Collaborative Activities and Games in the Upper Elementary Classroom

Collaboration is one of the hardest skills to master. Adults struggle with collaborating, so it only makes sense that our students would struggle with it as well. Students need to be able to communicate and compromise. They need to be able to express themselves in a constructive way and in the process demonstrate their learning. 

Too often we get focused on the Reading and Writing parts of the ELA standards and Speaking and Listening get thrown to the wayside. Speaking and Listening have become the red-headed stepchildren of the ELA Standards. You can bring these critical skills back to the forefront in fun and engaging ways. Here are some things I do in my classroom...

GAMES

Who doesn't love a fun game? Games are a great way for students to work on listening and speaking. They have an opportunity to talk and discuss while working through the topics and content. I like to use games that are specifically designed to address speaking and listening skills. The best kind require about 15 minutes, can be stopped at any point, and have flexibility in the number of players. It's even better if there isn't a designated "winner".

To truly engage in listening and speaking, I have my students play games throughout the year that emphasize a back and forth of information. Students roll a die, move the correct amount of spaces and share the information. It's seasonal fun where students are talking about themselves. In the process of working on their speaking and listening, they are also team-building. 

You can find Collaborative Games here--> Fourth and Fritcher Games

You can find BUMP Games here --> Fourth and Fritcher BUMP Games

MAKING WORDS

One of the struggles I have as a teacher is building student spelling skills. The ability to break apart words whether spelling or during reading is a skill that seems to allude all students at every level. I do incorporate all of the phonemic awareness, phonics, and what-not into my lesson plans. However, I also like to hone student skills with Making Words. 

Making Words is a great collaborative activity that encourages students to work together to create as many 2-5+ letter words as possible within a given amount of time. I usually allow pairs of students 15 minutes.There is also a "bonus word" that uses all of the letters. 

Students become skillful in using prefixes and suffixes. They learn the power of the letter s. They begin to see patterns in our language; and those lessons transcend the Making Words activity.

I go over what each duo has submitted after 15 minutes (as a whole class) and cross out the "nonsense words". It always brings a good giggle to the class. Proper nouns can be tricky, but if the letters are a tougher blend, I will allow it! To give it an extra edge of fun, I will incorporate some kind of prize for the duo that can find the most words.

You can find Making Words here --> Fourth and Fritcher Making Words

QR CODE ACTIVITIES

Another struggle is vocabulary. Student vernacular seems to have fewer and fewer terms to pull from when encountering new words. Vocabulary development can help students make connections and solidify learning. To build their vocabulary, I have students work in pairs to scan and find synonym; this is typically done in conjunction with a holiday or season. I like to take advantage of the time of year when students may be hearing or reading the terms that are within the hunt. I also use hunts that ask students to find specific terms for a given definition. I will use these once students have had an opportunity to work with the vocabulary, read and write the terms, and hopefully master the words.

QR Code Scavenger Hunts are also fun for math. Students work in pairs to solve given problems and then seek out the correct number. If the duo doesn't complete the calculation correctly, they won't be able to locate the card. I always encourage BOTH partners to do the math as a self-check before they seek the card. Some are resistant to this method...until they are unable to locate the card!

You can find QR Code Activities here --> Fourth and Fritcher QR Code Activities for ELA

And here --> Fourth and Fritcher QR Code Activities for Math

TASK CARDS

Task cards are a quick, easy, and flexible activity that can be easily modified for collaboration. Oftentimes teachers use task cards to play Scoot (which is fun as well). However, you can place them at a center and you have a ready-made collaborative activity.

I usually keep this as a paired activity. If there are too many students collaborating, the accountability goes down. 

The first couple of times I place the task cards in a center I remind students that they should ALL be solving the cards. I encourage them to tackle the task in a couple different ways to find the one that works best for them.

Students can divide the task cards up in one of the following ways:

• Student A solves the odds, Student B solves the evens.
• Student A solves the first 14, Student B solves the last 14.
• Student A solves first two columns of the answer sheet, Student B solves last two columns.

To complete all 28 Task Cards student pairs usually need 30 minutes. So, if my rotations are 15 minutes each day, I will plan for the cards to be at the rotation for two days. If you are unable to allow for 30 total minutes, you can check the problems that were completed.

Even if there are 6 students at the center at the same time, there are enough cards to keep everyone busy and working. The flexibility in the presentation allows students to "skip" a card that may be too challenging and find another that is just right for them. When they are nearing completion and only have the "hard cards" left, I encourage them to first check with their partner for help. If both partners are still struggling, check with another duo.

Task Cards are a great way to encourage collaboration. Partners collaborate with one another. And, if needed, they can collaborate with other duos. It allows for team-building and development of their speaking and listening skills even when the content is math!

