What to do??

October 10th, 2011 | By sarahr

I have all these videos from summer of the teens at the BGC. I feel like I should post them somewhere, because I can’t keep them on my computer anymore (they’re taking up too much space) but I don’t want to delete them without the kids who starred in them see them first. Hm. Anyway, this week: more anti-bullying emphasis and I will be out of the valley this Thursday and Friday. So its a short week for me.
Drama Presentations: October 27th! This is also when we announce each class’s member of the month!
I think we have a Facebook page that I can upload the videos to, now that I think about it…

Anti-Bully Campaign

October 4th, 2011 | By sarahr

October is Anti-Bullying Month here at the Boys & Girls Club. In response to this theme and a phone call I had with a parent 2 weeks ago, the 6th-8th graders will have at least 1 activity per day that stresses the importance of being friendly, non-judgmental, and of course, not bullying other people. Along with the activities and readings I have planned, I correct the kids bullying tendencies by telling them on a daily basis, whenever I see them doing something that constitutes bullying, “Hey [member's name], name-calling is part of bullying and we don’t do that here…” I like to call the kid out on their behavior right then and there, and I label it “bullying” so that way the misbehaving member has a keyword by which to identify their behavior. Instantly, they know that bullying is wrong, and don’t want to be identified as a bully. My intention in doing this is so the kids can connect in their own minds, the type of behavior that gets called bullying. On top of that, they are made to apologize immediately to the kid they were teasing. Today, we are reading a news article about New Jersey’s harsh anti-bullying laws and upcoming activities include making anti-bully buttons the kids can wear, signing a pledge to stop bullying and to not be a bully, and possibly make a video demonstrating the awesomeness of being friendly and assertive versus the burden that comes with being hateful and aggressive.

Still Truckin’

September 18th, 2011 | By sarahr

The 6th-8th grade class will be reviewing and adding to their drama repertoire this week.  We’ll be playing games that are an off-shoot from the straight up improvisation games, but still reinforce the fact that it is drama month and we do have a performance on the 30th.  Good luck to us!  These drama activities will be things like: the interactive DVD game, SCENE IT. This week I will be looking for serious candidates for “Youth of the Month.”  The member will know by this Friday if he or she is the one for our class.  Now, back to the games we’ll be playing:  Quick Change (where we split in to teams, change one or two things about our appearance and the other team has to guess what we changed) and also a object memorization game where I bring in about 50 random things, put them on the table, cover them up with a blanket, let the kids memorize it with their eyes for one minute, cover the objects up again, then give them 1 minute to write everything down they can remember.  For gym time this week, we’ll be playing games like Fruit Basket, Hollywood Squares (a trivia version of tic-tac-toe), and Ostrich tag.   Also, Funny horoscopes, the poem “Running the Body”, and more Minute to Win It games coming your way!

A little less conversation…

September 6th, 2011 | By sarahr

This week the 6th-8th grade class is diving head first in to its dramatic improvisation games! Games we’ll be playing: 90 second alphabet, 2 line vocabulary, late for school, narrated sketch, picture party, Sit/Stand/Lie Down, World’s Worst… and other fun games! If you don’t know what any of those games are, get on YouTube to find out. We’ll also be reading out loud an abstract, concept poem that reads like 2 characters going back and forth between. The poem is called “No Sorry” by Catherine Bowman. Here’s an excerpt from the poem:
“…Well then, how about a hand drill or hammer, a bike chain, or some barbed wire? You got any rusty razor-edged barbed wire? You got a chain saw?
No, sorry I don’t.
Well then maybe you might have some sticks?
I’m sorry, I don’t have any sticks.
How about some stones?
No, I don’t have any sticks or stones.
Well how about a stone tied to a stick?
You mean a club?
Yeah, a club.
No, sorry, I don’t have any clubs.”
Anyway! The poem goes on and on about that person apologizing for what they don’t have, regardless of what the other asks her for. Hopefully it will be a fun week!

the first 2 weeks of club

August 31st, 2011 | By sarahr

This is Amanda writing for the 6th-8th grade class, or “teens”.. although the 9th – 12th graders would like my class to be the “preteens”. For this school year, we’ve taken an interest in awesome science experiments that can be done with common household ingredients. For example: baking soda and vinegar, baking soda and lemon juice, bubbles, diet 7up and Mentos, and food coloring. We’re just getting started and already our young teens have their minds whirling with new found knowledge of density, molecular differences, and chemical reactions. August is Fire Prevention Month and so for the first week of club all of our experiments had something to do with fire! We made homemade fire extinguishers with baking soda and vinegar and magic see-saws with birthday candles, straws, and paperclips. Last Friday we made a fireless, safe, alternative to fireworks with our diet 7up and Mentos experiments. This Friday we’re going to revamp it and do it again. We learned about 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree burns yesterday as well as chemical and electrical burns, then we played Jeopardy with the information we learned and candy is always given out to everyone who participates! We have drawn fire escape plans from each of the kids’ houses and decided on outside meeting places for their family in case of fire. In the coming days we will focus on density and molecular structure using oil, water, sand, salt, and sugar and of course, more baking soda. It should be a good time.

Hiking “The Y”

July 25th, 2011 | By sarahr

Rock Climbing

July 25th, 2011 | By sarahr

Slacklining

July 25th, 2011 | By sarahr

The Soft-Ball Challenge

July 18th, 2011 | By teens

The teens challenged the staff at the Boys & Girls Club of Provo to a friendly game of softball.

My Own World

October 19th, 2010 | By mattd

We asked the teens what would be different in their own world.  These are their responses:

“In my world, i would like peace. i would like school to be shorter. i would like every body to get along. everybody treated fairly, and finnaly sure some people are smaller than others but that dont mean that there better”  –Jake B.

“in a new world
I wont  more  games to play and more math to do.Then i more respect  I would want more fun for me. I would want A mansion, and and more computer time. I would want to respect me.”

“in my world i wont more respect, and i want more games. i want more moves for jerking. I want people to know that i am not rasist. i want a lambergini, and I would be rich because it would be cool because i can and butlers and waitresses.” –Sammy

“i would have all the best food not the nasty gross food! nobody would ever be with out a roof over there head! there would be no crime and so we would be more united. we would have the most sexy cars ever and the most beautiful houses!!! there would be no illness!!!!” –Teen, Age 16

“In my own world I would have no stress, no jerks, peace, love, and happiness. I would be able to accomplish anything I set my mind to even if it requires me to try to my limit I am pretty willing to do just that. I would like to not try, and kill anyone that makes me mad. I would have awesome music, awesome friends, Facebook, to party, BGC, and to live my life the way I want to live it. I would have to never have to listen to the stupid Jerk, and watch them try to be all that when in reality they aren’t! I think I should be able to be myself, and not be judged on who I am. If it were to be like this I would be so appreciative. =D”