Help from The Friend – October 2009

In addition to Sharing Time, The Friend can be used in many ways to enrich Primary. The following are a few ideas from this month's Friend.


Presidency and Teachers

"A Prophet's Love", p 2-3 President Monson's example of putting aside personal comfort in order to minister to the needs of one member is a touching story. We could all benefit from following his steps in being truly Chirstlike.

Activity Days for Girls

"Friends in the News: Guelph Ward", p 12
"Friends in the News: Phoenix Branch", p 12 This activity would be especially good for one of the activities during the year when parents attend.
"Funstuf: The Family", p 17 gathering activity
"My Family Tree", p 24-25
"Apple Pie Spread", p 27 great for gift giving
"The Best Coach", p 28-29 My Gospel Standards

Activity Days for all Children

Friends in the News: Jacksonville Second Ward, p 13

Cub Scouts and Patrol of 11-year-old Boy Scouts

"Funstuf: The Family", p 17 gathering activity
"My Family Tree", p 24-25 Bear advancement 8.d
"The Best Coach", p 28-29 My Gospel Standards

Lessons

CTR B, Lesson 23 - "The Pumpkin Experiment", p 5
Primary 5 (Doctrine and Covenants), lesson 21 - "The Pumpkin Experiment", p 5
Primary 1, lesson 36 - "Andrew's Example", p 34-35

Note of Interest: "Cleaning the Temple Grounds", p 7 This story is about the Louisville Kentucky Temple and primary children helping take care of the grounds.

Annual Pack Adult’s Meeting (Parent’s Meeting)

"Scouting for boys of this age [8, 9, 10] when properly carried out, is a learning, happy, fun filled, home-centered, activity program. Parental involvement and help is the key to success in this program" LDS Scouting Handbook, p 4.


The Pack Meeting in September or October is a great time to inform and involve parents. After the recognition portion of the meeting, have a few of the adult leaders and Den Chiefs take the Cub Scouts and their siblings to another area for an activity. The Cubmaster and Pack Committee will then meet with the parents. Here is a list of some of the things that can be presented at this meeting.

• Review the parents' responsibilities for Cub Scout advancement and Faith in God
  
• Present the Pack calendar for the up-coming year (September-August)
  
• Provide the opportunity for parents to sign-up to help
  
• Give a list of recycled "supplies" that will be needed during the year
  
• Have each family fill-out and return the Annual Motor Vehicle Checklist http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/mvcheck.pdf . This form will be used when completing Local Tour Permits applications for outings.

For additional information see Cub Scout Leader Book, Chapter 24.


As in any Cub Scout meeting, KIS-MIF (Keep it Simple – Make it Fun)

Play Dough Play

Children in nursery enjoy play dough.  There are several things to remember to keep this activity fun for the children, the teacher, and the carpet.

1. Place a plastic tablecloth (or someting similar) under the table and chairs.
2. Provide toys, such as cookie cutters and rolling pins, to be used exclusively with play dough.
3. Don’t allow other toys to be used at the “play dough table”.
4. Be sure that the children only use the play dough while seated at the “play dough table”.
5. Make your own play dough using the following recipe or another one that is similar.  Keep the entire batch the same color.  This eliminates the impossible task of trying to keep colors from being mixed or the discussion about who gets which color.
6. Put away the play dough, play dough toys, and plastic after Play Time.  It is most successful to have play dough available only once during nursery, so decided which time is best for the children.
7. If the play dough gets dropped, pick It up immediately.  It has a tendency to travel into the carpet on the bottom of shoes.
8. When play dough time is over, check for any spots on the carpet and brush away before the play dough hardens.

Play Dough (similar to commercially available Play-Doh)

This recipe makes a soft dough that can be brightly colored.  It is edible, although it tastes terrible.

