New and refurbished ideas for LDS Primary Music Leaders (a.k.a. Primary Choristers)

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

GIVEAWAY!!!

Being new at this blogging stuff I continue to discover new things about blogging.  One thing I heard recently is sometimes bloggers throw a giveaway. Granted, I’m not any commercial-type blog out to make a buck, neither am I supported by any sponsor.  NOPE!  It’s just little ol’ me.  But, one thing I do know is that I do like to give things away.  Soooooo, I thought it might be fun to sponsor my own little Giveaway!  I’m calling it my:
 “BLOG GRAND OPENING GIVE, OH! GIVE AWAY!”
Brother, I can tell I’m a primary chorister; that “Give, oh! Give away” part just came typing out my fingers without me realizing it until after I typed it; I just started singing the song as I typed and there it came.  Another side affect of being a Primary Music Leader I guess.  LOL  Now mind you, the prize isn’t anything of grand value; just a little primary music aid that may be beneficial to the likes of us Primary Music Leaders.
So, what is this most FANTASTICAL giveaway prize you ask?  Well . . .it is a set of 30 colors of the rainbow laminated card stock CTR Shields on a Stick packaged in an ever so lovely, clear, plastic zip bag!  WAHOO!
Go to this link for some ways on how you can use them.


And how do you enter you may ask?  Well, I like to think I’m a little bit of a social gal, so I thought it would be nice to discover who is all out there in the Primary cyber world.  So all you have to do is click on the 
“Follow, Follow Me!” 
gadget and join (if you are already a follower, then you don't have to do anything) and each name will be assigned a number and Random.org will select the winning number. (If you are the winner and have already made some, I could probably switch these out with the next prize.)

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!  I’m having so much fun with this; I’ve decided to have a second giveaway prize to celebrate surviving 2 whole weeks of blogging.  Yeah! I know, not very long really, but in blogging years for me, it is a long time.  
This next giveaway is for . . . drum roll please!  A Poster Visual Aid for March's song,
“Stand for the Right”
in your choice of either with words and pictures or few words with pictures.  This lovely song aid will come to you cut and laminated with magnets on the back for durability and ease of use.  It also will come with its own ever so lovely, clear, plastic zip bag for storage.  WAHOO AGAIN! 
(I will be posting this visual at a later date to share as well.) 

Words with pictures
Few words with pictures

To enter the "Stand for the Right" drawing, leave a comment on this post in answer to this question:
What has been your favorite
moment or memorable moment as a Primary Music Leader?
Each comment will be assigned a number and Random.org will also be used in selecting the
WINNER!
This means that you have 2 chances to enter and since this blog is still in its infancy and there probably aren’t a whole lot of you out there, the odds are good.

The Finer Print
The giveaway will be closed at the end of day February 11, 2012 (Saturday) at midnight Mountain Standard Time and the winners announced on Monday, February 13, 2012 (probably sometime at night after I get home from work unless I can find time before I go to work.)  Winners will need to respond via email to me within 48 hours with your mailing address or another winner will be selected, and yes, I will pay for shipping. 
LET THE FUN BEGIN!  Ooooo, I’m so excited!!!


THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.
But you are more than welcome to still share a comment on your
favorite moment or memorable moment as a Primary Music Leader.
The winners will be announced on February 13, 2012.


94 comments:

  1. What an awesome giveaway. I'm already a follower. :)

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  2. And favorite moment...we had the kids try to hit a bean bag target to see how many times we'd practice "As a Child of God" or if they got to choose their own song. They loved it!

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  3. I follow you in google reader. Thanks for the giveaway and the hard work!

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  4. I had a teacher tell me singing time just flew by because she enjoyed it so much. That made me feel really good.

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  5. When I heard some of the junior primary kids singing "As a Child of God" in the hallway. Score!

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  6. My favoriet moment is watching the kids faces when they realize they are having fun and they know the words to the song.

