November 4, 2012

Opening Song: My Heavenly Father Loves Me (p228)

Closing Song: I Hope They Call Me on a Mission (p169)

Songs: Thanks to Our Father (p20), My Heavenly Father Loves Me (p228), Children All Over the World (p16)
2013 Program Song: My Heavenly Father Loves Me, verse 1 (p228)
Wiggle Songs: If You're "Grateful" (If You're Happy, p266)

---------------------------------------------------
Identify the doctrine: Our Heavenly Father loves us, and to remind us, He has given us daily blessings.

Help the children understand it with Listening and Singing Experiences:

Junior/Senior Primary

Wiggle Song: If you're grateful and you know it...clap your hands, stand up, stomp your feet, do all 3!

• Junior Primary: sing after "Thanks to Our Father" activity.
• Senior Primary: first thing! 

Attention getter: One of my favorite foods at Thanksgiving is the turkey! I especially love the juicy dark meat, yum! So, turkeys always remind me to be thankful. I brought my turkey gratitude book today to share with you. Share turkey gratitude book (visit link for an idea of what mine looks like).

1. Sing the first verse of "Thanks to Our Father" (p20). Invite the children to sing it with me, use pitch leading. 
2. I have left blank pages at the end of my book. I'm going to sing you more of the song (verses 2-3), and let's fill the rest of my book with the things we sing about (eyes, ears, hands, feet, clothes, food, father, mother, baby). For Senior Primary: book will already be filled out. Challenge them to remember all 6 things from verse 2. For verse 3, talk about what the blessing of eternal families means to them individually.
3. Practice verse 2 of "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" using flipchart.
4. During the month of November, I challenge you to say "thank you" more than ever. And, to make saying "thank you" a little more fun, I'd like to teach you how to say it in 6 different languages: Spanish, Tongan, German, Danish, French and Japanese (show flags from each country)! For Junior Primary: have kids repeat back each thank you phrase as you point at the corresponding flag. For Senior Primary: show kids the real spelling of each phrase (on large word strips) and have them guess how to pronounce it. Then have them repeat back the correct pronunciation. 
5. Sing "Children All Over the World". Point to either the corresponding flag or word strip for each thank you phrase. Repeat at least 2 times. Have kids stand up whenever they sing a "thank you" phrase.
6. Fast Finisher: Songs of the Heart

Nursery (following singing time, go into Nursery and sing the following songs with them)

1. Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam (jump up on "beam", start crouched down)
2. I Love to See the Temple (use simple hand gestures for words)
3. Families Can Be Together Forever (draw circles in the air, switch arms, reverse direction)
4. I Am a Child of God (clap then pat knees to keep beat)