How do you make 65 shy 6th graders come alive? Put them on a magic school bus, of course!
Which is exactly what we did! On Friday afternoon we went to Koror Elementary to introduce their sixth graders to drama. They were pretty shy about coming up in front to act one at a time, but when Elder Johnsen sat down and told them that they were on a Magic School Bus, everyone got involved. The sixth grade teachers were laughing pretty hard, and so were the children (You can see from the pictures.) Elder Johnsen took them up and down big hills, turned sharp corners and even blasted off on a rocket and became weightless. You should have seen the kids float!
Which is exactly what we did! On Friday afternoon we went to Koror Elementary to introduce their sixth graders to drama. They were pretty shy about coming up in front to act one at a time, but when Elder Johnsen sat down and told them that they were on a Magic School Bus, everyone got involved. The sixth grade teachers were laughing pretty hard, and so were the children (You can see from the pictures.) Elder Johnsen took them up and down big hills, turned sharp corners and even blasted off on a rocket and became weightless. You should have seen the kids float!
Sister Johnsen talked about how we create characters with our bodies, our voices, and even our faces. She did find one talented young man though. He was quietly told to act out “sad” with his face to see if the other students could guess what his emotion was. He added the “Kleenex” and the big blowing sound himself.
So far so good. But the sixth grade teachers are hoping that we will teach every day for the next 6 weeks and have their students put on a big show for the parents. This feels a little beyond our expectations for the service that we hoped to render. Sister Johnsen has found some 1 Act plays for kids online and hopefully we can divide them into groups and have them prepare these mini-plays. We were not prepared for the amount of time and effort they were hoping we would perform.
The very same day we had to be ready for our institute party, our Spring Fling. We decided just to see what kind of fun we could create with flinging things. We thought everyone had a good time, but not everyone who promised to come, did come, which was disappointing, because it was a lot of work and expense. We started with flinging (lagging) pennies, moved to flinging spit wads from elastics (see Emily go), then we flung airplanes (view Elder Gubler special technique), we did a balloon fling, a javelin fling (straws) and a bean spitting contest at the end (Elder Johnsen was against it right up until the end, it just didn’t seem right to be spitting in church, but it turned out fine). We had small prizes for the winners and lots to eat. The highlight was Sister Johnsen’s dirt cake served in a flower pot, with gummy worms and an artificial flower to boot. After we were done the Elders wanted to know which games we left out, and when we told them about the Styrofoam plate fling. They wanted to try that, and it was the hardest competition of all. Finally Elder Wright figured out how to actually get a plastic plate to fling.
Elder Johnsen saved the day again on Sunday because neither one of the Sunday School teachers came to church, and the newly called Sunday School President didn’t come either. Elder Johnsen taught the youth and the adults again. Since he was teaching the allegory by Zenos in Jacob 5 he decided to begin with one of Aesop’s short allegorical fables. Everyone enjoyed it a lot. Here it is:
The Sick Lion—A LION, unable from old age and infirmities to provide himself with food by force, resolved to do so by artifice. He returned to his den, and lying down there, pretended to be sick, taking care that his sickness should be publicly known. The beasts expressed their sorrow, and came one by one to his den, where the Lion devoured them. After many of the beasts had thus disappeared, the Fox discovered the trick and presenting himself to the Lion, stood on the outside of the cave, at a respectful distance, and asked him how he was. “I am very middling,” replied the Lion, “but why do you stand without? Pray enter within to talk with me.” “No, thank you,” said the Fox. “I notice that there are many prints of feet entering your cave, but I see no trace of any returning.”
He is wise who is warned by the misfortunes of others.
The moral of the story is that you don’t have to make every mistake yourself; you can learn by others mistakes. And that’s the real magic! It makes life so much easier. We have discovered since reading Choosing Glory by Lili Anderson that choosing to live a telestial life is choosing a much more difficult and dangerous life. We want to save these people from telestial troubles if we can.
Great magical week!
I will be teaching this same lesson the week after conference. I loved Aesop's tale. Your blog is so much fun to read. You amaze me with all the ideas you come up with to teach and have fun. Kathy Patty
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