Home Away From Home

In November, I got a job at Chick-fil-A. I really like it, actually. I usually work full-time, so Nate has had to take care of his brother after school a lot. I usually just work days, but sometimes I work until 7 or 8pm. With one car, it's been challenging to work out our schedule of getting Brian and I both to work, but so far we've managed. I've made some friends there, and we have a good time working together. I love the meal benefit they give us there. We get a $6 meal allowance. What could be better than working in a great environment that is closed on Sunday? Getting free food, that's what.

I'm off to work, but while I'm gone, I'll be singing this song by Tim Hawkins-

Click HERE for the Chick-fil-A Song since I can't seem to embed it today.

Nate's Choir

Nate just started his 2nd Semester singing in an audition-only choir at the University where Brian teaches. It's called Griffion Junior Singers. His Choir Director speaks so highly of him. She says he is a leader in his section, he always knows his part so well, and she loves having him in the choir. We applied for a merit scholarship for this semester so we won't have to pay tuition. I really hope he gets it! One of the things I had to submit for his application were two letters of recommend. His director wrote one, and Bro. Roger Hale, 1st Counselor in our Bishopric, and a Music Professor at the University wrote the other one. I think I need to paste those here so everyone who reads this can know how awesome my boy is.

I am writing this letter of recommendation for Nate Bucklein, a Griffon Junior Singer

who is seeking a scholarship to pay for his enrollment expenses for the spring semester,

2012.

Nate has been in Griffon Junior Singers for only one semester, but has proved in that

short amount of time that he deserves a merit scholarship. He is a leader in his section.

He comes to each rehearsal with his part learned and often memorized. He has a natural

talent and sings with purpose and intelligence. He listens carefully to instruction and

implements all my requests with attention to detail.

When we performed in December with the St. Joseph Symphony, a member of the

audience came to ask me his name because she noticed his polished performance. He

stands out in performance and is an asset to this group.

Please feel free to ask for further information as needed to support Nate Bucklein for a

merit scholarship.

Respectfully,

Karen Heyde-Lipanovich

Director, Griffon Junior Singers

Premiere Choir

Awesome, huh? Here's the letter from Bro. Hale--

I would like to enthusiastically recommend Nathan Bucklein as a recipient of one of the merit scholarships to sing

in the Griffon Junior Singers. Nathan is a remarkable young man that possesses wonderful leadership qualities.

He comes from a musical background and I am confident he will carry his musical heritage into the Griffon

Junior Singers program.

Nathan has conducted our church choir which consists primarily of adults. He treats people with professionalism

and respect. He also has a wonderful ability to sing and adapt to those around him in the choir.

I am confident that you will benefit from his continued participation in this wonderful ensemble.

Please free to contact me with any questions you may have.

Respectfully,

Roger H. Hale, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Choral Music Education and Voice

Missouri Western State University

I am so proud of my boy!

Temperature Talk

Our after dinner conversation went like this last night.

Marshall completely out of nowhere asks, "Where is the Synagogue Thermometer?"

Me: "What???"

Marshall: "A Synagogue Thermometer! (He gets upset pretty fast when we don't understand what he is asking.)

Brian: "A Synagogue is a place where Jewish people go to worship."

Marshall: "No. A Synagogue thermometer!"

Me: "What are you talking about?"

Marshall: "It's the opposite of Fahrenheit."

There was a loud, "Ooooohhhhhhhhh" from the rest of the family at this point.

Me: "Marshall. I think you mean Celsius."

Marshall's response: "Oh."

Jenga

For Singing Time today, I've decided to play Jenga with the kids. I'll use my "HOPE you get a turn jar" (a flower pot I was given that has the word HOPE painted on it) to choose helpers. I printed the temple cards from previous issues of The Friend, and had them laminated. Then I printed the kids names on them in permanent marker. That way, if they move, or graduate from Primary, they can take their temple card with them.

So, I'm going to write the words for the song, "As a Child of God" on the chalkboard, and then set up my Jenga game on the table. Every time a child pulls out one of the Jenga pieces, we will erase one of the words for the song, and we won't sing that word anymore. They still have to think about what the word is because they have to keep going with the song. When the tower falls, we will sing the whole song (even the words that have been erased will be sung again).

I'm still kind of in the planning stages on this one, so if I change how I do this, I will do another post about it.

I want to incorporate a little more understanding of the words, not just memorizing. I want to get the kids to think about the words and apply them in their lives. I don't want there to be such a focus on the activity that I forget the purpose of Singing Time. The Sharing Time outline says,

"Music in Primary should establish a reverent atmosphere, teach the gospel, and help children

feel the influence of the Holy Ghost and the joy that comes through singing."

So, how do I maintain a reverent atmosphere, but still allow the kids to do wiggle songs, and play a game? What are your thoughts on this subject?

Battleship for Primary

I'm the Primary Chorister in my ward (a congregation). I think it's a blast! There are tons of awesome blogs to read for fun and creative ideas to teach the songs. Today I chose to do Battleship. I got the idea from a blog called, "Diving Secrets of a Primary Chorister".

Here is what my board looked like. It's not as good as I hoped, but it will do. I used Tempra paint, but I guess I should have tried poster paint or something. Then, my loving husband Brian, helped me make the game pieces since he knows Excell and Power Point better than me.

I divided the poster into 9 rows, and 7 columns. That way, I had a nice border. I realized after I painted it all that I forgot to put the letters and numbers on both sides. Whoops! It worked anyway. As you can see from the picture, I put the numbers 1-7 across the top, and A-E down the side. There is a teacher supply store here in town, and they laminated my poster board for me for $3. I got 2 packages of Sticky-Back Velcro from Wal-Mart (in the craft/sewing department). I cut the Velcro into squares, and put the soft side on the poster board. After printing all of the game board pieces on cardstock, I took them to my Primary President's house to laminate (she bought a laminating machine). I put the rough side of the velcro on the game pieces so I could attach them easily.

This is what the finished product looks like. I made a key, and printed it on cardstock. This was one of my layouts. The black circles represent the 1st verse of "As a Child of God." The yellow circles are the 2nd verse, Blue stands for the 3rd verse, and the green ones are Sea Mines. When you hit one of those, you get to do a fun song. For Junior Primary, our fun songs were "Popcorn Popping", "Roll Your Hands", and "Give, Said the Little Stream". For the Popcorn song, every time the kids said the word Popcorn, they had to pop out of their chairs. For "Give, Said the Little Stream", I had them stand up or sit down each time they said "give", and they had to clap every time they said a word that started with "S". The kids really loved it! Senior Primary didn't do "Roll Your Hands". I figured they would feel too babied, so I had them do "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes."

When the kids hit one of my ships (black, yellow, or blue), they had to answer a question about that particular verse of the song. This was such a GREAT way to get the kids to sing the same song over and over, but still have fun. I'm actually really pleased with how it turned out.