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  7. My favorite moments are when i am side swiped by the spirit....you know, those moments when you are least expecting it and all of a sudden the spirit testifies that what you are singing/saying is true....i love it when that happens while singing a primary song and i see those sweet faces singing back at me...it makes me smile!

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  8. Favorite Primary Memory:
    Last week we played "Dress Up" during singing time. The kids had to fill in blanks of the song and when they got it right they got to choose something out of my bag to dress someone in the room up in. They had a blast and I loved watching them have so much fun during singtime time. It is rewarding to see the kids enjoy learning the gospel through music.

    **Note to blog author: What a great idea to do a giveaway to Primary Choristors. We all get so excited about a new idea or visual aid to use! Thank you for your time and generosity. How fun!!

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  9. My favorite moment was listening to the little sunbeams sing Praise to Man and actually knowing the words.

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  10. I'm a follower! And thanks for sharing all your great ideas.

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  11. Favorite primary memory: We were reviewing As A Child OF God, and we were having the kids see if they could hula hoop through it all. But the best part was having the male primary teachers and the Bishop up front trying to hula hoop. It was quite the sight, and the kids LOVED it!

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  12. favorite moment is when they are sad when singing time is over, or if their parents see me and say they were singing around the house. LOVE IT!

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  13. thanks for sharing! I'm a follower!

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  14. My favorite moment was when the Primary kids were singing their hearts out for Praise to the Man in the program last year. I was hit with the spirit so strong. Even the youngest kids were singing every word. I couldn't help the tears that came!

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  15. i'm a new follower! I love your blog!

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  16. My favorite choirster moment was teaching the kids how to lead music. They loved playing Simon Says with the different hand motions and the winner got to lead a song! It was also fun for the pianist because we talked about how the choirster is in charge of the people and the piano! So he definitely had to follow along when the winner would go really fast or reaaaally slow :)

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  17. I am a follower and I love your blog ideas!!

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  18. The most memorable moment would have to be when out of the blue one of the little boys told us "My parent sleep naked". No one knew what to say. After wards we all had a good laugh about it.

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  19. Thank you for your great ideas. I have already made up 40 of your CTR shields but since we have 110+ children in our primary I would love more!

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  20. I am a follower and already am LOVING your blog! I made ctr shields on a stick the first day I saw your blog and am now working on making melody maps right now! Its been a great 2 weeks and I am looking forward to more!

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  21. Also, I don't have any memorable moments yet, I just got called!!

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  22. It is really hard to choose my favorite moment. I remember praying really hard that I could come up with a great way to teach the children "Praise to the Man" and then found that on the first time through the song they loved it and it has been a favorite ever since. I just love having fun with the children as we learn the gospel through music.

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  23. I am a follower! And thank you so much for the giveaway. I could use them this year.

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  24. My favorite moment so far, I am pretty new, was when a 9 year old was walking out of primary and said.."that was fun!" Yay!! I just hope she learned something while she had a good time.

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  25. My favorite moment was when I was teaching As A Child of God to the children. I was watching to see who was singing well and paying attention to me so that I could pick them to throw a snowball (a styrofoam ball) at a flip chart page, that would then be removed. All the fip chart pages were on a clothesline, and as the kids hit them, I would remove that one, till all the pages were gone, so that by the end, the children were singing the entire song without any flip chart pages. All the children wanted to be picked, so they ALL sang so well and so loud, it was AMAZING! But the most special part was how their eyes sparkled as they sang! I really felt the spirit as we were all singing, and I felt as if this is the best calling in the whole church!

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  26. I have only been a Primary Choirster for 2 weeks now. Although I have served in Primary for years this is my first time teaching the kids the music. So far my favorite moment was on my during my first Sunday. I decided to share with the kids my favorite Primary song "Little Purple Pansies" they did really well at learning it. Then since I had been in YWs for the last three years I asked what their favorite Primary songs were so I could get to know them better. The first little girl I called on told me her favorite song was now "Little Purple Pansies" and asked if we could please sing it again? I just wanted to hug her!!! It was then I knew I was going to LOVE this calling!

