Friday, January 18, 2013

"Wheel of Wonder"~ DIY Spin the Wheel Game


The Primary Kids in my ward at the time named this the "Wheel Of Wonder". :)
You spin the wheel to pick what song you will sing next. 
The kids would DIE to spin this thing.  They loved it.  It was definitely an activity I was always saying "Be happy for your friends that got picked to spin the wheel!" :)
This is also soooo easy for switching songs appropriate for either Jr. Primary or Sr. Primary.
The songs on the wheel in the pic above are for: "Follow the Prophet", "Called to Serve", "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam", "Once there was a Snowman", "Tell me the Stories of Jesus", "Do As I'm Doing", "I Lived in Heaven", and "Book of Mormon Stories".  Can you tell it's for Jr. Primary? :)  But as you can see I have more made for other songs.  So, easy to switch the songs on the wheel!  Also, lets say the kids are really having a hard time learning "I Lived in Heaven".  Then, print out 2 or 3 of that pic and put it on the wheel 2 or 3 times!  That way the probability you will land on that song to practice it are higher!

Materials you will need:
- Sticky Velcro {I use the dot kind}
- Construction Paper
- Glue Sticks or Rubber Cement
- Paper Clip
- Piece of Packing Tape
- Razor Blade
- Images for various songs you want to include on the wheel
-2 Foam Boards 
{They sell them at Dollar Tree, but you can buy larger ones for cheap too at Hobby Lobby}

1. I traced out a circle on the foam board.  Then, used a razor blade to cut it.
2. Cut out different colors of your construction paper.  Assort and glue to the foam board.
3.  Put a Velcro circle towards the top of each color.  Make sure they are all the same type.  Such as all the fuzzy side of the Velcro   Then, on the back of all the pics you make, you will have the scratchy harder side of the Velcro.  That way you don't have to worry about them not sticking together.
4. I used the paper clip to keep the wheel and the back foam board together.  I unbent the paper clip.  Poked a whole through the two foam boards.  Threaded the paperclip through both boards and then bent back the paperclip at each end.  Make sense???  But, before you poke holes and thread it through, do you see the little square of pack tape I put where the hole will be?  That is to keep the paperclip from tearing up the construction paper while it spins. 

 My little helper spinning the wheel.
What did we land on?



You pull it off and sing that song!
My son wants to use this at our next FHE.

P.S. 
You could use this wheel idea with more than just music!  You could make it geared towards reading.  The pics could be character, plot, setting, etc...  Possibilities are endless. :)

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Sing-O-Meter!


The good ol' Sing-O-Meter!!
Great to use for singing time in the home, church, or at school!
I'm moving Feb. 1st and as I was going through some old teaching/church boxes I found some old visuals I used when I was a Primary Chorister for my church. Thought I would share.

I just bought a foam board from Dollar Tree.  Yellow, Orange, and Red Posters {also at Dollar Tree for .50 cents}
Cut out the poster.  Used glue and packing tape to keep it together.  Permanent Marker for the details and ta-da!  An awesome sing-o-meter you can use in the classroom, FHE, primary, wherever!
And here is my handsome assistant {who just started Primary for the first time this month} doing a great job demonstrating how it's used! :)
Yup, you can even have a Sunbeam come to the front to help you!  They will love it! :)

P.S. Sorry the ends of the poster is a little crunched from being in storage. 

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Monday, January 14, 2013

Spreading Heartprints!


So, one night in January my son picked out this book for his bedtime story. It's "Heartprints" by P.K. Hallinan. It's a book about leaving "heartprints" behind as you serve and be nice to others. REALLY cute book with a great moral to the story. So, I thought it would be fun to make this into a Valentine activity for FHE {For those who don't know FHE stands for Family Home Evening. This is where we have a family lesson and activity every Monday night for some quality family time}. We started a "chain" service activity for Valentine's day.  So, kind of like the whole "Boo'd" during Halloween.  And "Egged" during Easter season.  This is "Heartprints" during Valentine's season. :)




