Teamwork Challenge


Cooperative Learning, Fourth Grade

I work in a small, independent school, so often the kids come into my room already knowing each other quite well, and *I* am the outsider. Get to know you activities only go so far before the kids are bored and answer the questions for each other. So, I tend to focus more on teamwork challenges to start the year. Saving Fred the Worm is one of my favorites, but this year I found a new one. The tower building challenge! Students were in groups of 2 or 3, and each group’s supplies included 10 cups, 1 rubber band, and […]

Severe Weather Project – Pyramid Dioramas


Cooperative Learning, Fifth Grade, Fourth Grade, Science, Third Grade, TpT Store

This year, the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade classes got together to do an end of the year project which we named Biome Bonanza. We put the students into mixed grade level groups, and had each group choose a biome to study. Once biomes were assigned, the 5th graders researched the biome itself and created a trifold, the 3rd graders each chose a country within the biome and put together a country report and short powerpoint, and my 4th graders studied a type of severe weather in the biome and created a pyramid diorama. Then, they had to work together

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Biography Partner Projects


Cooperative Learning, ELA, Fifth Grade, Fourth Grade, Printables, Reading, Third Grade, TpT Store

My students recently finished a biography partner project, which was designed not only as a reading and research project, but also to help students work on their organization, time management and cooperative skills. I wanted to stress the process and quality of work with this project. I used the ‘Who Is/Who Was’ series of biographies, since they are all about the same length, and they include a starting place for the timeline requirement. The entire project took 4 weeks, with children working on this both in class and for homework. I started by grouping students into pairs, keeping in mind

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