Here are my detailed plans for singing time for the month of January 2010. I have included links to the Jolly Jenn Website and to the Teaching LDS Files site at the end of this article. I have provided you with a detailed copy of my schedule for January at the Teaching LDS Files site that you are free to download and use.

January 3

I will be introducing the theme I have chosen to motivate the kids in singing the program songs this year. I am calling it "Celestial Challenge" and it is based on the three degrees of glory in the plan of salvation. Each of the verses of the songs will be placed in "Outer Darkness" and the kids will need to help them progress through the different degrees of glory in order to be program ready. When the verse of each song has reached "The Celestial Kingdom", it will then be ready to be sung in our Primary Program this year. I hope it will be a great motivator for the kids as we work on the songs for this year's program.

After I have introduced the "Celestial Challenge", I will introduce the song for this month. We will be working on "I Know That My Savior Loves Me", which is found at the back of the program guide this year. The song was also published in the October 2002 , Friend Magazine, and it is also available to be downloaded on the Church website int he music section.

In order to introduce the song, I will be using the "Storybook" method. I have a fake book cover that I use when I want to "tell a story", which usually is reciting the lyrics of the song they are about to learn. This is how I teach them that some songs are a story. I pull up a chair and "read the story" with the little ones standing around me so they can see the pictures. After I tell them the story we will then begin to learn the song. The pictures are then brought out of the fake book cover and used to learn the song. In this case, I am planning to use the flipchart visuals from the Jolly Jenn website.

I only plan to teach the chorus this first week. I will begin by talking about testimony. Testimony means to testify of something you know. If you bear a powerful testimony, sometimes you are able to convince others to believe something that you say. This song is a testimony. Every time you sing it, you will be bearing testimony of the Savior. When I sing it to you, I am also bearing testimony. I truly testify of the truths in this song.
Listen while I sing and count how many times I say the word, "I" (4)
Now listen for WHAT I know--2 things. (he lives, he loves me)
Now listen for what I will DO--2 things. (follow him, give my heart to him)

Go through the chorus of the song showing the flipchart pictures.

It starts out with high long notes.

I know He lives!--notice the exclamation point, sing it with me.

The next line also is high and slow.

I will follow faithfully.

The next line starts high and gets a little lower. Show the pitch descent with hand.

My heart I give to him-repeat with me.

In the last line the notes are faster.

I know that my Savior loves me.

Sing the line after me.

Now let's go through the whole chorus.
(Sing through with the pictures)
Now we're going to add some dynamics--that means how loud or soft we sing.
I want to start the chorus loud, for those long, high notes. (sing with them the first 2 lines).

Then on the 3rd line, sing a decrescendo. That means start loud and get quieter. For the last line we sing quiet. When we sing the chorus after the 2nd verse, we'll sing, "I Know That My Savior Loves Me" 2 times in a row. The 2nd time is higher and is very quiet and sweet. demonstrate the 2nd ending and have them repeat. Then sing the whole chorus with dynamics.

End bearing my testimony.

January 10

This week we will work on learning the first verse of the song, "I Know That My Savior Loves Me". We will work on dynamics for this verse as appropriate and finish by singing all of verse one and the chorus.

January 17

This week we will work on learning the second verse to the song. We will also work on appropriate dynamics. We will finish by singing the entire song all the way through.

January 24

For this week, we will review the song, "I Know That My Redeemer Loves Me". After we have sung this a time or two to my satisfaction, we will begin to learn "He Sent His Son", which is found in the Children's Songbook, p.34-35. I will again be using the visuals from the Jolly Jenn website.

January 31

This week we will again work on "He Sent His Son". We will work on dynamics for the song and sing it all the way through. My primary kids already know this song a little bit, so this one won't be too difficult for them to learn and get ready for the program.

I will also have the kids run through "I Know That My Redeemer Loves Me" for practice.