April
I’m a Part of a Bigger Whole
Citizenship
Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday1
No School / 2
No School / 3
No School / 4
No School / 5
No School
8
Bullying / 9
Character ED. / 10
meetings / 11 / 12
15 / 16
Character ED. / 17
meetings / 18 / 19
22 / 23
Character ED. / 24
meetings / 25 / 26
29 / 30
Character ED.
Bullying Activity
Thinking About Friendship(pg. 141 in folder)
This activity encourages students to think about the qualities that make good friends. This activity has the students prioritize the qualities and then can include a written aspect.
Character Education Activities
Amoeba
Balloon Foosball
Find the Leader
Pictionary Relay
Turn Over a New Leaf
Clumps
The Jumprope Formula
Amoeba
Materials
Trash Can or similar sized object
How to Play
Players stand in a circle and hold hands. A trash can is in the middle of the circle. The leader says 3-2-1-go at which point players, while holding tightly to the hands of the players next to them, try to pull the circle back so that other plays are pulled into the trashcan.
If a player touches the trash can, they are out. If two players let go of each other’s hands, both of those players are out. The last one remaining wins.
Balloon Foosball
Materials
2 Balloons, chairs
How to Play
Arrange chairs in multiple pairs of rows with each pair having the seats back-to-back. Each row should be roughly 6 chairs long. Have players sit in the chair.
The chairs represent two teams - the direction the chair is facing signifies what team that student is on.
The facilitator drops two balloons in. Players may not stand but must try and hit the balloon over the opposing team to the next row. If a team hits the balloon over the last line of defenders, it counts as a goal.
Typically the game has multiple goals and tends to work well if gameplay does not stop between goals.
Find the Leader
Materials
None
How to Play
Players sit in circle. One player is asked to leave the room. While that player is gone the group decides on who the leader will be for the round. Player outside the room is then allowed back in.
Everyone sitting in the circle then must imitate whatever the leader does (arm motions, facial expressions, etc), but tries not to make it obvious who the leader is.
The player who was outside the room then stands in the center of the circle and tries to guess which player is the leader (by attempting to see who the other players are taking cues from). Player gets 3 guesses. Leader then becomes player who goes outside for the next round.
Pictionary Relay
Materials
List of objects to draw, one pen for each team, paper for each team.
How to Play
Teams are formed at the start of the game. The facilitator tells each team to get a player ready who is going to start.
When the facilitator starts the game, that first player runs to the facilitator to get the first word. The player then runs back to his team and tries to draw that word out. When any of his or her teammates guess the word, a different player can run up to the facilitator to get the second word and repeat the process.
The team that draws and guesses all of the facilitator's words first is the winner.
Note: For facilitators, it can be helpful to have the person running up tell you the previous object they drew so that it is clear which object they should next be assigned.
Turn Over a New Leaf
Materials
Blanket (or similar, i.e. carpet circle)
How to Play
All players begin by standing on one side of blanket. Players must flip blanket up-side-down without any player touching the floor.
If any player touches the floor, players must start over.
Clumps
Materials
Blanket (or similar, i.e. carpet circle)
How to Play
All players begin by standing on one side of blanket. Players must flip blanket up-side-down without any player touching the floor.
If any player touches the floor, players must start over.
The Jumprope Formula
Materials
Jumprope
How to Play
Two facilitators stand on either end of a jumprope, swinging it. All of the players are on one side of the jumprope.
The facilitators have previously discussed and selected a formula that players need to follow to get through. Some examples are:
- Players with shoes need to jump twice, players with sandals need to jump once.
- It needs to alternate girl, boy, girl, boy...
- The first person must jump once, the second person twice, the third person three times, etc.
During the game, the facilitators only say "yes" or "no". If the person going across has followed the formula correctly, the facilitator says "yes". If it is incorrect, the facilitator says "no". If the facilitator says no, all of the people who had gotten across successfully must return to the start.
The players win when everyone gets across successfully.
Often this game works best when the facilitators remain quiet and let the players problem solve with one another. It can be useful to, after the game, sit down and ask the players what their most frustrating moments were, what the team did that was not effective, what the team did that was effective, etc.