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  27. I was called as Primary Music Leader in early January and have had two weeks in my calling. It's so great and so overwhelming at the same time. Blogs have been so amazingly helpful and I just discovered yours today - it's wonderful!!!! Thank you! I'd love to be entered in both giveaways (I just "follow"ed you.

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  28. My favorite moments are when, after working on a song for a month, the Jr. primary finally starts singing it! With enthusiasm! Love it!

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  29. One of my favorite moments was when a recently re-activated family had an 11 year old son getting baptized and he requested Primary songs at his baptism- I Love to See the Temple and The Golden Plates. The spirit was so strong at this baptism. I knew that he had a testimony and that the music in Primary had helped him find it.
    I love when the children discover that the words they are singing are more than just words; they are singing their testimonies. :)

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  30. I LOVE your blog I have already used your singing snowman and your melody map. Both were huge hits. Today I printed out your flip chart for Choose the Right and I am so excited to see what other ideas you have to go along with the song. I am new to this calling, I only have three weeks under my belt so I don’t have a lot of favorite moments yet. I have three of my four children in primary so that is really special for me.

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  31. I'm actually in my third week of this calling also, but last week I did a sweet sixteen type bracket sing-off with the older kids. The final vote was between Love is Spoken Here and We'll Bring the World His Truth. When Love is Spoken Here won, the kids BEGGED to sing it. My heart felt so tender towards those children as they showed me how much they loved a really very spiritual song. Loving this calling :)

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  32. First of all I LOVE the children. They make it all worth it! My most memorable moment in primary was when we were singing some opening songs and I said, "Let's sing I Am A Child Of God." One of my sunbeams face just lit up and he said "I am a child of Bob!" Now the reason this was so funny is because his Dad's name is Bob. He was so proud of himself and I laughed the whole day. Thanks for all of the wonderful ideas. I love your blog!

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  33. I have so many.... but one of my favorites is when the primary president announced it is time for singing time and all of the kids started cheering. But I think the most memorable is when we were working on singing Can I hold the baby for Christmas and we had just finished sinigng the song and I asked the kids if they wanted to choose a song to sing and one of my 10 year old boys that had been inactive (just started coming again) raised his hand and said can we sing this song again I could sing it 100 times. It brought tears to my eyes to see how singing had affected this sweet spirit. He is still coming and he sings his heart out. You just gotta love Primary!

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  34. My favorite moment is when my older boys requested to sit in the front row the second week after I was called as chorister because they loved to sing and wanted to sit right up front. How could I deny that request. Now they participate and I know for sure they are having a great time right under my nose!

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  35. hahahaha la forma como escribes es una locura!! but I love it!! Bueno espero ser la winner de tu concurso :D me lo envías a Perú!! yujuuuuu jajaja. Thanks sister!

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  36. I'm a follower! Thank you so much for the opportunity to win.
    My favorite moment was just two Sundays ago during Ward Conference.
    The Stake Primary Presidency watched us during Singing time and couldn't say enough good things about how well the children participated.
    The boys and girls sung As a Child of God like pros--they were just beaming.
    Then we sang it later that day in Sacrament meeting.
    They were awesome!

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  37. I just love how singing the simple gospel principles bring such a sweet spirit as we sing the His little ones

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  38. When I realized I was actually pretty good at this, even though it scared me to death every single time.

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  39. Every moment as a chorister is FABULOUS! But, I will share one of my favorite stories. I invited my husband who is a doctor to 'examine' the kids' voices/singing to determine if they were ready to sing in our upcoming program. It was a whole 'check up' themed idea, with him dressing the part, including the proper props (tongue depressors, head light, etc) and even a 'prescription' I had prepared with the songs that I knew needed work for them to take home. The kids were really enjoying this whole process until I asked him after one of the songs what he thought. He replied that the song was possibly sick and needed some medicine, maybe even a shot. At that very moment one of our sunbeams started crying, LOUDLY, because she thought he was going to give her a shot. It took several minutes for me to soothe her and convince her that he really would not do that and that we were just having fun. Needless to say, I gave him the evil eye while all of the adults were laughing hysterically.

