Symbol Library

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My Baptismal Covenant

I just designed this for my nephew's baptism. He asked me to give a talk for the special occasion, and when I started reviewing the baptismal covenant, it made me want to find a really nice, crisp way to summarize it. 

There are so many great versions out there but I wanted one with this particular combination of image and text (and not too much ink), so I made my own :) Some of the covenant language is a little tough for eight-year-olds. I found the line image of the Savior and John the Baptist in the church media library, here.

You are welcome to save and print your own copies!

Send me your email address if you would like a higher resolution image (PDF).

Easter Week Activities from LDS.org

I just found this on LDS.org.

Seven Days Till Easter

It's a spiritual countdown to Easter. I can see working this into a sharing time or even a singing time lesson ...

Trek 2014!

Our stake is going on trek this year so I just wanted to share this motivation chart I made for singing time last year. You can pull on the string from the back of the cardboard to move the carts forward, to show progress on something ... e.g., to reach the goal of everyone having finished making their bonnets, etc. Or each cart can represent a group and their assignment.




Anyway, I described how to make this chart under the Option 3 description here.

Teaching "I Can Show Love to Each Member of My Family" (April Week 4 Sharing Time Lesson)

I plan to follow the lesson plan, "I can show love to each member of my family," in the 2014 Sharing Time Outline fairly closely. However, to better catch the children's attention, I made cheap people puppets, and then put together colorful houses and attached them to giant paint sticks.

(These paint sticks have been recycled numerous times over the years. I'm not sure who originally used them but, but it's a great tool to re-use!).

I will describe family members, then let children guess, before showing them the puppet. I will let a child come to the front of the room and hold up the puppet.

Part 1 - People Paper Bag Puppets

The inside of the mouth is below each flap so when you put your hand in the paper bag, and move the flap up and down, it looks like they are talking. You can download the template here.

Part 2 - Colorful Houses

If you have all of your materials on hand, you can create all three houses in about five minutes.

- 10 sheets of colorful card stock
- Paper cutter (optional)
- Scissors
- Glue
- Stapler
- Three large paint sticks

1. WINDOWS - Take one sheet of paper, fold it in half lengthwise, then fold it in half lengthwise again. Cut out window panes the way you would cut out designs in a snowflake cutout. Each of the windows above are identical per house because they were cut at the same time, by folding the paper twice.

2. BUSHES - Take another sheet of paper, fold it in half, then cut out puffy bushes. You should be able to fit three bushes onto the folder sheet, which means that since the paper is folded over, you will have six bushes.

3. DOOR - Take another sheet of paper, fold a small portion of it, and cut that portion into thirds to make doors. ROOF - Use the remaining piece from the paper that was used to make doors to cut out a roof.

4. ROOF - Take another sheet of paper, fold it in half lengthwise, then cut a diagonal line from one side to the middle of the piece of paper on the opposite side of the fold. Do this from the other corner as well. Ta-da, two more roof tops.

5. Now glue everything onto your three sheets of paper to make three houses.

6. Staple or glue your house to another sheet of paper. Just staple in the four corners, then staple on either side of the door, near the bottom, leaving a center opening to slide the stick through. Do the same on the opposite end of the paper, making sure your staples are far away enough from each that you can slide a stick through.

7. Fold the roof over at the very top. This acts as a pocket to hold the stick to the house. You can also just tape the stick to the house and ignore step 6, but this ensures your house is not likely to slide down the stick.

Applying President Faust to this Month's Primary Lessons

I have been reading some materials about President James E. Faust and will be applying some of this to our primary lessons this month (Topic: "Jesus Christ is our Savior") and next month (Topic: "The Family is Central to God's Plan."

I was reading about President Faust's funeral in 2007 (because I was reading "A Growing Testimony" by James E. Faust and ended up reading other materials about President Faust to help supplement my own understanding for the lesson that I am preparing), and read these two quotes that I will share with the primary to apply to things we have been teaching.

Quote #1 -

“Though his body was crippled, his mind was sharp,” said Gordon B. Hinckley, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “His wisdom was deep and profound. It came of long experience in many fields. He brought with him the mind of a lawyer, and the compassion of a church leader. His faith in the truth of the restored gospel was unflagging. ...

This is a great application about how everyone is different and special, and about how important it is to grow our testimonies in our youth so that we have a deep, unflagging faith. President Faust wasn't always crippled but he lived a long life, and by the end, his body was struggling, but he never doubted the gospel, and lead his life accordingly.

Quote #2 -

Bishop Marcus Faust, a son, spoke on behalf of the family. “Mother always came first in Dad’s life… From the way he spoke with her, to the way he tended to her needs, we always knew our mother was Dad’s one true love.”

He also recalled his father’s words prior to being sustained as a general authority in 1972. “I cannot magnify this new calling unless I first magnify my calling as husband, father and patriarch to our family. I will never be released from this calling.”

This is a great application about how important it is for parents to honor their children, and for children to obey their parents. President Faust set an example for his children, and also earned their respect because of how he treated his family.

Changing the Bell Schedule

Did you know that the Primary auxiliary is the only one that is supposed to use the bells on Sunday? Of course, we don't mind if everyone listens to the bells to figure out when to go from Gospel Doctrine class to Priesthood and Relief Society, but sometimes it messes them up because we adjust the bells as needed.

We have found that with sacrament running late at times, and the Junior Primary being such wiggly, little bodies, we often run out of time faster in Junior Primary than in Senior Primary. Therefore, we are going to try an experiment and start ringing the bells five minutes later during Junior Primary sharing time. This of course, also means that Junior Primary will have five minutes less class time with their teachers in the third hour, but I don't think the teachers will mind. I loved teaching in Junior Primary but the minutes certainly passed by more slowly than when I taught in Senior Primary.

We announced the change for several weeks before so that the Senior Primary teachers wouldn't let their classes out too early. We tried the new bell schedule for the first time last week. So far, so good!

Of course, if you want to try something similar in you ward, run it past your bishopric counselor ...