Fall General Primary Board Workshop
 (Notes by Evelyn & pictures by Cherylyn Wooddall)


Objective:

To help the children learn the gospel of Jesus Christ by creating and capturing teaching moments.

“And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” 3 N. 22:13

President David O’ McKay said:
“No greater responsibility can rest upon any man (or woman), than to be a teacher of God’s children.” (TNGC pg. 3)

The Savior is the master teacher. The Savior taught the Samaritan woman on the well that He was the living water. 
(Can use story on the back of the GAK picture.)

“But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14)

In the 25-26 verses of John he taught who he was. “The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ; when he is come he
will tell us all things.”

Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am He.”

The Savior taught, testified and loved.

Song: Teach me to walk in the Light CS 177 1st verse
“ Therefore hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up--- that which ye have seen me do. Behold ye see that I have prayed unto the Father, and ye all have witnessed.” (3 N. 18:24)

We can create teaching moments in primary.

 

1. Invite the moment: We need to invite the spirit into our Primary by preparing spiritually and physically.

Preliminary preparation: (before Primary)


It should only take 5 minutes to prepare and set up Primary. That is about all the time that most have now.

“… For when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men.” 
2 Nephi 33: 1

We can use teaching stations to teach the Plan of Salvation in a sharing time or an activity day.


A. RED STATION

(Red poster with Premortal Life and 1, 2, 3, 4, listed underneath and time line that goes across and continues across the yellow poster for yellow station and blue station. All three posters represent the Plan of Salvation)

Children in this station are answering questions from the family proclamation.
Such as: (They only did 2 of these)

Whose plan was for us to come to earth and gain an earthly body?
“ Spirit sons and daughter knew and worshiped God as their Father and accepted His plan…” (Family proclamation)
(Post wordstrip on board by #1---- Heavenly Father’s plan)

What was the plan that was presented?
His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to
progress toward perfection and realize his or her divine destiny…. (Family Proclamation)
We would be given our free agency. ( Post AGENCY on the board)

Did we all accept his plan?
No. 1/3 of the hosts in heaven followed Satan and they were cast
out. (Post SATAN AND 1/3 cast out of heaven)

Did you have parents before you came to earth? Let read the
answer from the family proclamation.

“Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents….”
(Family proclamation)
(Post wordstrip on board by #2---- Child of God)

B. YELLOW STATION:
(Yellow Poster with time line and Birth, Earth Life, Death posted at intervals across time line and Gospel Standards under time line with a few people figures also on the poster)

The children at this station have been using Gospel Standards to talk about things we need to do to live with Heavenly Father again.
Beckie, would you come up and choose a standard and tell us what you would do to live that standard and draw us a picture?
Beckie chose GOSPEL STANDARDS: I will dress modestly to show respect for Heavenly Father and myself.
How can we follow this gospel standard? We could wear clothes that do not show our belly. I drew a picture of a blouse.

C. BLUE STATION:
(Blue station with time line and Spirit World, Final Judgment, and Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial. The 3 degrees of glory were turned over and mixed up and then after someone came up and did the blindfold thing, they put them in order.)

The children are learning what they need to do to go to the celestial kingdom. They understand that God is fair.

Blindfold a child. Have them stick a child on one of the kingdom’s on the chart. (They were plain white circles on the board. Turn over the circles and see what kingdom was picked. Place them on the end of the plan of salvation board)

Ask: “ Did you like where you ended up?”

How fair was that to decide which kingdom we would go to? We are not by chance assigned a kingdom. Heavenly Father is fair.

Read the scriptures with the children to learn what is expected of us.

“They are they who received the testimony of Jesus, and believed on his name and were baptized….
….That by keeping the commandments…” (D&C 76: 51-52)

We must choose the right to go to the celestial kingdom where Heavenly Father will be.

Sing while the children gather back together.


D. GREEN STATION:
 The pianst and the music leader work together with their group teaching the song, “He Died That We Might Live Again” with key words.