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  40. And, thanks for everything you do! It is so nice to be able to download and print such wonderful visual aids, as well as use your marvelous ideas. You make us all look so much better!

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  41. My favorite moment is our primary program the last song the congregation joined in with us so I turned to lead them and had the primary at my back and the kids sounded so loud like there had doubled it brought tears to my eyes!

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  42. One of my favorite moments in Primary is when we sang Praise to the Man and the CTR 4 class (6 kids) were outsinging the rest of the Primary (90 kids). They sang with such exuberance and conviction. I loved it!

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  43. My favorite moment came as a surprise. I asked the children to sing with strong voices and heard one small voice above the rest. As I looked around to see who's sweet voice it was, I saw that it was my 4 year old son! He has always been so shy in primary but he has found a voice and confidence in singing. I am so glad I was there to witness it.

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  44. I have only had this calling since January, but one of the sweetest moments for me was while playing a game to review a song I told the children if they weren't able to complete their "task" they had to sing a solo. When that time came, the boy absolutely was not willing to sing his solo, but his friend was willing to do it for him. The sound of this sweet 9 year old boy's voice brought many of the teacher's to tears, the spirit was very strong. It was wonderful.

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  45. Thank you for shairng your talent on this blog! I was thrilled to find another one out here today! This is my most favorite calling in the while wide world. After General Conference I like to ask my primary kids if they hear d a primary song in conference. Last October I asked the kiddos, "Did any of you watch conference and hear a familiar song?" I boy in the back raised his hand and said, "I did and I knew when I heard it you were going to ask us about it!" Glad to know they think of me when primary songs come on!!

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  46. Grateful to be following your blog! Love the calling- though now I serve as P president. We are a small ward and every now and then I get to fill in! yeah!

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  47. My most memorable time as a primary chorister was when I had been out with a broken femur for while and the kids clapped for me when I came back. I truly felt loved! And they all sang so beautifully that day! I, of course, had brought them Hershey Kisses to show I loved them too. They didn't know that when they clapped...

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  48. I have only been in this calling one month, but I LOVE IT!!! I already have had some great moments...here are some:
    1. There is a kid with some serious behavioral problems who now comes and talks to me each week after singing time. He has become my special helper.
    2. My 3 year old singing primary songs on his own at home.
    3. One of the primary counselors telling me how the kids are having so much fun they don't realize they they are learning a new song. How cool it is that I can trick them into singing the song a bunch of times.
    4. Watching their faces light up while they are singing.
    5. Watching them wiggle like crazy to see who gets to pick the Wiggle Song from the Wiggle Worm Jar.

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  49. I was pretty nervous when I got this calling but my first week I had SO MUCH FUN, and I've loved it every week since then. I also had fun meeting and visiting with you on r way to Pat Graham's workshop. :-)

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  50. I was out of town for the 2 weeks before our program. I had only been called for a couple months and was kind of nervous, especially with missing so much time. When I came back all the kids were excited to see me (which made my year!) and then duing the program I had goosebumps the entire time! Our Sr. primary sang Army of Helaman (the JR came in on the chorus) for our last song and I had tears running down my face. I love this calling!!

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  51. I am also new at this calling about 4 weeks now and my favorite part is when the kids sing and my arms and legs are filled with goose bumps because the spirit is so strong and the kids are singing amazing.

