Month: May 2013

Sunbeam Lesson #18 "I Am Thankful for My Ears"

***Note: Please read the post called “10 Lesson Helps” found under “Primary Lesson Listings” before reviewing any of my Sunbeam lesson plan ideas.

“Provide opportunities to play with others. Use activities that encourage sharing, taking turns, and cooperating. Develop a close relationship with the child, and frequently give the child opportunities to talk about his or her family…Teach the gospel in simple, concrete ways. Teach that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live and are kind and loving. Share simple expressions of testimony. Help the child recognize the beauty of God’s creations.” Teaching, No Greater Call, p. 111.

Materials needed: Gospel Art Kit pictures “The First Vision” 1-4, “Child with a Hearing Aid” 1-41, and 1-23 (Birds), 1-25 (Fish), 1-14 (Daniel in Lion’s Den), 1-26 (Frog), The Primary 1 Nursery Musical Activities CD, sound items in a sack (i.e. bell, whistle, rattle, wind-up toy, etc.), microwaveable popcorn.

After the opening prayer, whisper directions to children such as stand up and turn around, fold their arms, smile, frown, sit back down. In your normal voice, ask them if they could hear you even though you were talking very softly. Why? What part of their bodies helped them hear your voice?

Our ears are a very important part of our bodies. Heavenly Father made them so we could hear. We have two, one on each side of our head.

Sing “Thanks to Our Father” Children’s Songbook, p. 20. Do the actions on 2nd verse:

Thanks to our Father we will bring,

For he gives us everything.

Eyes and ears and hands and feet,

Clothes to wear and food to eat.

Repeat song a few times. When they know it well enough, instead of singing certain words (“eyes” or “ears”) just point to them and see if they children can fill in the words.

What are some things we can hear? (get answers)

I’m going to choose a few Sunbeam children to come up and look at a picture of an animal. Only that child can see it. They will make the sound of the animal. The rest can guess and if you are right, I’ll show you the picture and we can all act out that animal. (Use pictures of frog, fish, lions and birds. Repeat if you have more children or add more animal sounds).

Some children have ears that don’t work very well. Do you know someone who is deaf or wears a hearing aid in their ears? Show picture “Child with a Hearing Aid” 1-41. Sometimes we know older people, like our grandma or grandpa who need to wear hearing aids because their ears are getting old and not working very well. When someone if deaf, they can use sign language since they can’t hear what we are saying.

I’m going to use my hands to tell you some things and see if you can understand without even hearing my voice.

Put your finger over your lips for the “whisper” sign

Raise your hands up and stand to motion for everyone to stand up

Make a “turning” motion with your raised index finger and turn in a circle

Clap your hands

Draw your index fingers upward on the corners of your mouth to make a “smile”, then do the same thing for a frown

Fold your arms

Motion to sit back down

How did you do in following my hand signals? Did you understand what to do even though you couldn’t hear? We can use our hands to talk to people who can’t hear very well. We can be their friends.

I have a sack with things inside that make different sounds. I’m going to reach in the sack and make a sound that you can’t see, but can hear. If you guess it right, I’ll take it out and you can see what it looks like.

In church, there are many things we need to listen to. We listen to the music, we listen to the teachers, we listen to the Holy Ghost who gives us a quiet, happy feeling inside.

Show picture 1-4. Joseph Smith listened to Heavenly Father and Jesus in the sacred grove. Heavenly Father said, “This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” Can you say that with me? (repeat a few times). That mean that Heavenly Father wanted Joseph to listen carefully. We should listen and follow what Jesus says in the scriptures and to our prophet and our parents when they tell us to do what is right.

Play the selection from Primary 1 Nursery Musical Activities CD “Musical Awareness” (4:24 track 2) and follow the listening activities.

Take the children to the kitchen and tell them they are going to use all their senses, including hearing. As you put the microwaveable popcorn in, identify each of the 5 senses. Take the popped popcorn outside to eat. While they eat it, have them lay down on the grass and listen to the crunch of the popcorn in their mouths. Then have them identify any other sounds they hear while they are laying down listening.

