[Teachldsseminary] SM Help Needed (D&C 84)

Fri Jan 26 12:06:18 MST 2007

I don't think it's bad to let them use the first letters. I let mine do it. 
Some are quick learners and some struggle but most years if they exert a 
little effort they can all learn them.  They also can break down long ones 
and learn a verse a day.  Last year,  after going through all 25 one time, 
they did it repeatedly doing the same thing only it was easier. I had three 
pass off all 25 three times during the year!  It helped reinforce it over 
and over.  I work on 2-3 SM a week depending on length and took 2 weeks for 
JSH.   I have some that learn them as we go and then learn them again as we 
repeat and some who wait until the last month to learn them!

The daily SM time is good.  I do SM about 10 minutes a day most days unless 
we are doing a scripture chasing activity at the end.  I try to vary what we 
do each day in learning and have a list (below) that I've gathered  over the 
years from me and many other teachers that I use to vary my ideas on working 
on a SM.  That helps.  I also give at least one day a week for them to work 
on what ever SM they want to try to learn on their own or pass off what they 
may have missed.  I try to encourage other students who have learned them to 
"coach" the slower learners.

This is a dumb thing but a real motivator:  I have weekly drawings for all 
who have passed off each SM during the week.  If they pass off more than one 
they can put their name in the pot for the drawing multiple times (for long 
ones I designated they can put their name in 2-3 times).  We draw for two 
soft easy chairs I put in my room in January that a person can sit in the 
following week.  The only rule is if they fall asleep, we will redraw for 
someone to take their place. Sometimes for fun, I'll have a white elephant 
type gift in a bag that we will also draw for or favorite candy bar.  They 
all want to participate in the drawings so it works as a motivator!

Linda Harper
Duncan, SC

ACTIVITIES TO WORK ON A SINGLE SCRIPTURE MASTERY

SM CUP GAME ACTIVITY:  What you need is 12 Styrofoam cups per team, each 
marked with a line on one side so the teams know their color.

On the board write out at least 2-verse scripture mastery, so that the 
entire scripture is divided into four  equal lines, and number the lines 
1-4.

Have all the Styrofoam cups separated, on a different table face down, 
clustered together in group colors. Assign a scripture line on the board to 
a member of each team, (or they can decided who is line 1, line 2, etc)

All the students begin sitting down.  When you say go, who ever has line 1 
stands up and says their line of the verse out loud from their seat.

When they have completed the entire line, they race to the other table and 
grab a team cup, return to their table, put it down, and then the person who 
has line 2 repeats the process, etc.

In order to win a point, the teams have to be first to stack their cups into 
a tower, either top on top, or end on end.  I let them decide how they could 
do it.

After several rounds, I started erasing key words, and then the lines, and 
everyone had 2 long scripture masteries completely memorized by the end of 
class.

They also really liked getting up and moving around as well.

Once a team has completed all their towers, using all their cups, (cups 
standing alone are not allowed) then the game is over, and everyone takes a 
different scripture line to read.

FASTEST MOUTH: See who can recite the entire scripture mastery scripture the 
fastest.

PUT IT IN ORDER: Print out the words of a scripture mastery (or phrases if 
it is a longer scripture) and randomly hand them out to the class.  Have 
everyone stand and while holding their phrases, put the scripture mastery in 
order.

CHASE BY THE LINE: Type all the scripture mastery scriptures and enlarge 
them really big. Print 4 copies of each (or one for each group) and then cut 
them straight across, line by line.  Put each group of cut up scripture 
lines in an envelope and number all 4 envelopes with a #1  and so on for all 
the scriptures. Give them to the kids grouped by number (so everyone is 
working on the same scripture).

SUCK UP SM:  We did 2 SM games this week from the same easy preparation:

Divide class into teams.  Give each team an envelope with a SM verse in it 
(same verse for every team).  The SM is printed in large letters, then cut 
into individual words (do ahead).

The kids lay out the words on a table, then at "go!" they begin transferring 
the words to a 2nd table, where they are arranged in the right order.  The 
catch?  They have to use straws (to suck up each word in transit).  If the 
word drops, they can use a straw to pick it up.  On the table, they can use 
a straw to arrange the final version.  First team in the right order wins. 
People who use hands are off the team. This is best done with a single-verse 
SM.  Have them put all the words back in the envelope so you can do this 
next game another day:

CONSECUTIVE SM IDEA:  Each team lays the individual words on a table.  Each 
team surrounds their own table.  Teacher reads the SM stopping suddenly 
mid-SM.  The kids try to be the 1st person to grab the piece of paper with 
the next consecutive word.  If they guess correctly, they keep the paper. 
If  they choose poorly, they simply put the word back on the table.  If 
there are 2 instances of that particular word, both papers with that word 
written on can be taken.  The person with the most pieces of paper at each 
table wins.  Easy, fun, and everyone has a pretty good chance, not just the 
smartest ones.

