For Jr. primary, I quickly wrote down each child’s name on the name tag during opening exercises which made it go much quicker. When it was time for singing time, I just handed each child their name tag to put on.Then, I ended up only introducing 4 kids or teachers at a time, then we’d sing the song and repeat with 4 more kids/teachers and sing the song again, etc. Then, once we had gone through the entire primary, we sang the song the one last time to include the entire primary including teachers and kids. It filled the allotted 20 minutes perfectly in both Jr. and Sr. primaries.The kids seemed to have a good time standing to introduce themselves and tell their favorite primary song. In Jr. I changed it to tell us their favorite color – a little easier for them.
Here are others responses’s from the Chorister’s FB group:
Thank you for all your ideas and effort!
I did the idea of singing “Here we are together” as classes and it was great! The kids really enjoyed it.
Same as above. It was a huge hit. I had each class come up and each person (including teachers) said one thing about themselves then we sang to that class. Then we repeated with each class. It was great!
I also loved this idea. We did the new Sunbeams and then we got a new primary presidency today and so we did them too. It was great!!
We did this, first with the sunbeams a few times, then individual classes. (JR ONLY)
I did this activity in jr and sr and the kids LOVED it. I wrote down their names on labels during sharing time. I also didn’t have them get up and down from their seats since that tends to be disruptive because we have a large primary. So then it didn’t take as long as I thought it would and I wished I had had each class come up! I easily tied it into the theme of we are all children of God and He knows us by name.
I did this today and it was such a hit! I’m still trying to learn the names of all the kids so this was so helpful to me as well. Everyone loved it! The primary president came up to me afterwards and commented on what a success that was. Thank you for your ideas! I would be so lost without them
We did this activity. I just did the new sunbeams because we have SO many primary kids. I think it helped them warm up to primary. Thanks for sharing!!!
Did the Here we are Together song today and it was a huge hit! Thanks for all your wonderful ideas!!
I did it today. I introduced the newbies first. And then the rest of primary. I had total engagement. It was great. I used the name labels they worked great. Except when a couple of the kids said their tags wouldn’t stick only to find out they wrote on the wrong side. Lol. Teachers and kids loved it!! I also did hot and cold with the sr primary and they want to do it next week. Wiggle worm jar for jr. Was a success. I bore testimony of the importance of making good friends beginning in primary and wherever we go and bring a good friend as well. I felt success!! Ok I’m done!! Thanks,Camille!!!
It was a hit in our Primary today! Thanks!
I did it today and it was a lot of fun! I didn’t have any labels so we skipped that part. I decided to have each class come to the front of the room and do a silly action when we sang their name. I started with the primary presidency, which the kids all loved, and it got everyone excited to participate. I had the sunbeams go last so they wouldn’t be intimidated after seeing all the other kids do it. I was a little worried how our Sr. Primary would react but they were totally into it! I had all of the teachers come up last and it was a hoot. Thanks for sharing all of your great ideas!
I did this today with a little difference. I had the name tags for just the sunbeams and we sang the song using their names then I had them go pick a “buddy” to bring up to the front with them. They had to tell me their buddy’s name and then we sang the song again. Then the sunbeams sat down and the buddies picked new buddies until every child was picked and we had sang everyone’s name, they LOVED it! I did the same thing on senior and they loved it too!
I did this with Senior Primary today. We just sang the song once. The pianist kept playing the same line over and over as we sang all of the kids names (about 15 kids). Some of them did a silly pose. They really enjoyed it, and I think it helped the new class feel a little more comfortable for their first day in senior primary. Thanks for the idea!
This worked well in our primary today. The new sunbeams were really quiet and didn’t really like sharing their name and what they like to do but all the kids seemed to enjoy it. Then in senior primary we did it to the new kids who moved up from junior primary and they loved it too.
I preprinted name tags and did it with both junior and senior primaries. It was awesome for everyone because we have a BIG Primary (including 27 sunbeams!) and it’s hard to learn all the kids names. I started with the primary presidency then brought up one class at a time. I broke it up by singing a fun song in between every 2-3 classes (ie popcorn popping, Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, etc.) thanks for the idea!
I tried it with all of the classes and you could tell that everyone liked hearing their name being sung. I probably didn’t need to include the teachers as well, but the kids seemed to like it.
We did it and it went very well! While I passed out the labels and markers I had the pianist play quietly and they were very reverent. We only have about 40 in jr primary and 50 in senior. For jr I called 8 kids up at a time and just repeated the measures extra to fit all the names in, and in sr we pulled 16 up at a time! It was great. It took about half of my time, which was what I wanted- I was able to introduce the new song with ASL for the last half. Thanks so much for your ideas Camille!!!
Did it with my new class that just came up to Senior Primary. They felt so big and their faces were beaming!!
