Teamwork makes the dream work

I started a new school this year which is exciting and terrifying all in the same note!  Transitions are difficult, especially ones in new environments with new co-workers, for you have to learn how your new team operates. I started the school year two weeks before my students with an intensive new staff orientation filled with meetings, presentations, and most importantly team building activities.  I learned so much about my new co-workers from these activities, which lead me to create my own for the new students in our school. This lesson was created for the lower school students in mind, as the third graders are all new to our school.

I began my lesson welcoming students into the room with their choice of a hug, high five or fist pump.  They entered to my PowerPoint presentation which was created to mimic a cruise ship caught up in a storm (PPT attached below).

Midway through the presentation, where the storm had subsided but we were now stranded on a deserted island, we transitioned to the outside blacktop for our first big challenge. I put the group into three separate teams to go off on a hunt for food (I hid three coconuts around the blacktop before our lesson).  Each team was given the option to a) open their coconut on their own with no tools or b) bring their coconut to the cruise captain (me) so we could open it up with the ships only surviving tool (a hammer that the captain was in charge of).  Side note-I spent my Sunday afternoon in the backyard attempting to open many coconuts.  I would officially call myself a master at this skill.  

When each group had completed their hunger challenge we went back into the building.  I had them get back into their groups to think, pair, share.  We then debriefed on our groups challenges and successes.  

Week 2:  I returned to my PowerPoint presentation, and introduced our second challenge on the island.  We found three identical treasure chests with 15 different items inside.  The treasure chests also contained a map with information on how to complete our mission.  We were only allowed to choose six items per group.  Each group was to work together on picking the top 6 essential items to help them survive on the island.  (I had them cut and glue these items on the back of the map).  

When the groups were finished I had them present to their peers what items they chose and why.  We did a quick think, pair, share on the following questions to close out the day:

1. What did you learn from your group?

2. Was it difficult to come up with just six items?

3. Did you agree or disagree on any items within your group?

Week 3: I paired up with our amazing art teacher for the final part of this lesson. We broke off into groups of 2-3 students in our spacious art room. I presented the students with their materials for the day, these materials were the only ones found on our deserted island.

Materials: pieces of aluminium foil

foam board pieces

strips of paper

strips of fabric

straws

brown putty (which we called mud/sand)

The students were given a Lego man/woman and instructed to build a ship, with only the materials laid out in front of them, to make it off of the island. They had to incorporate a seat for themselves on the ship (The Lego man/woman was their place holder).

To finish off this lesson, we went outside and tested out their ships in a baby pool filled up with water. I had the students shake the pool to prove that their ship could withstand any storm that passed their way.

Exit ticket: What was one thing you did to help you and your partner get off of the island? What would you do differently, if anything, next time?

https://static.wixstatic.com/ugd/0a6790_c92b85d8382842ad821d78655a3f0a15.docx

https://static.wixstatic.com/ugd/0a6790_46ff459ec7fe4cb9b91a8e9775d62a41.docx

https://static.wixstatic.com/ugd/0a6790_4266b35b4516400996082b2f30107f9e.pptx