Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Not just a small primary, a tiny one.

While visiting my brother's ward this week, I was asked to substitute in singing time.  No problem, thought I, a piece of cake.  I knew the primary was small and because it's cold here and the kids all wanted snow to go sledding I decided to do the snowball activity.  I got white paper and some pens and I was ready to go.  I walked into the primary room and stopped short.  I had to take a picture because I really didn't believe.  There were a total of 12 chairs set up.  I was told this was a really optimistic number and that we probably wouldn't have more than 2 or 3.  As it turned out they had 3 children, plus my 3 for a total of 6. 
There is a real challenge in preparing for a primary that is large, and I have even worked in a small primary (10-15 kids) but this was really small.  Knowing that every week each child would have multiple "turns" presents itself a new challenge, making it fun every week, knowing that the anticipation of whether or not the child will get chosen is gone.  I had each child fill out two papers and make two snowballs, but it still wasn't enough songs.  We had extra time so I taught Stand for the Right to them.  It's a quick song and it was fun to do.
It's a lesson learned for me, I need to prepare some ideas for really small primaries, I have a feeling this isn't the only time I'll be substituting in their primary.

4 comments:

  1. This post made me smile. I lead music in a primary that has a total of 6 active children and 3 in nursery (all 2 years old). In May, 3 of the primary children and their sister in nursery will move away and in July one of the primary kids will turn 12. That will leave me with 2 kids in primary and 2 in nursery (one of the nursery kids is my daughter).

    It certainly is a challenge and a bit of a worry for me. I appreciate you providing the ideas you do and I really look forward to some insight on working with a small primary! Thanks for all you do.

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  2. I had to laugh out loud! I can't even imagine it! I have always had about 100 children in any primary I have served in. Seems like it would have its own challenges. You did a great job, it sounds like.

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  3. Welcome to my current world! It is a challenge isn't it. We do have a few more than three each week, but some weeks are pretty thin. I would hate to have 100 though!

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  4. We only have 4 or so each week. If we are lucky we might have 10, if they all show. Three of the kids are my own. I actually enjoy it being small. We sang in sacrament meeting for Mother's day and people couldn't believe how well they sang. We had 6 kids sing.
    I think I would cry if I had over 20 kids! I wouldn't know what to do!!

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