Club Day. The Birds of Prey Version.

After the last Birds of Prey Club meeting, I posted that the boys seemed at odds with each other more often and I put together a few thoughts for how I would try to get things back on track.

And today was the day to put it into action.  I didn't do all the things I first mulled over, simply because time wouldn't allow it.  What we did do, though, seemed effective, so I'm happy.

First, I read the Club the story Look to the North:  A Wolf Pup Diary.  It talks about the first 10 months of a wolf cub's life, including how it learns it's place in the pack, how they learn to hunt, and how wolves communicate with one another.  Along the way, I asked questions to teach about some of the facts in the book.  What is the longest day of the year?  When are day and night of equal length?  What is nursing?

Then, we talked about the similarities and differences between wolf behaviour and human behaviour.  I learned that many scientists believe that no other animal family acts more like humans than a wolf pack (from Scruffy:  A Wolf Finds His Place in the Pack).  So these books seemed like a perfect fit for our discussion on how we treat one another in our Birds of Prey Club family.

Next, the Club put together a short "Code of Conduct" and also came up with consequences for not sticking to the Code.  This is what they came up with:

"The Code"

1.  No swears
2.  Hands, bodies, and other objects stay off others
3.  One person speaks at a time
4.  Respect other people's things
5.  No talk of alcohol
6.  Try not to be hyper - consider the volume of your voice and being in control of your body. 

The Consequences - "4 strikes"

1.  Warning
2.  5 minute time-out
3.  7 minute time-out
4.  Call parents to take you home.

I'll be sending this out to parents and we'll also have a quick talk about it at the last meeting.  This will simply remind the Club of the "Code" they created and will allow one of our Club members who could not join us today an opportunity to ask questions and add any information that he feels would be relevant.

All in all, a successful meeting