Asian Computer College

Main: Doctora St., Mayapa, Calamba City Annex: Punta, Calamba City

Freshmen Recollection ‘08

I. OPENING 6:15 pm
A. Prayer
B. Class Expectations
C. Icebreakers (materials: bingo sheet; cartolina/section)
1. People Bingo (10 minutes) : Instruct the students to secure the signatures of their fellow
freshmen (except their classmates) who fit the description on the bingo card.
2. Foot Writing (10 minutes) : Have each student sign their name (not less than 4 letters) on the
class attendance sheet (cartolina) using their foot. The class which finishes first gets to eat
dinner early!
D. Rules and Regulations

II. GETTING CAUGHT IN THE WEB 6:45 pm

Materials/Special Preparations Required: Large ball of yarn, scissors, soccer or similar-sized ball
Length of Time: 20 minutes for the Human Knot (including the processing), 30 minutes for the Web (including the
discussion), 10 minutes for the activity reflection
Lesson Assessment: Question/answer after activity in group format, reflection worksheet (see below)
Lesson Preparation:
Essential Questions: How can a person’s actions effectively contribute to their community?
Engagement (Hook): The Human Knot

Ask participants to form a circle, shoulder-to-shoulder. Encouraging/urging participants to all stand closer can be a
subtle way of helping to prepare them for what is about to come. Ask participants to each place a hand in the middle
of the circle and to grasp another hand. Then ask participants to put their other hand in the middle and grasp a
different person's hand. Don't let participants let go of hands - some will be tempted to think the activity might then
be over - but it is only just starting. Explain to participants that what you'd like them to do is untangle themselves,
without letting go of hands, into a circle.

Participants may change their grip so as to more comfortable, but they are not to unclasp and re-clasp so as to undo
the knot. Stand back and see what happens. Be prepared to see little progress for quite some time (up to 10
minutes). However, once the initial unfolding happens, the pace towards the final solution usually seems to quicken.
However, because each occasion is unique, there are also odd times when a very fast solution falls out - too easy. In
such cases, you ask a group to try the task again - its usually a bit harder second time around. Occasionally, the task
seems too hard and participants seem to make almost no progress. Let them struggle for about 10 minutes, then you
can offer the group one unclasp and reclasp – they need to discuss and decide what unclasp-reclasp would be most
useful. Most of the time a full circle falls out, but occasionally there are two or even three interlocking circles. So,
really the task is to sort the knot out into its simplest structure.

Essential questions:
1. You knew that if you let go of your partner’s hands, the circle would be broken. What did you do to avoid this
from happening?
2. How did your role contribute to keep the circle together?
3. How well did you think the group worked together?
4. What do you think you've learned from this activity which can be applied in future activities?

Instructor Procedures for the Web:

1. The facilitator relates the following instructions: “We are going to start with Jane. She will hold the loose end of
the ball of yarn, and then toss the ball to someone else in the group. He or she in turn will hold on to the string and
throw the ball to someone else. You can throw the ball to anyone in the group, except the person to your
immediate right or left.
2. Once the web is formed, the facilitator clips the ball of yarn away from the web. The facilitator asks the students
to hold the web tightly enough that it can support a soccer ball, which is placed in the middle of the web. The
group’s job is to keep the ball from falling through the web.
3. The facilitator then asks one student to drop and keep the ball from falling.
4. The facilitator then asks more students to drop their hold on the yarn by saying:
a. “If your birthday fall on the month of __________, drop your hold on the yarn.”
b. “If your name begins with the letter ____, drop your hold on the yarn.”
5. Finally, ask all the students to drop the yarn, leaving the collapsed web in the middle of the group. Have the
students sit around the discussion. Possible questions for the students in the group:
• To the group: “When the first student dropped the yarn, how hard was it to take up the slack?”

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 • To the first student to drop the yarn: “How did you feel when you first dropped the yarn?” and “How did
you feel as everyone else was still participating, and you weren’t part of the group?”
• To the group: “How did those of you who had to take up the slack feel as the others dropped out? How
many of you wanted the chance to drop out as the job got harder?”
• To the group: “Now that everyone has dropped the web, what has happened to the shape? Can we get the
shape and strength of the web back? What does that say about our relationships within the groups we find
ourselves? If we try to pick up the web from the floor and use it again, what will happen? How does this
relate to restoring damaged or broken relationships? When is it easiest to fix the web? How does this
apply to our relationships?”

