This monthly form was submitted by Beverly R. It includes space for the date, practice songs, lesson, presidency message, opening song, opening prayer, theme, scripture/thought and theme.
She says “These are our opening exercise forms. In the YW presidency we alternate months that we put together opening exercises. We give the monthly form to each of the leaders, so they have an “at a glance” view for each Sunday. We fill out the daily sheets and put them on the clip board for the conducting Laurel to view and fill in as needed- ie. visitors. We have the other stuff- like Birthdays and most announcements filled in for her.”
and “Every week we highlight something different. For instance, our group has a personal progress specialist who does a personal progress activity once a month. So, on the week before or after we will hightlight personal progress. Missionary Moments replaces our spiritual thought, we have M&M’s at the table, and the girls come up and tell us how they shared the gospel with others, then they get their M&M’s. (This has also helped the girls be less intimidated during testimonies) This experience has them come forward and talk in front of the group, and we get more participation from them b/c of the M&M’s. Once a month we also highlight the value of the month. One of the girls tells us about the value of the month and how it has impacted her life, either through a project or experience. The girls use these themes for their scripture/ thought during opening exercises. It helps them prepare ahead of time and keeps this section of opening exercises meaningful.”
I think this is an unusually good way to organize opening exercises. I’ve left in Beverly’s example data, but you can download the XLS file to edit the file to fit your needs. You’ll need MS Office/Excel or Open Office to open the file (see above instructions for downloading Open Office).
