IF THE SAVIOR STOOD BESIDE ME: OBJECT LESSON

Being in this calling means that at times the best laid plans may have to be changed once in a while; like with the change I did last Sunday.  Although my plans were to teach this month's song this Sunday, the counselor that was scheduled for sharing time needed to leave town, which has now given me the opportunity to have the full singing and sharing time. Although I do secretly enjoy the extra time once in a while, this does come with mixed feelings with being excited for the extra time but then thinking, "OH, NO!" How am I to fill the time?" (However, filling the time has never been a problem so far so I'm not sure why I worry.) Even though earlier this week I was still planning on teaching the song ITSSBM, I soon realized I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take this chunk of time and do some fun reviewing of songs, especially the program songs that we haven't sung for the past few weeks because of conference, Easter and other things. So, I pushed that lesson off to the side to work on the new plans. However, I do recall mentioning about posting this week for "If the Savior Stood Beside Me".  So, feeling a bit guilty, I decided to try and finish up the lesson plan and post it. So in essence, I will post my next week's singing time this week and this Sunday's singing lesson I'll post next week.  Oops! Maybe I shouldn't promise to post it next week. Okay, I'll post it when I get around to it. :-P At least I'll be ahead of the game for next week having the lesson done. YEAH!!!


To introduce the song for my ATTENTION GETTER, I plan to start out with an object lesson to help demonstrate the concept of Jesus being there beside you even if you can't always see, hear or feel Him. This object lesson comes from something I found some time ago about the Holy Ghost, but with some tweaking, I felt it would fit in perfectly with this song.


An object lesson is a memorable way to teach a message by using an object or by doing a demonstration to help illustrate a principle or teaching. It can also help to make an abstract concept more understandable. When using an object lesson for singing time, remember to keep it short and simple. Singing time should not end up being "Sharing Time" (yeah, I know, that can be hard at times to keep the talking parts down.)

For the Singing Experience time I plan on standing next to a picture of Jesus Christ on an easel that I will have covered up. I will sing the song to the children playing the music with the flute accompaniament from Sally DeFord's site that I downloaded. You could sing along with the pianist, but I just love the arrangement and thought it would make it a little more special in introducing the song. I've also made my flip chart so that I can have the pictures separate from the words for the children to match up to. I also made a handout with a picture of Christ and the children with a spot for the child to draw or adhere a picture of themselves to when they get home and then they can place it somewhere in their home so that they will see it often. I plan on using either my egg shakers or rhythm/movement scarves in teaching the other verses the following week. I'll post about the scarves at a later date in case you aren't familiar with how to use them. Always trying to work movement into singing time for the little ones.


For parts of my singing lesson I drew my inspiration from the Friend magazine in the March 2008 issue. This song was used in that same year's program, although the song was originally introduced in the Friend in October 1993.


For the program, I am strongly thinking of having a couple of children each singing a verse and the whole Primary coming in on the last verse, so my emphasis will be on teaching the 3rd verse. I do like to give these type of opportunities to children; after all, it is their program! Now I just have to talk some brave souls into singing solos.


HERE ARE THE LINKS TO THE FILES

• Lesson Plan and Script
• Flip Chart: All three verses
• Handout: Two per sheet
• Question Mark (?) Cover Up: Print 5 to cover up each question.
• Sheet Music (the version published in the Friend magazine has a grammar typo "He was never far away" It should be "were". This has been corrected on this LDS music site version.
• Sheet Music with Flute Obbligato from Sally DeFord's site.
• MP3 from Sally DeFord's site (There are various versions. I am playing and singing to the second one listed that says "MP3 Accompaniment Track" that has the flute obbligato.
• LDS MP3 Version: Voice and Music: Warning—in this LDS.org version the children are singing the incorrect word "was" instead of "were".
• LDS MP3 Version: Music Only