Thank you to all of the Primary leaders in the Lund Ward. It is very evident that the Lund Primary is functioning as a support to wonderful families that teach their children the gospel and help them understand the Spirit. Three of the great and unique things that Lund did were: (1) First their ward program for sacrament meeting had a special box for Primary. It listed the theme, scripture and then broke Jr. and Sr. Primary into talks, scriptures, and prayers with children's assignments for the entire month. What a great way to remind parents and children of their opportunities. (2) The Primary room was colorfully decorated and upon entry there was NO DOUBT it was a welcoming room for children of all ages. They not only had a bulletin board that was decorated, but had CTR themed ideas on all bulletin boards, above the bulletin board, above the windows, and in the hall on the doors to all primary classes. These beautifully colored decorations invited the spirit and taught the children principles they had been learning through the months. (3) A special "Reverence" area was made in the room. Above it it said "A Tail of Reverence" and housed the book "Monday I Was a Monkey." A beautiful book about reverence on Sunday's and making good choices through the week. They had read the book as a primary and children could earn reverence monkeys to place on the wall after Jr. and Sr. Sharing Time as they practiced reverence. THANKS Lund for all you do in the Lord's kingdom for His children.
2-19-2012 McGill Ward
Thanks to all the wards who work so diligently. McGill was NO exception. It was hard to just choose three ideas to share they had so many great ones, but here goes. (1) They really had been using their choice and consequence stick and it showed. Even the Sunbeams understood what a consequence was and that it is "attached" to our choices. Their CUTE twist to this was first, they had it placed above the white board in the front. It is now a permanent fixture in their room. It is right up front for everyone to see weekly and easy to reach when needed. Second, they created a "mini" stick with a pencil and words. This was passed around like a hot potato while they were learning a new song. When stopped a person had to offer a good choice with its good consequence. Even the youngest could do this task. (2) They used roll play (one suggestion in the Sharing Time Outline). They had created "costumes" they could reuse on a regular basis to act out ANY scripture story. They took pieces of red, yellow, and blue fabric (primary colors), cut them in 1 1/2 x 2 1/2 feet rectangles with holes for heads in the center and belted them with pieces of fabric. Children were given paper name tags the could change as the scripture story changes. Jr. Primary the Sharing time leader narrated as needed while Sr. Primary was given scripts and allowed to act the story out. REALLY FUN! (3) Jr. and Sr. Primary helped one another learn songs even when they weren't in the same room. Jr. Primary made up the motions for a new song while Sr. Primary was given pieces of paper with the words on the bottom of a line of the song. They children then drew the visuals to be used in Jr. Primary to help them learn. Children REALLY learned the songs after creating, teaching, and then practicing the song repeatedly. Thanks, McGill for such great ideas and for bringing our young Primary children to Christ through your love, efforts, and examples.
2-26-2012 Garrison Branch
No matter how small the unit our leaders are showing love and kindness to the young primary children of our stake and Garrison is no exception. Garrison had some WONDERFUL ideas to share. (1) They have a CUTE picture of a birthday cake they display each Sunday. It has candles below the cake with names of all the primary children. On the child's birthday month, their candle is put on the cake and remains throughout the month. What a GREAT way to make the children feel special all month long. (2) Children are really given ownership of their primary room. First, they set up and take down the chairs themselves. Second, one child is given the duty of writing on the chalk board the names of all children participating that day with their duty such as: prayer, song, scripture, or reverence child. This really helps them begin the day in a reverent mood and feel a part of their proceedings. (3) They had a fun time learning a new song with a little twist to visual aid cards. They had card but placed ALL on a cork board in order. Each card contained a visual reminder for the younger children and the song words at the bottom for the older children. By keeping it there the entire time it helped the children review and reflect. As they learned they then removed cards along the way for practice. Thank you, Garrison for all you do! It was a WONDERFUL day!
