2004 - 2005 PLOTWs

Pack Leader of The Week

Each week or so we gather together in our Tribal Council and either randomly select or vote for (off) one of the remaining members of our classroom to be the Pack Leader of the Week (P. L. O. T. W.)  The honor and duties of the P. L. O. T. W. include, but are not limited to,  being the line leader, running errands, leading the Pledge of Allegiance, distributing mail and lunch tokens, and getting a cold pop and candy bar.

The 2004 - 2005 Meyer Island Castaways

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!  The questions and comments for final tribal council were fast and furious.  CD & KR's nerves were at their end, and the results of the final vote was...

Meyer Island 5's Ultimate Pack Leader is...

Congratulations to both CD & KR on a great year.  They lived the 4C's and played "the game" to the best of their abilities.  Have a great summer!

The final two are set, CD and KR.  Who will take home the title of Ultimate Survivor?  Stay tuned.

The  "X-Out Challenge" was stressful with a guaranteed spot in the final two at stake.  Strategies were refined as the pressure was on.  In the end, CD took home the final immunity.  Congratulations to this week's Co-Pack Leader, AD!

The marshmallow shoot-out met with "sticky" results.  CD won immunity in a showdown with KR.  Tribal Council was intriguing with AWE being voted this week's Co-Pack Leader.  Congrats on a great run!

The soccer shoot-out challenge led to AWE obtaining immunity.  Voting led to a surprise with SM being this week's Pack Leader.  Congrats!

The puzzling challenge was won in the nick of time by CD.  Then, a tie in voting led to the dreaded colored candy draw.  Blue was the unlucky color, and MZ is this week's Pack Leader.  Congrats!

Hot Potato, Hot Potato, the game that's sweeping Meyer Island was this week's IC.  It was a first to three wins immunity.  It came down to KR, once again being victorious and taking possession of the Immunity Necklace.  Congrats to KT, this week's Pack Leader.  Her hard work, mental toughness, and creativity helped her to be very successful at all the challenges she took upon herself!

A last minute plea by the Pirates before Tribal Council gave a forum to those who wished to voice their feelings regarding the game's progress.  The IC was quite "puzzling" and KR took home the immunity necklace.  JS had a great run, "flew under the radar" according to some, and made it to the final 8.  Congrats on being this week's Pack Leader.

The plunger run was quite entertaining to watch, as the islanders took turns carrying and oversized ball 40" diameter and carried it as far as they could with a plunger before gravity took it's toll.  We thought MZ had it all wrapped up with six full trips back and forth on the basketball court, but AWE obliterated the record and kept going until her arms were just too tired.  Congrats to KS, this week's Pack Leader.

This week the final 10 merge finally happened.  Students were anxious to begin the "next phase" of the game.  The first immunity challenge left the islanders just "hanging around."  JS wasn't about to let immunity slip through his hands and outlasted all the other nine challengers to take home the immunity necklace.  Tribal council was interesting, with just the remaining students having a vote.  Congratulations to this week's Pack Leader, JK.  In the past few weeks, have the boys suddenly been forgotten about?  Could this be two years in a row of this trend?  Stay tuned.

In Animal Farm, Squealer once said, "Strategy comrades, strategy is why Comrade Napoleon won the day."  Who would've thought that the kids were paying attention during that book?  Well, it looks like the survivors are already looking ahead to the combined tribe final phase of the game.  Two of the strongest & most competitive players were voted Pack Leader this week.  The first immunity challenge was "Survivor" trivia from the Pringles can.  UPS won it's 5th consecutive immunity.  Later in the week, a mixed up puzzle, the Pink Panthers finally wrestled the immunity idol away from UPS.  Congratulations to KC & SH, this week's co-pack leaders!

This week the kids had the opportunity to go skiing!  Only it was three at a time, on the infamous Ski-Walk Challenge.  The combined Wildcat and Sizzle tribe was renamed the Pink Panthers by it's new members.  It didn't change things, as the UPS tribe still won immunity in a fantastic race to the finish.  Congrats on another IC victory.

