Each of us in an Inn Keeper - quote by Neal A. Maxwell printout

I bought each of my seminary students a mini manger at the 99 cent store and needed a good quote to go with it.  I found this quote and thought that it was perfect.  I put together this printout to attach to the manger.  I have it in two different forms.  One you can printout onto the paper of your choice.  The other is done in the chalkboard style.  If you would like to use it for Christmas then just click on it and save it into your pictures, or copy and paste it into your printing program.

To see all of my seminary ideas just click here.

And to see all of my Christmas ideas just click here.

Let your LDS Seminary Students Teach the Book of Leviticus - Handouts of the summary of the lessons.

For the lessons in Leviticus I let my students teach it to the class. I went through the manual and made a handout for each of the Leviticus lessons.  Then I divided my class into 5 groups and gave each group a printout of the handouts below.  I let each group decided how they wanted to teach it and who would teach what.  I gave them about 15 minutes to prepare.  I then had the students give their lesson a group at a time.  It took a couple of days and they did a fantastic job.

For all of my Seminary ideas click here.

Handout from the Conference Talk "Blessed and Happy Are Those Who Keep the Commandments of God by Elder Von G. Keetch

I found these awesome Gummy Blue Sharks at the Industrial Costco for $4.50 for a box of 12! 

I just had to use them with the Conference Talk "Happy Are Those Who Keep the Commandments of God" by Elder Von G. Keetch of the Seventy.  

I decided to make a handout to go with the Gummy Blue Sharks that I could use for a Visiting Teaching handout this month.  I will also use it for my Seminary class in the future.  Here is a copy of the handout.  I printed mine on blue paper.  To use it just click on the picture to make it large. Then save it into your pictures, or copy and paste it into your printing program.

To see all of my Seminary ideas just click here.

RED Read Every Day - Help your students to remember to read their scriptures every day! Bookmark and Gift Idea

Several years ago I started the Read Every Day RED theme in my Seminary class at the beginning of the year.  You can read about what I originally did below.  Since then I have used it every year.  I have my red bucket of candy by the sign in sheet.  I start the year off by giving them a small piece of string to tie on to something to remind them to read.  This year my year end gift to my students revolved around the same theme.  

Here's how the gift came to be:

I started with the red pens. 

 You can get pens from many different companies.  

I got mine from National Pen Company.  

I had a Doctrinal Mastery scripture printed on it:
D&C 6:36
Look unto me in ever thought.
DOUBT NOT, FEAR Not

I also purchased the little black velvet bags to make them seem fancy.

Then I found these journals for 1/2 off at the 99 cent store.

I added the names with iron-on cricut vinyl in silver.  It wasn't that hard.  It only took about an hour.

Then I needed something to tie it all together and make the RED theme obvious.  What better than a bookmark?

As you can see, I laminated them and put a ribbon on the top.

Here's the printout if you want to make some:

The students loved this gift better than any that I have done so far!   The entire gift came out to be under $2.50.  

Here's the lesson that I started with a few years ago:
In my Old Testament Seminary class I am trying to get the students to read their scriptures every day. I had a friend who told me about RED - Read Every Day.  I loved the idea!  So I gave each of my students a small piece of string to tie onto their clothing, or back pack, or purse, etc. so that they would remember to read.

I started out by just giving them the string and having them tie it onto an item of clothing that they see every day.  I didn't tell them what it was for.  We have been studying Moses and I had a student come up who had a U of U back pack.  I asked how many of the students loved his back pack, and how many hated his back pack. Then we talked about other symbols that they loved.

After that I showed them all the items that were in the tabernacle and talked about what they symbolized.  Then I asked them about the color red.  What had we talked about that was red?  The answer was mostly the blood that Moses had sprinkled on the congregation and the red on the door at the Passover.  

This is when I brought up reading their scriptures.  I compared it to the Passover and the atonement.  If Jesus could die for use, we can at least Read Every Day!  I told them that the RED string was a symbol to remind them to Read Every Day.  I asked them how the destroying angel would pass them by if they were reading their scriptures.

The lesson went great!  I ended by giving all those who have been reading some RED candy.  I will continue to give the students who are reading RED candy every so often.  I am hoping to see the students reading their scriptures on a more regular basis.

Here is the string that I used:

I just wrapped it around my hand once for every student.  Then I cut it.

I stored it in a plastic bag.

Then they tied on something that would help them to remember to read.

About once a week I put out a big RED bucket full of RED candy.  It's a treat for all the students who have been Reading Every Day!

It's been a few weeks and some of my students still have their string tied to their item.  The reading has improved in my class.  I have one student who has completed it for this semester, and several who are getting close.

