Working Together

We have spent quite a bit of time in first grade talking about how we will work together as a class.  We have played chain reaction games, created whole class oral stories, and completed team building challenges.  This week we also did a pair exercise with clay.  Student pairs were given a piece of clay and asked to create something.  The catch was that the clay had to be passed back and forth and only one change could be made at a time.  I enjoyed watching as students used words to communicate their plans and then acted together.  Often in groups we are asked to give everyone a voice....but sometimes it is hard to know what this might feel like when it is happening.  This exercise allowed students to feel the importance of each member of their team! We did not create any artistic masterpieces, but we did practice a valuable lesson.....the importance of each person in our class!