YOU BE THE JUDGE!

This is the SR side of the poster from 2011

OH YES!  It is that time of year when we are all frantically taking the last opportunity to get the program songs PROGRAM PERFECT.  I made a "Singing Superstars" poster a few years back that I have used in a few different ways so far (love visuals that I can use in more than one way.) A singing meter of some sort is always nice to use to help gauge how well the children are doing on each song and children like to see their progress.  Here is one way I used this "Singing Superstars" poster.

YOU BE THE JUDGE!

ITEMS NEEDED

• Judging Poster & Stars or other meter visual you want to use
• Recording device (iPad with video recorder is great because they can also see how well they stand or sit while singing, but a tape recorder or a recording app for your phone or iPad will work fine.)

HOW (You can do this over 2 or more weeks)

1. Review the song once through to warm them up. Use any visuals if you think they need it to refresh in their minds.
2. Sing the song again without any visual helps and this time record the children singing the song as if they were in the program.
• Since I am five rows back in the congregation leading them during the program, they can't hear me sing, so I will only mouth the words just like I do in the program, besides, this really lets you know how well they know the song.
3. Play the song back for the children.
4. Let them judge on how well they did.
• Ask them what they did well on.
• Ask them what they can improve on.
• Here are some suggestions on what they can watch for in their judging.
• Did they know the words?
• Did they sing clearly?
• Was their volume good?
• Did they have good musicality?
• Where their eyes on me?
• How did they look when they sang? Reverent? Happy?
• Did they stand and sit on cue?
• Did they sing with the right feeling for the song?
• Could they feel the Spirit in their singing?
5. Ask them how many stars they think they earned on this song and place on your poster. You could use 1/2 stars too, e.g. 3 1/2 stars earned.
• Ho-Hum = 1 star
• Oki-doki = 2 stars
• Gooder = 3 stars
• Awesome = 4 stars
6. If they didn't earn 4 stars, practice the song two or more times as needed until you think they have it down. To keep the boredom of repetition down, you could use fun ways to repeat sing if you are trying to get the words down, but be careful of how you do this since the object of this is to really work with the kids in solidifying the song.
7. Once you think they are ready, repeat steps 2-5.
8. Repeat the full process with the next song on your list.
• Suggestion: List your songs to work on in an alternating fashion with one they know well so they have a quick success then for the next one sing one they don't know as well, then know, then don't know, then know, then don't know, etc. This will help keep things moving with some quicker successes in-between.
9. If you just want to use this to help gauge how they know each song instead of using it to practice and make improvements, just repeat steps 1-5 once through for each song. 

HOW TO MAKE THE POSTER

From scratch

• I made my poster using a florescent poster board and cutting the title banner with my Cricut Expression using the Hannah Montana font on 12" x 24" black card stock.
• I also used my Cricut to cut out the stars on holographic paper and cut out a larger shadow in black to go behind the holographic star.
• I made a junior version on one side and a senior version on the other side of the poster.
• I then laminated the poster.
• Optional: you could add four categories above where you would put the stars like I did for the "Ho-hum, Oki-doki" etc. or some other categories or leave it blank. If you laminate the poster before you add the categories, that will allow you to change categories depending on what you want to do.
• I printed and cut out my song titles and taped to the poster.
• I used square pieces of clear Velcro, but you could use tape to mount the stars as they earn them.
• With the poster being laminated, you could use a wet erase marker (will stay on until you wipe off with damp paper towel) to write the songs on instead of printing them out as well as you could draw on the stars.

From the pdf file attached

• I've attached six different posters: three with the songs listed for JR, SR or  both, in case you have a combined Primary, and three without the songs listed.  You can print the one you want out in poster format.  See the "How to Helps" on the pages bar above to see "Printing in Poster Format."
• Print as small or big as you want. 
• Cut out some stars or buy some star stickers or draw in the stars with a wet erase marker.

Another way you can use this poster is to bring it out at the end of every month starting at the first of the year to test them on the month's song they have been learning and/or at the end of each month you can test them on the songs learned so far adding or removing stars depending on how well they are doing. I will post another idea for this poster hopefully by tonight.

Singing Superstar Poster