"When I Am Baptized"

I'm taking two weeks to review "When I Am Baptized" (most of my primary already knows it from last year's program) - one verse each week.

Week 1/Verse 1: 
First, I put my ideas together with help from Camille's Primary Blog (some of the wording came from here) and In the Leafy Treetops... 
Second, since we are learning the first part on Father's day I wanted to keep it simple and fun as a reward the first week. We will be focusing on the message the second week, but you could combine these to do them in one week.
 

ASK: “Have you ever seen a rainbow?” –share experience, talk about how they only come after storms, etc.

  

      1. Make a rain storm (snap, rub hands, clap, blow): have the whole primary do these actions to create a "storm" from the sounds. You can have everyone do the same thing and then have some add other parts as directed.

2.  Make a rainbow (water + light): do a search online for "How to make a rainbow" and use the best method that works for you. I wanted water and light to be a part of mine because of water being involved for a baptism and the light being needed, lol. You could also just post a picture of a rainbow, do a rainbow with the words of the song in rainbow colors, use ribbon wands, or anything else you can think of for a rainbow visual.

Sing the song through 3 times and each time you sing it through, focus on the 3 different areas which are:

1. This song TALKS about rainbows and rain (each time rainbows/rain is sung do the actions - arms make rainbow, hands flick or clap for rain).

2. This song SOUNDS like rainbows and rain; Legato (the verses) and Staccato (chorus). The verses are smooth and connected like rainbows. The chorus is more choppy and disconnected like rain. Sing the verses legato and move your hands back and forth without breaking. Then during the chorus, flick fingers for each note as you sing it staccato or choppy. Make sure to over exaggerate so they can tell the difference (have the pianist do it too)! You can also make a "thunderstorm" by making large movements and singing loudly and a "light rain shower" by making small movements and singing softly.

3. This song MOVES like rainbows and rain. The song (its pitch) moves like a rainbow and raindrops. Notice each line in the verses' pitch start low and gradually go higher then go back to low - just like a rainbow. Then for the chorus, the pitch is disconnected, up and down, all over, just like raindrops.

Before singing the song, draw a "rainbow" with chalk making horizontal lines going up as the notes go up and going down as the notes go down. During the song, follow the lines with your hand showing how the pitch of the notes represent rainbows and raindrops (example picture for raindrops found HERE) again following them by moving your hand up or down as the notes go up and down.

Week 2/Verse 2:
Sing through the whole song

After you have sung through it, ask why this song is about rainbows and rain. Discuss how they are like being baptized and repenting.

Activity: Use a laminated poster and wet-erase markers (dry erase on a white board could be substituted) to write the words of the song that can then be erased with water to represent repenting and becoming clean again (*activity example found below). 

Bear testimony of the blessing of baptism and how we are made clean. If we make mistakes, we can be clean again by taking the Sacrament and repenting.

*We did a fun activity yesterday to learn the 2nd verse of "When I am Baptized".  I wrote the words to the verse on the blank side of a laminated poster with wet-erase markers (I'm sure dry-erase would work as well). After we spent a little time learning the verse (copy cat), I told them that now we were going to 'wash away' the words. I had a child come up and choose a word from the song out of a bag. The child would then get to use a spray bottle of water to spray the poster every time they heard the rest of us sing that word. Really simple, but they loved it! We sang the song tons of times without anyone complaining and some of them even asked to come in after Primary was over so they could finish spraying off the rest of the words. (Idea shared by Alberta on Primary Music Yahoo Group...and found at SugarDoodle)