SUNDAY LESSONS

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LESSON MANUAL IDEAS:  (from Lorrie)  I've had several requests for Lesson Manual #1 ideas for this year.  I'm sorry, but I won't be able to do this.  One -- it would take up more time and space than I have; and two -- since I am not currently serving in the YW program, I don't even have access to this resource. 

LESSON MANUAL ORDER -- 1999: -  I recently attended an area meeting with Sister Beck from the General YW Board. She emphasized that the lessons in the YW manual must be taught in the order they appear in the manual.   Annette

TABLE CENTERPIECE: - There are always those lessons where you need a pen to have the girls write something
right? Well you'll always have pens with this center piece. Here is what you need:
  •  large taricotta pot (few dollars at wal-mart)
  •  flower arraging sponge ( 2 for .77 cents at a craft store)
  •  spanish moss ( 1.00 for a bag)
  •  green floral tape
  •  silk flowers one for each value color ( I went to the dollar store)
  •  pack of pens

    • You put the stem of the flower along side the pen and wrap the green tape around it, all the way to the end of the pen. So the pen looks like a stem and the flower is at the top of the pen. Then you put you the flower arraging sponge in the pot and cover it with spanish moss. Then you arrange all of your flower pens in the pot by sticking them in the sponge.
    Tie a bow around your pot and your finished. This works great, you'll always have a pen handy as well as a cute center piece for your lessons.  Carla in Arizona

    VALUES LESSON: -  This activity could be used as a Sunday lesson on values.  Play Candy Land (the child's game).  Every time a girl lands on a color they must tell what it stands for and one thing they can do to strengthen this area.  Each girl should keep a tally of the number of times they land on the value of the month.  When the game is over,  count the number of tallies for each girl.  During the next week they must do that many things within the value and come back the following week to report.  (For example:  if you are talking about service.  Every time a girl lands of a yellow, they will repeat the scripture, tell a kind of service they could do, repeat the motto, etc. When the game is completed, if the girl has 10 tally marks, then she must  do 10 acts of service that week for her family and others.  The following week she comes back to class and reports on her experience.)  Teena Harrison, Taylor, Arizona

    SHOES OBJECT LESSON (MARRIAGE): -  When your married, does love change over time?  Think of love as a pair of shoes.  In the beginning, everything's brand- squeaky-new.  You love the way they smell; your first steps are a bit stiff, yet shiny and exciting.  Time passes.  The high-gloss quality has dimmed, you've got a few scuffs and scratches, but you feel comfortable and secure -- these are shoes you can count on!  More time passes.  You hit a crisis point:  A heel breaks, a sole wears down--should you repair them or toss them.  Perhaps you could even try on a few other pairs for size.  Still, no shoes do  it for you like these.  No shoes fit you the same way.  So you do some work on them.  You fix them up to be keepers.  And, sure, maybe they aren't the dazzling special-company, steppin'out shoes they once were.  Maybe they aren't the shoes you'd wear for your big Hokey-Pokey number at Cousin Gloria's wedding reception.  Big deal.  Hokey-Pokeys may come and go, but these shoes have gone the distance.  And that's what it's all about!

    TEACHING WITH THE SPIRIT THOUGHTS AND IDEAS

    ASSESSING THE NEEDS OF THE YW: -   If you look in the front of the lesson manual in the introduction under unit teaching it states "In teaching these units, assess the needs of the YW in your class by asking yourself the following questions:
  • What problems are they facing?
  • What do they already know about the subject?
  • What previous lessons have they had on the subject?
  • Which of these lessons best meet their needs?

    • When you have carefully considered the needs of your YW, study the lesson titles and objectives of each lesson to determine which lessons will best meet those needs.  By planning well in advance, you can be sure that the YW will receive lessons in all units and that you will provide a complete, balanced curriculum."

    STICKING TO THE LESSON MANUEL: -  We had a training a couple of years ago with Sister Pierce who was at the time a member of the YW General Board, and she stressed the importance of teaching the lessons in the manual.  She explained that in the curriculum department at Church Headquarters that they have charts on the walls that list gospel topics that will be taught from the time we are in nursery until we are in Relief Society and Priesthood quorums.  She said we would be amazed to see that topics we think are so basic may only be covered once or twice in our life time.  She was stressing the importance of teaching the lesson in the manual.