READ ALONG SM:  I start reading a SM passage outloud, slowly. The students 
have to find the SM reference, stand, and start reading outloud with me. For 
the short passages, I read them three or four times, until everyone is 
reading along. It really gives them the chance to hear the words of the 
scriptures and make the association. In five minutes, you should be able to 
do 3-5 passages.

WRITE A STORY:  Write a story using the key words and have the scripture in 
parenths next to it.  Some of the stories were quite interesting and funny. 
The kids really loved this game and it was really good for the kids who are 
only memorizing the key words.

CHALKBOARD CHASE: Divide the class in teams and race to write the scripture 
(each students writes one word on the chalkboard, then hands off the chalk 
to the next student relay style). If you don't want that much competition, 
you  could have them try to beat their own time.

CREATE A REBUS:  Divide the students into teams....this will be determined 
by your class size and the length of the SM.  I supply each team with a 
stack of computer paper, markers or crayons, and a designated part of the 
SM.  Each team goes to a separate part of the hallway and they create a 
"REBUS" of their part of the SM.  What is a "REBUS"?  They replace pictures 
for the words.  Like a bottle of Joy Dishwashing detergent for the word 
 "JOY"...or a picture of a honey bee for the word 'BE.'  You get the idea. 
The kids love doing this and when finished I have each team go in order and 
explain their "rebus" then we line the room with all the pictures.  They get 
a kick out of seeing their pictures up on the wall and guess what they are 
doing when they first come into class?  Studying the SM!!

STRAW CHASE:  Similar to the chases above except that you are not allowed to 
touch the strips, but use a straw to put them into place.

SCRIPTURE PUZZLE:  Make a copy of one scripture master card, the scripture 
and enlarge on  copier.  Cut it up to make a puzzle. Each team is given the 
puzzle to put together, first team done gets one  point.

SCRIPTURE BEE:  Have each student look over a scripture mastery for a 
minute.  Have all of the youth stand up.  Go around the room and they have 
to recite the scripture mastery.  If someone misses a word, they sit down. 
Go around and around until either one student is finished or the scripture 
is over.

MASTER MIND: All team members are given 1 1/2 minutes to review the 
scripture card  with that scripture from the puzzle. Each person is given a 
piece of paper and when the teacher says go they must write  the scripture 
down on the piece of paper.  The trick comes when the teacher begin  to tell 
them to switch papers.   All persons in their team must switch  what they 
have written  with each other and correct that paper and  continue writing 
the scripture.  Sometimes they will have them switch 15  times within the 2 
minute period (shorter time for short scripture  longer time for longer 
scripture).  At the end of the 2 minutes one of  the papers in the group 
must contain the correct words and they must be  able to read it, sometimes 
it takes help from other team members to read  what someone else has 
written.

SCRIPTURE BOARD:  Each team has chalk and board (sometimes if only one board 
divide board  into half with a line).   Each team forms a line and when the 
teacher says go the  first person starts writing the scripture on the board. 
When the teacher says switch the next person starts writing where the first 
ended.  Eventually  1 team gets the complete scripture written and   that 
team yells   "scripture board". Then we all sit down and anyone can try to 
say the scripture without  looking at card or help from other students. 
Sometimes they need help with longer SM they are two long to memorize in  2 
minutes or 3, so you can give them only part of the scripture.

WIPE OUT: Memorization technique:  Write out the scripture on the board, 
read it out loud in unison, then erase a few words, read it out loud filling 
in the blanks.  Each time a few more words disappear, and the students (and 
I) had to remember more.  By the end of the week, we were all usually able 
to repeat it with very little help.

WHAT'S MISSING? : Memorization Technique:

Type the scripture 3 different times on the same sheet of paper, but each 
time different words are missing (represented by ___________).

First round:  Students fill in as many missing words as possible without 
using scriptures, then use scriptures to complete exercise first time.

Second Round:  Fold paper so the first round answers don't show when filling 
in blanks for the 2nd Round.

Third Round: By now, students should feel comfortable and have little 
trouble supplying the missing words - and hopefully no need to refer to 
their scriptures.

PUZZLED:  Memorization Technique:  Write scriptures on large 18x22 newsprint 
paper, or on an 8 ½ x 11 cardstock, and cut into puzzle pieces.  One puzzle 
per zone.  Zones put puzzles together correctly.  Then each zone chooses one 
puzzle piece to turn over (so the words are facing down) and recites aloud 
together the scripture - supplying the missing words.  Zones turn over 
another puzzle piece.  Repeat until all puzzle pieces are turned over.

