Getting the BUGS Out - 4 Week Plan

So I finally checked my calendar, and we have 4 weeks before our Primary Sacrament Meeting Program.

I thought I would be "super organized" and plan out all four weeks NOW.  So unlike me.  Hopefully my early preparation will help you, too, should you decide to work on the BUGS in your Program songs.

Week 1:
(Really week 2, since we worked on it last Sunday, but I don't want to veer off my 4-Week Plan, so as not to confuse myself.)

Spin-the-Human (again) to finish up our initial BUG testing.  I am going to focus on getting through every song.  I will continue to use my Big Bug pictures and my ratings system from last week.

To add some incentive, I am going to tell the children that IF they work really hard all 4 weeks, and perform amazingly well, we will have a BUG Celebration in Primary after the program.

Something along these lines (found here):

(We could even use the pre-packaged lunch-size pudding cups, remove the peel-away top, and just put a spoonful of crushed Oreos and a gummy bug or two on top...)

Or these (found here):

I'm going to keep my eye out for gummy bugs rather than worms... but if worms are all I can find, I'm sure the kids will still be thrilled.

For whatever reason, kids behave/perform better if they have a reward at the end (don't we all).


WEEK 2:

I figure that if any week is going to be more on the "fun" side (vs the down-and-dirty-meticulous-refining side), it had better be now, since the following two weeks need to have complete focus (and we will most likely be running through the full program each Sunday anyway).

We are going to play WHACK-A-BUG (idea from here).  I am going to cut out smaller versions of my bugs (pdf here) - each with a corresponding program song -  and tape them to small-ish balloons, putting them all in a black trash bag.  I will choose a helper who will reach into the bag and pull out a balloon.  We will sing the selected song, and if the Bug Expert (I may ask a special guest - like the Bishop - to be the "expert") determines the song to be Bug Free, the helper will get to WHACK the bug with a fly swatter, thumbtack attached.  If the song still has some obvious bugs, it goes back into the bag.


WEEK 3:

Because we have three wards that meet in our building, we are not able to practice for the program in the chapel.  IF I have a regular Singing Time (doubtful, but I'm waiting to hear from the Presidency what the plans are), I am going to do the review activity found here.  Should we be running through the program in it's entirety, I'm going to save this activity for Primary the week OF the program as part of our BUG Celebration.


WEEK 4: 
(and 3, IF we are running through the whole program the entire time we're in Primary both weeks):


I plan to have adult helpers (teachers maybe?) help me find children doing their absolute best.  I will have bug stickers and tell the kids that if they get a sticker,
they've been caught: 

{B}eing
{U}nusually
{G}ood

I figure it's a low-key, non-disruptive way to still give encouragement and motivation on our final practice(s).


Program Week:

BUG Celebration!
If I was able to do the Week 3 activity on Week 3, I hope to make a new Punch Board Game (I'm still sad that my other one was ruined in the flood) - something along the lines of "Don't BUG me, I'm SINGING."  I will probably put some fun songs, fun ways to sing, and "choose your favorite" tags, along with some plastic bugs, behind the punches.  (I will post pics when/if I get it done.)

Then the kids can enjoy their cupcake or pudding cup.

Oh yeah, a plan feels so good.

A little FYI:  While glancing through a couple of Singing Time blogs yesterday, I came across a link for an arrangement of Stand for the Right/Dare to Do Right.  I would like give the link to the blog I found the info on, but can't find it again today :-( 

Since my Primary has learned both songs, I think I'm going to try this arrangement for the program.  You can check it out here.  I think I'm also going to use the slow accompaniment for the 3rd verse of Nephi's Courage.  A huge THANK YOU to Susan for sharing her talent!

Program Practice Brainstorm - Getting the Bugs Out

This has been a crazy busy week.  I have panicked a few times as I occasionally wondered WHAT I would do for Singing Time this Sunday.  I quickly checked over the newly posted ideas of others, but just couldn't make a decision on what direction to go.  I was out of town last week, and my sweet sub kindly dropped off my visuals and plan last night.  (I know - pathetic when you can't find the time to go pick them up!!)  Our program is about a month away, and I knew I wanted to start reviewing and perfecting our songs, and naturally I left it to this morning (Sunday - eek!) to pull something together.

I quickly browsed through Sugardoodle (haven't done that for a while), started down one path (oh-so-briefly), then ran across these ideas.  The fog started to clear, and I thought of several ideas to change things up while sticking with the same "Getting the Bugs Out" theme the next 4 or 5 weeks (I really need to check my calendar to see exactly how many weeks until the program!).

Today, because I am short on time (I hate leaving it to the last minute, but it was seriously all I could do this week), I am going to keep it simple.

I quickly found some bug clipart and made them nice and big.  You can access the pdf here.  Today we will play an old favorite, Spin-the-Human (I was reminded of this game here), using the big bugs.  I will introduce our new project of "getting the bugs out" of our program songs.  I'm going to write the songs we are working on the the back of each bug - as each bug is chosen (via spinning-the-human), we will sing the song and then rate how good we sang it (I am anticipating the need for LOTS of improvement).