I got the red baskets at the Dollar Tree. Put some Valentine candy, the book, and a poem in the basket. We cut out hearts and wrote something nice about each member of the family on a heart- why we love them.  So, on the person's door we taped the "We've been heart attacked with Heartprints" sign and the hearts with nice things  about them. The basket was left on the porch.  You could heart-attack the rest of the house if you want.  Then, ring the doorbell and run! :)




Then, when the other family gets ready to move it on, they copy the "We've been heart attacked with Heartprints" sign or they just print one online here on my blog. Refill the candy.  Put the book back. And pick a family and do the same.  The families should leave the "We've been heart attacked with Heartprints"  sign and the hearts on their door.  So, #1 they remember the love shown throughout the Valentine's season and #2 other families know they have already been given Heartprints.

What a great and fun way to spread love this Valentine season!!


Want to do this with your family?

You will need:

-Basket {got mine at Dollar Tree}

-"Heartprints" Poem I wrote- Download Here



-"We were heart attacked with Heartprints" sign- Download Here

-Valentine Candy or this yummy Valentine Chex Mix

-"Heartprints" by P.K. Hallinan- Buy at your local bookstore or amazon
 {I guess you could buy just one for your family and then photocopy it. Then, send around the photocopy version. Obeying copyright laws... of course. :)  That way in case you want to do more than one family.  Cuz buying more than one book would be pricey. But, I figure all the families that participate in this activity will want to go buy one for their own family anyways.}


Enjoy & Good Luck spreading "Heartprints" this Valentine's Season!


Skip To My Lou Lil\'Luna
The 36th AVENUE
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Monday, January 7, 2013

The Godhead ~ "What do we know about the nature of The Godhead?"




So, how did your first lesson go?  My YW seem excited for this new curriculum!  Here are the pages we glued in their INBs for the first question "What do we know about the nature of The Godhead?"  Thought I'd share in case you did a different question for the first lesson.  Or you can get your creative juices flowing for future lessons!
The nature of The Godhead Page 2

OR download them HERE in Dropbox:
Page 1
Page 2
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Saturday, December 29, 2012

"Come Follow Me" INBs


As many of you know, there is a new curriculum for Young Women for 2013!
So excited for this new change!
While attending the training, watching the videos online, etc... I felt very strongly that our YW would "learn" more and be more engaged if they had a notebook to write down thoughts, feelings, and information they learned.  I know this new curriculum is very generalized so we can meet the needs of our own YW, but I thought I would share since this is a generalized idea on how to carry out the new curriculum.  But, what goes IN the INB is up to YOU and your own personal inspiration you receive for your own YW.

What is an INB?
INB stands for Interactive NoteBook.  And it's just that.  An Interactive Notebook.
When I taught Jr. High these are what my students used for Math Notes {see previous INB post here} and Reading Assignments.  They. were. awesome.   I've used them with over 480 middle schoolers and they flourished using them.  They really made them their own and took ownership over them.  I picture the YW doing the same.  As they glue in handouts, worksheets completed in class, write down feelings they had during the lesson, draw diagrams {picture plan of salvation diagrams being glued in}, etc... They take notes and really make it geared toward them.  I can picture the YW hanging on to these and using them on their missions!  Eek!  I'm really excited about using these with my YW and seeing them grow this year!

I'm having my YW put them together Wednesday night for mutual.
 
 First, purchase one of these.
Honestly, after doing this with over 480 middle schooler, the spiral ones last longer.
But, that was being put in and out of backpacks all year long.  The binding on the other composition books doesn't last long for that.  But, since these will just come back and forth with the YW on Sundays.  Or are even kept in the YW closet during the week, you may get away with it.