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  52. I'm a follower and love your ideas AND a giveaway.
    There are so many favorite moments. I especially love when the kiddos "tell" on their parents...unless of course it's my kids (which has happened a time or two) AND I love the moment the kids realize what they are singing and understand the meaning of the song. One last one...we had a little guy who was always asking to sing "Ninjas". I would tell him that that was a good song to save for singing at home. After several weeks of this I spoke to his mom...he was asking to sing "HINGES" :)

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  53. Would love to win! I am a new music leader and know not a thing about music!!

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  54. I told the children they could pass off the Books of the Book of Mormon after Primary. I let several of the children sing together and then gave them a treat. One girl wanted to do it by herself. I thought it was because she wanted to sing it a little slower at her own pace. Well she sang it at her own pace alright! She sang it so fast, I could hardly believe it. What a surprise! I was proud of her and so happy to see so many children involved and really practicing on their own.

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  55. I just found your blog this morning while getting ready for primary tomorrow and I'm so glad I did! You have so many great ideas! I'm a 'follower' now and I would love to win! This is my second time around being the chorister and I never want another calling ever. The stand for the right idea you have is great- I would love to have it. I am printing my own CTR shields right now! :) Thanks so much!

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  56. My favorite moment as the primary chorister...The activity I did a few weeks ago was so fun...it got all of the kids really excited about singing, and I felt like they did really well. It also happened to be the week of our ward conference, so the stake primary presidency was there :) Made me feel even better about my calling! lol

    Thanks for the awesome giveaway!

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  57. Wow! You are awesome.... I'm kind of new to this "blogging" thing, but I love your ideas...so I thought I would be a "follower"......

    I have so many primary chorister memories - I think I've been the primary chorister in every ward I've ever been in (and today I'm feeling old....)

    Anyway - - last fall when we were practicing reviewing songs, I would go out in the hallway and change something about me - shoes, earrings, hair clip...you get the idea...anyway I went out and put on some lip gloss and one of the 3 or 4 year olds looked and me and said "new lips".. so cute!

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  58. I hope I win!! Our budget is very small this year and I have no way to laminate so it would really help me out. I've been in this calling for a few months now and I'm loving it, even though it can be very consuming. My favorite memory so far has been after I'd been doing it for a couple of weeks (still not sure WHAT I was doing) a group of the older girls came up to me after and told me how much they loved my singing time and how fun I made it. It felt so good to know that at least some of the kids liked what I was doing!

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  59. My favorite moment happened just last week. Seeing as I've not done this for very long (2-ish months), I was worried that I wasn't teaching As a Child of God very effectively. Not only that, but there are a couple of kids that are a little disrespectful and I was really concerned about how to keep the spirit and have fun. Anyway, we made a new rule that if I caught anyone not paying attention, they had to come up and sing it by themselves at the end. Anyway, at the very end, we sang the song one last time with that rule in mind, and EVERYONE was singing it with their eyes on me, and so loud! It made me want to cry I was so happy!!! That's my favorite moment to date :)

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  60. I was a newly called primary chorister and I was supposed to teach Praise to the Man. I was so overwhelmed, but followed my promptings to keep it spiritual and help them catch the vision of who Joseph Smith was. The spirit was so strong and they quickly learned the song and it became our favorite song of the year!

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  61. I just found your blog right now looking for ideas about teaching Choose The Right tomorrow! I'm so excited to find another blog to help me out! And I just started following you right now!

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  62. Oh, and favorite moment actually had to be just last week, for one of the songs in sacrament meeting, it was a primary song too! I could hear the kids singing their little hearts out! It made me be proud to be their primary singing teacher!

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  63. Hey! You are awesome at this chorister thing! Such great and fun ideas! So thank you!

    I signed up to follow your blog by email...the "follow me" link was not working. I will try back again this week. Thanks again!

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  64. Having been chorister for 2 years now, I have SOO many favorite moments! One of them is when the kids come up to me in other places outside of the primary room and give me hugs!

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  65. 70 comments already - and you thought there wouldn't be many comments! :-}
    I have been primary chorister in just about every ward we have lived in. I think my favorite moments are when the Spirit is palpable when we are singing. Last year we sang Gethsemane, and it happened every time we sang it! Something about little children singing about how much Jesus loves them....

