Writing Collaboration on the Mayflower [Freebie Included]

I LOVE collaboration projects in the classroom.  I start them very early on in the year and by now, they are awesome at working together, sharing, talking, making sure everyone in their group 'agrees', presenting, and so much more!

During the month of November we spend a lot of time on the Mayflower and learning about Pilgrims and Native Americans.  One of my favorite books to read (I read it throughout the week because it is lengthy) is ...If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620

Throughout the week we add all of our 'learned' Mayflower facts onto our KWL.  On Friday during our writing block we do a collaboration writing project.  

Each table group has to work together to think of at least 3 Mayflower facts and record their facts, working together to sound out their words.  

They can use our vocabulary word cards from the unit to help them spell as well (vocab cards provided HERE).

Since there can be up to 5 students in the group, we always want to make sure that everyone has a 'job'. The kids are great at coming up with jobs for one another and sharing their responsibilities.  One of their favorite jobs is tracing with a sharpie.

As the groups finished their facts, they went to the carpet while they waited for their classmates to finish up.  When all groups were ready, we presented our Mayflower facts.

They read what they wrote and when they were finished we made sure to celebrate their success!

After each group read their facts they were allowed to go over to our Mayflower and tape their facts onto the ship!

This is always one of my favorite bulletin boards! You can also add little pilgrim faces into the Mayflower from my craft HERE. You can also see a picture from my Instagram page HERE.

'There was a poop deck.' is a fact that makes it onto my Mayflower EVERY single school year! Definitely a class favorite!

Now for a little freebie!  We only have school Monday and Tuesday this week so I wanted to have a little fun with the students before we leave for Thanksgiving break.  I thought this dice activity would be perfect for a little 'bonding' activity.

We are going to sit in a circle and take turns passing the dice.  Students will have to roll the dice and answer the questions that they rolled. 

This freebie includes a make your own dice template as well as inserts for the pocket dice seen HERE. Download the freebie by clicking on the image below.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Review Game for the End of Your Units

We just finished up our big non-fiction unit on bats and we love ending our units with a big trivia game! Not only is it an awesome way to see all of the students new knowledge, but it is fun and promotes a ton of collaboration!

Throughout our unit, we keep track of our new knowledge on our KWL. Everything on our KWL is from the students--after I read a non-fiction book, students turn and talk and discuss their new knowledge.  When they are done, they raise their hand and share with me what they discussed.  I then add it onto the KWL.

Since I have all of their new knowledge right in front of me, I create questions right from my KWL. For instance, 'Name three places that bats may live.' or 'What do bulldog bats eat?'

I separate the class into teams.  Each team sits in a corner of our carpet.  Then, I give each team one of these amazing buzzers.

I pick one person on each team to be the 'buzzer presser' and we rotate throughout the game.  I also have them practice one time so I can hear which team has which buzzer sound!

Throughout the game we use our 'collaborative rules'.  These are rules that I use whenever we do a collaborative project.  For instance, you can't ring the buzzer until you have discussed the answer with your team and everyone has said that they agree.

Lots of amazing discussions take place!

When everyone on the team agrees, they are allowed to ring their buzzer.  I call on the first team to press their buzzer. If their answer is not correct, I move on to another team. 

If it is correct, then they earn a tally point!

My students love our behavior chart, so any team that works nicely together, gets to move their name up when the game is finished!

My students absolutely love playing this review game and ask to play it over and over again!

I included all of the questions used in this game in my All About Bats unit found on TpT or by clicking on the image below.

Next we will be learning all about Pilgrims and Native Americans. At the end of November we will do another collaborative activity comparing/contrasting children today to children of the past. You can read more about that HERE or see my November Unit HERE.

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