General Conference Singing Time

Every month I like to take a week and do nothing that relates to program songs. Instead I do something that relates to a holiday that month, the new season, or for this month, General Conference.

I just feel like we (okay, mostly I) get caught up in making sure the kids know EVERY word to those program songs and then never learn any other primary songs. This way, at least once a month, we sing something different and I feel the kids appreciate the variety and change just as much as I do.

With that said, here's what I'm doing this week to prepare the kids for General Conference (as a side note, I pull these out before every April General Conference and do some sort of review):

We'll be singing Latter-Day Prophets and The Books in the Book of Mormon tune (singing all 15 of the CURRENT 1st Presidency & apostles last names instead of singing the actual words to this song. Make sense?).

I inherited a binder that a previous chorister made for Latter-Day Prophets. But it's very simple to put together. She put all the prophets pictures in order in plastic cover sheets. Then typed out their names in large font and taped them to the bottom of each picture. She did throw in the few extra words found in the song but like I said, it's really simple. And that's it.

I also found one you can print HERE.

If you don't want to purchase all the pictures of the prophets you could probably hit up the library for all the prophet pictures and write their names on the chalkboard. Or, in the back of the Gospel Art Kit are all their pictures only they are smaller in size. We'll probably sing it once or twice. I'm not going to spend much time on this one.

You can find updated music of Latter-Day Prophets that includes President Monson HERE.

Then I'll teach these actions for each prophet and maybe tell a brief story about each one:

Joseph Smith- #1 with right hand

Brigham Young- #2 with right hand

John Taylor- #3 with right hand

Wilford Woodruff- sign language "w" right hand then left hand for each work

Lorenzo Snow- hands showing snow coming down

Joseph F. Smith- pointing to temple on head (don't forget)

Heber J. Grant- pretend to hit a baseball (He was determined to play baseball and through hard work he made the team)

George Albert Smith- pretend to shake a lot of hands (he made a promise "not to be an enemy to any living soul)

David O. McKay- use both hands to make "O" when saying O.

Joseph Fielding Smith- blow a kiss after you say his name (he loved children)

Harold B. Lee- pretend to play the piano (he loved playing the piano and was good

Spencer W. Kimball- pretend to milk a cow (worked hard on a farm)

Ezra Taft Benson- make the scout sign (he loved scouts and was a great scout leader)

Howard W. Hunter- draw a big pretend heart with your hands (he was sweet and wanted everyone to treat each other better)

Gordon B. Hinckley- fluttering arms at my sides, as a bee for the 9 b's or pretend you are an airplane (he flew all over the world to meet with members and build temples)

Thomas s. Monson- he is always talking about service, so having your hand up and out like holding a tray being a server


Then for The Books in the Book of Mormon (current 1st Presidency & apostles' last names substituted), I purchased their pictures at the Distribution Center. They were $0.50 each so $7.50 total. Again, you could hit up the library. I was just worried about them not having each picture (especially the newer apostles) so I got my own. You may be able to print pictures online somewhere but I don't know where to direct you - sorry. Please leave a comment if you know where someone can go!

UPDATE: If you need help with the song, try humming The Books in the Book of Mormon tune (Children's Primary Songbook pg. 119) while you sing the following: Monson, Eyring, Uchtdorf, Packer, Perry, Nelson, Oaks and Ballard, Scott, Hales, Holland, Bednar, Cook, Christofferson (sing his name quickly!), Andersen.

I put them in plastic cover sheets and will hang them on the chalkboard in order (1st Presidency is first then the rest of the apostles in order).

Under their pictures I'll write their last names with chalk. On the back of each picture I purchased is a write-up that gives their brief history. I will discuss with the kids a few BRIEF key points about each man. I don't like to do much talking as singing is more fun! If you use the library's materials, you may have to do some web searching for this information.

We'll discuss each one in order, starting with President Monson. Once we've talked about him, I'll erase his name and we'll sing the song. Eventually talking again, BRIEFLY, about each apostle, erasing the last name and singing the song. So hopefully by the end, they know each one's last name and their order. I may challenge the kids when we start to see if anyone at the end of singing time can state each apostle in order.

Then I noticed in the March Friend, a cute little activity for General Conference that I will probably make copies of and pass out to the kids. It's found HERE. If you download the whole Friend HERE (click to the right of where it says "March 2011" and download the Adobe file), it's on Page 40 and 41. I'll probably hand out both those pages so they have some directions of what to do.

So after this Sunday, make sure you go and enjoy the next week off!! Hooray for General Conference!