YW
SUNDAY AND WEEKLY ITEMS INCENTIVE: - -
To encourage our YW to bring all of their
books for Sunday, we bought plain tote bags (1.00 each at Wal-mart). We
give them to the girls and tell them they have 6 months to decorate the
bag in whatever way they want. We also give them a list of things that
the bag must contain: 1) Scriptures; 2) Personal
Progress Book; 3)
Journal (the one that matches the Personal Progress Book); 4)
Notebook
(given by us to keep a record of all their PP accomplishments);
5) a
calendar (we give them a monthly calendar where all our activities are
listed); and 5) a pen or pencil.
Each
Wednesday & Sunday when we take attendance, we ask the girls what
in the list above they have with them. They receive 2 points each
for
scriptures and PP book; 1 point for everything else listed (total of 10
points each week). We made a poster with dates down the left side
& a column at the top with each of the girls names. If
they receive all 10 points they get a sticker. If it is
less, we write the number of points received. At the end of each
month, the girl with the most points gets to pick a small gift from a
gift box. At the end of a year, the young woman with the
most points will receive a special gift. (we are thinking a gift
card, around $50).In addition to the points listed above the
girls can achieve extra points by giving a talk or doing something
extra for young women's or a Wednesday activity. So far, our beehives
have been the winning group. The first month we did it
(November) our top three in points were all beehives.
Shelly Woods, Texas
FORGIVENESS: - - I found a talk on the BYU
Speeches
website. It was called "On Measuring Flour & Forgiveness" by
Madison U. Sowell 1996. It had a poem called "Forgiveness
Flour" by Marguerite Stewart. I brought a cup of flour and
copies
of the poem. We read the poem and then we discussed how certain
words
brought out how Kathleen felt. "Whisper of knocking", "standing
in
her shawl and her shame", shrinking in the doorway". We
talked
about how she must have felt and how Joel symbolized Christ. We
discussed
how she would have felt after she received the huge bag of flour, and
how
her family would have felt when she brought it home or how they would
have
had to help her, the joy that this gift would have brought. We
talked
about how the wife would have felt. It was a very good lesson and
I could tell from the expressions on their faces, that they really got
it. I made flour sack pillows from from flour sack dish
towels.
I sewed a pocket on the back and laminated at copy of the poem and put
it in the pocket ( I also attached a ribbon to both the pillow and the
poem, so they wouldn't get separated) On the front I placed the
the
3 x's for flour in purple embroidery floss and tied the corners of the
pillows with purple ribbon. They turned out really cute and the
girls
loved them. Carlleen IDEAS FOR SEVERAL HANDOUTS: -
- Now that I don't have Deseret Book or Seagull to depend on...I have
to
use my own wits and imagination. BUT, I have found that Toys R Us
is a neat place to get fun things for handouts. I recently found
(in the party section) many tiny things to use. I purchased
several
mini magnifying glasses. They come in a package of 6 (various
colors)
and I inserted "As Daughters of our Heavenly Father we can Magnify the
Priesthood" in them. I just typed them on bright paper, cut them
out and stuffed them in the glass. The girls LOVED them!
There
are little telescopes, pinwheels, watches (which I am doing for the
Heritage
lesson). Just use your imagination and you can come up with some
really neat things. I also have used plastic spiders or bugs on
lessons
about honesty and getting caught in webs of lies. Candy is always
good. We make candybar cards for birthdays, etc. Spell out
the cards with the candy...example..."We are not AIRHEADS...or Hugs and
Kisses (using the candies)..100,000 bars are easy to make something
up.
Deb Drysdale TEMPLE MARRIAGE HANDOUT: -
- A white hanger, plain or
decorated
as fancy as you'd like, with a paper attatched to it which reads,
"Hang"
on to your values, "Hang on to your testimony, "Hang" on to
your goals, so that some day you can hang your temple dress on me. TEMPLE MARRIAGE POSTCARD: - For a Temple
Lesson
have post cards made up for you to hand out to the girls, tell them
that
you are giving them this post card to hold on to until that special day
comes when you can kneel with your husband across the altar to be
sealed
. Tell them you want them to mail this post card back to you. On
the front put a cute little couple (maybe from DJ inkers computer clip
art.) And the words "GOING TO THE TEMPLE" . On the back put
this poem: Dear (your name), I'm going to the temple and Im as happy as I can be I have tried to live my life So Heavenly Father
could
be proud of me. I am keeping my promise To let you and (advisor
name)
know So that you could be happy too, Now that I've
reached
my temple goal. ***** "And this shall be our covenant-that we will
walk in all the ordinances of the Lord" The girls will always have them to see. It will
remind
them that you as their leader will want to know of their succes. Cheryl
G
LETTER TO THE FUTURE: - When I was a YW
(many years
ago), we filled out this questionaire and sealed it up in an envelope
that
our teacher had written on the envelope "Do not open until (and
then
the date 30 years later)." When I opened it up 30 years later, it
was interesting to note the changes I had made and what was important
when
I was a teenager. (To view
questions
click here)
BULLETIN BOARDS: You need a piece of
particle board,
about 11x17 with the corners cut off so it has a cute shape, pad it
with
batting, cover it with fabric and staple it on the back. Use
about
3-4 yards of ribbon - 3/8" wide or so, and cris cross it across the
board,
with a few horizontal ones as well, and stapled them to the back. Then,
tuck your things under the ribbon, no push pins or thumb tacks
needed.
It's darling. It would be cute with young women value colors for
the girls, they could hang their handouts, invites, etc. on it.
QUESTIONS: - "Sometimes a simple question asked of
a group
can clear up a complex misunderstanding" (this is written on a piece of
construction paper about 3x5 size with a large question mark in the
center
surrounded my many smaller question marks.)
GET IT DONE MOTTO: (When I was the Stake
Youth Co-Chairman,
our High Counselor's motto was:) EFFORT = RESULTS