It is such a blessing when our students are motivated to make good grades, and we believe that while students should be well-disciplined, we also think that school should be enjoyable and even a little fun. (Would you stay at a boring job if you didn't like it and weren't motivated?)
One of the ways we try to keep our students diligently striving to make good grades is to have achievement parties every quarter. We make a BIG DEAL about the achievement parties. If a student has a grade of 85% or higher in ALL subjects, or they have brought their grade point average up a certain amount, then they are invited to the achievement party. Now, if you think they get a little piece of paper, an ice cream cone, and that’s the end of it --you are wrong. We have an PARTY. And we make a pretty big deal of it. We get a few parents to help us, and it really is a lot of fun. We play games, have a meal (we serve them), and make it special. Here are a few ideas to get you started. (Please send us your ideas.)
The Monday morning the week of the party the students found Chinese take-out boxes on their desks. Inside was a fortune cookie and an invitation.
First of all we gave each of the girls a red flower for their hair.
Then we all learned how to make an origami crane. We were surprised that even the boys enjoyed doing that.
Next we took them into the fellowship hall where we had some Asian music playing softly in the background. The tables had red tablecloths and red flower petals sprinkled on top of them.
A Lego pagoda! Our family had made this one summer just for fun. We made lamps by folding construction paper into fourths and cutting designs on the sides and then put a candle inside them. We also had more origami on the tables.
We served them punch with fruit umbrellas, then wonton soup, egg rolls, fried rice, chicken teriaki kabobs, fruit kabobs, ice cream, and fortune cookies. We tried to find fortune cookies with Bible verses inside them. We had two couples help us, and they and their children enjoyed the meal too.
Jeff was our fake "Chinese chef” and surprised even me. After I had finished showing the students how to do the origami, I arrived in the kitchen to see him with his beard shaven off wearing a funny- looking yarn moustache. He entertained us by chopping up all kinds of things and having the students yell “Wasabi”.
This was a metal bowl of water with 3 pieces of tissue paper soaked in vegetable oil inside it. He lit in on the table and it burned for over an hour.
We try to make the meal last awhile so they can really have time to talk to each other and enjoy the food. We serve only one thing at a time, and we, the teachers, always serve them. It is a fun change of pace for them to have their teachers serving them. We do not let them get disrespectful though-- a quick glance from my squinted eyes and they know that this is fun, but that they still need to be respectful.
After the meal we played pin the tongue on the dragon. The winner got to take the dragon home. We also had studied dinosaurs that year--the Chinese called them “dragons” :-). Then we had a relay race where the students had to pick up cotton balls with their chop sticks and then hand them to the next runner on their team. Everyone from first grade through high school enjoyed this. Of course we had to play our favorite game of kick-the-can before it got too dark, and that ended the evening.
One of the ways we try to keep our students diligently striving to make good grades is to have achievement parties every quarter. We make a BIG DEAL about the achievement parties. If a student has a grade of 85% or higher in ALL subjects, or they have brought their grade point average up a certain amount, then they are invited to the achievement party. Now, if you think they get a little piece of paper, an ice cream cone, and that’s the end of it --you are wrong. We have an PARTY. And we make a pretty big deal of it. We get a few parents to help us, and it really is a lot of fun. We play games, have a meal (we serve them), and make it special. Here are a few ideas to get you started. (Please send us your ideas.)
The Monday morning the week of the party the students found Chinese take-out boxes on their desks. Inside was a fortune cookie and an invitation.
You are most honorably invited to the
Honor Roll Party
on Friday, January 13th,
in the Year of the Dragon, 2012,
from 5:30-8:30.
You may wear Asian attire if you wish.
First of all we gave each of the girls a red flower for their hair.
Then we all learned how to make an origami crane. We were surprised that even the boys enjoyed doing that.
Next we took them into the fellowship hall where we had some Asian music playing softly in the background. The tables had red tablecloths and red flower petals sprinkled on top of them.
A Lego pagoda! Our family had made this one summer just for fun. We made lamps by folding construction paper into fourths and cutting designs on the sides and then put a candle inside them. We also had more origami on the tables.
Jeff was our fake "Chinese chef” and surprised even me. After I had finished showing the students how to do the origami, I arrived in the kitchen to see him with his beard shaven off wearing a funny- looking yarn moustache. He entertained us by chopping up all kinds of things and having the students yell “Wasabi”.
We try to make the meal last awhile so they can really have time to talk to each other and enjoy the food. We serve only one thing at a time, and we, the teachers, always serve them. It is a fun change of pace for them to have their teachers serving them. We do not let them get disrespectful though-- a quick glance from my squinted eyes and they know that this is fun, but that they still need to be respectful.
After the meal we played pin the tongue on the dragon. The winner got to take the dragon home. We also had studied dinosaurs that year--the Chinese called them “dragons” :-). Then we had a relay race where the students had to pick up cotton balls with their chop sticks and then hand them to the next runner on their team. Everyone from first grade through high school enjoyed this. Of course we had to play our favorite game of kick-the-can before it got too dark, and that ended the evening.