    MONTHLY VALUE LESSON: -  When I lived in a large ward, I had one sister who was called as the Value Speaker. She always gave the lessons on Fast Sunday and they were about the Values.  She was terrific and used so many different teaching techniques.  A great resource  book is "Teaching No Greater Call".  It has some of the best teaching methods and they will keep your lessons A-one!   In smaller wards(like the one I currently live in), you could  have a guest value speaker on Fast Sunday.  I've used the best women and a few men in the stake.  I always get the names approved by the bishop, which isn't a problem, and ask the speaker well in advance.  They have been the best!
    Last month the sister compared quilt tops to Divine Nature and the individuality of the girls.  She brought several quilts and had prepared pieces of paper with a pattern of nine squares.  She divided the girls into groups and gave each group a paper, scissors, glue stick, and a baggie containing 9 squares of red and blue paper to fit into the pattern.  The groups could then make any design they decided.  It was great and they all turned out so different.  Our presidency just stood back in awe!

    HOLY GHOST LESSON: -  I just gave a lesson in young women's on the Holy Ghost.    I discussed why the Holy Ghost is so important in our lives, the purposes of promptings, how promptings come, why we get no answer even when we are living the commandments  ... how to tell if they are from us or the Lord.  Started the lesson by giving a gift ... an NY subway token.  Explained what the gift was.  Asked a youth if she could go from Times Square to the Empire State Building, using her new gift.  She explained she knew the basics, understood the use of the token but, admitted that she wouldn't know which subway to use.  I Explained and tied that into the Holy Ghost.  We understand we have this gift, but do we fully understand its purpose? Do we know how to use the gift? Do we understand its purposes?

    MORALITY OBJECT LESSON: -  My husband likes to do an object lesson with a pencil:  Dangle a pencil on the edge of a counter or table.  Ask the class  if they can guess when the pencil will fall as you push it closer and closer to the the edge.   (It falls when least expected).  Then he takes the pencil to the back of the table and says the pencil will not fall if it is not even near the edge, much safer, etc.

    AGENCY & M&M'S: -  Pass a package of M&M's around the class.  Tell them to take whatever color of M&M's they want, except don't pick the blue ones.  As it is passed around, the class members will notice that there aren't any blue ones and at the end everyone will be asking the question "Why?".  Relate it to Heavenly Father's plan and giving us our agency or following Satan's plan and taking out all the blue M&M's.

    LESSON FILLERS: -  For ideas on Lesson fillers, when you've run out of lesson and not out of time,  click here

    INDIVIDUAL WORTH: -  I did a lesson on Individual Worth and tied it into the family proclamation Paragraphs 2 &5.  I  had a poster with a huge thumbprint on it saying "You are Thumbody Special".   It was really cute.  I wanted to have the girls stamp their own thumbprint on the poster and sign beneath it saying that everyone's thumbprint is unique.   -- Lisa Hansen

    CHASTITY LESSON IDEA: -  I first used this 20 plus years ago when working with the Beehives as a thought for teaching lessons on chastity and morality:  "Be chaste while being chased."    ----- To make a picture for your lesson,  you could find a picture (maybe from a teen magazine or something) of a girl with guys around her (you know the scene!).  Glue it to a piece of card stock or construction paper and add the thought listed above:  "Be chaste while being chased".  My teacher did it when I was a youth, and I still remember it.

    MAN OF YOUR DREAMS....OR NIGHTMARES?: -  For ideas Click Here

    AGENCY LESSON: -  Last week I went through the parable of the ten virgins. I read the scripture passage. Then I used Pres. Kimball's explanation of the parable.  I displayed an oil lamp. As a hand out I gave out tiny vials of lamp oil. I told them that they got a drop for being at church that day and another drop for their modest dress. Another drop for listening and bringing their scriptures. This is the preparation that Pres. Kimball uses as his example. The foolish virgins chose not to be prepared and had to be accountable for their foolishness.