Back inside the classroom, let the children play with the sound items if you have extra time.

Bear your testimony of our special bodies and all we can do. Our ears help us hear so many beautiful things. Mention some of the things they heard today. We should listen always to our prophet, the scriptures and the Holy Ghost. We don’t hear his voice in our ears, but in a quiet, happy feeling.

Sunbeam Lesson #17 "I Am Thankful For My Hands"

***Note: Please read the post called “10 Lesson Helps” found under “Primary Lesson Listings” before reviewing any of my Sunbeam lesson plan ideas.

“Children are loving and want to be loved and accepted themselves. Look for opportunities to reinforce the kind and loving behavior that comes naturally to children. Because children want to please you and enjoy helping others, give them opportunities to serve. Ask them to carry your books, hold pictures, or answer questions. Encourage them to help each other. Show your love for them. Build their confidence by expressing your appreciation for their efforts whenever possible. Listen attentively to what they say.” Teaching, No Greater Call, p. 109

Materials needed: Primary pictures (see the numbers in the lesson), sack with different textured items (ie. comb, cotton ball, rock, pinecone, silk scarf, etc), play dough, paper and crayons, ball.

I’m going to tell you a story about our two hands. They have to be friends if they want to have fun together. (act out the story with hands as suggested)

“Once upon a time there were two little hands and they were the best of friends.

They would clap together, snap their fingers, pat each other and shake and hold hands.

But one day they got mad at each other and ran away (put hands behind back).

Let’s ask them to be friends again. ‘Please hands, will you be friends? We’ll sing you a song:

Come on hands, get together, come on hands get together (bring hands slowly around to the front), come on hands, get together’

But the hands said, ‘NO!’ (quickly hide hands behind back again)

Let’s ask them to be friends again. ‘Please, pretty please hands, will you be friends? We’ll sing you a song:

Come on hands, get together, come on hands get together (bring hands slowly around    to the front), come on hands, get together’

But the hands said, ‘NO!’ (quickly hide hands behind back again)

Let’s ask them to be friends again. ‘Please, pretty, pretty please hands, will you be friends? We’ll sing you a song:

Come on hands, get together, come on hands get together (bring hands slowly around  to the front), come on hands, get together’

But the hands said, ‘NO!’ (quickly hide hands behind back again)

Let’s ask them to be friends again. ‘Please, pretty, pretty, pretty please hands, will you be friends? We’ll sing you a song:

Come on hands, get together, come on hands get together (bring hands slowly around to the front), come on hands, get together’

And the hands said, ‘Yes!’

Hooray! They could clap again, and pat each other again and snap their fingers and shake and hold hands.”

Aren’t we glad our two little hands are friends! What did they do together to have fun?

I told this story with my two hands. Our hands can do many things, like tell stories.  What else can our hands do?  (help us eat, write, clap, hold things, throw a ball, etc.) Let’s sit in a circle and roll a ball to each other.  See how our hands can roll and catch a ball.  When you catch it, we will say your name.

We can also sing a song with our hands. Sing “Roll Your Hands” (Children’s Songbook, p. 274). If children remain interested, add new verses such as “Clap your hands” and “Wiggle your fingers.”

Go back to seats

How can our hands help us get ready for church?  (Have each child come up and act out something and others guess: brushing teeth, combing hair, washing face, getting dressed, eating, etc.)

When we are at church, our two hands need to be reverent.  What do they do? Show me. Say each child’s name and something good they are doing with their hands.

Have each child come up and act out something our hands do during church and others guess: holding scriptures, taking the sacrament, folding arms pray, raising hand to answer a question shaking hands with someone, waiving “hi”, etc.

