CHOOSE THE RIGHT FLIP CHART & VISUAL LEARNING

2/5/12 UPDATE: Since there has been so much traffic at the current link that has caused it to be temporarily out of service, here is another link for the flip chart.  Click on this link for a medium res file that should be much quicker to download.
I love singing hymns, but when it comes to translating the song into a Primary flip chart, that can be a little bit of a challenge.  Often times the “grown up” words in hymns are hard to conceptualize into a visual format for the younger minds.  After perusing a myriad of pictures looking for what I felt I wanted in portraying the message of the song, I hopefully, have come up with a flip chart to do the song justice.  I’m happy to share the work I’ve done, so please feel free to use this flip chart if you would like.  I've done all three verses.  Below are some sample pics.

As a side note, flip charts are not the end all in teaching a song to children.  There are so many ways to teach children, but I do think they come in handy depending on what I am doing as I am teaching.  For example, on occasion I may not teach from a flip chart the first time I introduce a song.  I may focus on the melody  first, especially if it is a song they may not be familiar with, then I will move on to learning the words and then the meanings of words and their messages and bringing in a flip chart when needed for reinforcement or review.   Besides, singing the song over and over while they listen to the melody or to whatever I have directed them to listen to through discovery questions helps them to familiarize themselves and feel comfortable with the song.  Here is a link to a wonderful blog that goes into more details on discovery questions.  Kathleen has a plethora of fantastic ideas.

Another great reason I will use flip charts or some other visual, is because children are visual learners.  I for one am a very visual person; if you haven’t noticed yet by my blog.  Emotions are often connected to images.  How many times have you looked at a picture or watched a T.V. show with an image that brought tender tears to your eyes or made you double over in a fitful burst of guffawing laughter or effect some kind of emotional response from you???  That emotion caused a connection with you; thus, connecting that image with your memory.  People link those emotions with the different meanings they extract from what they visually see.  Children especially have a visual ability to “see” a story in a sequence of images.  A BONUS side affect of using visuals is it also keeps the teachers entertained focused and they tend to sing along more readily.  Besides, how often do you see adults singing without a songbook in church?  Catch my drift?!?!  Believe me, it doesn't get any easier the older we get to remember the words to songs.  Also, as a result of the children seeing and hearing their teachers sing, they are getting added support from their teachers.  
A WIN! WIN! WIN! situation.

So, my point here is, learning from visual images is another wonderful way children learn to sing.

P.S. I am planning on posting a few ideas later this week that I may use throughout the month in teaching and reviewing this song as well as a melody map in case you are interested.