"On a Golden Springtime"

The song I will be focusing on for singing time this week is, On a Golden Springtime (CS 88). The part I want to focus on is the chorus of the third verse about receiving the gospel because that is the part the children will be singing in our Restoration Medley for this year's program (that we will be learning next week); but for this week I want to also tie in the first verse and entire third verse of the song and how it symbolizes/is about the restoration and also about having faith that the restoration happened like they have faith (hopefully) that a seed will grow into a plant.

To begin, since it is , I want to use an actual seed and plant as a visual as I teach the first verse, because it makes me happy :D

I will ask the Children, "who here has a garden or likes to garden?" Then I will show them my visual and I'll talk about the miracle of how a seed can turn into a plant using pretty descriptions of the springtime. We will then sing the first verse (because I'm pretty sure they already know it), reviewing the words as necessary and while pretending to be seeds that grow into plants - because it's fun!

Scriptures: I will probably just summarize this part for the Jr. Primary, but for the Sr. I will have them split into three groups to discuss the scriptures 1) Alma 32:28, 2) D&C 88:7, and 3) Joseph Smith - History 1:17 with some helpful questions to help them discover the general meaning of the scriptures that they can then share with the Primary (as the pianist quietly plays some pretty music about the restoration)...found HERE. We will then have an explanation of scriptures 1 and 2 given and sing the first verse once more so they can think about a seed growing being like having their testimonies grow as they sing. Next we will have an explanation of what scripture 3 is about and learn the third verse.

To learn the third verse I will use the same pictures as in my post "The Sacred Grove" as a visual since they tie in so well (or you could use this lovely flip chart HERE). Since sharing time will have talked about the message in this verse I will only review the key points as necessary. With the visuals it should be easy to learn this verse and then to help with the chorus I will play the echo game for each line and adding in actions as they fit/are needed. To help them understand it I will ask the questions, "Why should the nations all awake?" ANSWER: To receive the gospel light. (Sing that phrase). "Is the gospel true?" Yes! "What will we receive when we truly accept the gospel?" ANSWER: It's glorious light. (Sing that phrase). Then we will sing the chorus of the third verse and then sing the whole third verse for good measure.

Finish by bearing testimony that Heavenly Father and Christ did appear to Joseph Smith (maybe mentioning the forest glade and how it was a beautiful spring morning to tie everything together) and how we can "each look toward the light of the gospel that has been restored" (A Children's Songbook Companion by Graham, Gourley, Shipp, and Stewart, pg. 125).

HERE is another flip chart for this entire song some might like from "Happy Clean Living"

Happy singing!