Activity Reflection:

NAME:_____________________________________ LEVEL & SECTION: ____________________

Take a moment to think back on the activity we just completed. Mention feelings, thoughts and concerns
you may have had while doing the activity.

1. How did you feel when either you or someone else had to let go of their string?

2. If you were one who was asked to let go of the string, how did it feel to be removed from the “community”
of students who were still participating?

3. What did you learn about yourself by doing the activity? What did you learn about other students? Did the
group work well together? Did members respect each other’s ideas and allow everyone to suggest ideas?
Were there members who dominated the group?

III. DINNER 7:45

pm
IV. Icebreakers
A. Paper Race 8:23 pm
Give teams a couple of sheets of A4 paper and a pair of scissors. Rules are simple; first team to fit all
members through the paper win. The secret is to make a giant loop out of the paper using a spiral cut.
Fold the paper in half lengthways, then cut the spiral. You'll need cut the centre fold to complete the spiral
but not all the way.

B. Chewing Gum Art (2 bubble gums and 2 toothpicks/student; index card/group) 8:35 pm
Everyone in the group gets a piece of chewing gum, a piece of cardboard or paper and a toothpick. After
chewing the gum for 5 minutes, the players stick their gum to the cardboard and has an additional 5
minutes to create his artwork out the gum using the toothpick. Players cannot use their hands to shape the
gum. At the end of the allotted time, the group decides which artwork of gum is the best, most creative
and most beautiful. You could also award a prize for the worst artwork.

V. POSITIVE CHAIN 8:45

pm
Length of Lesson: 15 minutes for the Blanket Stand (including processing), 15 minutes for the strength writing, 10
minutes for the linking, 20 minutes for the processing
Materials: Teacher worksheet, strips of paper, ballpen, stapler
Lesson Assessment: Successful completion of the Positive Chain and of the Team on a Blanket activity.
Lesson Preparation:
Essential Questions: Why do people need to learn to work together?
Engagement (Hook): The Blanket Stand

Instruct the students to board the blanket. They must stay on the blanket for 10 seconds (long needed to help them
reach the goal of enough to sing the chorus of an agreed continuing to fit everyone on the blanket as it upon song).
Once they have succeeded, fold the blanket in ½ and have them board again. Each time they are successful, reduce
size of blanket. The goal is to keep as many people on the blanket as possible through the size- reductions and the
chorus-singing.

Discuss the statement: Ask the students if they agree with the statement: “Too much of anything is not a good
thing.” Have you ever been in a group with all leaders? All followers? All fun people? Can you imagine doing the
Blanket Stand with people who are the built like you (i.e., thin, small, chubby, tall)? How can teams increase
productivity? We need a variety of individual strengths when working as a team.

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 Instructor Procedures:
1. Tell the students that for the next activity, they have to write their individual strengths, which
they can contribute or share to others.
2. Give each student 6 strips of paper. Ask students to think to write their name and a strength
which they possess on each strip of paper. (Note: the strips should be stapled with the writings face up)
3. After filling out the 6 strips of paper, instruct them to staple their strips and their group mates’
strips together to make a chain similar to ones used to decorate Christmas trees.
4. The teacher should circulate around the class to make sure that the ones being written are
indeed the strengths!
5. After the students have finished the chain and the teacher has made a check of each link, the
teacher asked the class to sit down for the processing:
a. Was it easy to write your strengths? Why or why not?
b. Ask some of the students to share some of the strengths they wrote on the chain. How do they use these
strengths to help others or contribute in class?
c. What is the usefulness of having personal strengths but being the only person who benefit from them?
d. What does the chain symbolize?
e. What is the opposite of strength? What are your weaknesses? How does your weaknesses affect others?
f. Why is it important to think positive thoughts about yourself? Why should you focus on your strengths?