Show and discuss pictures of people using their hands to help others:

1-11 Baptizing

1-6 Reading the scriptures

1-67 Raising hands in class to answer questions

1-72 Praying

1-45 Washing dishes

1-41 Writing

1-38 Throwing ball with friends

1-39 Giving a baby blessing

1-8 Passing and taking the sacrament

1-5 Gently touching the baby

1-50 Tying shoe

1-48 Building blocks with friends

1-7 Eating cookies with family

Jesus used his hands to help people when he was living on the earth. (show picture of Christ healing the sick—1-43). Tell about how Christ used his hands to lay them on the sick to heal them.  When we need a blessing, a man who has the priesthood will lay his hands gently on our heads to give us a blessing. Show and discuss picture 1-12

Here are other pictures from the scriptures. They tell a story and the hands are doing something special or important. Look at each one and raise your hand if you want to tell us what the hands are doing in these pictures:

1-37 (Daniel refuses the King’s food)

1-35 (Israelites collect mannna)

1-29 (Noah preaches)

1-17 (Boy Jesus teachers in temple)

1-52 (Boy David kills Goliath)

1-74 (Christ shows his resurrected body with wounds in hands)

1-68 (Boy David plays the harp for King Saul)

Our hands are part of our body that Heavenly Father made. They are very smart and can do many things.  Did you know your hands can feel and know what something is even if you can’t see it?  I have a sack with some things inside that you can’t see.  I’ll call your name to come up and you will reach inside, feel it, and tell us what your hands think it is.

We can count with our fingers because we are so smart.  How many fingers do we have? (Count to 10 on hands).

Sing: “1,2,3,4,5, I caught a fish alive”

1,2,3,4,5, I caught a fish alive (put one finger out for each number)

6,7,8,9,10, I let him go again

Why did you let him go?

Because he bit my finger so.

Which one did he bite?

The little one on the right.

Let’s think of 5 things (one for each finger) that we are thankful for that our hands can do (discuss)

Trace the outline of each child’s hand on a piece of paper. Write “I am thankful for my hands” on it and a on each finger, write the thing we said we were thankful for. Let the children color.

Give out playdough for the kids to play with to help our hands be creative and strong. What can your hands make?

"A Book A Day" Book Review 5/1/13

Have you ever wished that your kids came with an instruction manual? I know that I have. This book has helped me to see that the kids themselves didn’t come with an instruction manual, but I do have a manual that I have been given to help me to be a better parent to our kids. Julie K Nelson’s book talks about the power of parenting examples in the scriptures. She gives examples of good parenting in the Book of Mormon and in the Bible, including our greatest example, the Savior Himself.

I don’t always love to read non-fiction books, usually they take me way longer to read than fiction books and I get tired of them before I’ve finished. Not so with this book. I loved the way that Julie teaches how to find the Spiritual Power in the scriptures. She uses a mix of scripture references, stories from the scriptures and personal stories. I was able to read this book quite quickly, I was way interested in it. I plan to use it as a reference later on for Family Home Evenings. And the best benefit that I got from reading it was that I will never look at scriptures in the same way. I have had a couple of amazing experiences with the scriptures since I finished this book. Thanks tons to Julie K Nelson for helping to revitalize my scripture reading and find more answers than I ever have before!

by Cathy Jeppsen

http://mybookaday.blogspot.com/

Mormonmommyblogs Book Review 4/30/13

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I am surrounded by stellar examples of righteous parents. Our church is very family focused, and since we’re going to be an eternal family, it’s important to build good relationships.

Parenting with Spiritual Power is a new book by Julie K. Nelson that uses examples from the Bible and Book of Mormon to teach eternal parenting principles.

This book has shed new light on some of my favorite gospel stories, and has paired them with parenting tips. It’s also good to see that even the most righteous parents have children who have gone astray… even with all the tools and knowledge that Heavenly Father has given us, our kids are going to make their own choices.

I’ve also learned a thing or two that has helped me in my Primary calling.

I’ve really enjoyed this book, and have already recommended it to a few friends. If you have children, or if you work with children, Parenting with Spiritual Power will help you implement gospel principles into their lives. If you don’t have kids, that’s okay too, because YOU are a child of God, and this book will help you to understand how much God loves you.

All in all, it’s a great book, you’ll definitely learn something, and I highly recommend it.

by Caroline Bingham

http://www.mormonmommyblogs.com/2013/04/righteous-parenting.html