After hopefully bonding together over the course of the year, it’s always nice to get the students to formally acknowledge/remininsce about how they bonded as a class.
One is a new one I’m going to try called Friendship Connections (source:Energize).
Materials:
- Large ball of yarn and paperclip for each student
Directions:
- Sit together in a large circle in an open grassy area and have students bend their paperclips into a V shape.
- Ask students to think about something that they would like to remember about their experiences with the group. I’m going to give them a few options to think about if they need a little inspiration. (What experience did you enjoy the most? What’s an experience that brought you closer together as a group?)
- Start by securing the end of the yarn in the ground with your bent paper clip and begin the discussion yourself. (Ex. I loved the day we spent on our walking tour of the Humber River and our group pumpkin carving contest.)
- Roll the yarn to someone else, have them secure the yarn with their clip and make their statement.
- Continue passing the yarn back and forth across the circle until everyone’s had a turn and the web is complete.
Variation for beginning of Year:
Precede this activity with another get to know you game and instead of standing up and reporting something about the person, you can use this type of forum.