Make a Table of Contents on the first 4 pages {front, back, front, back}
You can, of course, make more or less if you want.
 I labeled mine:
Page #, Date, Lesson/Topic
I just drew a line after the wording "Page #" and "Date".  Drew a line at the red line, and centered "Lesson/Topic" over that column.  I used to give the kid's their score in the far right column.  But, since these aren't for a grade, you can omit that column. :)


 Now, that you have made your Table of Contents on the first 4 pages
{front, back, front, back}
it's time to number ALL the pages.
Yes, seems tedious, but believe me. It's very helpful throughout the year!
 Now, here is an example of how I envision the Table of Contents looking:
 Of course, yours will be different based on what you want to put in the notebook with your YW during the year.  But, the Table of Contents is key.  Whenever one of my YW wants to review or look over the characteristics we wrote about Heavenly Father, she will turn to pages 6 & 7.  When she wants to look at her Plan of Salvation diagram, she can turn to that page.  List of 10 commandments can be found on such n such page, etc.... Get the idea?
 Here are some pages I know ALL of us can use.

***UPDATE!!***
You can now download all the pages below HERE!

January: The Godhead
February: The Plan of Salvation
March: The Atonement of Jesus Christ
April: The Apostasy and the Restoration
May: Prophets & Revelation
June: Priesthood & Priesthood Keys
July: Ordinances & Covenants
August: Marriage & Family
September: Commandments
October: Becoming More Christlike
November: Spiritual and Temporal Self-Reliance
December: Building the Kingdom of God in the Latter Days

OR DOWNLOAD IN DROPBOX HERE:

You will glue in the month subject papers as you go during the year.  Now remember, not everyone will be gluing these on the same page.  For example, Amanda might have taken up 5 pages writing her testimony on The Godhead.  But, Sara only took up 3.  So, they will be gluing in the "February: Plan of Salvation" page on their next available page.  Which will be different since they took up different amounts of room in their notebook.  This will be fine!  As long as they update their Table of Contents so they can find where "February: The Plan of Salvation" starts.  So, it's important!!  Always label your page on the Table of Contents when you start a new page!

**NOTE: Whenever you make a worksheet to go along with your lesson, you will want to adjust the margins.  So, it's easier for the YW to cut to fit in their INB.  
Margins are:
 Top 0.25 
Bottom 0.5
 Left 0.5 
Right 1.8
 The girls will only have to cut off a "L" {see above pic}

Use GLUE STICKS to glue worksheets into the INB
Bottle glue makes the paper wrinkle.

 Decorate the front how you want!!
These pictures of Jesus Christ are only .10 at the Distribution Center! Free Shipping!

So, this is what it should look like inside:
 Table of Contents
 Table of Contents, Table of Contents
 Table of Contents, Lesson Schedule

Hope you find this helpful!!


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Math INBs


What is an INB?
INB stands for Interactive NoteBook
What are they?  They are just that.  An interactive notebook. :)
When I taught Jr. High we used these.  They were a huge success!  My students who don't normally take Math notes, took them!  I taught both Math and Reading.  So, my students had a Math INB and a Reading INB.  I would have my students set them up on the first few days of school.  4 pages of Table of Contents. And then they number the front and back of EVERY page.  Then, we are ready for the year.  I had a printout to glue on the cover.  If they decorated it, it was extra credit.  And then the students kept them in storage size baggie in their backpacks.  My experience with students using these is that they really take ownership of them and become quiet possessive of them.
In the Math INB, we would take notes.  We had a table of contents at the beginning.  So, every day before we began Math Notes, my students would go to the next available page in their notebook.  See what page number was next.  Then, they would go to the table of contents, put the page number, date, and note section {such as 9.4 Surface Area of a Square Pyramid etc...}
Then, when they were studying for a test or referring to their notes during homework it was EASY to find.  I would collect the student's Math INBs at the end of each Chapter and give them quick participation points if they had their math notes.  I rarely had any students not take notes because of these INBs.  
In the Reading INB, we would do their vocabulary, novel studies, etc....  Any worksheets I handed out were cut and glued into the INB {no lost papers!!}.  Glue sticks work best.  Don't recommend the bottle glue... huge mess and not a flat surface to write on.

And what an easy cost at the beginning of the the year.  A single subject notebook.  That's it.  
10 cents at Target.  Done.
 My favorite unit to teach in the INBs were the surface area and volume chapters.
My students loved gluing in the nets of these shapes and hands on folding the shapes as they try to configure the Surface Area.  How easy is it to tell the difference between the slant height and height of the square pyramid when you can actually see it!








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