Tournament Days

By Gary Hartoin

One thing we do to stay connected is have occasional “Tournament Day” which students can create and then run the brackets, rules. Some examples are tic tac toe; chop sticks; rock, paper scissors; 10 fingers; hoops 1v1; NCAA March Madness brackets; DDR; Guitar Hero; etc. Many other games can be done in tournament format.

Materials: various

Traffic is Fun!

By Dave Sauve

Tell your kids it is time to take a field trip. Begin by walking them outside to Montgomery Road. Once you arrive, tell the kids to "go play in traffic!" As they frolic about - sit back and relax.

It can get a bit messy, but the end result is a smaller and much more cautious advisory group.

Materials: 1 street (busy is better), Multiple cars (bigger is better), advisory students

Mancala Tournament

By Jennifer Outzs

I teach the kids how to play mancala (Euchre would be fun too) then we have a tournament to get a "winner". It's fun!! The kids learn how to play a new game and learn how to win (and lose) gracefully.

Materials: mancala boards (there are plenty of them in the math supply closet)

Over The Hill If You ...

By ?

This is a fun game to play once a week for the first few weeks in order to get to know one another a little better. Place enough chairs in a circle to accomodate everyone in your advisory except for yourself. Stand in the middle and make a statement that is true of yourself such as "Over the Hill if you like to waterski." or "Over the hill if you have a dog", or "Over the Hill if you like shopping at Forever Young" or whatever it may be. Everyone for whom that statement is true must get up and move in order to trade seats. The person in the middle should try to take the seat of someone else who is moving. Whoever is left without a seat is then in the middle and must make a statement that is true of him or herself in the same fashion. You may need to give a few suggestions of types of things they can say like favorite foods or colors, places they have been, number of siblings, places they have lived, favorite activities, etc.

It worked very well with my advisory and they enjoyed it alot. They would ask to do it again. After a few times, however, they began to run out of things to say. I did bring it back in once or twice later on in the year.

Materials: chairs in a circle

Share Day

By Julie Dietrich

Think "show and tell" without the "show." Share day is an opportunity for the kids to share something that is going on in their lives that they want others to know. It can be as simple as "I'm getting a new puppy!" or as serious as "My parents are getting a divorce." There are rules to keep it moving along (and not become a play-by-play of their weekend). Prayer requests and praises are most welcome - but can also be kept as a separate part of advisory if already scheduled into your time

Depending on time restraints, you can choose "3 shares today" or give everyone a chance to share. If you limit the number of shares, you tend to get more meaningful content. If everyone shares, you tend to get more fluff. It can also be "themed" around things going on in school (bullying, Mexico mission trip, Thanksgiving, SLEW, etc.)

Rules:

1. Keep it simple - 3 sentences or less. (Gets them to the point and doesn't take away from everyone elses share time).
   
2. After they are finished sharing, they ask for "Questions or Comments?" from the group. (Allows for clarification and shows genuine interest - connection! - from the group)
   
3. All questions or comments must reflect directly back to the person who shared. (Cannot say "That happened to me once too! Blah, blah, blah - this shifts the focus away from the person who shared. Instead, they can say "I had a similar experience, I know how you feel and Im sorry/happy/excited for you")
   
4. There is absolutely no talking/fidgeting/etc during someone's share. (If you want people to pay attention to your share, you must pay attentiont to theirs.)

I have done this with 5th graders and 8th graders alike. Both enjoy it very much. I have had genuine conflict resolution experiences, tearful homelife stories, and really cool "God-moments" with my 8th grade girls advisory. My 5th graders find it more of show and tell time, but they are learning how to respectfully communicate with their peers. I will continue this activity once a week for any grade level advisory I teach.

Materials: none

Current Events

By Pam Tackett

I research current situations or events that are happening in our society. Twitter is a good place to find interesting nuggets of info for our kids. So, for instance, the Susan Boyles video, I had found a few days before it was shown in chapel and I showed this in advisory and had a conversation about it afterwards.

It went over well. The girls were surprised and had a lot to say about the reactions of the judges and audience.

Materials: Computer

Recipes

By Allison Morton

The girls all brought in food supplies and actual recipes for their favorite snack foods. They only had a microwave to use. Each day one student would show us how to make one of their favorite snack foods. We all copied each others recies and made a little book to keep them in.

The girls really enjoyed this - they have to be reminded about allergies and they are limited to use of a microwave only.

Materials: Recipes, microwave