Exterminated (Near perfect - I don't expect ANY of those today)

Shriveled  (almost there, dynamics need work)

Get the RAID (some parts really need help)

Infestation (the whole song needs a ton a work)


I will hopefully have time this next week to make my entire Program Practice plan (and check out my calendar), and will post it as soon as I get it done.

Happy Sunday!


Post post:  This went great today, although we only made it through 3 of our songs as we tried to get some oh-so-obvious BUGS out by singing through them at least twice.  Our cute pianist decided our ratings.  I managed to print some rating signs out before church - I just didn't have time to post them.  You can find the pdf for them here.  The good news:  no INFESTATIONS so far.  Whew!  Hoping for all the bugs to have this on them by Program time:

Purrrr-fect Program

We are starting our intense practice for our program (3 weeks away) today.  I made some super quick signs to help with our singing practice.

You can find them here.

I will also be using the ice cream punch board to select our songs, and building cones for Jr. and Sr. once a song has been "purrrrrr-fected."

We All Sing for Ice Cream

We are starting to practice for our program which will be held at the end of October.  It still seems a long way out, but we have a Stake and General Conference on the calendar, and after some discussion with our Primary Presidency, I plan to teach the kids (maybe just "refresh" the memory of the older kids) Scripture Power, which I don't believe they have sung for several years.

To celebrate an awesome job on preparation and presentation of the Sacrament Meeting Program, our Primary Presidency plans to have an ice cream party for the children.

SO.... I took a few ideas (here, here, here, here, and here) and mashed them together... my specialty.

I really wanted to make something that would last longer than October, though.  Something that could be repurposed and reused again and again.  Hmmmmm.....

I have an "Elmer the Elephant" poster that a friend in my FHE group (a group of moms who got together every-other-month to swap FHE lessons and ideas) made for me almost 20 years ago.  I have used trusty Elmer not only for FHE, but countless times in Primary and Nursery.  He has always been a favorite with the kids (even the big ones).

He's still around. 

 He has had hundreds of hands, big and small, inserted into his trunk over the years.  He certainly holds the key to durability, I figured.  So what if I used the same ingenuity my friend had for a punch game?

(The back of the Elmer poster.)

So here's what I came up with:

First I retrieved a pre-purchased (bought when Hobby Lobby had them 50% off) display board (black).  Then I cut the sides off another display board (white) and trimmed the edges, so it was about 1/2" smaller on each side.

I traced circles on the white cover board for the punch holes.  I didn't really space plan, just randomly put them on the board, leaving space at the top for a header of some kind.

I used an exact-o knife to cut the circles out.  A sharp blade is very helpful.

Then I traced the circle pattern from the white board onto the black liner,

then cut them out also.  Yes, the cutting is a little tedious, but the end product will be awesome.  I promise.

Then I took tube socks, cut them down a bit, cut notches along the edges ( a tip for you:  I didn't check out the sock-gluing technique used on my Elmer poster prior to this -- I wish I would have -- I think doing it that way would be easier.  Plus my holes are maybe a little on the big side, making gluing those socks a little trickier too), turned the sock inside-out (so when the kids punch through it, they feel the smoother outside of the sock instead of the fuzzy, lint-y side),

 and hot-glued them around the holes.  I only got 4 burns.  It's been a while since I've used my old friend, the glue gun, also pert near 20 years old.

This is the back-side of the liner board:

Then I decorated the front of the cover board with our ice cream theme.  Like I mentioned, I didn't really space plan ahead of time, but after a little trimming here and there, it all works out, right?

Then I added self-adhesive velcro strips strategically around the edges of the cover board.  Once they are placed, put the other piece of the velcro on top of the pieces you've placed, remove it's adhesive, center it on the liner board, and press it on... that way they are all lined up perfectly :-)

VERY IMPORTANT:  put your strips with whatever (choose a song... choose how to sing...) into your socks.  Then I taped on pieces of tissue paper, and made a header.

I also quickly made ice cream scoops and a cone to use this week.  I had put the songs we were going to practice (along with several that said "Punch again!") in the socks, and figured we would use the ice cream scoops as a scale.

I chose a helper from the choosing sticks (with the threat that IF you were selected and were NOT being reverent, I would choose another stick -- our kids were wound up yesterday and that totally helped them keep themselves in check), and that child would get to come punch out a cone.  Then they would stay up front to help judge the performance of that song.

If the Primary sang the song well, but needed the flip chart to help with words, they could earn 1 scoop.
If they could sing the song well without pictures, they could earn 2 scoops.

Simple and easy.  (Although making the board was anything but.)

I took extra sheets of tissue paper and quickly un-velcroed the cover from the liner and re-taped the punched holes in between Jr. and Sr. Primary.  It took 5 minutes.  

The board was a smashing success (literally).  The kids L.O.V.E.D. it.  I plan to use it in a variety of ways the next month and a half... maybe I'll

have a boys vs. girls cone-building game
have a Jr. vs. Sr. cone-building game
put "how to sing" inside the punch outs
put small items related to the songs inside and have the children guess the song
have the children try to earn a "cherry on top"

the possibilities are limited only to my creative and/or internet-searching skills.

The very best thing about this board:
I can make new and different cover boards, with whatever theme I want, and reuse that sock-lined-punch-out liner board FOREVER.  Or hopefully for at least 20 years.