General Conference Preparation

We teach the Sacrament Meeting program songs most of the year.  Do we ever review the songs from previous years?

Help the children prepare for General Conference by singing and/or reviewing songs that relate to Conference.

• Use a chart from the building library or one of you own of the current Church Presidency and the Twelve Apostles.  
• A chart of the Latter-Day Prophets
• Pictures of all the prophets in the song, Follow the Prophet 
• Picture of the Book of Mormon

Explain to the children that we have prophets ever since the Earth was organized. Show a few pictures from Follow the Prophet, p. 110.  Can they guess the song? Sing it. 

Ask the children if they can name 10 (or any number) prophets from the Book of Mormon. Sing Book of Mormon Stories, p.118.

When the church was restored, a prophet was once again called to lead Christ's people.  Who was that man?  (Joseph Smith)  How many prophets have we had since? (Help the children count them using the pictures.)  Sing Latter-Day Prophets, p. 134

You may choose to sing the songs twice - the first time will be a review.

If time permits, the following songs will help the children prepare for General Conference:

Keep the Commandments  p. 146

Seek the Lord Early  p. 108

Stand for the Right  p. 159

Guess What Song

Choose a phrase from each song and write it on a piece of paper.  You can write a phrase from each verse if the song has two or more verses.

OR

Write a hint for each song on a piece of paper.  example: I love the beauty of these buildings.  (I Love to See the Temple)  He restored something special on earth.  (Praise to the Man)

• Put each phrase in an envelope.
• tape each envelope onto the board or put them in a basket
• Ask a child to pick one and read the hint.
• Let the children help guess the song.
• Sing the song.

Sailboat Race

Choose 2 songs for the Sacrament Meeting Program that need extra work.

Using the pattern below, cut out two sail boats - one for each song.

• color or use colored paper to make them different
• Print the title or part of the title on each boat.
• Draw wavy lines on the board to look like water. 

Place the boats on one side of the board as the starting place. Tell the children that the boats need to get across the waters.  Their singing will be like the wind and blow them.

• Sing one of the songs.  
• Depending on how well they sing/know the song, the boat will move ahead 
• Move the boat a short distance.  
• Sing the next song
• Move the boat ahead - further if they know it better, shorter if it needs more work

Continue singing one song them the other and moving the boats according to their proficiency and knowing the songs.

*Be sure to take time if one particular section is difficult and sing it a few times.  You can always nudge the boat a little forward as you work on a small section.

I Know the Scriptures Are True

It is important to relate all the songs for the program to the theme for this year.

• In large print, write the theme on the board or a banner of paper: I Know the Scriptures Are True
• Use the poster of the titles of all the songs that you will be singing for the program.  (Or you can write the titles on the board or on paper and tape them to the board)
• Tell the children that each of the songs relates to the theme.
• As you sing the songs, ask the children how the song helps them to know the scriptures are true or helps them understand the scriptures better.
• Sing all the songs

*Note the songs that may need a little more work so you can plan for next week.