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon salad oil

1 cup water

½ cup salt

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

Food coloring (1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon paste type coloring, unsweetened drink mix (Kool-Aid) or liquid food coloring)

Combine flour, oil, water, salt, and cream of tartar in a large saucepan.  Using a wooden spoon, stir over medium heat.  Stir constantly to prevent sticking.  The mix will be soupy and then suddenly stick together and can be stirred into a ball.  When it thickens, remove from the heat and continue stirring.  Turn hot ball out onto a floured surface.  When it is cool enough to handle, kneading until it is smooth and silky (a silicone mat can be used and no additional flour is needed). 

Add desired food coloring by kneading, adding more until the desired color is achieved.  To avoid staining your hands with the concentrated color you can wear gloves or use plastic wrap.  When the color is distributed the color won’t stain your hands.

Note:  If you plan on coloring the entire batch the same color, the food coloring can be added before the mixture is cooked.

Keep in an airtight container or Ziploc bag.

Other uses of play dough:

• With supervision, this play dough could be made by the girls during Activity Days.  It could be used as a service project for the nursery or made for gift giving.
• The dough could be used during Activity Days or teaching situations (sharing time or classes) for the children to make visual items to correlate with the lesson.

Bring Boys into Church Activity through Scouting

Sister Margaret Lifferth, First Counselor Primary General Presidency, LDS Relationships Newsletter – Boy Scouts of America, Vol. 4 No. 2 May 2009, Page 2

"President Monson has reminded youth leaders that "We are builders of boys and menders of men. In doing so, we remember that the greatest verb in the vocabulary is to love; the second is to help."   I can think of no great ways to love and help our youth than to bring those who are less active back into full church activity and give them a vision of who they are and the blessings that are in store for them as they fulfill their priesthood duties.

 At a recent Scout training, Scout leaders were invited to share experiences of bringing boys back into church activity through the Scouting program.  Several leaders volunteered to share their experiences with the group.  As I listened to these faithful leaders, common elements emerged from their stories.

First, each leader sought out the inactive boy and his family and made a personal invitation to the boy to join in the troop activities.  Often, the parents were happy to encourage the boy's participation whether they, as parents, were active in the church or not.  Their encouragement resided in the trust they felt in the Scouting program.

Second, it was obvious that the leader grew to love the boy as the leader became invested in the boy's progress and success in the Scouting program. Often this part of the story revealed a lot of effort on the part of the leader to keep the boy engaged and connected to the troop.

A third common element in these activation experiences was that, as the boy participated in Scouting, he also grew in faith, came back into Church activity, participated in his priesthood duties and became committed to missionary service.  Often the activation of the boy strengthened the whole family and the parents returned to church activity as well.

Most of the Scout leaders who shared their stories of activation did so with great emotion.  It was easy to feel the love they felt for each boy.  It was remarkable to know that they knew that the greatest blessing of Scouting was that, through the activities and programs, they could help build faith in Jesus Christ.  Each leader was grateful for the experience of touching a boy's life with increased testimony.  He knew that he had not only changed the life of that boy….and possibly his parents….but he had changed the lives of generations to come.

Scouting is one of the great activation tools for leaders of youth.  It provides a setting for friendship, fun activities, leadership skills, character building, advancement, and interaction with leaders of faith.  We hope that every leader will get to know all the boys on his roster and reach out to each one with the goal of building faith and testimony.  He will be successful as he reaches out in love with the desire to help.

Thanks to each of you for your committed work in behalf of our boys".

Sharing Time and the Children’s Sacrament Meeting Presentation

Summary of Auxiliary Training:  Use the Outline for Sharing Time booklet to teach the 15 minute lesson each week during sharing time.  Supplement these weekly lessons, as needed, by Church-approved materials. 

LOVE those you teach; teach by the SPIRIT; and invite DILIGENT learning by doing all of these things in every lesson:

• Identifying  the doctrine
  
• Encouraging understanding
  
• Encourage application
  

We noted the changes in sharing time:

1. It was a 30 minute period, now 15 minutes is designated for the lesson and 20 minutes for music. (Music can still be a part of the lesson too).
   
