Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Come Follow Me

End of the Year Goodbye Gift
For a goodbye gift in Sunday School to all my kids I teach I made this figure of Christ and filled it with all the words connected to the topics we studied all year. I added the theme and scripture for the year and then left a space where I could put each child's name to personalize it. It was a big hit.

I also made a copy with just words that represented the Savior that was more simple but still neat to give to them for a goodbye gift.







Wednesday, July 9, 2014

"Come Follow Me"

So my new calling is teaching the 12 and 13 yr. old Sunday school class. Its been a little bit of a challenge since I've been in primary for so long and now they are using the "Come Follow Me" curriculum.
I downloaded the cutest monthly outline posters from a site "holyhandouts".  I'm not sure what happened to her site... I can still see she has a facebook page but it doesn't give much help as to what has happened to all her stuff that you could download. But I loved the posters she had for each month and so I made 4x6 prints for each child in the class, they go in these frames from IKEA. I did a little bit of editing to each one to add the month and scripture to it.





You can go to my "one drive" to see the rest of them.

On the other side of the frame I made a 4x6 from a couple different clips from online... One said "Come Unto Christ" which is the 2014 yearly theme.


and the other one I made was to try to inspire them to act on our challenge during the week.

I let them have both and they could choose which one to put into the other side of the frame. 
I also made note books that followed each topic for that week.

Calendar for Notebook


Notebook Cover


Monthly Overview Insert for Notebook


Weekly Topic Insert for Notebook


After 6 months I quickly realized that following each topic got hard since there were more than you actually teach for the month... so now I have made just journal sheets to go into the notebook instead of the "above" insert.  



Friday, August 9, 2013

Activity Day's Example

As a primary presidency we wanted to do an activity with all the girls and their leaders so we could show our love and appreciation for them by giving them a chance to just enjoy the activity with their girls... but also we thought this was a perfect way to train and teach the leaders by setting an example! So they decided they wanted to make jewelry necklaces... so here is how we put a gospel focus into our activity.

Attention Getter- I took sticky notes and wrote words on them that represented things we talk about in the 13th article of faith (example- virtuous/modest clothing) and also words that that were the opposite of that (example- immodest clothing). Then I posted them all down the halls of the church and divided the girls into two groups. I told them I had written words that represented different things in the 13th article of faith (I did not tell them there were also ones with opposite words too). Whichever group could collect the most words would win... 1... 2... 3... GO! They scrambled away and were back within minutes... having collected all the words! So I collected both piles from the group and we started to go through the words, that is when they realized they hadn't noticed what they picked up. It was great way to grab their attention and teach the 13th article of faith and what the words mean.

Opening Song-13th article of faith

Opening Prayer- We talked about how important it is to always begin and end in prayer. We also talked about using the first few minutes to draw the girls in and the spirit as you focus on a gospel standard, article of faith, or scripture.



5 petals help us to consider 5 things we would be wise to never forget...


First “forget not” to be patient with yourself.
We spend so much time and energy comparing ourselves to others... usually comparing our weaknesses with their strengths. This fools us into thinking we need to be perfect! And then we don’t ever feel like our efforts are good enough. We don’t see the good we have done because it seems to be less than what someone else has done (Have girls name some examples).  Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. It’s wonderful that you have strengths and it is part of God’s plan that while we are mortal we have weaknesses. Like “forget me nots” your successes may seem tiny to you and may go unnoticed by others but God notices them and they are not small to him.


Second “forget not” the difference between a good sacrifice and a foolish sacrifice.
There are so many good things to do... But we can’t do all of them. Our Heavenly Father is pleased when we sacrifice something good for something far greater with an eternal perspective (Have girls name some examples). Sometimes that may even mean nurturing small but beautiful “forget me not” flowers instead of a large garden of exotic blooms.