Looking forward to doing this next year. I’ll be out next week with a surgery, so had to get started on our January song right away and didn’t have time for a long welcome. We did sing a quick welcome song to our new Sunbeams and new Seniors, but with over 100 children doing the whole name activity would have taken the whole Singing Time. Love your ideas and use them whenever I can!
Your plan worked like a dream! I did it pretty much as you planned. I always check your site first for my ideas and planning. Know that your work is appreciated and used. ThAnK YoU!!!
I didn’t do this week because my Sunbeams have been visiting for a few weeks already. I did do this one class each week when I first got called though and it really helped me learn their names and they loved it. It only took a few minutes of the beginning of singing time to do one class. Then I’d just quickly say the names of all the other kids to help with my memory.
We did it in Sr and the kids LOVED it. I am newly called and it was a great first day. Thanks for the idea.
The kids loved it. I did it by classes.
Make sure to read the other comments in the comments section below:
8 thoughts on “Here We Are Together Follow Up”
I didn't do all the kids just the Sunbeams. We also sang Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam before we started "Here we are together" to introduce the sunbeams. Then we sang "Here we are together" but instead of names it said a class name. For example, we CTR 4 and CTR 5 and CTR 6 and CTR 7. And each time I said the class name the kids in that class stood up. So at the end all the kids were standing. And I just did it as an opening activity. I think it went really good.
I also put butterfly stickers on the Sunbeams chairs and told they needed to sit on them so they didn't fly away. It worked really well for the girls and a little for the boys. All and all it went very well I think.
I didn't use name tags but I did introduce every class. It went really well today. My Junior Primary is only 5 and younger with 75% of those kids being 3 and 4 so we didn't do actions with the names either. They had a great time and after I did a class or two, I pulled out the wiggle worm jar. It was all a hit! Senior Primary loved getting up and doing an action with their name. They really got into it. Last year I started the first week right off with He Sent His Son and it was a disaster. My humungous very young junior primary just couldn't handle the new church time and singing such a reverent song. This first week of the year went much better and I'm excited to get into our January song next week.
This worked really well for the Jr. Primary. I used the name tags and wrote their names pm them as they came up (they use to be my nursery kiddos so they were good to come up) then we sang it a couple of times with them. Then I did all the teachers. Then I did the Primary presidency, the pianist and myself. Kids loved it. Thought it was pretty fun having teachers and leaders up there. It didn't take up the whole time so we had time to learn a new song. We didn't have any Jr's go up to Sr's this year so we didn't do it there.
We only have a few new Sunbeams and we don't have a very large group of kids so we went through fairly quickly. Afterwards we went through some of the wiggle songs the new Sunbeams are familiar with and they loved singing songs they new. The Senior primary was kind of a flop. Nothing to do with the activity though I'm just going to have a tough time with respect and reverence with them this year.
Here are some things that happened for me… (Also, this was MY first time up there!, so I didn't know anybody!). I had the teachers write the kids' names down for Jr. primary, but the teachers all had a new class, so some of the kids had wrong names! 😛 We figured it out, but all the teachers were looking at their role and trying to figure out who was who (especially those new sunbeams). So I think it was good for the teachers as well. I even had a primary counselor THANK ME for the name tags because she was still trying to learn names.
I found the Jr. primary could tell me a favorite primary song, even the sunbeams (though most were repeats of classics).
I also did the clump or 4 (or 8) each time we sung. We tried 5 to get the entire class in once, and we didn't do it again after that. 🙂 The melody just doesn't go as well that way!
But all in all I think it was a success. The senior primary sort of complained, "we already know everybody," but I made them do it anyway (for my sake). Don't know if I'll remember them all next week, but we'll see!
For Junior Primary, I wrote their names on name tags and passed them our when Singing Time began. For Senior Primary, I let them write their own names. I used your dice with different ways to sing (opera singer, swimmer, grandma, etc.) and we sang "Here We Are Together" for each class, including teachers. We did this last year too and it was a success both years!
I did this last year and this year. I didn't use name tags either time. Last year we did four kids/teachers at a time. I had them say their name and their favorite color for Junior and their favorite breakfast food for Senior. It took the whole time and everyone enjoyed it. This year I didn't want it to take the whole time. So we sang to one whole class at a time, no matter how many kids were in it. Yes, it was slightly awkward when there were 6 or 7 people we were singing to, but we made it work! I also just had them say their name and then do an action or at least wave when we sang their names. Both years it worked great for us.
We did this today and it was super fun. I had 4 people at once come up and tried to switch out super fast. Then at the end we sang it once with everyone's names. We had just enough time to watch the video of "If I Listen with my Heart" to settle everyone down and preview the song. The kids REALLY like singing along with the video. Thanks for the fun idea!