VI. Icebreaker: Pass The Clay Game 9:45 pm

Length of Time: 15 minutes for the building
Materials: Whistle or noise maker, Clay per group
Description:
Give each team a large lump of clay. Each team must sit in a circle so that they can easily pass the clay around.
Start with one team member holding the clay. The facilitator shouts out an object, scene or something else that can
bemade out of clay (some ideas follow), on the "go" signal the first person begins to build as fast as they can. After
a few seconds the leader blows the whistle and the clay must be passed to the next person who picks up where the
first person left off. Continue in this manner with the leader frequently blowing the whistle at irregular intervals. On
the "stop" signal, the person holding the clay must set it down. At the end of each round allow each group to show
their creation to the rest of the group, with any description or story they want to make up about it.
Sculpture Ideas:
A bus stop A popcorn stand A clown
A barn with animals A plate of spagetti with meatballs a desktop computer
A mobile phone fast food

VII. Ultimate Egg Catcher 10:00 pm

Length of Time: 15 minutes for the building
Materials: 6 pieces drinking straws, 1 meter of masking tape, 4 sheets of toilet paper, a piece of clean cloth
(blindfold) and an egg.
Directions:
Provide each team with: 6 pieces drinking straws, 1 meter of masking tape, 4 sheets of toilet paper, a piece of clean
cloth (blindfold) and an egg. The team will have to build a catching basket using all these items. They have 5
minutes to talk and plan what to do and 7 minutes to implement the plan (without talking). When finished,
one member of the team will be lying on the ground blindfolded holding the egg catcher over his face and another
team member will be standing on a chair above the person. Upon directions from the other team members the
‘dropper’ will attempt to line up with the ‘catcher’ so no one ends up with egg on their face!

Processing: (25 minutes)

1. Was anyone frustrated at all during the teambuilding activities? If so how was it handled?
2. Did everyone participate in the activities? How did you feel when you see your group mate not
participating?
3. Why was teamwork so important for both activities?
4. Are you ever in a situation where you must use teamwork? Is this always easy for you? Why or
why not?
5. What are some skills needed to be good at teamwork?
6. What is so hard about teamwork?
7. What did you do today to contribute to the teamwork on your team?
8. What did you learn about this activity?

VIII. Break (15 minutes) 10:45 pm

IX. Hog Call 11:00 pm

Length of Time: 10-15 minutes for the activity; 15 -20 minutes for the processing
Materials: Blindfolds
Directions:
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 You will need a large space, such as a gym, cafeteria, or field. Ask two groups to combine and choose an animal
that they will represent.

Each person in the group goes in the opposite end of the covered court. They put on the blindfolds or close their
eyes. The object of the activity is for group to find one another by yelling the sound of the animal that they
represent.

Sample processing questions:

• How did you prove your trustworthiness to other people?
• How do other people prove their trustworthiness to you?
• Did you feel the need to peek?
• Why or why not?
• Why is trusting other people important?

Facilitation Notes:
This activity gives participants the opportunity to explore how trusting they feel of the other people in the group.
Make sure to give people the option to wear a blindfold if they want or to just close their eyes. Why did they choose
one over the other? Was it a comfort issue or a trust issue? Did they like the idea of having the option of being able
to open their eyes if necessary? Remember that according to Challenge by Choice, peeking is acceptable.

This activity keeps the focus on the total group, as opposed to having to trust one or two other people. This is good
discussion material because we are constantly in situations where we need to trust groups of other people, some of
whom we do not even know (i.e., when on the road and having to trust other drivers).

As a facilitator, it is necessary to make sure people move at an appropriate speed and to watch for people veering
off into an obstacle or wall. Warn the group that you may put your hand on their shoulder to alert them to something
in their path.

X. Trust Walk/Spider Web (to be done as a class, not as a group) 11:30 pm

XI. Hugs, Kisses & Candles (OPEN FORUM) 12:00 am

Write a thank you note, an admiration note and an apology note addressed to 3 of your classmates. Give all of
them a chance to speak up.
End this activity by having partners pray for each other, thanking God for the wonderful people that He has
used as an instrument to guide and love us. Also, ask for His forgiveness and pray for the strength and will not to
commit the same mistake again.

THE NEXT DAY

I. Breakfast of the Champions 6:00 am

II. People to People 7:30 am

Have the group pair up, you be the caller. If there is an odd number have the odd person be the caller. The caller
calls out pairs of body parts for the partners to connect. For example, “elbow to elbow” each pair would connect one
of their elbows to one of their partners' elbows. While maintaining that position the caller can call out another set.
For instance “Left foot to right foot” or “ear to ear.” After the caller has given out a few directions they call out
“people to people” and each pair must quickly find a new partner. If the caller is a youth they must find a partner
and the person left without a partner is the new caller. As your group goes from partner to partner encourage them
to learn each other's names

III. BACK TO BACK 7:40 am

Every group member must find a partner of approximately equal height and weight, if possible. The partners
will lock arms with their backs to one another. With arms remaining locked at all times, the partners will sit
down on the ground, kick their legs out straight, and try to stand back up. Then groups of four will try the
same thing. Then groups of eight, sixteen, and eventually, the entire group together. This is the perfect
activity to begin a trust sequence.

