Partner Activity

     Today we did an activity that required the kids to listen to a non-fiction book about Winter and then work with a partner to complete a study guide about that book.   There are many skills involved in this activity, and not all of them are academic!  

     First, the children need to be good listeners the first time I read it aloud to the entire group.  Next, it is time to partner up the children.  This is never easy.  It does not work well to allow them to find their own partners.  Too often, someone is left out or is not daring enough to ask someone to work with him or her.  To alleviate this problem, I sometimes use our stick jar to pair up the children.  This is a random chance to determine partners.  That works for an easy game or fun activity, but is not always best for an activity like this one, so I chose partners.   One goal is to pair kids up with someone they do not always choose to play or work with on their own.  Another goal is to find a partner that is neither too advanced or behind the other partner's ability.  A third goal is to partner children with someone that will stay on task and not goof around, speed ahead or waste time.  One more goal (and maybe most importantly) is to learn to be gracious and kind, even if you do not necessarily care to work with the partner assigned to you!

     Once partners are assigned, each group takes a book to refer to and a study guide to fill out.   The guide is fairly simple, and even gives page numbers to find the answers.   The directions are to fill in the study guide with answers from the book rather than what we know from our own experiences.   This is a simple, yet effective way to teach the children to re-read material, search the text for answers, use the book to help you spell correctly and much more!

     The children did a great job with their study guides!   They are becoming more and more independent each week and are truly excited to be challenged in class!   Enjoy the pictures of them working hard with their partners today!

This is the non-fiction text we read today.

Brandon and Vera work well together.

Mackenzie and Elijah are searching the text for answers.

Abby and Jordyn don't even notice me taking their picture!

Mackenzie and Keaton get to use the 'Big Book' for their guide.

Koltin and Isaac need a little reminding to help each other
rather than work at their guide on their own.   They made some
adjustments and sat next to each other and worked as a team!

Miss Shelby works with Jaelene and Grayson on their
study guides in the lab!

Tommy and Ethan work well together.

Josie and Abbi know just what the right answer is!

Hailey (our newest student) and Olivia give me a smile
to show they are enjoying working together!


* Not pictured: Evan and Keegan - only because they were tucked away in between
a shelf, table and another group working together!   I could not get a good shot and
did not want to disturb their hard work!