You can find Task Cards here --> Fourth and Fritcher Task Cards

Collaboration is becoming more and more important in the work place. Employers are looking for people who can not only do the skill set required for the job, but are also able to collaborate in meaningful ways. As we prepare our students with skills required in their future careers, we need to keep in mind that collaboration is a critical piece to that skill set.

Cheap and Easy Classroom Activities

Classroom teachers are always looking for inexpensive yet rigorous activities for their students. With a little bit of patience and ingenuity you can find plenty of resources already under your fingertips!

CARDBOARD COVERS

Go into your recycling bin and cut the covers off of each of the items in there. This will get you started. Every time you go to toss something else into your recycling bin take the face off and start filling an envelope. In a very short time you should have a good amount to start using in your classroom. I cut the cardboard faces off of everything from granola bars to cleaning supplies. Once you have enough you can use them for the following:

ABC ORDER

The long forgotten skill that kids don’t know how to do anymore! I pass out a cardboard cover to each of them. Without talking to each other I have them line up from A to Z based on the brand name of their product. You can switch things up and do it Z to A after they swap covers with another.

PERIMETER & AREA

Using these covers is a fun way to practice these math skills. The teacher might need to be a little deliberate in the cutting to eliminate having to round up or multiple fractions/decimals. This could be a great quiet center activity with a simple record sheet. The students could even check their accuracy on their own!

WRITING CENTERS

These covers can encourage students to write advertisements for the products or even opinion pieces on how their product is the best around. The students could even work on a new version of the product that they would have to present to the class. Teachers love those ideas that can work on their speaking and listening skills as well!

PIXAR SHORT MOVIES

Faces light up when kids start talking about the creative shorts that have been created for entertainment. Many of these can be found on YouTube.com. Pixar's shorts are especially great for classroom use because of the lack of dialogue. Make sure to watch them fully before you share with your class. 

INFERENCE

A few years my teammate found this adorable short film ---> Pixar's Short: Knick Knack

It is a creative way to help my students think about the difference between the terms explicit and inferred. I created an evidence chart that guides the students to support statements with evidence from the short. This is a great way to scaffold into finding evidence from texts.

SUMMARIZING

Many kids just want to retell what happened word for word. But if you encourage them to create a hand organizer with the 5 W questions. These notes will help them create a summary or gist statement. Writing is always more fun when the topic is something of interest. 

See more ideas about Writer's Workshop Part 1 HERE and Part 2 HERE.

Student Hand Organizer: using the 5 senses to describe an experience

PLAYING CARDS & DICE

Having a strong number sense carries students into the more difficult mathematical concepts. Any hands on method can help strengthen these important foundations.

OPERATIONS

Just with 2 simple dice you can have the students practice any of the operations. Whatever two digits the students roll they can add, subtract, multiply, or divide them. This can be done with a partner or on their own with a record sheet for accountability. 

You can find inexpensive and seasonal BUMP games in my store here ---> Fourth and Fritcher BUMP Games

PLACE VALUE

Students can draw a number of cards to create multi-digit numbers. From there they can try and create the largest or smallest possible number from those cards. With a partner they can work on the concept of greater than or less than in a war type game. I have also had them work with the two numbers they created together to practice multi-digit addition and subtraction. 

CIRCLES AND STARS

This is a great way to help introduce or practice the concept of multiplication. The first die rolled is the number of circles the students draw on their paper. The second roll with be the number of stars drawn in each circle. Once they count the number of total stars they will have the product created. The student then writes the number sentence that is represented in the picture. 

These simple strategies are inexpensive and easily differentiated for the needs of your students. Placed in a center or used in a whole group setting, with a little "thinking outside the box", your students will be excited and engaged with minimal costs.

Back to School Getting to Know You Activities

Building a strong classroom community is vital at the start of the year. But, how can we be sure to include those students who view public speaking as torture? If the goal is to get students more comfortable with one another and their new classroom, it is counterproductive to force students into scenarios that make their skin crawl. What are some ways we can get the students mingling without placing a huge spotlight on individuals?

Below are some ways you can “break the ice” without breaking your students.

Line-up

This task works on ice breaking without anyone speaking. I line the students up randomly and tell them they need to get in a specific order without speaking a word. We brainstorm some ways that they can communicate without using spoken words. There are many variations to this, but my favorites are lining them up from tallest to oldest, by birth dates, or ABC order by their names or favorite cartoon character. I have printed number and alphabet cards to also use as tools to have them put themselves in order. Playing cards work just as well. This is a great way to see how they can communicate without words.

