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Hints and Tips
Grades 1-2
A Blooming Story
Here's a unique way for a story to unfold. Cut
identical size circles, one for
each element of your story plus
one more. Use one circle as the
center of a flower, glue an
appropriate picture or print the
title of the story on it. Use
the other circles as fower
petals. Attach them with
staples. Print or put a picture
of each story element on the
petals so they are in order
clockwise. Then beginning with
the last element of the sotry
and working toward the first
element of the story, fold all
the petals behind the center of
the flower. Now you are ready
to tell the story. Introduce
the story with the center of the
flower, and unfold each petal as
each story element is told.
When the story is finished, the
flower will be in full bloom
Look! Up in the Sky! It's a Lesson Visual!
When setting up visual displays, don't limit yourself
to bulletin boards. Other
possible display areas include
the classroom door, the sides of
a desk, the sides of a file
cabinet, etc. You can use large
cardboard boxes for movable
stand-up room displays. If you
feel adventurous, use the
ceiling and have everyone lay on
the floor for the lesson!
Primary Humor
Ordinary out of place things are funny to primaries.
Mix things up. Do things
backwards. For primaries, silly
is fun. When you plant a seed,
don't use a flower pot (that's
too ordinary); plant your seeds
in an old tennis shoe. That's
something your students will
talk about...
Let Your Fingers do the Story
Try using finger puppet if you are telling a story with
many characters. Finger puppets
can be made from strips of
construction paper that are
decorated with crayons and then
taped around your fingers.
Finger puppets can also be quite
elaborate creations made from
felt and yarn. Fingers of
gloves can be decorated so each
finger becomes a different story
character. Keep fingers bent
when those characters are
offstage, and raise your fingers
as the story characters appear.
Emergency Game Box
What do you do now? You've completed everything in the
lesson plan and class time is
only half over! Get out the
emergency game box! Prepare
this box by decorating a
medium-size box and labeling it
with the name of the class. On
slips of paper, write the names
of several games your children
like to play (ask them, they'll
tell you). Then the next time
your lesson runs short, have one
of the children pull a slip from
the game box and play the game
named on the slip. Whenever you
learn a new game, add it to the
box!
Thumb Very Funny Critters
Provide an ink stamp pad for this fun activity. Have
each child make several
thunbprints on a piece of
paper. Encourage him or her to
experiment with the placement of
the prints (make some
thumbprints vertical, some
horizontal, some alone, some
linked together). Use markers or
crayons to transform the
thumbprints into animals,
insects, or critters of the
child's imagination. Use more
than one color of ink for
variety. Provide damp paper
towels or wet wipes to clean up
little fingers.
Missionary Media
Your class crafts, paintings, and drawings are
excellent missionary tools.
They take the Gospel message
into the community. First, they
present the Gospel to parents
who don't come to church. Then,
they present the Gospel to
freinds who come over to play
and see them displayed in your
student's room.
Measuring Attention Span
Don't think of a preschooler's attention span in terms
of time. Think of it in terms
of activity. Is the activity an
appropriate level of difficulty
for this age? If it's too
difficult, the children will
give up and feel frustrated. If
it's too easy, the children will
get bored. At the proper level
of difficulty, the activity will
hold the child's attention.
Popcorn Fireworks
Spread a large, feshly laundered tablecloth or bed
sheet on the floor. Place a
popcorn popper in the middle of
the sheet. Pop popcorn with the
lid off the popper. Let the
children watch the popcorn
fireworks from a safe distance.
When all the popcorn is popped,
remove the popper and let the
children sit at the edges of the
sheet and eat the popcorn.
Colored popcorn works best for
this activity.
Teachable Treats
Always try to use your snack time as a teaching
moment. Think of ways a treat
might be used to emphasize or
review a portion of the lesson.
You might serve tiny fish-shaped
crackers if your story was about
Jesus multiplying the boy's
lunch. |
