It might be interesting to assign roles, such as the supervisor (leader), secretary (takes notes), and reporter (shares information), cheerleader (team member who encourages).
Hint! To enable different students to have leadership roles, you could have a “lucky draw” for these positions. Write “supervisor,” “secretary,” “reporter,” and “cheerleader” on jumbo craft sticks. Place in a can, shake, and then let team members chose a random role.
Here are a few opportunities for small groups:
Do a social studies or science project around an assigned theme. They could make a poster, write a report, do a skit, make a video, etc.
Brainstorm! Make lists!
Do surveys and collect data.
Write a play, story, poem, rap, or song and present it to the class.
Play a board game.
Work on a science experiment together.
Write letters to politicians, authors, or other famous people.
Make books together.
Answer questions. Teacher asks a question and they get together to come up with an answer they agree on.
Work on an invention.
Do an internet search.
How about a PowerPoint or video?
Pass the Pat
Encourage children to recognize the efforts of each member in their group. Have them stand in a circle and take turns patting each other on the back and saying a contribution each team member made.
Upper Grade Buddies
Do collaborative learning activities with different groups. Kindergarteners could be paired with 4th graders or classes on the same grade level could be partnered.
