When He Comes Again

Music teaches and touches our hearts in a way that words cannot.
For our lesson on the Second Coming of Christ, we closed by singing, When He Comes Again.
I gave a copy of the music to each of my students and had them stand as a choir (all 6 of them) and sing.
The room was filled with the Spirit.
It was beautiful
The music I copied for each student is HERE or HERE
I used the accompaniment from the Children's Songbook in the LDS Music Library.

Another option is to have students sing along with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir using THIS LINK

Too many times, when we discuss the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, we focus on the negative, dreadful events that will happen. This song is a reminder of how sweet it will be to meet our Savior. The message brings hope and a clear vision of how blessed that day will be.

Use this song with any discussion/lesson on the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
Use this method of having students sing with any lesson that has a powerful hymn to teach and reinforce the doctrines and principles taught.

Image is from LDS.org, Children's Songbook

Philippians 4

Philippians 4:8 is cross-referenced to Article of Faith 13.
I want my students to associate Paul's counsel to the Philippians with Article of Faith 13.

I sent my students on a "Treasure Hunt" to students seek the virtues that taught by Paul and in Article of Faith. (Honest, True, Chaste, Benevolent, Virtuous, Doing GOOD to all men, virtuous, praiseworthy, lovely, good report)

They were divided into color-coded teams  (see photos below) and had to go around the building seeking for the words to fill in the blanks. Each team had 11 words to look for (good report counted as 2 words). When they returned to the classroom, they had to put the words in the correct blanks.

Each team selected one of the virtues we seek after and had to look up a scripture or quote to support that virtue and then explain how we can best seek after than virtue.

I showed the video,  "Texting Truth", that reinforced seeking truth and using the recent messages from LDS General Conference.

This was an interactive lesson that created the opportunity for students to  get up and move, use foot notes,  and "dive in" to their scriptures.

We are at the time in the school year where everyone is tired. Spring Break was very early for us and the months of April and May have very few days off. These "up and moving" days are important to balance out the dark, sleepy mornings.

(and yes, I corrected the spelling of Philippians on the posters pictured below)

 Happy Teaching!

Forgiving Others- Part 2

Object Lesson:

In 2 Corinthians 2:11, the Apostle Paul teaches that when we don't forgive others, we give satan an advantage over us.
I showed this powerful video, click HERE  and used the following object lesson based on a few ideas I have seen.

This object lesson demonstrates the protection that forgiving others brings to us.
Other applications for this object lesson: Put on the whole armor of God-Arming ourselves with spiritual protection, etc.

Here are the supplies and method:

1) Jar of "Forgiveness" aka Liquid Dishwashing Soap (I used Dawn)

2) Container of "Temptation, Evil, Spiritual Danger, Wickedness" aka Ground Pepper

3) Clear glass bowl filled with water

 The bowl of clean water represents the world

 Add some Temptation, Evil, Spiritual Danger, and Wickedness to the world

Dip your finger into the world  filled with evil and it will come out covered with pepper, "evil"
Clean your finger completely and dip it into the jar of "Forgiveness"
Dip the finger coated with "Forgiveness" in the center of the dirty water.
The "Temptation, Evil, Spiritual Danger, and Wickedness" scatter to the edges of the bowl and will not stick to your finger that is protected with "Forgiveness"

 Your finger will come out clean demonstrating that forgiving others protects us from satan's influences. Satan will not have an advantage over us when we forgive others.

Forgiving Others

In 2 Corinthians 2:11, Paul teaches that when we don't forgive others, we give satan an advantage over us.
This powerful video featuring Kristy Glass shows the importance of forgiving others-even those who never apologize to us. Click HERE to view.
I told my students that one of the most difficult things they would ever have to do is to forgive someone who does not show remorse or never apologizes.
Forgiving others is not for them, it is for us and Kristy clearly shares this principle.

Image from Soulseeds

General Conference Countdown Part 2

We made our General Conference Countdown paper chain this morning. It was a wonderful activity that supported Acts 27 when Paul and the other prisoners were taken on a ship. He warned everyone that it was not a safe time to travel due to weather conditions. It was storm season. He tried to warn them but they tried to sail anyhow. This ended with the prisoners and crew shipwrecked. We discussed how heading the counsel of Prophets will help us avoid storms, whirlwinds, and experiencing our own "shipwreck"

With 31 days until General Conference, on 15 of the paper strips, we wrote the names of the current Prophet, his counselors, and the 12 Apostles.
On the remaining strips of paper, we wrote principles and doctrines we have received counsel on from Prophets.
Each day, during devotional, we will remove a link. If there is a name, we will learn about that person, if there is a doctrine or principle, we will discuss quotes and scriptures that teach and give counsel on that subject.

I love when I have an idea and I can feel the Lord take over and fine tune the details. He is in charge.

Scriptures Side By Side

Happy New Year!

Some lessons call for comparing scriptures from John in the New Testament and John in the JST (Joseph Smith Translation) or other books from the Bible.

