Week 1, verse 1: Here's the
printable version of instructions and
here's what to print out and use for singing time.
Have the pianist play the song while you tell
a story like this one:
Brian was playing soccer with his friend in the front yard. They
were passing the ball back and forth, having so much fun. Brian kicked the ball
extra hard and it hit his neighbor’s car, leaving a small dent. Brian felt sick
inside and wanted to run away. At first he thought it was just a small dent, no
one would notice, but then he remembered something he learned in church: If the
Savior was with me, what would I do? Brian went and told his neighbor, Mrs. O’Donald,
what happened with the soccer ball. Mrs. O’Donald smiled and told Brian it was
alright and she was happy he told her what he did. Brian felt so good inside
knowing he made the right decision.
Explain that
we are learning a song this month about what we would do if the Savior was
standing right next to us. Would we watch the same tv shows? Would we be more
kind to our brothers and sisters? Would we be more honest? It takes courage to
do the right thing, just like Brian telling his neighbor about the dent in the
car but we always feel better when we choose the right.
Activity:
Print out the document with the words do,
think, follow, and live. Have a
picture of Christ displayed on the board. Have a child come hold up the first
paper. Sing the first line while pointing to the picture of the Savior then
sing the second line corresponding with the paper the child is holding. Have
the children sing the line with you then ask what the child is doing in the picture
(praying or being reverent). Ask what are other things the Savoir would like us
to do.
Have a child
hold up the next picture (think), sing that line, then have primary sing with
you. Ask what are commandments we should follow. Ask what good things we can
think about if we start thinking about bad things. Sing everything up to that
point.
Have a child
hold up the next picture (follow), sing that line, then have primary sing with
you. Ask who are people we should follow and try to be like (parents, teachers,
prophet, Jesus, bishop, etc)? Sing everything up to that point.
Have a child
hold up the next picture (live), sing that line through until the end, then have
primary sing with you.
Ask children
to pretend like they are following someone who they know makes good choices by
walking in place to the song while they sing it all the way through. Sing
through a few more times in different ways while taking away the papers.
With extra
time you could sing Follow the Prophet (a good example of who to follow), Book
of Mormon Stories (scripture reading is something you would do if the Savior
was there) etc. or even use these songs as you go especially with a wiggly junior primary.
Week 2, Verse 2: Here's the printable version of the instructions and here's what to print out, color and cut.
Preparation: Print out images. Color
them, you can do the flowers different colors! Cut out pieces. Also cut strips
of green construction paper for the stems and write these words each on their
own strip: Say, Words, Try, and Speak. Before primary tape all the pieces
on the walls, where they can all easily be seen.
Have the
pianist play the song while you tell a story like this one:
Rachael sat down after saying the opening prayer in Sunday school
class when Anna, a girl from school walked in with the primary president. Anna had
never been to church before and was wearing pants and a nice shirt. The primary
president introduced Anna then left. Anna sat quietly throughout class and
looked nervous. When class was over everyone was walking to the primary room when
Rachael heard some girls whispering, making fun of Anna’s clothes. Rachael felt
sad inside hearing the mean words. Rachael went over to Anna and asked if she
wanted to sit by her. Anna smiled and said yes. As they walked into the primary
room Rachael told Anna she was so happy to see her at church. The next week
Anna came to church again.
Ask: How do
you think Anna would have felt if she heard someone making fun of her? Do you
think she would have come to church again the next week? When our words are
unkind it makes others feel sad. But when we are like Rachael, we can make
other feel happy and loved. This week we are learning the second verse of “If the
Savior Stood Beside Me.” In this verse we sing about how our words need to be
kind and loving.
Tell the
kids: One thing we can compare our words to is a seed (you can bring a seed or
even a dried pinto bean to show at this point). If we plant good seeds, good
plants will grow. If we say bad words or plant bad seeds, nothing good can come
of it. So today while we learn the song we are going to make plants grow with
the good words of this song.
Bring up 4
children. Tell them they will each find one seed. Send one child out to find a
seed, when they bring it up, send out the next child, then the next until all
four are found. Sing the line, “If the Savior stood beside me would I say the
things I say?” over and over again while children are finding seeds. Tape seeds
on the front board in the order: say, words, try, speak.
Bring up
another 4 children. Do the same thing with stem and repeating the line, “Would
my words be true and kind if He were never far away?” Attach stems to seeds,
keeping same words together.
Bring up
another 4 children. Do the same thing with leaves and repeating the line, “Would
I try to share the gospel?” Attach leaves to stems.
Bring up
another 4 children. Do the same thing with flowers and repeating the line, “Would
I speak more reverently?” Attach flowers to stems.
