One of the things I wanted to do last year, but didn't have for, was team building exercises with my first graders and the fourth graders. I wanted the students to understand the importance of working together. I wanted them to work on communicating with each other. I wanted them to realize how communicating and working together would not only help them when creating their movie, but also in life!
I wasn't exactly sure what to do so I went to my colleague for advice as she's done some team building exercises with her third graders. After a great brainstorming session, I came up with two ideas for the students. I put them into action today.
The first thing we did was play Hot Lava. The students were put into groups. Each group had to move from point a to point b without stepping in the lava. They had different objects to help them cross the lava: hula hoops, carpet squares, towels, large foam puzzle pieces, Styrofoam board, burlap, and sit spots. I did not tell them how to use those objects to get across. The only other direction I gave them, was that it's okay for them to step on the ground when inside the hula hoop.
I must admit, I was kind of nervous when they started. I wasn't sure if they'd be able to figure it out without me telling them exactly how to do it. To my surprise, they got it! Here are some pictures and videos. (By the way, the videos are blury on purpose. I wanted you to see them working together, but not their faces.)
The kids had a BLAST with this game. They wanted to play it again! :-) Before they did it a second time, I had them discuss with their group what worked, what didn't work, what they should change next time, etc...They were MUCH faster that second time!
The second exercise involved hula hoops. Each hula hoop had 3 or 4 students standing inside of it. The hula hoops were tied together. Again, the students had to communicate with each other to move from point a to point b. I'm not going to lie - I was terrified the students were going to fall over! They managed to keep it together! I was impressed! They did so well going straight that I made it a little more challenging with turns. Again, they did pretty well. Here are some more pictures and one video, which again, is blurred.
I was super proud of how well the students did! On Monday, my students will be completing a writing assignment on what they learned about teamwork and communicating. :-)
Thanks for stopping by!
Enjoy your weekend! :-)
~Stacey~
