First Semester Review

Week of:  January 7 – January 10, 2014

Theme:  First Semester Review

 

     Date                Announcements            Greeting             Sharing                 Activity

 

Tuesday   a.m.	Middle School Meeting	n/a	n/a	n/a
Tuesday p.m.	How are we doing so far?	Cumulative List Greeting Holiday Style	[Greeting is both a greeting and a Share]	Boys vs. Girls: Jeopardy Review
Wed	Grade Level Meetings	n/a	n/a	n/a
Thursday	How have you done this quarter academically? Behaviorally?  Let’s talk.	Informal Greeting	n/a	Coordinated Loafing/Advisor 1-on-1 with students
Friday	How are we doing as a team?	Favorite Greeting Game from First Semester	Review of Time Map with Feet and Banana Peels.	Jeopardy Re-Match!

 

 

Tuesday -- p.m.

 

Greeting:  Cumulative List Greeting – Holiday Style

1.   Each person greets everyone who has preceded him in the greeting. 

2.   The first student greets the student next to her; that student greets her back, and greets whoever is next to her in the circle. 

3.   (If your team is small or has mad memory skills, then you can criss-cross around the circle to test memory in an especially tricky way.)

4.   This student greets her back, and also greets the first person.  This cumulative process continues until the last greeter (preferably someone who brags about his or her memory skills) must respond to being greeted by greeting everyone in the circle. 

5.   Holiday Variation – each person shares his or her favorite or least favorite part of his or her holiday.  Subsequent greeters must say, “Hi Holly, whose least favorite part was gaining ten pounds from overeating; Hi Joe, whose favorite part was playing Pinochle with Uncle Sal” etc….

 

Activity:  Jeopardy Review of First Semester Advisory (see your email link).  I am suggesting Boys v Girls because what we know about girls at this age is that they can begin to become more passive at the same time that boys are becoming more aggressive.   This can result in activities that are boy-driven and boy-focused.  Calling girls on this dynamic and encouraging, cajoling or (in this case) manipulating the format of the activity can keep girls “in the game” when they are competing against boys. 

 

 

Friday

Greeting:  Let the group choose a favorite. 

Share:  Today is the day to discuss how your individual advisory is doing in terms of cohesion and mutual respect.  Are you doing what you said you would do when you wrote out the map with the footsteps (actions that keep you on the path to ending the school year well) or are there too many banana peels?  This map was our tool for discussing the habit of “Begin with the End in Mind.”  Is your group on track or off track?  Too many “off track” behaviors (on the part of the advisees or the advisor) damage the strength and closeness of the group. 

IF YOU FEEL that your advisees won’t be honest in a group discussion, have them put their answers in writing, anonymously.  A healthy group will call each other out in productive ways, but that’s a big stretch for most of us.  A brave advisor might also ask advisees to give advice on how he or she can strengthen his or her role as advisor (ignoring the requests for daily donuts, of course).

 

NOTE:  If somehow this activity got past you in August, then do it now.  It’s a good activity to do as a mid-year review, too.  If you have lost the supplies, let me know.  No worries, but this activity is a must.

 

Activity:  Re-match on Jeopardy game to re-instill the concepts one more time before we move on. 

 

Concepts from First Semester

 

Building a Strong Foundation

         Bible Quote

         Sand Skills vs. Rock Skills

         Play-Doh game

         Beginning with the End in Mind

         Ground Rules for conversations

         Foot Path / Banana Peel Map from August 2013-June 2014

 

Self Control

         Marshmallow/Self-control study

         Counting Game

         Banana Peel Race

         Self-Control Map

         Penny Share Game

         Techniques for Self-Control:        5-4-3-2-1

                                                                 Take a Walk

                                                                 Count backwards from 10 (or 100)

                                                                 Watch the Clock

                                                                 Get a drink from the water fountain

                                                                 Put your head down

                                                                 Belly breathing

                                                                 Guided Relaxation

 

 

The Importance of PLAY

         Volleyball Tourney

         “Coordinated Loafing” – Duck play

         Board Games

 

Coping and Compassion

         Compassion Defined

         Piece of Chalk video

         Chalk Writings

         A Picture Says a Thousand Words

        

Student-Led Conferences

         Importance of Body Language

         Etiquette

 

Gratitude

         Gratitude Chain

         Video and Letters on Gratitude

        

 

Study Skills

         R.A.T. – Read Around the Text

         K.I.M. – Key Word / Information / Memory Trick