Product Review: Schultüte

PRODUCT REVIEW: Schultüten Kit (Teacher's Discovery)

Product Description: A fun, cultural project for your students the first day of German class! Students love the treats and have fun learning, too. You provide the goodies and treats.Cost: $26.95 for set of 12

To celebrate the start of a new school year, our first German Club meeting was putting together Schultüten.  I bought some goodies from Teacher's Discovery (bookmarks, stickers, pencils, etc.) as well as two of their Schultüten kits.  Each kit contained 12 Schultüten, as well as tissue paper, glue and tape.  The Schultüten had two sides - one that was already colored in (see above) and another that students could color in and decorate.  

It was an easy activity to prep for the first meeting when we don't have new officers yet.  

Practicality: 3.5/5
It's easier than making Schultüten from construction paper.  I wish they came pre-cut or at least had perforated edges.  We needed scissors and a decent amount of time to cut them out.  The little tabs that you used to keep the Schultüte together were hard to cut out and needed to be heavily taped to hold it together.  

Decoration was easy - most of the students decided to use the pre-colored, but a few took the time to personalize and color in the other side. 

Accuracy: 5/5
The phrases on the Schultüten were cute.  Loved that they included the tissue paper to give them a more authentic look :)  I do wish they were bigger though...

Fun: 4.5/5
Students had fun putting together and decorating their Schultüten.  It did take some time to cut out and put together.  There wasn't as much personalization as I would have wanted: students could pick colors and could decorate one side, but most of the students ended up decorating theirs with the stickers I gave out (something not included in the kit).

Overall: 13 / 15 (87%)
I would definitely recommend this product if you have a small number of students - it can get costly to buy them for larger groups.  I told my students that I would provide the school-related goodies but they would have to bring in candy to share.  I think this is the best way to displace some of the pressure on you to fill an entire Schultüte for each student.

- Frau Leonard

German Club: Club Activities

German Club didn't get to meet as often as we'd initially hoped to (thanks to snow days, midterms, HSA's, AP exams, and other scheduling problems).  We did, however, manage to throw some pretty awesome events that we'll hopefully get to do again next year.  

Deutschklub 2013-2014

Games

After our election and at another meeting later in the year we played some German games.  I have a couple board games from Germany (Monopoly and Scrabble), plus we sometimes play Settlers of Catan.  And there's always Skat and Mau Mau if you're looking for a card game.

Pfefferkuchenhaus

During our December meeting, students build Ginger Bread Houses.  I'm no ginger bread marvel, so we didn't bake anything ourselves - we purchased kits and students could use the kit to build a house.  There was an activity fee associated with it just to cover the cost of purchasing the kits.  Students had to pay ahead of time so that I knew how many kits to pick up.

We then had some teachers rate the houses based on stability, appearance and overall creativity, then awarded a winner for each category plus overall best.  The students had a lot of fun, but we did have some issues (one of the ginger bread kits had cracked pieces, the that group had to use what was left to make what they could).

Next year I think we might try a different tactic - instead of using the kits, we'll build them out of Graham crackers, honey, frosting, and candy.  Although not as culturally authentic, I think it'll take care of some of the problems we had this year.  It'll also be a bit more of a challenge and give the kids an opportunity to show off their creative side.

Fliegenklappe Tournament

Students love playing Fliegenklappe and the officers decided it'd be a fun club activity.  I created three Fliegenklappe boards, each with a large number of cognates.  We decided to go with cognates because we wanted the tournament to be open to students who maybe had never taken German before and we didn't want to discriminate against students in lower levels of German.  

We created a bracket based on how many students showed up.  Each round was best out of three - one word was called per board.  I tried to randomize the words as much as possible (both location on the boards and the words themselves) to keep it fair. 

I decided to buy a prize for the first and second place winners - an "engraved" fly swatter (I painted "Deutschklub 2013-2014" on it) and a toy pig (I'm big on pigs) for first place, and a toy pig for second place.  Our German Club president also donated a bag of gummy bears as part of our first place prize.

Students had a lot of fun with this one.  It's definitely a keeper for next year - not only is it easy to set up and fun for the kids, but it's also a free activity (this was right after the Pfefferkuchenhaus club meeting, which had a fee).

Musical Chairs

The students wanted to do something music related, but I told them just sitting around listening to music didn't count as a club meeting.  The officers decided that they would play musical chairs using German music. 

We had to move back all the desks to make room, and eventually I had to institute a "hands over your head" rule to avoid pushing.  You'd be surprised how rowdy high schoolers can get (I had no idea they'd be so in to musical chairs).  We did a few rounds and the winners got candy (as donated, once again, by our German club President).  

Brezeln

Because activities that involve food is what drives German club, the officers planned a pretzel baking day.  We reserved our school's Food and Culinary Sciences room and got some Auntie Em's pretzel baking kits.  

