Bling Bling One Dollar Rings

Today we had seminar and I had the kids bring in one dollar bills, so that we could make Bling Bling One Dollar Rings. Some kids obviously forgot and had to work with other dollar bills (which seemed to work out ok, for the most part) and some kids didn't have any money with them, so they worked with someone that did bring a dollar and helped them follow the steps. Even though seminar is only 20 minutes long and some of that is announcements, we were able to finish, although we did have to leave a few people behind that were having some serious struggles. If I hadn't left them behind, then there would have been no way to see the finished product.

I like the idea of doing something interactive and fun with these kids. During today's activity everyone was enjoying themselves and participating, even if they didn't have their own dollar bill.

After sharing my success with a neighboring teacher, she revealed that they celebrate birthdays in their class with cookies and milk. They then sing to the person and have a great time celebrating their special day. After our conversation I went onto my computer and looked to see who has birthdays, and next Tuesday will be our first. I've had this girl in my class before and we have a pretty good relationship, so I think I might surprise her and the class by bringing in cookies and milk.

Also, next week, I need something fun to do with my seminar kids so that they don't look down upon this time and think that seminar is boring and a waste of time. One mission of seminar is to build relationships, and by finding entertaining and bonding experiences, I can do just that. So, I've decided that it would be fun and relationship forming to play a game of "Never have I." Since this game is popular at alcolhol related parties, I will have to set a few ground rules first:

• All questions are to be school appropriate. If someone (the teacher included) feels that this is an inappropriate comment, that person can say "stranger danger" which means that a new question needs to be asked due to inappropriateness. 
• The class will form a huge circle in the room, leaving an empty space and a container to shoot for in the middle. Each person will go around the circle and share something that they have never done, "I've never gotten a speeding ticket," and then all those that have had this happen to them will throw a chip into the middle while trying to aim for the container (this will hopefully avoid crazy tosses).
• All students will be given the same number of pennies, chips, beans, etc (I haven't really decided which will work best) and the person with the most at the end will win a prize.

Seminar

This year our school has introduced a 20 minute period of the day called seminar. The purpose of seminar is to allow time for announcements, the pledge of allegiance, and then a short lesson or activity to help them in their school endeavors.

With the second week of school complete, I've found that the lessons that we are suppose to teach can be kind of dull when you explain to them. Also, many of the lessons are short and don't require much time to implement. In fact, today, my seminar students asked if we would be doing anything fun during this time rather than me lecturing to them. I asked for their ideas, but didn't really get to many answers. Therefore, after class I went onto Google and looked for some ideas. Here are a few of the sites and ideas that I found.

• Even though I teach in a public high school, this Christian Bible Study Page has some great icebreakers. I obviously wouldn't use the ones that involve religion, but I do like some of the ideas presented on this page. There is also a game, which I'm familiar with in other contexts outside of school, that would be fun as long as it was kept school appropriate. The game "I've Never" can be found here.
• I think it would be good to have on the overhead each day a fun question to which it might start a conversation with the class. One site I found for this is a form of Would You Rather?.
• If students could remember to bring in a $1 bill then I think it would be fun to do some origami with them. One that I've done and that usually doesn't take very long is the $1 Bill Ring.
• In order for the students to feel a connection with their seminar group, which will be the same throughout their four years at the high school, I think it would be fun to adopt a Seminar Mascot. And what better way to show our Seminar pride then to have a flag which displays our mascot. Obviously, for students to take part in this, it would be necessary for the students to suggest ideas and then vote on designs and ideas that they like the most.
• One thing that I would like to incorporate from my Capturing Kids Hearts training is to add words of encouragement at the end of each session. Since I struggle to be the most affectionate guy, I'm going to have to find encouraging words and stories in books and on websites.

So, on Monday I'm going to prompt my students to choose a mascot and to design a flag in which we can then vote on. Hopefully, after getting things off to a more energetic start, I will be able to find additional things to do that are entertaining for the students.