Christmas Songs 2013 Plan

I know Christmas isn't for well over a month, but with a ward party performance coming up we have to start practicing now. So here is my plan in case it helps anyone plan theirs:

Song 1: Picture a Christmas (CS 50) - sing one or both verses. If we can manage it I'd like to "act" it out a bit by "dressing up" a little and setting the scene. We'd keep it simple by just draping some cheap fabric over the shoulders like a scarf and using rope as a belt, headbands with cotton balls and pink felt ears for sheep, sticks with stars, etc. See the pictures at the end for some examples.

To teach: Echo game per line, actions to song, opposites (quiet/loud, stand/sit, teachers/children, etc.) Explain message, bare testimony.
To get words down: Visuals/Actions! Make a camera with hands/show map of judea, hold up friend, hold cups to ears, hold up a shiny object for star, rock baby, point to head to "think", hold hands in front with palms up (elbows near sides) to "praise", point to head to "remember", make camera, optional: on "this (year)" point down quick with bounce.
Review: Have children act out parts and refer/look to them as sing. Characters: Joseph, Mary, shepherds, sheep, angels? (or you could just listen for them by putting hand to ear), people holding stars.
Performance costume ideas: picture ideas below. What I plan on doing is: Joseph/shepherds- using brown fabric draped kind of like a scarf around neck with ends down to hips, tied off with rope. Shepherds also could hold staffs. Mary- Fabric like boys but maybe in lavender or some feminine color.  Sheep- Headbands with felt and cotton balls glued on. Stars- Paper cutouts of a star on sticks to hold up. Maybe with ribbon descending from the star to be like "beams" from the star. Angels- (if used) just a halo (if those are ok, I don't even know for church) and maybe white fabric like the other characters with rope. For the baby Jesus we will probably just use fabric to look like a baby wrapped up.

Song 2: The Shepherd's Carol (CS 40) - Sing in unison first time then repeat in a round (with one or both verses).

To teach: Echo game, "ride a donkey"/bounce to beat, competition (by class, girls vs. boys, etc.) Explain message, bare testimony.
Actions to remember words: Verse 1- rock a baby, keep rocking baby while holding finger to mouth to "shh", hands to hips with chest up to be like a "man" (can still rock side to side),  hand over eyes and scoop side to side to "look". Chorus- one hand present "Jesus" at side (I like to go up to down), hands on head like crown, both hands present "Savior" forward, hands "praise" by holding hands in front with palms up (elbows near sides) and bounce a little. Verse 2- hands present "children" by crossing hands (palms up) and opening, beckon to "come" with both hands coming toward you 2-3 times, make "gift" box with hands and push forward, cross hands at heart for "love", repeat chorus.
Performance: we will sing the first verse together and then sing the second verse in a round. They will still be in their costumes. We may or may not do the actions for performance.

Song 3: Christmas Bells (CS 54) - some of the older children will play the descant a variation of the melody on our handbells while everyone else sings the regular melody. I may have them sing the verse without bells once and then repeat a second time adding in the bells.

To teach: Echo game with each line and half of the song, sing like an instrument (violin, drum, sax, choose your own/big band). Explain message, bare testimony.

To review: Clap rhythm of melody. To prepare for bells: during the second verse I sang the descant just so they would be familiar with it and know what to expect.

For playing bells: The link to the sheet music can be found HERE-(descant) and HERE-(melody variation).

For performance: we will sing the first verse together and then add the bells for the second verse. The bells will be on a near table with easy access and the bell players will just grab them before we start the song. They will still be in costume just because there won't be time to take the costumes off.

Song 4: Mary's Lullaby (CS 44) - I would to have 1-3 girl(s) sing the descant part. We will probably only sing the first verse.

To teach: Echo game, rock a baby, move arms in smooth motion. Explain message, bare testimony.
11/17/13 Note: We ended up cutting this song because they moved our ward party up a week and I wanted to make sure we had the other three down really well instead. We'll just save this one for next year :) So I don't have any extra teaching tips for this one yet, sorry!

**Anyone have any good, basic teaching methods they'd like to share other than my always go-to "echo game"? I'd love to have more variety!


Costume examples:

Christmas angles, star sticks

"Baaaa"

Our costumes wouldn't be as elaborate, but distinctive characters