2. There were class presentations once a month, now there are no monthly class presentations, but you may occasionally invite teachers and their classes to help you with parts of the gospel instruction.
   
3. Fifth Sunday lessons will be a time to review previous lessons.
   
4. Although not a change, remember when inviting guest speakers to participate in Primary, you should get the approval of your bishop or branch president before making the invitation.
   

We looked through the new 2010 Outline for Sharing Time with excitement over the changes in format.  There are complete lessons, and some ideas for us to develop.  There are teaching tips all through the booklet and pictures to show what an activity will look like.  The images, and word strips will be available on-line.  Remember to use The Friend and other approved materials listed on the side as we develop some ideas.  We tried a few ideas from the music sections in the new booklet and took home buttons on strings to use with our units (see 2010 Outline for Sharing Time, page 15).

We talked about the Sacrament Meeting Presentation and went over how it should be developed throughout the year. We emphasized that it is under the direction of the Bishop or Branch President and that we should meet with the counselor who oversees primary early in the year to discuss preliminary plans.  We obtain approval when plans are completed.  Practices should not take time away from classes or families unnecessarily and visuals, costumes, and media presentations are not appropriate for sacrament meeting. 

We are all looking forward to the new and excited about finishing up what we have been doing this year.  The church has provided us with a wonderful resource to teach His children. Now we must dedicate ourselves to provide these beautiful lessons, prepare well and teach with the spirit. 

- Jackie Bowen

Take a Hand and Reach a Heart

Summary of Auxiliary Training Session - The prophet and our stake presidency encourage us to “reach out and rescue” those who are less active. There are children in each of our units who are not in Primary and need to feel the Savior’s love. You can be His hands. In the July Ensign the prophet spoke directly to Primary leaders:

“Primary leaders, do you know the children you are serving? . . . Do you understand their problems and their perplexities, their yearnings, ambitions, and hopes? Do you know how far they have traveled, the troubles they have experienced, the burdens they have carried, the sorrows they have borne?

I encourage you to reach out to those you serve and to love them. When you really love those you serve, they will not find themselves in that dreaded “Never, Never Land”—never the object of concern, never the recipient of needed aid. It may not be your privilege to open gates of cities or doors of palaces, but true happiness and lasting joy will come to you and to each one you serve as you take a hand and reach a heart”. President Thomas S. Monson, “Sugar Beets and the Worth of a Soul,” Ensign, Jul 2009, 4–7

We hope that each of you can reach out and take a child’s hand; your love and the love of the Savior can then be felt in their heart. Let us know if there is anything we can do to help you in this important rescue mission.

Stake Primary Presidency

Using the Scriptures in Primary

“When you teach children, you should use the scriptures frequently and find ways to have the children become comfortable using the scriptures” (Teaching, No Greater Call, p 59).

A special thank you goes to all those who attended the New Albany Indiana Stake Auxiliary Training on August 27, 2009; especially those who attended the “Teaching Scriptures in Primary” session. There were five units represented and we discussed the best ways to teach the primary children to know and love the Savior through the scriptures. Most importantly, we discussed that teaching and using the scriptures is very possible, even for the young ones who are not yet readers. Through a few very entertaining role playing sessions, our class learned that teaching scriptures to primary children is very achievable as long as love, patience, and the Holy Spirit are present. Explaining the stories with age appropriate emphasis is key, along with child participation. While the older children may read the verses straight from the scriptures, the little ones may hold the scriptures for those who are reading. The teacher’s role is to invite the spirit and allow the scriptures to connect with the children. The Lord’s children will remember the scriptures taught in primary, even if they appear to not be paying attention! Thank you to the sweet sisters who attended the scripture teaching workshop on Thursday evening. You are doing much good in your primaries!

-Jennifer Yingling