I have been playing with my color groups and providing more collaborative opportunities. There is this transition after winter break that begs for more collaborative work. The children are ready for the rich experiences of negotiation, problem solving, compromise and all the rich, juicy stuff of working with others!!
Each week I try to provide at least one collaborative piece for the children to work on. This week as a quick transitional piece – each group worked together on a “doodle drawing.”
I had each group create a dancing dragon during the Chinese New Year unit.
Each group decided on their group “name.” Everyone had to agree. It took two days for the groups to finalize their names. They decorated their group posters together.
What collaborative work do you have your students do? I really want to expand what I do and would love to hear your ideas!
Making the longest possible chain. Different groups use different materials. The favorites are plastic chain links, blocks, colored tiles and Omnifix cubes.
Making chain links out of paper. Groups can decide on the pattern. Or I might give different groups different patterns to continue according to previous assessment on patterning abilities.
One year, the school I worked at was raising money for a new playground. The plan was to have areas suitable for both the older and younger kids and was to be built on that new ‘squishy’ surface material. The kindergarteners were so excited and kept asking about it, so I had them design a piece of play equipment they would like to see included in the playground. I was able to get some catalogs from the PTA with pictures of different kinds of play equipment. We talked a little bit about creating safe structures. Each child drew their design seperately and then they were cut out and glued onto a big mural we had painted with grass, the new surface, trees and sky. it took some imagination and planning to fit everyone’s equipment on the playground! The next week one child wanted to know if they had built his slide yet!