven't researched that completely), I can totally come up with new ways to teach the same songs.

(I haven't hit my 5 year turn around point yet, but I was getting kind of bummed by the impending redundancy)

But no more! I am going to embrace this knowledge with fervor! I am going to remember a hallowed teaching mantra: Repetition encourages Retention! I am going to realize that this is inspired! This is what the Lord wants us to do! This is the direction He wants us to go!

However, this does encourage me to remember to not use ANY program songs from previous years as my pick your own songs. Which shouldn't be difficult, because I went through the 5 year rotation and realized that there are 18 songs from the songbook that are used for all 5 years. There are 5 "in the back of the outline" songs. And there are 4 Hymnbook songs.

 

HERE is my 5 year plan outline. Now, keep in mind, I wrote this for myself and it includes the songs that I personally chose for 2013, 2014 & 2015 but if you would like a reference for the next few years and to know which 18 songs are used, you might like it.

HERE is Sugardoodle's list of primary songs from 1998 to 2014 (Sugardoodle has become difficult for me to scroll through lately, but it is worth it and this is a nice list and there are a number of different songs on there - in fact, I may have to exhume "I'll Follow Him in Faith" from its buried in obscurity status: It's really cute!)

And after ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL this reading, here is the list!

2016 (I Know the Scriptures are True)

January – If I Listen with My Heart – Outline

February – I Will Follow God’s Plan – 164

March – Stand For the Right – 159

April – Song of Choice (Jesus Christ is My Savior and Redeemer) Beautiful Savior 64

May – Praise to the Man vs. 1 and 3 Hymns 127

June – Song of Choice (The First Principles and Ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ make it Possible for me to live with God Again) Search Ponder and Pray 109

July – I Love to See the Temple – 95

August – The Lord Gave Me A Temple – 153 

Italics indicate my personal choices towards which I am currently leaning. June is more of a "song that goes with the yearly theme" than one that follows the monthly theme (basically because I missed Search Ponder and Pray)

Don't forget to check out the post on 2016 songs from the OCD Chorister (yes! She's back!!!!) - she has several links to some of the songs for which she has done lesson plans/visuals.

After our primary progam, I may delve into yearly planning! Get excited for 2016! Woo Hoo!!!!