PICTOGRAPH:  Memorization technique: Write scripture, substituting drawings 
for words.  For example, D&C 25:12:

my soul  D-(light bulb)-eth  N  the (musical staff)  of the (heart), yea, 
the  (musical staff)  of the righteous is  A  (stick figure praying)  un-2 
me,  & it shall (bumble bee) answered with  A  blessing upon their (smiling 
faces, complete with hair).

PIECING SCRIPTURES TOGETHER:  Put one word of a SM on a card.  Don't tell 
them which SM it is but they have to try to put the scripture together.

SM CAKE WALK:  Tape short sections of the scripture passage to the floor in 
a circle around the room. Make sure not to have the scripture passages in 
order. Each student stands on a portion of the passage and they try to say 
the part they are standing on. Recite the scripture a couple of times to get 
the scripture in our minds. Then the music begins.  They walk/dance around 
the room until it stops.  When it stops they find themselves on a new 
portion of the scripture and we recite it again - this time they say the new 
portion as their part.

MARCH MADNESS SM IDEA

I divide my class into teams for March Madness.  Each team has a basketball, 
a set of scriptures, and a paper and pencil.  I choose a SM scripture and 
the students open to it.  When I say go, the first student begins to read 
the scripture while the second student writes down exactly what the first 
student is reading - word for word.  At the same time, the third student is 
trying to make a basket.  As soon as he gets doubles, he shouts, "Switch". 
All three students then switch so that #2 is reading, #3 is writing and #1 
is shooting a basket.

The first team to finish the scripture EXACTLY WORD FOR WORD wins 500 extra 
points.

SM MUSICAL CHAIRS

I divided it into bite size phrases, enough for every person in my class.  I 
then glued the phrases to paper plates.  We are going to play "musical 
chairs" with these plates. Before we start, I will give each of them 5 
pieces of small candy.  Instead of them going from chair to chair, they will 
sit in a circle and pass the plates as the music plays ( of course the 
phrases will be mixed up).  When the music stops, they have to say the 
phrase that they have in the correct order.  If they miss their phrase or 
say it out of turn, then they have to give back one piece of candy.  The 
song that I'm going to play while they pass the plates will be Janice Kapp 
Perry's "How Great Will Be Your Joy".   If you have more room than I do, you 
could tape the phrases to the floor and have them walk as the song is 
played, or put the phrases on the chairs and have them move around the 
chairs like real musical chairs.

MASTERY MADNESS

I have 12 students and so split them up into 2 groups of 6 this was a good 
number to work with.

Supplies per group:

1 die

1 pie pan

1 pen

1 piece of paper per student

scriptures for each student

Game:

Sit in a circle with scriptures opened to a pre-selected SM (I used Matt 6) 
Student will roll die into pan trying to get a 6, the pan and die continues 
around the circle with each student rolling the die trying to get a 6 As 
soon as someone rolls the 6 they grab the pen and begin PRINTING the text of 
the chosen SM verse, the remaining students continue rolling the die.  As 
soon as someone else rolls a 6 they yell "STOP" and take the pen and begin 
writing the verse.

It gets to be a lot of fun because some students barely get started and then 
have to give the pen to someone new. Students pick up where they left off 
the next time they roll a six.

The winner is the first person to CORRECTLY write out the entire verse.  The 
beauty of this game is that they are trying to memorize the scripture so 
that they don't have to look at their scriptures (it slows them down when 
they are trying to write).

This verse took about 7 minutes to play.

I do have rules that you cannot throw the pen or withhold it from a player, 
if I see you do that you have to start writing from the beginning again.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Debbie" <debbie57 at gmail.com>
To: "Free Email list for LDS Seminary Teachers" 
<teachldsseminary at latter-dayvillage.com>
Sent: Friday, January 26, 2007 1:55 PM
Subject: Re: [Teachldsseminary] SM Help Needed (D&C 84)

I'm sorry to say that we aren't even on D & C 84 yet!!!  This is my
first year teaching and I think I'm "babying" them too much...if that's
possible.  I have 4 students, 1 comes EVERY day, another one misses
about 2 times a week, and the others......they ONLY COME about 2 times a
month!  Anyway, I try and concentrate on the 2 that come, but I think
I'm falling behind because I'm wanting them to BOTH learn their SM and
pass them off to me.  I'm learning this isn't working.  So, starting
next week, I've decided to go ahead with going over the SM daily no
matter who is there.  If my one girl that comes every day is the only
one to pass it off, then good for her.  I don't mean to sound cruel, but
I think I'm hoping the other young lady will pass it off at the same
time.  So, I'm actually holding the every day girl back.  I'm sorry to
say that we are only on D & C 25 with the memorization.  I really have
my work cut out for me.

I let the one young lady pass off D & C 19 with the first letter.  But,
she barely needed it.

I think my problem is......I need to be consistent.  Monday is my new
beginning.

Thanks for listening.  Any suggestions?
Debbie

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