Update:  It's been a year and I actually have a few students from my last year who are still wearing their RED string!  And did they read?  YES!!!

I had a day where we did a Book Worm Wednesday reading competition.  I passed out a few gummy worms to each student while they read a chapter that I was teaching about.  I also timed them to see how long it would take to finish reading the chapter.  The first student to finish got a bag of gummy worms.  The student who won read the chapter in a minute and a half! Then I pointed out that they can get their reading done in just a few minutes every day!

I also keep a bag of various kinds of RED candy. Every few days I pass it around for all the students who have read that day.  

Another thing that I do at the beginning of the year is have the students give a unique way to get their reading done during the day.  I have them tell me as part of their devotional.  I make a large list that I keep next to the sign in sheet so that it reminds them of all the ways that they can get their reading done.

To see all of my Old Testament Seminary ideas click here.

The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)

Exodus 34

 22 ¶And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.

Leviticus 23

 42 Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:

 43 That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Here is an explanation from the LDS Institute Manual: The feast of Tabernacles (also called the feast of Booths or the feast of Ingathering) occurred five days after the day of Atonement on the fifteenth day of Tishri, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, which corresponds to our late September or early October. The feast of Tabernacles began and ended on a Sabbath and so was eight days in length.

A distinctive part of this celebration was the erecting of temporary huts or booths (succoth, in Hebrew) made from the boughs of trees. The people stayed in these huts for the duration of the feast. This requirement reminded the people of the goodness of the Lord during their forty-year sojourn in the wilderness of Sinai and the blessing that was theirs to live permanently, if they were obedient, in the promised land.

Here is another good article called When Jesus Attended the Feast of the Tabernacles by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem.

Knish

I found some Knish at Costco that I served to the students.  If you can't find any  knish, here is a recipe “Gabila’s” Style Potato Knish

There are some great images of booths (sukkah) that I shared with the students from Google images.

and I told them about waving the Arbah Minim which is a citron, a palm frond, three myrtle twigs and two willow twigs.  They combine them all together, bless them and then wave them in six different directions. They represent Israel joining together.

http://www.sukkahworld.com/pages/index.php?title=waving/

What Is Sukkot? to see what it means click here:

I also found a really fun video to show the students before class:

Livin' in a Booth - Fountainheads Sukkot

Sukkot songs - Sukkot 2016


To see the other Jewish customs that I have celebrated just click here.

The Plagues of Egypt - in a jar!

I had so much fun with this lesson!  I put each plague of Egypt in a jar.  Each jar had a scripture reference for the student to look up and share with the class.  When the students came in I had them pick a plaque out of a box.  I gave them a few minutes to read about their plaque and then they each came up to share with the class.  It was a great success!

Here is a copy of the labels that I made.  If you would like to use it just click on it to make it large. Then right click and save it into your pictures, or copy and paste it into your printing program.  

Jar 1 - The waters all turned to blood.
I used clearance Halloween blood, but you can also use corn syrup with red food coloring.  Add a little bit of Hershey's syrup to make it darker.

Jar 2 - Frogs upon the land.
I ordered a bunch of plastic frogs from Amazon.

Jar 3 - Lice throughout all the land
I bought some Halloween "chest hair" and put it into the jar.  Then I added salt to make it look like lice.  It was really gross!

Jar 4 - Flies only in Egypt
I found some plastic flies at the dollar store.

Jar 5 - Dead livestock only in Egypt
I bought some plastic livestock at Walmart, but I found better ones at Target.

Jar 6 - Boils breaking forth with Blains
I bought Halloween candy boogers and mixed in some Halloween candy body parts.

Jar 7 - Hail, thunder and fire, only in Egypt.
I found a bag of Christmas snow that looked like hail.  You can draw or paint fire on the sides of the jar.

Jar 8 - Locusts up over all the land of Egypt
I used glow in the dark plastic bugs that I found at the dollar store.

Jar 9 - Darkness over the land of Egypt
I took corn syrup and mixed it with black food coloring.

Jar 10 - Death to all Egyptian firstborn in the land
I found small plastic skeletons at the dollar store.

Since it was Halloween I put a treat together for them.  I had already bought all the stuff, but later thought it would have been fun to put together treats similar to the plaque items.  On mine I decided to add a scripture about the plaque in the shape of a bow tie.  I have that version for you to print out, or I made a second version in the shape of a skull.

Here is the bow tie version:

Here is another version:

It really was a lot of fun, especially since it was the week of Halloween.  Please feel free to tell what you did in your classroom.  I always love to hear new ideas.



To see all of my LDS Old Testament Seminary ideas click here.