Did You Think to Pray? Eraser Pass for Older Children

These words are up on the whiteboard or blackboard at the front of the room.

earlier, ere, before

morning, sunrise, before noon

speak to God, pray, offer thanks

authority, commander, name

sue, ask for, petition

kind actions, loving favor, looking after

defense, shield, protection

tired, discouraged, weary

night, darkness, hopelessness

dreary, gloomy, really hard

Tell the children:

Some of these words are not in the song. Your job, when you receive the eraser, is to erase one of the words that is NOT in the song. As soon as you erase a word that is NOT in the song, hand the eraser quickly to someone else. I will sing the song 5 times. Can you work together to erase all the words that are NOT in the song by the time I finish singing? (Notice how many times I emphasize "NOT" in the song... experience has taught me that someone invariably is not listening well enough and needs me to repeat that particular instruction a couple of times<grin>.)

I keep a writing utensil close so that if a child makes a mistake and erases a word in the song, I just write it back up as I keep singing.

Once I have handed the eraser to the first child, they then hand it to another child, and that child to another child and so on, until all the songs that are NOT in the song are erased.

When only the words "ere, morning, pray, name" and so on (some of the words of the song) are left up on the board, I then ask the children to sing only the words on the board and I will sing all the rest. (That way they are hearing all of the words of the song in their head and singing outloud only on the words up on the board. Called audiation, it is a VERY stong way to learn a song.)

Now switch. The children sing all the words of the song EXCEPT the words on the board. I will sing those.

It is fun, challenging, and the pattern of the words of the song and some of their definitions slip into the backdoor of the their memory.