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  66. Favorite primary moment as primary chorister: When my Sunbeam daughter came up to me after my first week and said, "Mama, you did a good job today."

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  67. Thank you for doing this blog. I am now a follower. :)

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  68. I love to see the sweet little faces of the children when they feel the spirit as we sing. :)

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  69. I am a follower now. Thanks so much for your great ideas!

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  70. I just found your blog this morning. WOW!!! You do a great job! I loved your melody map. I'd have to say that today was probably a red letter day in our Primary. I have a group of Jr. Primary kids that can't get excited about anything. Go figure-- I used your melody map to teach Choose the Right and they actually got excited! I loved it. (Even the teachers had smiles on their faces.) I've done Primary/Primary music for most of the last 30 years and I've never such a sullen group as this one. So thanks so much again for your hard work. The Senior Primary had fun with it too. They were trying to guess what "size" of not each color shield stood for. (We've been doing a little bit of music theory.) They got pretty close. Also, just in case anyone wants to know, Choose the Right is a song the kids have to learn for the Faith in God award. This recently discovered fact will be used as a motivator for my kids. Thanks again! Sure glad I found you today!!!

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  71. Thanks for sharing your great ideas! My most recent favorite moment was last month when we finished reviewing As a Child of God (and some others) and a 7 year-old said, "whew, I'm sweating." I loved it!

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  72. I am fairly new to this calling and I've never had it before. Thanks for taking the time to do this. It helps us all out tremendously! I am a follower. :)

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  73. My favorite moments are when I am singing with the children and their eyes light up when I look at them each individually. They feel recognized and I see them try their best to sing. It is a wonderful time to feel the Spirit as well.

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  74. I am new- by just a couple of weeks- my favorite moments so far are the kids that come and tell me how much they love singing time or just come up and are so excited because they know me- and feel a part of something!

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  75. I love how shy but excited visitors are when they get to come up and get a welcome song sung to them

    trulyjuly@juno.com

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  76. If I feel the Spirit when we're singing, I like to tell the kids afterwards that I felt it. My favorite moment was when a child then said, "I feel it, too."

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  77. So I was JUST called as Primary chorister THIS week so my moments to choose form are almost nil. It is going to be a little difficult to top me standing up to be sustained (I'm a little overwhelmed) while crying when my 7 and 6 year old daughters turned in surprise and asked loudly "You get to come back to Primary? We're so excited."
    I think the bishop was biting his lip to keep from laughing at their outburst.

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  78. I am following now just to keep myself from freaking out :-)

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  79. I'm a follower - thanks for sharing your ideas and talents. :)

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  80. And I posted about you on Facebook.

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  81. Oh, and my favorite moment as chorister is when I see the kids smiling at me when I'm up front - most of the time being silly. :)

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  82. I just came upon your blog while trying to find a way to teach Choose the Right this month. I have been the primary chorister for about 5 months maybe and it is by far my favorite calling ever. I love hearing the kids answers and feeling their sweet spirits. They are just so excited about life and living the gospel. They are so smart. Thanks for all of your work and sharing it with us :)

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  83. How cute are you! Can't wait to find out! Crossing my fingers because I'm too lazy to make my own shields :D

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  84. I love to hear the kids singing or humming along to prelude music. It tells me they are actually learning and retaining the songs (hopefully for a lifetime). I also love that by doing this job that I do, I am able to feel the spirit of the music as well of the sweet kids that I am trying to teach.
    Love your blog....great ideas!
    Thanks!

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  85. My favorite moment was one when of the older boys said how much he enjoyed singing time that day. That made my week :-).

    Thanks for all your work making melody maps. I tried making one when I learned about them on Kathleen's blog, but I just wasn't very successful making them. I really appreciate that you have shared yours and am excited to use them with my primary.

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