How Firm a Foundation

These aren't totally original ideas on how to teach the song this month, but I thought I'd share my lesson outline in case some of you could use some last-minute help this week.

First we'll sing The Wise Man and the Foolish Man. Afterwards I'll ask the children some basic questions about why one house fell down and one stayed strong. I'll explain to them what a foundation is.

Then I'm going to show them a picture of the leaning tower of Pisa and explain how it was built on weak soil and with a weak foundation. In fact, it started leaning before they even finished building it.

I'll contrast that with a picture of the bell tower from St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice. It was also built on weak soil, but it was built with such a strong foundation that it continues to stand strong and straight today.

Then we'll talk about just as buildings need to be built on strong foundations to not fall, we need to build our lives on a strong foundation as well. I'll ask the children if they can figure out what foundation we need to build our lives on.

Then I'll introduce the hymn using the visuals made by Rebecca Jack, a participating member of the Primusic Yahoo group. You should be able to find the visuals here:
http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/QHuCSWTIUELGbcfOzehD19sJBVud75KLBHExpdzBtJenP9eKv3-MShLJYOBtW192XjTuxZQ6jWXHNuclWOi7OmCE9sRJ5aroJHR0JkJJ/How%20Firm%20a%20Foundation%20visuals.pdf

In Junior Primary I'll just repeat as necessary, using the visuals to reinforce the words. In Senior Primary, as soon as I think they know it well enough (after a couple of repetitions), I'll start taking pictures away and see if they can still sing it. We'll continue taking pictures away until we have no more time.

The following week we'll talk more about foundations. I'll tell them the story of the Salt Lake Temple foundation and we'll read Helaman 5:12. I'm also going to use my Jenga game and do a little object lesson.

Anyone else have ideas on how to teach this hymn? It has a lot of difficult vocabulary that isn't the easiest to remember, and I'd love someone else's input.

It is a rather adult hymn, but it teaches such beautiful truths that I'm excited to teach it. If we have time I'm going to teach them the seventh verse in addition to the first and third.

Over and Over

We all know that children learn best through repetition. It is boring, however, to just sing the same song over and over. A lot of the ideas out there for review games are often for multiple songs, like when you're reviewing for your SMP. It is just as important to have fun review games when you are learning a new song. Using the same poster or visuals week after week in the same month can become tedious, so I'm always looking for new ideas to mix it up.

One of my favorite ways to do this (which takes no preparation, only some creativity) is also one of my kids' favorites. When we are repeating a song, I'll shout out impromptu instructions for who/how to sing. Here are some examples, off the top of my head:

Sing if you:

• are a boy
• are a girl
• are a teacher
• have blonde hair
• are wearing red
• have lost a tooth recently or have a loose tooth (they love this one, for some reason)
• have shoes that tie
• have shoes that buckle
• have shoes that slip on
• have a summer birthday
• have brown eyes
• have curly hair
• are wearing buttons

Sing in this way:

• opera style (my senior boys' favorite way to sing)
• western twang
• eyes closed
• standing on one foot (always a hit)
• lights off
• facing backwards
• humming (this works well if you have melody corrections to make)
• snap or clap with the beat (use more complex rhythms for senior primary)
• stand up/sit down on key words

Usually I just shout out the instructions before we sing. You could write the instructions down on cards, popsicle sticks, whatever. I'm going to be doing this activity in February, and I'm going to write the instructions on the back of construction paper hearts that I'll post around the room. That always gives the kids (especially the little ones) a fun way to be involved, when they get to go pick the next one.

Any other ideas of who/how to sing when repeating?