Challenge and Teamwork

We decided together that good communication looks and sounds like using a friendly voice, asking someone to repeat what they said when you didn’t hear or understand something, taking turns speaking and listening, being kind, and focusing on the person speaking. We agreed that good cooperation looks and sounds like working together, helping each other, being kind, being flexible, and being an active member of the group.

        

Once we set our expectations, it was time to practice these skills. Our first team challenge was to work with a partner to build the tallest tower. The students could only use two sheets of paper, one large and one small, and a roll of tape. They had about 15 minutes to build. Some partnerships jumped right in and started ripping the paper, while other partnerships decided to plan first before even touching the paper. The most exciting part was watching their ideas fail and then seeing them work together to find a new or different way to move forward. Once the time was up we reflected on the communication and cooperation that happened during this challenge. They realized that to be successful, they had to share ideas, listen, be flexible to change, and be positive with each other. This reflection time helped us prepare for our future team challenges. 

      

Before we begin each challenge we remind ourselves how important communication and cooperation are and revisit our expectations. Both of these were essential for our second challenge which we did in groups of three or four. The third graders were asked to use a grappler (a rubber band with three or four strings attached) to move the cups that looked like picture A into a formation that looked like the cups in picture B. They could only touch the strings on the grappler so they could not touch the cups with their hands. Communication and cooperation were essential to be successful. When groups were not meeting the expectations they set, their cups were falling and peers were getting frustrated. We had to pause a couple of times during this challenge to take a breath and give each other ideas and support to move forward. It was all worth it in the end when every group was able to stack their cups and feel the power of success when teamwork happens.

                                                                                     

We continued to complete team challenges throughout the next few weeks. We built Tinker Toy towers without using our voice to communicate, we made cubes using toothpicks and Post-its, and we had groups of four work together to flip a blanket over while keeping all of our feet on the blanket. Team challenges are one of the most exciting times in the third grade classrooms and we look forward to continuing to do them this year.

See how activities like this foster a sense of collaboration in problem solving throughout the Live Oak K-8 journey.