Regarding the image below: I used a file folder for the base and was going to use a page of "designer paper" with a border, but it fit awkwardly on the left side of the folder, so I cut the decorative border off and it fit perfectly! I made the A biggest and the F smallest because I want them to strive for greatness. Also, I'm hoping that both primaries will get all A's, which would require a lot of room at the top.
The song pins are just strips of card stock (that I already had, thanks to a marvelous postcard stamp and a habit to save just about everything) hot glued on some dollar store clothes pins. I also put the page number on the back of the pin so the pianist can find them. I generally don't conduct with the book because it keeps me from looking at the kids, and I'm comfortable keeping up as long as I know the time signature. With the exception of "He Sent His Son." For some reason, I can hardly ever hear a downbeat in that song.
I'm a big fan of stickers instead of food as a reward, so maybe I'll get to use some of that roll of 500 smiley face stickers (that I bought for $2.00 ten years ago). One of the counsellors volunteered to bring in treats as a reward, and I'm thinking we can use that once each song gets an A and use the stickers as token rewards as each song earns an A.
I also saw an idea online where one ward prints up the bulletin/program ahead of time and has the kids decorate the fronts to keep them occupied while practicing. I may see how Sister W feels about having them decorate invitations to give to anyone (could be a family member) to come hear their part in the Primary Program. Keeps them occupied, and bonus! the theme for October is missionary work!
This worked AMAZINGly in Junior Primary!!! We had so much fun with this! I hammed up the qualities of an "F" song and we sang "Nephi's Courage" that way. Should I still have this calling come program time next year, I might throw out a comment about it sounding like Lamen and Lemuel. Oh, my goodness! I probably had more fun with it than they did. Then I suggested we try the same song again with our "A Game," and pointed out how different it sounded and felt. Then I handed out the stickers. Those were a hit! (And that's an understatement.)
Then we sang three of our program songs. Because they got so excited after each sticker, I told them I would choose a child behaving reverently to choose the next song. (One of the moms saw this in the hall and said they looked like Popsicles, but acknowledged that might have had something to do with it being Fast Sunday.) We did three songs, one of which was the 6th AoF, which they only knew because we sang it as a "warm-up" song and I brought the large print card for the words. (About half of the kids can read well enough to read it, but having the adults read it was good.) They did so well! Even the rowdier kids stood still and with their arms at their sides to get that sticker. I emphasized smiling while singing and little J hammed that up. I was so pleased to hear that the last song we sang for a grade sounded amazing. It was "I Know That My Savior Loves Me," and I didn't even need to ask for confirmation: I knew that was an A performance. I told them I had never heard the song sound that beautiful before, and I meant it. The Spirit was definitely there, and I was grateful for the five seconds I had to point it out before little A started asking about stickers. That girl is something else. Love her.
This didn't go as well in Senior Primary, but that was largely because I literally only had ten minutes left for Singing Time. That was time to explain the Report Card and do two songs. I gave them an A for the first song, and if they had been Junior Primary, their second song would have been an A instead of a B, but I expect more from the Senior, and told them as much. Not in a mean or stern way, just that I would need them to be examples for the Junior Primary. I also told them I'd give them a chance to improve the song next week.
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