The Social Studies department decided on the theme of “Unity” for this next chapter on Islam.  To illustrate this theme we decided to use two different activities.  The first activity was a connecting activity.  There is no real name for it, but one person starts with a ball of yarn and says someone’s name and then tosses them the yarn.  After they catch it, they were to repeat their name (this is a new semester and a number of students changed classes and do not know each other) and tell the group something that interested them about history or something that they liked about history.  The yarn was tossed around the circle until everyone had received it.  When asked how this activity related to unity several students replied that we are all connected and shared something we liked about history.  It was neat to see how each group’s “web” was completely unique, but had many similarities.
 
The next activity we did was the “Yurt Circle.”  We all grabbed a part of the rope that was tied together and made a circle.  We moved back and while everyone was holding the rope we all leaned back and support one another.  Again, each group had its own personality and some groups did this faster than others.  We pointed out that one person can effect the whole circle and throw it out of balance.  After we were able to lean back, we all sat down.  Then, we all had to stand up together while holding the rope.  As mentioned before, each group was unique in how they accomplished this task.  However, when the groups decided that they wanted to work together it was amazing how fast they were able to stand up.
 
We all sat in a circle and discussed how they saw unity in action through these activities.  The students had a lot of good points about how they had to work together and how we impact each other.  One student said that if one person falls, it is easier for a number of other people to fall too.  Mr. Mestelle took that opportunity to relate that to our lives here at LUHS and the surrounding community.  The students were very attentive to Mr. Mestelle’s encouragement to help support one another.