Back to school is a crazy time, and it is important that we do it right. We have a precious amount of time to build relationships with and among our students to turn our class into a classroom community. There is no better way to accomplish back to school bliss than through cooperative learning strategies.
Why you ask? Cooperative learning activities allow students to work with multiple people through partners or teams, build positive interdependence through working towards a common goal, allow students to move around, and they are fun! I mean, what more could you ask for in back to school activities?
There are a million and one cooperative learning strategies out there, and they will all accomplish the goals of building community, but the following are my absolute favorite for back to school!
Find a Partner with Timed Partner Share
Okay, so this first one is actually a combination of two cooperative learning strategies, but they are both so simple and go flawlessly together that I couldn’t help it!
Find a Partner
To complete Find a Partner, students first stand up and push in their chair if necessary. Then they look for a partner to make eye contact with. They move to their partners once eye contact has been made. Finally, they form a partnership by high-fiving another student. It’s just that easy!
When I model this for students I make sure to point out that while you want to find someone that isn’t already in your table team you also don’t want to run across the room to your best friend. Instead, make eye contact with someone near you and partner up. I also model an appropriate high-five, because some of our students can get a little rough and no one has time for stinging hands and hurt feelings from an overly aggressive high-five.
Timed Partner Share
For Timed Partner Share the teacher first poses a question and students are given think time. It is very important that everyone is given this think time to form an answer before moving on. After a moment the teacher gives a directive as to which partner should answer first such as the person with the birthday closest to today, the person with the shortest hair, or the person wearing the most blue. Start the timer giving more time depending on how detailed the answer to the posed question will be. Only the assigned person may speak during this time. Switch roles when the timer goes off.
You can repeat this process as many times as you would like and ask students to work with a new partner each time.
This combined strategy is a great way to spend an extra few minutes during the first week. They are great because it requires zero prep, can be completed anywhere, and allows students to work with many partners. Have a spare couple of minutes before special? Did you arrive at lunch just a hair too soon and your table is still occupied? These are the PERFECT moments to practice!
Opinion Pieces
Opinion pieces is a great cooperative learning strategy for helping students to take turns. It goes like this:Students are in teams, preferably of four. Give each student a certain number of pieces. I would recommend starting with two. The pieces can be anything. I have used math manipulative blocks/cubes because I already had them around. The teacher poses a question and gives all students think time. Then students are able to respond to the prompt by placing one of their pieces in the center of the table and stating their answer. They can only respond as many times as they have chips.
This cooperative learning strategy ensures equal participation among teammates and makes sure that no one is hogging all the response team as well as no one is sitting like a log just listening. Through this strategy, students are able to practice taking turns, patience, active listening, and speaking.
To extend this cooperative learning strategy the teacher can then ask random students to share something that one of their teammates said.
Visual Telephone
We have all played the game of telephone as kids. You know, where one person starts with a phrase and whispers it to the next person. As it makes its way around the group it becomes flawed and is usually unrecognizable by the time it reaches the end. Visual telephone follows these same principals, but with a visual aspect.
Students are in teams, preferably of four, and lined up facing the board. Use individual whiteboards if a large one is not available. Give the student furthest away from the board a card with a simple drawing on it such as a flower, a house, a tree, or a star. This student uses their finger to draw the image on the back of the person in front of them. Repeat this until the image reaches the students closest to the board. This student uses their drawing utensil (dry erase marker or chalk) to draw the image on the board.
The first student will reveal the original card and image once all teams are done. They will laugh at how much the image has changed when being passed through the team. The student closest to the board goes to the end of the line and the process can be repeated as many times as you would like.
When modeling this cooperative learning strategy make sure to show students your expectations for drawing on one another’s backs including the correct amount of pressure and staying in the center of the back.
This activity is a great way to lead into a discussion about rumors and gossip.
Want More Cooperative Learning Activities?
Are you ready for more cooperative learning, but don’t have the time to prep endless get to know you activities? Check out this set of 10 Cooperative Learning Activities for back to school that are ready to print and go!
Included are ten different activities that are perfect for back to school, but great for community building all year long! Use these activities over and over again to keep your community tight and positively interdependent!
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