Connections: 10 Summer Days to Start High School Well

Connections: 10 Summer Days to Start High School Well is a package to give you ideas for developing a summer program to welcome your new ninth graders to high school.

The first video below is a promotional video that we used with our middle schools a couple of years ago. The second video is Matt and me talking a little bit about our history and the success it has brought to our freshmen.

The package includes an ebook, a Google doc with all our forms, and 10 videos demonstrating our afternoon activities.

We love it and hope you find it beneficial as well!

All the best,

Todd and Matt

What’s included!

The Ebook

Upon purchase, you will be able to immediately download our book to your device.

Table of contents:

Introduction

Acknowledgments and Thanks

Philosophy
 - Three Sentences That Sum It All Up
- Why Freshmen Attend
- The Secret Ingredient: The Mentors
- It's Different Than School: Opening the Day Well
- What We Teach in the Morning And Why It Matters
- Doing Lunch Different
- Reading Is Always Important
- Hearing the Adult Perspective on School Culture
- The Afternoons Are The Main Course
- Team Size Matters A Lot
- Protecting Competition So It Brings Belonging
- Talk to the Mentors Every Day Or They Will Fail

Preparation
 - Recruit Freshmen
- Recruit Upperclassmen
- Link Crew Invitation Letter to Recommended Students
- A sample timeline for the recruitment of mentors for Connections
- Training Mentors

The Mornings
- An Outline of How We will Explain the Activities
- The Opening Activities
- Circle Up
- The Red Rectangle
- Airplanes
- 1 to 100
- George and the Eagle
- Rock, Paper, Scissors
- Paper Towers
- Spoons
- Scooter Relays
- The Classes
- High School 101

The Afternoons
 - Pics and Cards
- Pics and Cards Instruction Sheet
- Outline for Carded Locations
- Warrior Olympics Day #1
- Ping Pong Ball/Spoon Race
- Fireman's Pass
- The Walk of Silence I
- Walk of Silence I: Assignments
- Walk of Silence I: Scoring Guidelines
- Drama on the Stage
- The River
- Warrior Olympics Day #2
- The Walk of Silence I|
- The Amazing Race
- Notes on Preparing the Packet
- Closing Ceremony
- Re-Connections

Bibliography

Authors

The Forms

Upon purchase, you will be sent a link to all editable forms through Google Docs.

List of available forms:

  • Invitation to Apply for Connections

  • Speaker Sheet

  • Text from Connections Flier

  • Why should a freshman attend Connections?

  • Link Crew Teacher Recommendation Form

  • Email to Sophomores and Juniors: Apply!

  • Sample Evaluation of Connection Applicant

  • Mentor Daily Task List

  • Mentor Worksheet for 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens

  • The Mentor's Final Paper

  • Creating a Signature Sheet

  • High School 101 - GPA/Credit Review Activity

  • Pics and Card

  • Drama on the Stage Score Sheet

  • Walk of Silence Il - Check-in Roster

  • Walk of Silence I: The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

  • The Walk of Silence | & II: Texture Sheet

  • Rules of the Amazing Race

  • Amazing Race - Sample Questions

  • Drama on the Stage Instructions and Situations

The Videos

Upon purchase, you will be sent a private link to all example videos.

List of videos:

  • The First Day of Connections

  • Pics and Cards

  • Warrior Olympics I

  • Fireman's Pass

  • Walk of Silence I

  • Drama on the Stage

  • The River

  • Warrior Olympics Il

  • Walk of Silence Il

  • The Amazing Race

  • Closing Ceremony

  • Re-Connections