Shared by Jana W., Utah
To teach the song, “Baptism” (CS 100), I dressed up a child as a reporter to ask WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHY and HOW about the story in the song (from Friend, June 2007). For the reporter props, I made a pretend microphone and a 50s-style men’s news reporter hat.
To make the microphone:
1. I used an empty toilet tissue tube wrapped in black electrical tape.
2. With tacky glue, I glued a large pompom on top of the tube. (If you don’t have a pompom, you could use a tennis ball.)
3. Then I taped about a yard of black yarn inside the bottom of the tube for the “cord.”
4. Finally, I used a silver paint pen to draw an “ON” switch on the microphone handle.
For the reporter’s hat, I used an old gray felt fedora with a black band. You could look in a thrift store for an old hat. (If the hat is missing a band, use black electrical tape to make a band.) I wrote “PNN: Primary News Network” on an index card. I tucked the card into the hat band, securing it with a little more tape.
I also wrote the words WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHY, and HOW, written on index cards. In singing time, I chose a child to be my news reporter, gave him the hat and microphone, and called him “Scoop.” I showed the children the index card with the question words. I wrote Matthew 3:13-17 on the board and asked the children to find out all they could about this scripture story. Then I sent the reporter out to get the answers. After a child answered each question, I taped the corresponding question card on the chalkboard next to a picture of John the Baptist and Jesus and wrote the key words from the lyrics under the question card. After they answered a question, I sang them the line of the song that matched the answer. The children got a big kick out of pretending to be a reporter and interviewees.