If I Listen with My Heart: Monthly Plan for Verses 1, 2, and 3

 If I Listen with My Heart

Monthly Plan

The brain craves variety, but needs repetition

Repeating that one more time: the brain craves variety, but needs repetition.

How can I repeat a song with the children enough times that it will go deep into their hearts, yet use enough variety so they don't get bored?

Try using the Multiple Intelligence approach.

What is that?  

Consider this: Use an activity that uses movement one week, then use another activity the next week that has a visual puzzle.  The following week use an activity that use words (concrete words for younger children, not reading), and the week after use a movement pattern that tests the logic side of the children's brains.  (Those are just examples of what you can do.)  Especially if the activity reflects the mood and the message of the song, it can be very powerful for the children. 

Below are at least a month's worth of those kinds of activities for just this song.

Before we start, though, there's another reason, for this particular song, to teach in so many different ways.  A child's voice has to learn how to jump from one note to another that is far away (especially a note upward). It takes practice for the vocal cords to do it well.  This piece has LOTS of jumps for the children's voices, so we need to present the song in at least 4 or 5 different ways so that the children can have practice.  With variety in the presentations, they don't even know that jumping from note to note is one thing they are practicing! 

Verse 1 - Younger

Week 1 - Sway and Freeze

Week 2 - Melody Map with pictures

Week 3 - Action Word Actions

Week 4 - Paper Plates

Week 5 - Handbell Harmony

Verse 1 - Older

Week 1 - Word Puzzle

Week 2 - Windwand patterns

Week 3 - 8 Puzzle Match Up

Week 4 - Paper Plates

Week 5 - Handbell Harmony

The beauty of all of these different activities is:

1.  It uses different parts of the children's brains

2. The children are all engaged and participating

3. The attitude they have about learning this song is positive, interested, and engaged

4. They get the repetition they need without drilling.  

5. It is fun!

I am also going to teach the 2nd and 3rd verse of this song, but I will teach them as separate entities.  They don't get mixed up in the brain that way, and the children grasp the concept of the new verse as a separate thing from the first verse. That's especially important for this song which tells of 3 ways to hear the Savior's voice... one concept per verse.

I am teaching verse 2 so that we can use it for March, the month we concentrate on listening to the prophet.

Note: The links will be active for verse 2 and 3 at the end of January.

Verse 2 - Younger

(I will be teaching this verse on the prophet during March as we focus on following the prophet as the theme of Sharing Time.)

Week 1 - Tap, tap, swish, swish, and Partner swing as an extender

Week 2 - Concentration Match It Game with pictures

Week 3 - Paper Cup Tap Pattern

Verse 2 - Older

Week 1 - Melody Map and key words

Week 2 - Concentration Match It Game with pictures

Week 3 - Paper Cup Tap Pattern, and Take it in, Take it out as an extender 

I will be teaching Verse 3 about the Holy Ghost in the month of April

Verse 3 - Younger

Week 1 - Windwands

Week 2 - Action Word Actions

Week 3 - Magic Crayon

Verse 3 - Older

I will be teaching a harmony partner song for the 3rd verse to the Senior Primary.  

The first week I will be showing a video from the Church website starting with the 3rd verse:  Click here to see that. I will be singing the harmony partner song (up by the end of January on this site) with the video as they watch, then I will continue on with these activities plus teaching that partner song to the older children.

Week 1 - Envelope Game for Verse 3

Week 2 - Bar Graph of Partner Song with key words

Week 3 - Both Songs together (Melody verse 3 and Harmony Partner Song for verse 3) This piece would be beautiful with a flute obbligato playing with the children.