For the first day of sunbeams we eat "sunbeams" which are honeycomb cereal in snack sized zip lock baggies.

We also have a "reverent blanket" which is a white sheet we put on the ground. when the children first come in they sit in the chairs. We then welcome them to class & look for reverent children who are folding their arms, sitting on their "pockets" to come sit on the special reverent carpet on the floor. We then sing "here we are together" and each of the children stand up & say their name when it is their turn. Sometimes we talk about our week on the reverent carpet, answer any pressing questions and get to know one another! We have lots of fun but learn to be reverent at the same time.

:eek: Sorry, I meant to say we eat "sunbeam snacks" not Sunbeams! they are actually honeycomb cereal.

We have 2 special needs children in our sunbeam class. We found it very difficult to have them sit, going from Sacrament meeting to O.Exercises, then singing/sharing time. So, we are trying having them miss O.E. They go play for 20 minutes, eat snack, then join us for sing/sharing time before lesson time. We'll see how it goes.

I am wondering what others do with sunbeams who are not potty trained, that bite, and are not ready to sit? Any suggestions.

I made Sundy spirit Boxes that we keep in our closet. It has two CD players with the Primary CD music. It has cloring pages from the Friend. A few mini church books. Some crayons and paper. We have a few kids that have challenges in our ward too. They love these boxes. The kids can use them during class time and it keepes them in Primary.

I need alot of help in reverence. We have our sharing time split between jr primary and sr. primary. The jr primary is the third hour., they are just all wiggles and some run, some talk, and one or two out of ten actually sit and listen i dint know what to do. i have tried the badges, the reverent jar, and the sunshine thing they sit on and nothing seems to work. I would greatly appreciate any other ideas please help. suggestions?

Bribes - I had a couple wild boys at the beginning of the year. I would tell them if they were sitting on their bottoms being good I would give them a fruit snack. If They started acting up again I'd just say "if your sitting in your chair on your bottom I'll give you a treat." I did that for about 6 weeks and now they're much better, not perfect, but better.

I usually give snacks after opening prayers (to help the sunbeams get use to the transition from nursery). However, I am not going to do that anymore, because, while most my sunbeams have been neat, I have 1 sunbeam who is very messy and distracting, (I have to stop between my lesson to clean up after him) so I am putting new rules in place, which is NO SNACK until after I am presenting the lesson.
Perhaps this will entice him to be more reverent to be looking forward to having snacks!

I need some help. I just was put in as a sunbeam teacher in my ward. We have a class assignment to do an activity with the theme "I can follow Jesus Christ's example" Then at the end of the month we have to get up in sharing time and share what we did and what we learned. I have no idea what to do with these cute little kiddos. Any advice would be great! Thanks!!

Teach your lesson while they are eating a snack. Then do several short activities. Get them out of their seat. Let them move around in class afterall sitting for three hours is hard for all of us. However, respect and reverance still must be upheld during all activities.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make giving the scripture/talk/prayer in front of primary not so scary? My 4 year old SCREAMS if she even thinks she might have to go up an talk in the microphone and forget about the primary program! She is just so shy I don't know how to convince her to even try.

Don't force them to do something that scares them. They will come around eventually. DO continue to give them the opportunity to try. We have one little sunbeam that would not participate at all at the beginning of the year and now loves to participate most of the time.It just takes patience. Have them practice at home with family where it isn't so scary.

We actually have a child in senior primary who has always been very very shy. We have just given it lots of time, never pushed her to do something she doesnt want to do. One thing that has made her more willing to try is to have one of her friends go up with her, whether it be singing or talking. This has been a miracle for us! She has really started to come out of her shell. She will now even get up and read by herself and have even gotten her to sing a duet! Keep praying for these special shy children, they will be ok with lots of love and patience!

I need help. Im the primary president with 12 new sunbeams. I have my own infant in my arms each sunday to add to it. Half sit wonderfully. The other half are crying and will not stay in their seats. How to I help them want to be in primary and stay in their chairs???? My teachers are new......

I have 6 kids. Some of them love to give talks etc in primary. Some of them are terrified. I say don't push it. Practice with them during the week. If they give it great if not don't worry. They will out grow the fear. One of my children was 7 before he did or even did a part in the primary program. Hes fine now and is not scared. Just keep trying but don't no worries if they do.

My heart goes out to you & your Sunbeam teachers! I would suggest having the Sunbeams meet first in their classroom & do their own opening exercises (prayer, sing a song--something that becomes routine). Then I would bring them into Singing Time & keep them in there for as long as they seem to be able to handle it.

I would see if someone from relief society is willing to take your baby while you are in primary (unless baby needs you). We have 15 sunbeams and we have had to have three teachers for that class. Having consistent teachers will be a plus...maybe teachers can go visit them in their homes so that the children are comfortable and familiar with them. Call on parents to come sit with them helps too. phase parents out during primary.

11 Sunbeams in my class.

The only way I can get most of them to sit still during sharing time is to have an extra adult there.

There should be two teachers (or a teacher and a helper) for a sunbeam class if there are more than 5 sunbeams. Inevitable requests for "potty" breaks make that evident.

One technique I use in class to have my sunbeams pay attention is story time. I have them make their hands into a book. I tell an important story, and after every 2 sentences, I tell them to "turn the page." As I say this, I close my hands together and open them again into the book shape. With me they use their hands and turn the page of their own little hand books. They listen closely not just for when to turn the page, but to the whole story.

Do you know of anyone that has a PDF copy of Sister Wixom's 2012 spring auxiliary training address?