Will they finally be beaten in the last group immunity challenge this next week?  Congratulations to EC, this week's Pack Leader.  It came down to a tie during voting, and the elusive colored candy drawing between AWE and EC, left EC holding the yellow candy.  Kudos on a great "run" in the game, now the power has really switched sides as the jury grows stronger with each tribal council.

This week's immunity challenge was quite puzzling for the tribes.  Each tribe had a poster cut up into puzzle pieces.  They had to find just the right fit.  The final challenge was to name the state involved with the movie poster.  Immunity stayed with the UPS tribe, and congratulations to this week's Pack Leader, CB!

This week's PLOTW is actually a pair of Pack Leaders, CH & AWA.  The New UPS tribe won immunity in the ropes course challenge, and voting netted a tie.  Join us in congratulating these terrific guys being named Pack Leader!

A victory by the Meyer Island Pirates in the snowball making challenge leads to twists as three survivors believe they've been voted co-pack leaders!  Each survivor is then named new team captain and allowed to pick a new line-up.  Will alliances hold?  Will new friendships be forged?  Stay tuned!

This week's challenge was taken home by the UPS tribe.  They were the first to solve the Immunity Challenge puzzle and bring back the "tiki dude."  Congratulations to NB, this week's re-pack leader!

This week's immunity challenge was taken right from our Social Studies books, it was a Jeopardy Review for the test that the new tribes competed in.  It came down to the Final Jeopardy question as the UPS tribe was tied with Sizzle, the Wildcats were close behind, but Sizzle nailed it with the answer of Thomas Hooker - founder of the Portsmouth colony.  Congrats to this week's Pack Leader, ZL.

New tribes and new challenges face our castaways.  The new tribes consist of the Wildcats, the Sizzle, the UPS tribe, and two pirate tribes ( Pirates of Meyer Island and the Red Hat Pirates).

The last immunity challenge for the original tribes was the Blow Dart Challenge.  The group that knocked off all the others to win immunity was the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  They finally won an immunity all for themselves, only to be broken up next week.  Congratulations to NT, this week's PLOTW.

This week's immunity challenge comes straight from Santa Claus, namely the Jr. Catch Phrase game.  Teams paid the penalty from the underwater tour at the Big Science Lesson of having tribe members who talked sat out this challenge.  Each tribe named a clue giver and the remaining students guessed which term was being given.  Teal and Icebreakers came down to the finals again, with this week's tribe that gained immunity  being Teal!  Congratulations to KM, this week's Pack Leader!

Following our week at the Big Science Lesson, the students completed their simple machine experiments with a challenge.  There were many modifications to the design, but in the end the teams of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Teal Tornados shared immunity.  Congratulations to SW, this week's Pack Leader.

This week's Immunity Challenge was a good old fashioned Tug of War.  The finals found the Golden Tikis going up against the Ice Breakers.  KM took charge and willed his team onto victory. 

Congratulations to this week's Pack Leader, AM.  Enjoy your PLOTW booty!

Tribal Council - the place where our "community building" really takes place.  Students get to share their feelings, thoughts, joys, frustrations, and praise with the entire group.

This week's immunity challenge was a left over activity from our Halloween party.  We had to "wrap things up" quickly, so this challenge had to wait.  The four lucky tribe members AWA, KS, SH, and NT all volunteered for hazardous duty, not knowing what this would entail.  Well, as you can see from the pictures below, their tribe mates definitely left them wanting their "mummy".  Congrats for the shared immunity between Golden Tikis and the Red Hot Chili Peppers!

Congratulations to NB, this week's Pack Leader!

Welcome SW, our newest Meyer Islander!

Our election unit has been a hit this week.  Students are really enjoying the "experiential lessons" using the 2004 Presidential Election as a springboard to elect our own "National Ice Cream of Meyer Island."  Below are pictures from our first few days of campaigning, the first few primaries, the National Conventions of the Demopublicans and the Republicrats, and finally the race to the finish between Sherbet and Cake Batter.  Today Sherbet held a bake sale to raise funds for their campaign.  A visit from the principal, Ms. Schindewolf, helped add to their election coffer.  Cake Batter has a plan for tomorrow.  The race is heating up!

