Hymn # 239 "Choose the Right": Chorus Only

This is quite the song to teach the primary! I love it, but hymns always take a little more effort.  For our first week in February, I spent the time introducing the chorus to the primary. ONLY the chorus.  I wanted them to have some confidence in a strong portion of the song before we moved on to the verses.

Last week I printed out pictures to represent the chorus lines (CTR shield, wise old owl for wisdom, etc).  I posted the pictures around the room and had the kids sing the chorus a few times and then called up a child to find the picture they thought came first, then second, third, etc.

As they found the hidden picture and brought it to the front of the room, I then had them place it on the magnetic chalkboard in the proper order (helpful hint: I allowed the remainder of the primary to help the "seeker" but ONLY if the seeker asked for help and ONLY with their pointing fingers -- no words allowed).

I also handed out CTR-on-a-stick.  Each child had a shield (printed and attached to a stick -- or pencil, like me, if you ran out of sticks).  Any time the kids heard the word "RIGHT" they had to hold their CTR-on-a-stick SUPER high!! It really helped them focus on the words.

(I got this idea off another pirmary blog and I cannot seem to find it!! My apologies in advance for not giving the proper credit. If one of you happen to find which blog, feel free to post a comment with a link to it and I will do the same if I find it.)

As a help, I also handed out a printed copy of the hymn to the teachers. I wanted to make sure that there was some singing along with the mumbling. Most of the teachers knew the song already, but cheat-sheets can't hurt a bit!