Mother, Tell Me the Story – pg. 204
Singing in sacrament meeting for Mother’s Day we put two songs together. We sang the first part of “Mother I Love You“, and then we sang “Mother Tell Me the Story”. At the end of that we sang the last part of “Mother I Love You” (Mother I love you, I love you, I do). I had the women teachers and primary leaders sing the mother’s part in the song, and I asked a violinist to play their part as they sang. We also did the combination of the mother’s and the children’s parts. It was beautiful.
Teaching the Song:
I used a visual aid idea that I saw several places on the Internet – I made the song into a story book. The children sang the song a couple of times as I showed them each page, then we started our memorizing activity. I had put the words on the pages with double-sided removable tape so I could remove them. I put black ribbons as bookmarks in-between each page. I had a child come up and choose a bookmark from the closed book. We opened the book to that page and I took the words off that page. They sang the song again. We did this until they had the song memorized.
Assembly:
I used four half sheets of poster board folded in half to make the book. After attaching the printed words and pictures, I laid the pages flat and poked two holes through the middle of all the pages, one towards the top of the pages and one towards the bottom. I put a shoe lace through the holes and tied the pages together. I taped the ends of the six black bookmark ribbons to the last page (which was blank) and then draped each ribbon bookmark in-between a page.
I gave copies of the song to the teachers after the children learned their part, and then we practiced everybody’s parts together. I let the teachers take the words home to memorize them.
Note: The pictures are from Microsoft Word Clipart and the Friend Magazine.
We’re actually using this song for Father’s Day. We used Daddy instead of Mother. I love your website. I get a lot of my ideas from your suggestions. I had the double-rainbows going for When I Was Baptized and it was a hit!
We started working on Daddy Tell Me A Story 2 weeks ago so I had to “wing” my own stuff (I am not creative at all. And having been a convert to the Church, I don’t know any of the Children’s Songs!). I just thought I’d share it as well, maybe somebody can combine it with your presentations.
We are singing this song this way:
Children sing 1st verse.
Male Teachers sing 2nd verse.
Children sing the extra verse (Daddy, tell me of Jesus…)
Male Teachers sing the extra verse (Child, he is near…)
Then Children and Teachers sing the 1st and 2nd verse together in harmony.
Then go into the coda (the D.S al $ in the book).
Okay, since we’re singing this in sacrament meeting soon, I decided to go straight to memorization without using word strips. I used objects instead –
Daddy, tell me the story (I open a Bible Story book)
that I love to hear (I pull out a red heart from the book)
Tell me of heaven and why I came here (Plan of salvation postcard)
Tell me you love me (another red heart on a popsicle stick)
And gently speak (put my index finger on over my lips)
And then I’ll go to sleep (hug a teddy bear and close my eyes)
The teachers sing their part from lyrics that I passed to them.
Daddy, tell me of Jesus (open a book with Jesus face on the front)
and how he is near (I bring the book close to my chest)
Tell how he loves me (another heart on a popsicle)
and I will not fear (a No Fear sign on a popsicle)
Tell how the spirit (hold up a battery-operated candle)
brings comfort and peace (hold a small white blanket to my cheeks)
and then I’ll go to sleep (hug the teddy bear again).
This worked great except that I was too busy holding things up that I messed up on the words! It would probably have worked better if I chose kids to hold things up at the specific points in the song.
Anyway, your idea is so much simpler and easier. Something I’m going to think about for next year if I still have this calling.
THANK YOU!
Thank you for sharing your ideas. I think they look wonderful and creative!