Preteen GAs

5th and 6th grade are our largest drop out years; in the past School activites and city league sports didnot happen on Wednesday but now they do. To keep our girls interested in returning we allow our 6th grade girls to do our intro teaching the first Wednesday of each month. They have about 15 minutes to teach us on what our focus will be for that month, our missionary, the country etc. Sometimes they do this through posters or skit, sometimes through a song. They even get us excited about our bible verse for the month. They are asked to decorate the bullentin board directly outside the GA meeting room, so others traveling up and down the hall will have an idea of what we are doing each month. At the end of the year this girls "graduate"; we have a special time set aside where they are introduced and presented with a pink rose (artifical so they can have the memory) and all the teachers/helpers line up for hugs. Then our outgoing 5th graders are all recognized as the new GA Leadership. These girls are allowed to choose the color of the next year t-shirt. Also I try to have certain activities that are just for 4-5-6; like our study on Thailand this year. You see they are given an incentive to stick it out.