Latter-day Prophets (CS p. 16)

Now that the primary program is done, we have some time to learn some new songs. Hooray!
One of the songs we've been waiting to learn is "Latter-day Prophets". The new version with President Thomas S. Monson added has been published in the Friend magazine in the June 2008 issue. (Go to http://www.lds.org/ , do a search in the "magazines" section to find a copy of the sheet music online.)

I pulled the sheet music out of the magazine, inserted it into a page protector (making sure I obtained an extra copy for the pianist) and promptly added it to my 3-ring binder of music that I carry with me to primary each week along with other primary materials.

I found the Latter-day Prophet pictures in the Gospel Art Picture Kit (GAPK). I laminated them for durability. The names of each were typed up and taped near the bottom of the front of each picture. The pictures were then taped together to make a picture accordian. (I saw this accordian at a General Primary Openhouse a few years ago.) The accordian can be unfolded as the song is first introduced or it can be tacked up to the wall for later song practice.
To teach the song, I wanted to the children and adults alike to become more personally acquainted with each of these Latter-day prophets. To do this, I referred to "The Teachings of the Prophets" adult study manuals. I found excerpts of interesting facts and short inspiring stories (that would be interesting to a primary age child) and typed them up. I obtained individual cards (rainbow colored pieces of cardstock) one for each prophet and glued the "Clue" information in the cards.
















To introduce and teach the song during singing time:

1. Show a picture of President Monson and explain and bear testimony that our prophet speaks for God.
2. Refer to the scriptures found in D&C 1:38 and 2 Nephi 32:3.
3. Have the children join in singing the first verse of "We Thank Thee, Oh God for a Prophet" the hymn we learned earlier this year.
4. Use the clue game. (I use "Pick-A-Sticks" to pick the child helpers. This allows everyone a fair opportunity to help. These are found in my book, "The Big Book of Super Singing Time Helpers" which can be found at http://www.creativeconnectionz.com/)
5. The child then comes up and reads the clues in the card (or if they can't read, I read it and they get to be the first to try and guess which prophet we are talking about).
6. When the clues are all read, the story told and prophet guessed correctly, we sing the song "Latter-day Prophets" until we reach that prophet's name- there we stop singing. We repeat this process with the next clue. It's a fun way to practice a new song and learn about and gain testimony of our Latter-day Prophets all at once. This can actually stretch out to 2-3 weeks worth of this song if singing time is separate from sharing time. Or you might want to combine with the presidency member to do a combined sharing/singing time on a fifth Sunday of the month.
7. You may also want to change the tempo of the song as you are practicing- starting out very slow, clearly annunciating the names, then getting faster and faster. The older children especially love the challenge of singing the song ever faster. Challenge them as they get really familiar with the song to close their eyes while they're singing and see how fast they can memorize it!

This has turned out to be a fun learning experience for the children and adults alike!