Life Lessons for Young Adolescents provides 94 group activities that are interesting, enjoyable, and most important—relevant to students’ social and personal development.
These well-planned activities are short and simple, require minimal materials, and can be completed during homeroom or advisory periods. The book also provides helpful guidelines on group size, format and scheduling, group facilitation skills, handling common group problems, and more.
Book Reviews
“Life Lessons for Young Adolescents serves as a terrific addition to any advisory program. It contains a variety of high interest level activities as well as hands-on experiences to help students learn about themselves and others and to encourage students’ individual developments.”
—AIMS Newsletter, Association of Illinois Middle Schools
“It is particularly useful to a school psychologist who does a substantial amount of group counseling/classroom presentations; has a limited amount of funds for professional materials; and has a limited amount of time for preparation of activities.”
—Corlee A. Fink, Communique, National Association of School Psychologists
“Very practical and worth a permanent spot on a youth pastor’s desk.”
—Youthworker Update
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Unit One: Building a Team
Overview
Boundary Breakers and Energizers
Activities
1 The Purpose of an Advisory Group
2 Rules for Advisory Groups
3 The Name Game
4 Find Someone Who...
5 Who Am I?
6 What We Enjoy
7 Name Your Group
8 Mural of Expressions
9 Teacher Interview
10 Scavenger Hunt
11 You + Me = Us
12 I Am Most Like...
Unit Two: School Success
Overview
Activities
13 Know Your School
14 School Bingo
15 School Trivia
16 Your School As You See It
17 Rights and Responsibilities
18 Classroom Rules Prepare Us for Life
19 Study Tips
20 Monthly Planning
21 Asking for Help
22 Who's Got the Time?
23 Wellness and Learning
24 Organization Is the Key
25 Individual Goal Setting
26 Thank-You Notes
27 Challenging School Situations
28 Preparing for Next Year
Words for Discussion
Unit Three: Celebrate Yourself
Overview
Activities
29 Yin and Yang
30 Take Home a Sack: Accepting Compliments
31 Feelings Charades
32 A Special Tribute
33 Personal Qualities
34 Self-Esteem Assessment
35 What's Your Opinion?
36 Fears
37 Self-Talk
38 Setting Goals
39 In the Future
40 You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby
41 You're in the News
42 Signs of Stress
43 Stressful Life Events
44 Heroes
45 Talking About Coping
46 Short Activities About Self
Words for Discussion
Unit Four: Communication and Conflict Resolution
Overview
Activities
47 Focus on Listening
48 Show You're Listening
49 Dealing With Put-Downs
50 Being Assertive: How to Say No and Mean It
51 The Accident Report
52 Clear Communications
53 Steps in Decision Making
54 Brainstorming
55 Conflict in the News
56 Understanding Conflict
57 Contest or Conflict
58 Brainstorming Solutions to Conflict Situations
59 Negotiation
60 The Mediation Process
61 Tough Decisions Box
62 Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
63 Conflict in Children's Books
64 Choosing to Become Angry
65 Short Activities About Conflict
Words for Discussion
Unit Five: Relating to Others
Overview
Activities
66 Fishbowl of Feelings
67 Looking at Relationships
68 Qualities in a Friend
69 Girlfriends and Boyfriends
70 Making Friends
71 To Date or Not to Date?
72 Love Is...
73 Down in the Dumps
74 Growing Up and Growing Old
75 Sneak Attack
76 Cultures in Your School
77 We Are All Different
78 Countries of Origin
79 Corner to Corner
80 Tolerance
81 Reducing Prejudice
82 Sex-Role Stereotypes
Words for Discussion
Unit Six: Your Community
Overview
Activities
83 Community Research
84 Public Officials in Your Community
85 Using the Yellow Pages
86 Social Agencies to Know
87 Recreational Fun
88 Discovering New Careers
89 What's My Career?
90 Adopt a Group
91 Our School Community
92 Seasonal Events
93 Fund-Raisers
94 Community Letter Writing
References and Bibliography
In-service training, consultation, or workshops by the authors of this program can be provided for your school, facility, or organization. For more information and available dates, please contact:
Conflict Resolution Education, Inc.
P.O. Box 17241
Urbana, Illinois 61803
U.S.A.
Phone: 217-344-4710
E-Mail: rjbodine@att.net
