First day in Singing Time...with Billy Bubble Gum

Today was my first day in singing time. I have been really nervous, because this is not my area of expertise and I feel entirely out of my element in Primary, not to mention music. I was also nervous because I wasn't really sure what songs the kids knew and what songs they did not. My plan, then, became to let the kids pick the songs that we would sing, now...I just needed an interesting, engaging and fun way to accomplish that.

Enter Billy Bubble Gum

Billy bubble gum is simply made by printing out a large picture of a child's face and pasting it onto a foam board. Then cutting a hole where the mouth is and threading a balloon through the opening. Billy Bubble gum essentially worked as a song meter in singing time today. BEFORE Primary began I taped music notes under one chair in each row (one music note chair per class). When we started singing time I explained to the kids that because I was a new teacher I needed to get to know each of them better, and one of the best ways to get to know someone is through the music they like. I had the kids look under their chairs class by class, whoever had the music note got to come to the front of the room, and tell me their name and their favorite Primary song. Then we sang that song while Billy Bubble Gum monitored our singing, to "see if it was really one of the Primary's favorite songs." You need to get someone to stand behind the board and be Billy Bubble Gum by blowing up the balloons. I had the second counselor in our bishopric do this, he is a really animated guy and the kids just love him. The kids had to sing loudly and well to get the balloon to blow up big, if they did an extra good job then Billy Bubble Gum would just let the balloon go at the end of the song and it would zip around the room. The JR. Primary loved this! It was so fun and they loved Billy Bubble gum. Sometimes I would have to remind them that they needed to remember to be reverent, that Billy Bubble Gum could only stay in Primary if they were reverent.

SR Primary, I learned today, is not so easily entertained. During sharing time, which precedes singing time in our ward, it became very clear to me that these guys were not going to be so easily impressed with Billy Bubblegum, so to change it up a bit and gear it more toward them I had one person from each class with the music note choose their favorite song, another reverent child actually be Billy Bubble Gum and serve as the song meter, and if I thought they had done a good job at the end of the song I would hand a push pin to another reverent child and let them pop the balloon. It went all right.

Overall, I was pretty pleased with the afternoon. The forty minutes of singing time still felt like an awful long time to me, but I know it will get better. And I know what I am doing is important. It made the entire afternoon worth it when I walked by the Bishop's office where a family was waiting for an interview and I heard one little boy say to his mom, "See that is the lady with Billy Bubble Gum." I guess I will be making an impact in these little lives, it just might take me balloons and a big smile to do it.

One Sunday down...a whole lot more to go.