General Women’s Meeting
March 28, 2014
Are you planning to attend or watch the general women’s meeting Saturday night? ChurchofJesusChrist.org has made it easy for you to invite a friend! Go to this page to find digital ways to let people know about the broadcast, or print a physical invitation to deliver. Be sure to let your friends know where you are gathering for the meeting or where they can watch it online. After the meeting, you can read or listen to every session of conference at gc.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
Making Scriptures a Habit
By Jenn Wilks
March 21, 2014
Getting into the habit of daily scripture reading can be challenging, especially with young children. If you’re struggling in this area, here’s an idea that might help.
Try sitting down with your family and deciding on a scripture study plan together. Even if you just read a few verses a day, have confidence that daily scripture study will bless your family. While you’re planning, set a goal for how many days you’re going to read and decide on a reward for meeting your goal. This can be anything—a trip to the park, a family movie night, a special treat, or extra one-on-one time with a parent.
Keep track of how your family reads the scriptures. You can use a white board, make a fancy tracking sheet, or put stickers on a calendar. When you’ve met your goal, have fun with your reward! Then set another goal.
Over time, reading the scriptures will become its own reward. In the meantime, external rewards can help your family get into the habit of regular scripture reading.
Finding Child-Friendly Art
By Marissa Widdison
March 14, 2014
If you’re trying to keep a child interested in what you’re saying, using pictures and visual aids is a great way to go. You can find a lot of Church-approved artwork published in the Friend and elsewhere by visiting three pages on ChurchofJesusChrist.org:
- The Media Library is a collection of Church-approved videos, pictures, and other resources. By clicking on “Images” and “Primary,” you will arrive at this page of illustrations, line art, and activities.
- On this Resources for Teaching Children site, click “Resources by Category” on the lefthand menu. Then choose the category “Visual Aids.” You’ll find scripture figures, prophet portraits, links to Sharing Time art, and more.
- Pick a book from this Scripture Stories page. Then click on the last icon in the row of “Related Materials” to download PDFs of illustrated stories.
Meaningful images will make any story more memorable and fun. You can also invite children to help you hold up or display the visual aids, which will get them more engaged in the lesson.
“The Power of Including Scriptures”
By Jan Taylor, Primary general board
March 7, 2014
The first time Annie came to Primary, she sat in her chair with her head down and her hands in her lap. She never looked up. The next time we saw her was three months later. This time she sat with her head up; she was confident and engaged. She asked and answered many questions. What made the difference?
The course of study in Primary that year was the Book of Mormon. The teacher had challenged all the girls to read it so they could discuss it each week. Even though Annie hadn’t attended Primary for three months, she took the challenge seriously and read her scriptures every day. Through her reading, she came to realize who she was and gained the confidence she now demonstrated.
Understanding the power of the scriptures is critical when teaching children. How can we use them more when we teach? In Teaching, No Greater Call, Part B-Lesson 12, there is an entire chapter with ideas for teaching from the scriptures, including a section with suggestions specifically for children. Here are a few of them:
- Help children become familiar with the names and order of the books in the scriptures.
- When you want children to find a certain scripture passage, give them the page number as well as the reference.
- Share a scripture account in your own words. Help learners visualize the events and the people as you describe what happened. Then read key scripture passages aloud.