    "SEEK THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD" HANDOUT: -  (This was written on a heart)
    Seek the Spirit of the Lord

    This is a spiritual experience in which you are involved. Bright as you are,  trained as you may be, you are not wise enough to do it alone. Seek the blessings of the Lord and his favor, and you will be blessed with success and happiness, and your work will be crowned with that joy which will make it really fruitful, for God has promised His Spirit and His power to those who seek Him and love Him. 

    God bless you to believe what I have said to you about being important. You are.


    HANDOUT BINDER: -  We were given a binder with section papers to keep ours in.  We section them off into the values.  I personally am not much one for handouts, but I keep them anyway, because I have some inactive friends that have some problems that I like to send them to, to try and help them.  So mine do someone some good!

    TESTIMONY: -  When I was in YW as a Miamaid,  my teacher gave a lesson on testimonies or faith.  At the end of class,  she gave everyone a plant,  I had it for years and it never grew.... Through this time I thought about throwing it out because it was an ugly plant with one leaf on it. I didn't look at it much and didn't pay attention to it.  As time went on,  I  practically lost my testimony.  Later, I found a wonderful guy and was sealed in the temple. We brought the plant to our home now 17 months later it has eight leaves!!  It has turned out to be a beautiful plant.  I suppose my testimony was the same as the plant grew. It gets bigger everyday and so does my testimony.  My mom was amazed when she came to my house and saw the plant after seeing it so small and lifeless for so many years.   So the moral to the story is I kept one of my "handouts" though I didn't quite understand the power of it then (10 years ago) I am glad I never threw out the plant.

    MODESTY LESSON: -  As an object lesson you could take some New Eras and put Cosmopolitin magazine covers over them and then discuss what they think the inside is like. My girls really took to this because they want to be in style but not to give off the wrong message. I don't think they had really thought about what they were saying to others by their dress. They figured that if it met the standards listed in the "For the strength of Youth" pamphlets it was totally okay. I have noticed a change in their dress since I gave this lesson.

    CHARITY: -    (This is from the book "Power Tools for Teaching", by Beth Lefgren and Jennifer Jackson) Objective: to demonstrate how charity can help us rise to our highest potential as servants of our Heavenly Father.
    Materials Needed: Two loaves of homemade bread-one with yeast, one without yeast.
    Procedure: Display both loaves of bread.  Ask what the class members think made the difference. (Yeast.) Point out that the recipe was followed exactly for both loaves with the exception of one ingredient, the yeast.  T's easy to tell which loaf has the yeast.
    Explain that in our lives we can have a similar experience.  We can develop our character and obey the commandments; gut if we omit the important ingredient of charity for all mankind, it will all be for nothing.  Without this vital ingredient, we cannot rise to our highest potential.

    JESUS IS OUR "LIFE-SAVER" HANDOUT: -
    Whether your ship is sailing upon calm waters or is heading for uncharted seas
    or you are struggling to keep your head  above the crashing waves…
    Only one life "preserver" outlasts all others, it is Jesus Christ.
    (Poem is attached with a lifesaver.)

    EXALTATION: -  At the beginning of the lesson ask for those who have NOT read their scriptures or prayed or whatever that week.  Now for those who HAVE NOT read Give THEM a Hershey's kiss.  Then continue with your lesson.  Don't say anything else.  You will hear some murmuring. If they murmur say we will talk about it later.  At the END of the Lesson. For those who READ give them a HUGE candy bar.  Tie it into life today ... sometimes it seems as though the wicked are receiving rewards NOW.  Ask was it worth the wait to get the bigger candy bar?  Tie into worth the wait for celestial Kingdom The reward is bigger better and worth the wait.

    REVERENCE HELP: -  This month we are focusing on Integrity.  For our combined lesson (Fast Sunday) we invited a member of the bishopric to present the theme.  It went VERY WELL!!   I was amazed at how quiet and respectful the young women were.  They actually listened and learned something!   I think it helps the young women grow closer to the bishopric.   Another thing we have started, is having a member of the bishopric be in our opening exercises each week.  This really helps with the reverence problems. 

     TURNING YOUR HEARTS -- TO EACH OTHER: - (See Lesson idea)