There was an activity fee of I believe $3 for a fair share of the pretzels.  We got two boxes of pretzel mix and made all of it - we divided the dough between the students who showed up.  Each student then made a pretzel with whoever much dough they had - some did small ones, others did one massive one.  

I would've loved to actually bake them, but because of time constraints we opted for the kits.  Timing wise it actually worked out quite well.

Spaghetti Eis

Another food activity with an activity fee.  We got big containers of vanilla ice cream, some strawberry sauce, and of course some sprinkles and tried to make Spaghetti Eis.  This was my first time trying to do this, so we weren't quite sure how to get the shape.  We used a potato masher I borrowed from a colleague.  I'm not sure if it's because the potato masher was on the older side, the ice cream was too cold or if it's just not the right tool for the job, but it was a bit difficult to get the ice cream into a spaghetti form.  Delicious, but we'll have to work on the execution (and maybe pair it with another activity).

Tie Dye

This one didn't have much of a connection to German culture, but the kids wanted to do it and put the event together.  We used the revenue from pretzels (there was a small profit margin, really just enough to fund this activity) to get a tie-dying kit.  Students had to bring in their own shirts, but we also had some extras students could be if they forgot theirs.  

A fun, messy activity but I don't know if I would do it again.  A shirt-decorating activity might work, but I think we'd have to use fabric paint and we'd put on German-related designs.  The tie-dye didn't really scream "Deutsch!"

Fussballspiel

As our final activity of the year, the German Club challenged the French and Spanish Clubs to a friendly soccer match.  With the World Cup starting, this seemed like a fun cultural connection for all three clubs.  Unfortunately, French Club declined the invitation, but Spanish Club was up for the challenge.

We reserved one of the gyms after school and one of the German club members brought in a couple soccer balls.  Because of the size of the gym and the number of students on each team, we played 5x5 plus a goalie.  The kids did a great job of reffing themselves - I was really just there to keep track of the time and score (and to make sure the kids were subbing out and staying hydrated - it was quite hot and humid in the gym).  

This was a lot of fun (and not just because German Club won) - the kids are already talking about next year's match up and getting French Club involved.  One of the Spanish teachers said we should have some sort of Field Day for the languages.  There'd be multiple activities and/or races and students could compete for their "country."  Basically, a mini-Olympics.

Other Activities

Here are some other activities that we didn't do this year but that we might try to do in the future.  

• Movie Night: We were hoping to do a movie event that's like an outdoor movie theater.  We were going to project the movie onto the side of the school and have a picnic as we watched.  The only real problem we had in setting this up was coming up with an appropriate German movie that could a.) could be viewed by all age groups and b.) would be of interest to the school population in general (instead of just German students).
• Schuhplattler: At some point I hope to have the students learn a basic slap dance that we could then perform at a school event.
• Oktoberfest: We always want to do an Oktoberfest related event, but we still haven't pinned down exactly what we want to do.  We might move the Brezel cooking to Oktoberfest or try the Schuhplattler then.
• Wurst and Kaese Tasting: French Club does cheese tasting, so this seems like a great opportunity for our students to come together for a joint activity.  This is something I think students will like - food and culture are usually a great mix.
• Schultüten: Because we started the club so late in the school year, we missed the chance to do this.  I found some Schultüten available on Teacher's Discovery.  I got a set of 24, perfect as a first meeting activity at the beginning of next school year.

Deutschklub: End of the Year Gift

As a special thanks to the members of German Club, I made copies of the club picture and gave one to each of them.  It was just a little something to show I appreciated their participation and energy in making this year's German Club a success.  Students seemed to like them - it was a nice treat to end the year right :)

I'm always interested in suggestions for other activities - if there are any events that you do with your German Club, please share!

- Frau Leonard

Deutschklub: Running a German Club

This year we started a German Club at our school.  My students had been asking about starting one, so I decided this year was as good as any to start.  Here's an overview of how the year went, from the planning to the actual meetings.  Hopefully this will help any of you who are interested in starting a German Club at your school. 

Later I'll post about the actual activities we did this year - today's post is really just to help in the logistics and planning aspects of running a club.

Beginning of the Year: Getting Started

At the beginning of the year, I gave my students a short form to fill out to gauge interest. Our first meeting was actually quite short.  It was to see who was actually interested in coming after school and what they wanted to do as a group.  I asked students some questions to help them structure the club.  