This song teaches the Savior’s role in the Plan of Salvation.
Names What He Did For Us. What We Can Do, Lord, Jesus Died Give thanks Our Savior His Life He gave Sing Our Redeemer, True Rose from the grave Rejoice, rejoice Our King Showed love for all Sing, Sing, Sing

The plan of Salvation is our plan of happiness. The Savior has a central role. Each child would receive a handout to color on the Plan of Salvation to take home. (Handout is in Primary 6 pg. 216)



Song: I can follow God’s plan for Me

Learning key gospel principles and gaining a testimony and being prepared invites the moment.

2. Seize the moment

“For it shall be given you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say.” (D&C 100:6)

We need to look, listen and follow the promptings of the Spirit to reach we child. We must learn to listen and trust the Spirit.

Allow the Spirit to work through you to touch the hearts of those you teach. Take time to thoughtfully discuss the children’s questions. It would rarely change your whole plan, so humbly follow those feelings. As teachers and leaders, we need to know each child. All children can be included.

A letter from a special needs’ parent:
“I can’t tell you what a difference it meant to our whole family when our special child was welcomed into the Primary of our new ward. They worked with us to find a way that he could be involved and included. Then we could be free to participate in our meetings and serve.”

Sharing time: (Use GAK pictures: 208 and 209)

Abinadi
(They had the name of Abinadi on a wordstrip and then underneath, they had
4 cards with numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, then under that, 5 more cards numbered 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.)
Let’s see if we can quess what the cards spell. I will give you a clue by asking you questions.

1. Who believed what Abinadi was telling King Noah? (Alma)
2. Child will come up and turn one of the letters over.
3. Who helped Alma to know that was true?

(look at the left in the middle of the picture, this is the example of Abinadi)


A child answers:

I don’t think that prayers are answered. The primary leader must be follow the promptings and bear her testimony on this important gospel message. The story of Alma the elder and his prayers concerning his son was related.

Bear testimony to the child that she believes that prayers are answers. (Instead of finishing with all the clues, have the child turn the rest of the cards over to see that it spells HOLY GHOST.)

There are many teaching moments that will lie in the hearts of children until they are needed. Pray to know what the children need. When prompted to leave out or add, follow those feelings.



3. Protect the moment

(Use a picture of the temple with black windows. As they are more reverent, move light into the windows.)

The spirit can be protected through reverence.
Reverence comes from the heart.
President David O’ McKay said that “Reverence is profound respect mingles
with love.”
We can show our love for our Heavenly Father by being reverent.
Reverence comes from the heart.


A. WHAT DOES REVERENCE LOOK LIKE?
(Picture Primary 3-66)
B. WHAT DOES REVERENCE SOUND LIKE?
(Picture Primary3-65)
C. WHAT DOES REVERENCE FEEL LIKE?
(Picture Primary 2-14)

“Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;” (D&C 18:10)

Each child has divine qualities. They are of divine worth of sons and daughters of God. Adapt your primaries to the special needs, different
learning styles and to those children who are simply just having a bad day.
They need to know why it is important to be reverent. We learn a lot when
we are reverent.
Avoid the ‘back row blues’ by understanding that ‘Reverence begins with
me’. This includes the adults in Primary.


Ways to teach appropriate behavior in Primary are:


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Ideas that were expressed by others:

  1. Teach them to raise their hands; Use eye contact when talking to the children; intermingle music with sharing time; move adult visitors’ chairs up to include them as part of Primary; have a table at the back for “Parking papers” during sharing time.
  2. Find ways to help each child learn the importance of being reverent. Counsel with the Lord, with each other, parents and church leaders to find ways to have reverence with your Primaries.
  3. Send Home the Moment


Families are strengthened by the handouts that the children bring home and share with their families.
In our sharing time on the Plan of Salvation, each child colored a handout to take home.
Three children from the same family understood and learned on a different level In Family Home Evening, their father asked them to share what they learned.


President Hinckley’s video clip on tithing. Story is also in the May 2003 Friend pg. 2-3)

“Teach as prompted by the spirit.

Use moments to teach, to testify and to love.

“And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” (3 N. 22:13)

Song: Teach me to Walk in the Light CS 177 Verse 2

Create and capture the teaching moments so that the children can feel of our Heavenly Father’s love.