How I Lead as Nursery Leader | An Interview with Jim and Marla West

Jim West has a master's degree from Brigham Young University in
Civil Engineering and has worked in the private sector for over 22
years. He is now the Project Delivery Manager for the Oregon
Department of Transportation. Marla West has a bachelor's degree in
Family Living, also from BYU, and has taught part-time at several
schools. Jim and Marla are active volunteers in the Salem, Oregon
area. They belong to Willamette Riverkeepers and clean up local
rivers in their canoe. They also volunteer every Sunday evening in
their local hospital emergency department, and Marla volunteers in
the local elementary school third-grade classroom. In the Church,
Jim has served in a variety of roles including bishoprics, the
Young Men's organization, and as a Primary teacher and Nursery
leader. Marla has served in Primary and Nursery, and in Relief
Society. They have been married 42 years, have five sons and three
grandchildren, and love gardening, home improvement, biking,
hiking, and playing badminton. Links There is already a discussion
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the Core Leader Library Highlights 04:20 Introduction to Jim and
Marla 06:45 Jim and Marla’s advice for new nursery leaders.
Remember to start with the basics and read the manual. See the
vision that the church has for nursery. 08:00 Nursery is more than
toys and snacks. The vision for nursery is a moment to introduce
the children to structure and a formal class. 10:20 Marla suggests
visiting the children in their home with a little game or a treat.
She has found that the children are more eager to come to nursery.
11:10 Part of church culture is seeing nursery at the bottom and
the prophet at the top. 13:30 Jim and Marla prepare the nursery
room before sacrament with an activity set up on the table, music,
and anything else they need prepared. They have found play doh is a
great ‘draw you in’ activity. They leave the door open to help the
children not feel trapped. 17:00 They play spa-like music while
welcoming the children to nursery. They have found that it’s more
calming to the children not to have music with voices until they do
an actual singing activity. 17:45 They spray a natural scent like
orange oil to help connect the children to nursery and bring
familiarity. 19:00 These tips are useful for elders quorum or any
other class at church. We can start class with environmental cues.
21:20 Most Sundays they don’t even get the toys out. 22:30 While
all parents are welcome to come into nursery but they don’t allow
the parents to talk with them. They have found that the children
are much more peaceful, focused, and interact with them better when
there aren’t adults visiting together. It’s a real classroom and
it’s about the children and not the adults. 25:15 Marla shares the
schedule that they use in the nursery that gives nursery a routine
and structure. The children know what's coming and they love it.
25:50 The transition to snack and story time. The child’s parents
can bring in a special snack and book on their birthday to help
highlight each child. 28:30 The importance of transitions between
activities. 29:30 Tips for lesson time. They always bring an object
or a picture as an attention getter to start the lesson. 31:00 Art
projects are a moment to learn skills. Knowing the difference
between markers and crayons. Working a pair of scissors or a
watercolor brush. Sitting in a chair for a longer period of time.
All these things prepare them to go to sunbeams. 34:20 Marla talks
about how she created her binder for nursery. She brainstorms
activities to teach each topic and get the materials and pictures.
36:30 It’s best to have under 10 kids in the nursery. It’s good to
split nurseries that are bigger than this. 38:50 The art project is
a time to wind down from nursery. It’s a great time to learn
skills. It exposes them to new things and gets them used to
instruction.