Our Skyscraper challenge was declared a draw due to the extreme volume of the participants, and dubious circumstances of gravity.  This week's challenge was the Slogan Match, since we are into the presidential election unit.  It was almost so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.  None of the groups wanted to let any answers leak out.  In the end, it was close, but Ice Breakers went home with immunity again.  Congrats on the excellent teamwork by all groups!

Congratulations to this week's Pack Leader, JN!  Enjoy your PLOTW booty!

The third immunity challenge was the "8-Legged Race."  We had a practice round earlier in the week, and each group had the opportunity to problem solve ideas to improve on their performance for the actual immunity challenge (IC).  Every group did improve on their results, but the Teal Tornados once again proved their cooperation by taking the immunity idol back to their tribe. 

After a very close vote at tribal council, congratulation go out to this week's Pack Leader, ZR.  Enjoy your PLOTW booty!

Being Pack Leader is "A-OK!"

Our second immunity challenge was "Just Ducky."  Tribe mates needed to work together to load, aim, shoot, & "catch" the duckies.  The challenge lasted two rounds and ended with the Icebreakers winning immunity.  Congratulation on the excellent teamwork!  This week one of our Meyer Islanders moved on.  Good Luck LS!

Congrats also go out to our second Pack Leader, KA!  Enjoy your goodies.

Our first immunity challenge was taken right from the previous night's episode of Survivor.  The "Balance Beam Switcheroo" provided the kids with a great chance to practice their problem solving, critical thinking, communication, and cooperation skills.  Each tribe that went improved it's strategies by observing their peers.  In the end, it was the sure footed-ness of the Teal Tornados that helped them take the Immunity.  Congratulations on a successful effort by all the tribes!

Students were eager to utilize their right to voting on Meyer Island, since we've had numerous discussion on Rights and Responsibilities.  Congratulations to our first Pack Leader, LS.  Enjoy your PLOTW rewards!

Finally, we have tribes and nicknames!  The four tribes are Red Hot Chili Peppers, Icebreakers, Teal Tornados, and the Golden Tikis.  Their very first team reward challenge involved a scavenger hunt using the Detroit News edition from Tuesday.  We played Jeopardy using all the sections of the newspaper.  Besides the exposure to the many sections of the newspaper, we had great discussion on teamwork, sportsmanship, and positive thinking.  The Golden Tikis won the reward, which included their choice of "comfortable" chairs for the remainder of the week.

Another team building challenge this week as students finally learned who their tribe mates would be.  Each tribe is composed of six or seven "islanders" who are developing their 4 "C's" of Meyer Island through a variety of activities this week.  Today's challenge was "Awww SHOE(t)", which involved honing communication skills for group members.  The four tribes are working on developing their tribal nicknames.  Their colors are Red, Teal, Gold, and Carolina Blue.

This week's team building challenge was "Tied Up in Knots", and wow what a result.  The students worked together in their small "pods" to get tied up in a human knot.  Each group then progressively worked themselves into tougher situations & "untied" themselves.  Pods united to create more challenging scenarios, finally the entire class created a gigantic knot & after a few tries, they succeeded!

We are learning about the 4 "C's" of Meyer Island.  They are cooperation, contemplation, calculation, and communication.  Our second day of school students participated in the breakout challenge.  This challenge involved moving the ball across the gym without any students using their hands to touch it.  It took several tries, along with many different ideas until a successful method was found!  Following this challenge, students partook of their first tribal council.  Each child shared how they believed each other illustrated the 4 "C's" in completing the challenge, as well as giving kudos to their peers.

Click here to revisit the 2003 - 2004 Meyer Island PLOTW castaways

Click here to revisit the 2002 - 2003 Meyer Island PLOTW castaways

Click here to revisit the 2001 - 2002 Meyer Island PLOTW castaways

Click here to revisit the 2000 -2001 Meyer Island PLOTW castaways