Third “forget not” to be happy now.
In “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” Willy Wonka hides a golden ticket in five of his candy bars and announces that whoever finds one of his tickets wins a tour of his factory and a life time supply of chocolate. Written on each golden ticket is this message: “Greetings to you, the lucky finder of this Golden Ticket … ! Tremendous things are in store for you! Many wonderful surprises await you! … Mystic and marvelous surprises will delight, … astonish, and perplex you.”
In this classic children’s story, people all over the world desperately yearn to find a golden ticket. Some feel that their entire future happiness depends on whether or not a golden ticket falls into their hands. In their anxiousness, people begin to forget the simple joy they used to find in a candy bar. The candy bar itself becomes an utter disappointment if it does not contain a golden ticket. So many people today are waiting for their own golden ticket—the ticket that they believe holds the key to their happiness. (Have girls give some examples)
It is good to hope and seek after things that are “virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy.” The problem comes when we put our happiness on hold as we wait for some future event—our golden ticket—to appear.
If we spend our days waiting for fabulous roses, we could miss the beauty and wonder of the tiny forget-me-nots that are all around us.


Fourth “forget not” the Why of the gospel.
Sometimes we overlook the “why” of the gospel just as one might overlook a beautiful, delicate forget me not. Sometimes we see the gospel as a list of chores to do (Have girls give examples).  We just hear and do what were told and what were supposed to do but sometimes we forget why.
When we understand “why” our Heavenly Father has given us these things to do, those things no longer feel like chores or “have to’s” but begin to be joyful and a delight to do.
If we walk through the garden only looking at the things that need to be done we miss the beauty and blessings that surround us.


Fifth “forget not” that the Lord loves you.
As a child, when I would look at the little forget-me-nots, I sometimes felt a little like that flower—small and insignificant. I wondered if I would be forgotten by my family or by my Heavenly Father.
You are not forgotten.
Wherever you are, whatever your circumstances may be, you are not forgotten. No matter how dark your days may seem, no matter how insignificant you may feel, no matter how overshadowed you think you may be, your Heavenly Father has not forgotten you. In fact, He loves you with an infinite love.
Just think of it: You are known and remembered by the most majestic, powerful, and glorious Being in the universe! You are loved by the King of infinite space and everlasting time!
He who created and knows the stars knows you and your name—you are the daughters of His kingdom.
God loves you because you are His child. He loves you even though at times you may feel lonely or make mistakes.
If you will allow His divine love into your life, it can dress any wound, heal any hurt, and soften any sorrow.

Activity-We then made bottle cap necklaces with real "forget-me-nots" in them. I ordered the flowers from naturespressed.com and got the bottle caps, chain necklaces, and epoxy stickers off etsy.

We had closing prayer and pudding cups with oreo's and gummy worms.

At our next activity days meeting we were able to go over what we had done and talk over the important things that should be taking place when they meet with the girls.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Primary Program

So every year for the Primary Sacrament Presentation we try to get more children involved by participating in different ways... One way that I came up with a few years ago and has been so much fun that we have made it a tradition is by having all the children design or color a program that gets handed out on the day of the presentation.
One year the children drew a picture of their family... another year a story about the Savior... then their favorite scripture story... and then last year I designed about 4 different ones with the CTR logo on front and had all the children color and sign their master pieces! It has been such a neat experience to get those involved that have different talents and abilities and who express their testimony in different ways!

Here are some examples...




This year I think we will have them do self portraits to represent being a child of God... 

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Never Give Up!

This is one of my favorites! When I was in high school I got this in the mail from my mom. She just did stuff like that because she is so awesome! But I hung it on my bedroom wall and looked at it daily. 



Joseph Smith Candy Bar Wrapper

I made these for my sons lesson but also thought it would be cool to switch out the picture to Joseph restoring the priesthood and hand these out at the end of priesthood preview.

Giant Candy Bar Wrapper


Regular Candy Bar Wrapper


Baptism Memory Book

For a gift one year we gave the primary children who just were baptized was this memory book. It was inexpensive and the kids loved it! Especially because we told them this was there's and they could write in it, color in it and do what ever they like with it.