Planning

I'm a planner and love it. I like to make spreadsheets, tables, and documents. But when it came to planning my Primary singing time, I wasn't sure what would be the most helpful. I read a lot of blogs and tried a bunch of different things and finally came up with what works for me. I thought I'd share just in case you're still trying to figure it out. Here's what works for me BUT it may not be what works best for you. 

This is a snapshot of last years plan. I have a page for each month. At the beginning of the year, I put what the theme of each month is along with the weekly themes (purple) and any suggested songs from the sharing time lesson.

I do both JR and SR. Sometimes I'll use the same activity and sometimes I do totally different things. I try to use the opening and closing song for the whole month. I like to pick songs that go with the theme. Then we get to sing them several times in the month which makes for a great review.

I also sing the same birthday and welcome song for the month. If it's a new one, we might do it for two months until I think they are comfortable with it. (blue & green)

I DON'T fill out the entire year at the beginning of the year. I do one month at a time and even then sometimes I change a week or two. This leaves room for inspiration or new ideas I get in the middle of the week.

Here is a glimpse of the blank first 2 months of next year.

The planning sheets comes in very handy when I need to know when I played 'Sing Pete Sing' or played 'Hot & Cold'. I can go back to previous months and see what I did. That way I can make sure I'm not doing the same things too often.

The last week of the month, I'll start filling things in as I plan my month. It's in a Microsoft Word document so I just type right in it and SAVE each time I close. 

For my pianist and myself, I print something like this to hand her each week. This lets her know what I'm planning and we can be a team. She's ready with the next song and there is no down time while we wait for her to find the next song. I fold it in half so just JR is showing. I have two different pianist, one for JR and one for SR. Then flip it over for the SR one.

It makes planning each week easy. I just go in and change the singing time songs because the Opening, birthday, etc. stay the same.
Here is an example of the blank weekly planning sheet.

I hope this makes sense and is helpful to some of you. 

If you would like to try my planning sheets just click HERE for the blank planning templates.
Just download them and you can edit and type right in them and make them your own.

Happy Planning!