IV. Tower of Faith 7:50 am

Length of Time: 10 minutes for the building, 20 minutes for the processing
Materials: 4 sheets of paper, 1 pack or straw, 10 rubber bands
The group is given the task of creating a tower in 10 minutes. The tower must use ALL materials and be at least 1
foot tall. The group which builds the tower which can take the pressure of the wind wins. In case of a tie, the more
attractive tower will win.

Processing:
1. Was anyone frustrated at all during the teambuilding activities? If so how was it handled?
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 2. Did everyone participate in the activities? How did you feel when you see your group mate not
participating?
3. How are we similar to the tower?
4. What did you learn about yourself from the activity?
5. What is the foundation of your life?

V. Letter to Myself (Related Scripture: Romans 12:1-2) 8:20 am

Objective: to identify what kinds of people they'd like to be in a year
Materials: a Bible, paper, pencils, and envelopes

Read aloud Romans 12:1-2. Give each person a sheet of paper, a pencil, and an envelope. Ask kids to think about
the kinds of people they'd like to be in a year, based on the Scripture. Have each one write himself or herself a letter
describing that person. Ask volunteers to tell what they wrote, then have kids seal their letters in the envelopes. On
the envelopes, have kids write their names and "to be opened on (date one year from now)." Collect the letters and
tell them that they will open it the next school year.

VI. The Super Me Shirt 8:45 am

Materials: old white shirt, pentel pen
Instruct the students to take out their extra shirt. Then, they have to write their name at the center of the shirt.
They have to be creative. Then below their name, they have to list down all their positive attributes.
Apply the circulating paper technique so that the other students would have the chance to write a positive
message on their classmate’s back shirt.

VII. Feedback/Closing 10:00 am

ICEBREAKERS/ TIME FILLERS:

A. Describe and Draw It (Materials: paper and pencil for each participant)
Prior to the workshop draw a number of rectangles on an 8.5x11" sheet of paper and ensure every participant has a pen/pencil
and a sheet of paper as well.

To begin the icebreaker, ask a volunteer to come to the front of the room with his/her back to the audience. Tell the volunteer
that he/she must describe the drawing to the audience using verbal communication only so that they can recreate the drawing
themselves. No questions or communication are permitted from the audience. Allow 5 minutes for this exercise. Then recreate
the exercise but allow questions from the participants. Allow another 5 minutes to pass.
Spend the remaining 5 minutes comparing the drawings and facilitating discussion based on the process. Although you may
find you could spend all morning on this debrief alone!

B. Tactile Copier (Materials: illustrations, paper, pencil)

The players arranged themselves in a line. A diagram is shown to the last person in line. The person uses his finger to
reconstruct the image on the back of the person in front of him. Each player in turn passes the image on to the next
person in line by tracing it on his back. The person at the head of the line draws the diagram on a piece of paper for the
group to compare with the original drawing. The game can be repeated after the players rotate their positions. Variation:
After passing on the image, each player draws the diagram as he perceives it. The group then compares their drawings.

C. The Telephone (Materials: strips of paper with a leadership quote written on it)
Participants should sit or stand in a circle. The facilitator quickly whispers a message to one participant. This participant
passes the message in a whisper to the next person and so on. The last person shouts out the message. Chances are the
final message will be different from the original. Here is an example of an initial message (note how two different
activities are blended into the initial statement, a sure cause for confusion when whispered quickly): “I had rice for
dinner and then dressed in blue to go dancing.”

D. Line Ups (materials: Blindfolds)

The basic idea is to have the group line up in a straight line according to some specific criteria and with some type of
restriction on their actions. Here are some ideas that can be altered to meet your group's needs. Give specific guidelines
before beginning. To line up by height, give everyone blindfolds. Make sure they agree to specific safety rules such as no
pushing, moving slowly, stopping when the instructor says stop, etc. Once the students are blindfolded tell them they
must line up according to height, with the shortest person in the front, the tallest in the back. To line up by birthday,
challenge the group, without talking or making any vocal sounds, to line up according to birthday, January 1 at the front
and December 31 at the back.

E. Charades 5

F. Paint Me a Picture