Here are the questions we discussed and the answers students came up with:

• What day do we meet?  --> Wednesday
• How often do we meet?  Once a week, twice a month, monthly? --> Students wanted to meet twice a month, but in practice it actually ended up being less due to HSA's, AP testing, midterms, Spring Break, etc.
• Is the club open to all students or just to students taking German?  --> The club itself is open to all students, but they thought the officer positions should only be available to students who take German.
• Is there a certain number of meetings you need to attend to be a "full" member? --> Students weren't really decisive on this - they wanted there to be a requirement, but since we weren't sure about the number of meetings when we had the discussion, it was hard to say how many you could miss.  But it was decided that you needed to attend a majority of the meetings in order to be able to do activities where food/materials were provided by the club (i.e. if the club spent money on an activity, it should be for club members only).
• Should there be a membership fee (to raise money for club activities)? --> No, but if we want to do activities that require materials we can have a fee for that individual activity or bring in everything on our own.
• Should it be required for members to bring in supplies for activities (this would include bringing in food for general snacking)?  --> Students decided yes, they wanted people to bring in supplies for at least two meetings each year.  In practice, they don't keep track of this and don't seem to mind.
• What types of activities would you like to do? --> There were a bunch discussed, but I'm sure no one is surprised to know that "food" was the most commonly brought up idea.

German Club Officers

At our second meeting, we had elections for board members.  We have a German Club President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary.  Beforehand, I gave interested students copies of the officer duties (see below).  I told students that officers would need to meet at least once before each German Club meeting to plan the activities and get materials.  I also warned them that these meetings would need to be after school.

Before the meeting, I put the four different roles on the board.  When students arrived for the meeting, students had to write their names on the board under the position they planned on running for (if interested).  Students were only allowed to run for one position.  It worked out that we had two students running for each.

Every student who attended the meeting got a ballot.  The rule was that each student could vote for one person per category (or abstain), but students could not vote for themselves.  

We went by officer position, having the candidates come up and introduce themselves.  Each candidate needed to say:

- Their name

- Their grade (9th, 10th, etc.)

- Their current level of German

- Why they're interested in the position

- What experience they have/why they would be good for the position

I collected the ballots and let them know the winners (I did not reveal the margin of victory).  

Officer Handbook

Officers had a lot of responsibilities.  As the Club Sponsor, I saw my role as a facilitator.  The actual planning and acquiring of materials was supposed to be entirely up to them.  That meant figuring out activities, the materials they would need, reserving rooms/spaces, finding out the cost, etc. was all up to the officers.  They also had the responsibility of planning at least two meetings ahead of time.  

To help them, I created a Deutschklub binder.  It had a variety of materials that helped them in the planning of activities.  The binder was broken down into the following categories:

1. Officer Responsibilities: President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary each have different responsibilities.  These files are actually based on versions the French Club at our school uses.
2. Officers: Current officers - names and role (the list of this year's officers will remain next year, in case next year's officers would like to consult them for help/guidance)
3. Attendance Sheets: Students sign in at each meeting, the attendance sheets are kept here for reference
4. Meetings: List of meeting dates, summaries of each meeting, copies of any papers that were used for that meeting.  There was also a list of activity ideas students could work with.
5. Planning Sheets: Sheets to help students plan the meetings.  Students fill in the sheet both before the meeting as they figure out what they need to do to plan the activity, and after the meeting they add notes as to what went well and what could have been done better.  These will be references for officers next year who want to plan similar activities.
6. Officer Meetings: Minutes sheet for secretary to fill out at each meeting.  I ran the first meeting and included my agenda in this section.  This was also based on the French Club.
7. Finances: Simple chart for students to write in notes about any money collected/raised for activities, as well as what was spent.  There was also room for students to include receipts.  It's important to note that although students were in charge of keeping track of the finances, they were not allowed to collect or handle money (school policy).  
8. Fundraising: This section is currently empty (we didn't do any fundraising this year).  Anything that we do in the future will be included here.

Point System

I've seen that some clubs use a "points system" to determine if students are full time members.  Basically, students would get points for different contributions to the club.  For example, attending a meeting might be 5 points.  Bringing supplies for a meeting might be 10 points.  By the end of the year, students would need to acquire a certain number to be considered a "member in good standing."  We didn't use this system this year, but it's something we might try next year.  

- Frau Leonard

Deutschklub: Pfefferkuchenhaus

This year we started a German Club.  It's been fun (and definitely interesting) going through the process of forming a club and holding events.

To celebrate the holidays, we put together and decorated ginger bread houses.  I got pre-made sets from Target and Harris Teeter.  They were really nice in that they had all the supplies - walls, frosting, candy decorations, all of it - but we did have a few problems with the ginger bread breaking.  One of the houses had a broken piece when they opened it and some of the other students accidentally broke some of their pieces during construction :(

The kids did have fun though (even with the broken pieces).  We put together the houses today and we're storing them in our office freezer over night - tomorrow I'll have other teachers judge them for stability, appearance and creativity.  If you're interested in the rating sheet we'll be using, just click here.

Loved this event - can't wait to see what else the German Club does this year and can't wait to do this event again next year :)

Check out how it went:



 - Frau leonard