Most of the the time when we do this comparison, we meet the following challenges or I lose half of my class for one or all of these reasons:

a) Merely finding the JST (although each of my students have a bookmark in the JST section of their Scriptures)
b)We don't use it often enough for them to be confident in locating it.
c) The switching back and forth as we compare verses, sentences, and words is confusing for some
d) The confusion caused by the switching back and forth is such a distraction that the messages and meanings are lost or, better yet, never found.

This morning, I had a brainstorm as to how to avoid the switching back and forth (the bookmarks help them find the JST but don't solve the switching back and forth) and more importantly, how to have my students gain understanding and find meaning in the messages.

This method took no advance preparation or extra supplies.

At the beginning of class, I divided my students in groups of 2.
In each group, I asked one student to turn to John in the New Testament and the other to turn to John in the JST.
Then they put their books side by side (some put theirs one above the other)

It was very effective for them to see each scripture at the same time. The students were able to compare words, meanings, and clarifications with ease. As a result of their understanding the messages, they gave meaningful input which created a discussion that demonstrated to me that a few lights were turning on in their understanding. At the end of our study, a few of my students even turned to both the New Testament and JST in their own scriptures and highlighted some points that were important to them.

Another noted benefit was have a "study buddy". If one was not sure where to look or what to read, they helped each other.

This method would  also work when the reading calls for several footnotes and cross-references. The two students could keep one book on the main scripture while they use the other book to turn the pages to the references.

***I will note that in our class, we use paper scriptures. It is the best choice for our class. Many of my students don't have their own electronics and I find it is important that we are all on the same page, literally and figuratively.
We do have  "Tech Tuesday" where we use electronic scriptures, lds. org, mormon.org, etc. so that my students who do have their own portable electronic devices understand how  and where to search for answers. Most of them have access to a computer of some sort and hopefully, "Tech-Tuesdays" will inspire them to use sites that will help them search and find answers to their Gospel and Doctrinal questions.

Turkey Shoot-Scripture Activity

This is a fun way to help students learn the Doctrines associated with each Doctrinal Mastery Scripture. It is not my original idea. 

This idea is from fellow teacher, Sharon Haynie, who uses marshmallow shooters for her Turkey shoot. Click HERE for directions she shared on how to make Marshmallow shooters.

I use Nerf guns because that is what I have.

You could also use rubber band shooters.

Set Up:

Turkeys on paper plates stapled to upside down large plastic beverage cups. (see photos below)

Inside each cup is written a point amount ( 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50) 

(I recycled my cups and plates from last year-they come apart easily and store in a small space-I don't like to do double work so anything I can use from year to year is a win!)

Divide students into teams ( I had 4 teams of 3 each-one team had 4 members)

Each team sat together on the perimeter of the "Turkey Coop" (see photos below for set up ideas)

 For each round:

• Students sit as teams in the chairs set up around the perimeter.
• Each team has a Nerf gun
• Call out the key words or phrases from a Doctrinal Mastery scripture
• Teams work together to locate the scripture ( all team members must  turn to the scripture), then a runner comes to me and shows me the scripture and states the Doctrine associated with that Scripture.
• When I confirm it is correct, I say, GO!
• The Team takes their Nerf gun and starts shooting the paper plate turkeys (each round a new team member takes their turn with the Nerf gun-some of them rotated during the same round so they all got more "shooting time")
• Each team  does the same to find the scripture and show it to me
• When the last team comes to me with the correct scripture and doctrine, I call out "30 seconds left" and set my timer.
• When I say stop, the teams would bring their turkeys to me and call out the points earned.
• Points are posted on the chalkboard and added up at the end.
• After each round, the turkeys are put back on the tables so we would have enough for each round.
• I would go scramble them sometimes as I could tell the students were catching on to some of the higher point turkeys.

As much fun as this is, the most important point is that the students had to dig into their scriptures match them to the doctrines associated with them. This was very effective.

Changing Things Up

Welcome to our "Seminary Living Room"

I collected all the soft furniture from around our Church building and we held class "Family Home Evening Style" in our own "Seminary Living Room"

My students loved it so much that they asked to have class in the same location tomorrow.

The photos with the students in them were taken at the end of class when the sun was up. 

I was concerned that this may be too "comfy" and encourage sleepers, but it was exactly the opposite. My students were engaged in thoughtful, on-point discussion for the entire time.

We started in the dark.

Daylight Saving time blessing!

Parable of the Ten Virgins- Lamps of Faith

We made lamps of faith as we discussed the parable of the ten virgins from Matthew 25:1-13
I debated as to what type of clay to use. After some consideration, I decided to use Crayola Air Dry Clay- the terracotta color.  I suppose you could purchase white and color it, but I was not up for that experiment.
This clay was just messy enough for the students to have the "I worked with clay" experience, yet not too messy and very easy to clean up.  Not "globby" messes or stains on tables, clothing, etc.
I did cover the tables with disposable plastic but if I had not, the tables would have wiped clean with little effort.
I had Lysol wipes available for hand washing.
This video from the Seminary New Testament Manual was very effective at providing many points of discussion and in helping the students know what to shape their lamps like.

When our lamps are hardened, I hope to add wicks and light them and reinforce our discussion on the need to add oil to our lamps daily, build our testimonies and to Know, not Know About, Jesus Christ