My Goals for an organized Singing Time

To start this is my plan for Singing time each month:

• Week 1- Learn the Song
• Week 2- Continue to Learn the Song and start to fix it in their minds
• Week 3- An activity focused around Making the Learning solid
• Week 4- Free Activity (ie: Sing all sorts of songs, a game, or another focused activity). Whatever I want. If it is needed to have a sub, switching the weeks around with this week is easier on the sub. Especially if you make them up beforehand so they are ready in emergency situations.
• Same for Week 5 (I also think that on week 5s I will take to Sharing time and see what their plans are, see if they want to do a joint sort of thing.

2nd thing is due to a comment someone made on my blog, I have decided to make packets of all the songs for the teachers. That way they can learn the words and follow along for all the songs, regardless if I use 'words' to teach the music. We have always made these packets for the teachers, but we didn't make them and give them to the teachers until it was focus time for the program. My hope is they will keep it with their lesson manuals and also lend them to their subs or new teacher.

Examples of Focused Activities (could be applied to many songs):

• Use the words of the book idea, but have the children make the pictures. Assign each class to draw a picture for a page in the book. Then sing the song with their pictures instead of whatever you made.
• Have the lines on the board. Either have them mixed up or cover some the words.
• Assign each class to learn a line. Then as the song is sung have that class stand and perform their line.
• Have colors on a sticks, or just large circles to hold up. As we sing hold up a color, the children who have the color on, then get to stand and sing while that color is being held up.
• Put the a picture (preferably the one you may have used to teach the song) on the board and also the printed line that goes with that picture. Have the children match the line of the song with the picture and sing the line once matched.
• Using my maze (See blog post: ‘This Week for the Primary’ on Nov 6, 2008), Attach to the back of a picture (appropriately sized for your maze, could be anything) a line from the song. Have the children go through the maze and then when reach a line have the children determine where in the song that line belongs and then sing it.
• Have multiple lines/pictures for the song made and hand them out to the children. When the line of the song is sung that coordinates with the picture they have, they should raise their picture high above their head (or stand up would be a good idea too depending on how reverent they remain doing so).
• Practice singing the song faster, slower, higher or lower pitched, humming, la la laing, buzzing, quiet, loud, with their hands on their head, under their rear-ends, behind their backs, touching their nose, eyes, ears, folded, toes, belly-button, ect. Making signs of each (good things to laminate).
  

If any of you come up with ideas for Focused Activities, please share them with me. Or if one of these ideas worked well or not so well for your primary, please share.

Whatever Activities (4^th week activities):

The idea is to still sing that month’s song, but to also incorporate all the past months’ song along with some of the songs from last year, and the other suggested songs in the lessons, plus just some of the fun songs to sing and release energy.

• name that tune, either by hearing it on played or by reading a line
• puzzle or pictures under the chairs
• Using my maze (See blog post: ‘This Week for the Primary’ on Nov 6, 2008), have whatever pictures you want in the maze and a song on each picture. If you make the maze it is a great activity for subs to use, especially in an emergency.
• Any brightly colored pictures with songs to be sung written on the back. Could put the pictures on the board, under chairs, or around the room.
• there are tons of ideas all over the place, these are the ones that aren’t as focused on the learning part, more just the fun part.

Please also share any fun ideas you may have.