It will end up taped up like this (I know seed are big but hopefully that will be the one easiest for the kids to read):
Now sing the
song all the way through and point to each flower as you get to that word.
Week 3, Verse 3
What you need: Picture of Christ to tape on board, picture
of “Jesus Carrying a Lost Lamb” in the Gospel
Art Book page 64, picture of “Christ and Children from around the World” in
the Gospel Art Book page 116. Piece of paper with the word “He” written on it. Objects for the activity you choose below.
Preparation: Tape picture of Christ on the board then place
paper with “He” on it over the picture of Christ and put one piece of tape on
the top so you can lift it up and put it back down. See 3 activities below and prepare for the one you choose.
Tell children: Today we are learning the last verse of If
the Savior Stood Beside Me. I want you to look at a picture. Hold up picture of
Christ holding lamb. Ask children to tell you what they see in the picture. After
a few responses explain that one of Christ’s names is the Good Shepherd. Christ looks
after us just like a shepherd looks after his sheep. We are Christ’s sheep. When
we see a picture of Christ as a shepherd,
we should think of Christ watching over us. Show picture of Christ and
children. Say: In this picture, do you see Christ’s hand around the little
girl? He loves her and He loves you. So, when we look at the picture of Christ
and the lamb and the picture of Christ and the children, it means the same
thing. He watches over us and loves us. Let’s learn the verse about Christ
watching over us.
Go to your picture on the board. Sing the first line of the
song. At the beginning point to the word “He” for the first word of the verse,
lift up the paper and point to Christ
while singing “…is always near me.” Put the paper down and continue, “though I
do not see him there”, while shaking your head no. Have children sing that line
a few times while you repeat the actions with the paper.
Sing, “And because He loves me dearly I am in His watchful
care,” while showing picture of Christ and children. When singing “watchful”
point to your eyes. Have children sing it with you a few times.
When singing, “So I’ll be the kind of person that I know I’d
like to be,” do different actions of good things we can do. I'm linking to pictures you can print out if you want to remind the children what order they are doing which actions. So, explain quickly why it is good to do the things in the pictures then sing the line over and over again without stopping while doing actions like
raking leaves for a neighbor,
taking care of a brother or sister (feed baby bottle, rock baby),
inviting a new person at school to sit with you (wave your hand toward you as in 'come' and pat seat beside you motion).
Explain that in the 3rd verse the ending is a little different. While singing, "If I could see the Savior standing nigh watching over me," start your hands down low and put them up higher with every note until the final note you are on your tippy toes and hands are high.
When singing it all the way through do the actions you just did for each part. Ask the children which action they liked in the 3rd phrase and do that one (raking, caring for baby, etc.).
3 Ideas for reviewing the whole song:
1. Prepare a poster with a picture of a big sheep on it. Bring glue, poster, cotton balls and paint brush. Say that since we are talking about sheep we are going to make a sheep together. I brought glue and cotton balls for us to make a white wooly sheep. If you want to add a cotton ball to our sheep you have to be reverent.
You paint on the glue with a paint brush. Sing the 3rd verse over and over again while children come up, one class at a time, taking one or two cotton balls each to add to the lamb.
To make sure the cotton balls don't slide down have a thin layer of glue and you may want to break each cotton ball into two pieces. You could do this right before you hand the piece to a child so each child will have two pieces from one cotton ball.
2. Bring some stuffed animal sheep or
print out pictures like this one. Explain that sometimes we make mistakes but the Savior, as the Good Shepherd, wants us to come back to him. In the scriptures it says that he will leave 99 sheep to go and find 1 that is missing. So today we are going to be like the Savior and find some lost sheep. Say that you've hidden sheep around the room and will give clues to find them.
Call up a child or two and give them a clue to where a sheep is, start very vague. The child can look while primary sings. They may or may not find one the first time. Call up another child or two and give another clue, a little more specific. When they find a sheep start giving clues for another one.
Example: Hide a sheep under steps of podium. First clue: One sheep is in the front of the primary room. Second clue: You have to look under something. Third clue (if you get this far): Look inside the podium.
Example: Hide a sheep behind chairs. First clue: One sheep is squished. Second clue: This sheep is behind something you sit in. Third clue: Look along that wall.
Example: Hide a sheep in a bag you've placed somewhere in the room. First clue: This sheep is in the back of the room. Second clue: The sheep is inside something. Third Clue: The sheep is in a bright blue bag.
3. Explain the 99 and 1 concept above. Play the classic, one child leaves the room while another
hides the sheep and kids sing louder when the child who is finding gets closer to the sheep.
Bear testimony that when we are doing the things the Savior
would want us to do we are the most happy. He is watching over us. He is our
shepherd, we are His sheep and he will always be there for us. You can show
Christ you love him by keeping the commandments.
