Many schools promote a caring and inclusive community, however very few develop student’s skills to create a caring community.
Team building activities on a regular basis are essential for students to understand how to effectively work with others. Activities at the beginning at the year are not enough to build an effective community. Activities need to be developed weekly or fortnightly as students develop stronger strategies and encounter new issues.
This year in Grade 2 we have begun weekly team building activities. Our first task to students in small, random groups was to build a tall tower. The only resources given were 4 sheets of newspaper and 1.5m of masking tape. There were no rules. Some teams used outdoor resources such as trees or walls, while others struggled to create a plan as a group. It didn’t really matter which team built the highest tower, there was so much talking and listening.
Our next challenge was a Lego challenge. Students in random small groups needed to copy a previously created Lego object exactly. One person in each team was allowed to see the object and needed to explain what the team needed to build. The person viewing was not allowed to touch the Lego.
Our latest challenge was the balloon challenge. Students, with unlimited newspaper and 1.5m of masking tape had to build/create a device that could reach a balloon on the other side of the river. The balloon or stick could not touch the river. During our first attempt no team was successful. Students did observe some ideas that almost made it and will give them ideas for the next challenge.