Rock, Paper, Scissors War

This game is low stress and always brings smiles to any room. The students start playing with friends that they are comfortable and as they win the group gets smaller. The others that haven’t advanced sit back and watch the war progress. The last one standing is the winner. Getting them moving helps make those first days go faster for everyone!

Many of the icebreakers that students dread are the ones when they have to go around asking each other questions. These tasks do get them moving, speaking and listening, and learning names, but how about some other ways to learn each other’s names?

All About Me Creations

Name tags, cubes, collages, and a variety of shape templates can be a perfect canvas for everyone to express themselves. Some may want to present their creative products, but others will be fine displaying them for others to read from a bulletin board or table. 

Name Tags

Creatively drawing their name is a great way to start this project. I have encouraged the students to add 5 number sentences that help describe them. For example maybe the student has 4 siblings. The student would write an equation that 4 is the answer (100-96= 4) This is a nice way to incorporate math and they differentiate on their own by the math operations and equations they choose to use.

Paper Collages

I have the students create their names as well as 5 details about them. But they can’t draw them with any writing tools. All of the shapes and words must be cut or torn out of colorful construction paper. I have the students glue their shapes onto black paper so the colors of their collage pop. These collages are a great way to decorate the room for the year as well. It helps the kids have ownership in their new classroom when they are helping to decorate it!

Class Word Puzzle

I create a puzzle with all of the students’ names. This is a quiet morning warm-up that gets the students knowing the names of their new classmates. It can be done on their own or in a small group.  

Here's an easy to use website:
Discover Education's Puzzlemaker: Word Search

Name Bingo

Another way to familiarize others with the names is Bingo!. You can create a blank template that the student choose names from a word bank to add to their board. The teacher then randomly picks the names and the students cross off their matches on their boards. The winner can be challenged to identify the students on the winning board for an extra prize. 

Any task that helps build classroom community also helps you learn about the kids in your classroom - icebreakers aren’t just for the kids! They are great to see the personalities come through and how they will all fit together. 

STEM Challenges 

I love to give the students simple materials and challenge them to create something new. We have created tall towers of index cards, straws, marshmallows and toothpicks and the kids have loved every minute of it. Make sure to create explicit expectations and let them create. Throw a little math into it at the end while they measure their towers and graph the class results.

One easy challenge is to ask students to create a STEM project that demonstrates a rule for the classroom. Student creations are a great way to give a visual to the expectations!  

I used this FREEBIE from Teachers Are Terrific:
STEM Challenge Back to School Rules FREEBIE

STEM Prep:
I used random craft supplies that were laying around in a cabinet.

Raise Your Hand for Permission to Speak

Movement Makers

Kids on that first week want nothing but to get outside and enjoy the sunshine they are missing. Why not grab some plastic spoons and ping pong balls and make a class relay race. Beach Balls from the Dollar Store also make for a great relay challenge between the boys and girls of your class. All the learning doesn’t have to happen in the classroom. Human Chain is a fun cooperative game that doesn’t require any props. The students form a small circle of 5-6 and connect hands with different peers across the circle without letting go of the hands the students must untangle themselves. 

The first few weeks are so important in the success of the entire year. I firmly agree that putting the time in early on these foundations pay off big rewards later on! Make sure you are thinking of every kind of kid you might have in your classroom. Not every kid enjoys putting themselves out there. But having a variety of opportunities will help make those first days memorable and wanting them to come back for more!

You may also be interested in these other blogs to get your year started!

Back to Basics in an Elementary Classroom

Reading Response Journals

How to Host a Book Tasting in an Elementary Classroom

Friendly Letter Writing in an Elementary Classroom: Friday Family Letters

Easy Back to School With Picture Books

Co-Teaching Strategies

In a perfect world your co-teacher would be in your classroom the whole day! Wouldn’t it be amazing for the teachers and the students to have two teachers sharing the load from the moment the students walk in to the moment they walk out? In some districts, co-teaching is used only during ELA and math; but we know that learning disabilities don’t put on the brakes when science or social studies begins. And, there are some scenarios in which a general educator is working with two different special educators!

Special education teachers who take on the role of a co-teacher have to wear many hats throughout the day and it oftentimes involves teaching in other classrooms. The co-teachers that I know have so many other classrooms they service that my classroom is just one more stop in their busy day. They give all they can when they are there but they are only human! We have had to be very creative in how we make this work for both of us (and the students). Here are some things to try if your team is short on time and patience with the co-teaching life!

PLANNING

Set up one day a week to plan. Choose a time and place that can be consistent and stick to it. Choosing a time before or after school helps to not congest the already busy day. Also, choosing a planning time outside of the scheduled day helps alleviate rushing if the regularly scheduled planning period is coming to an end. 

If your co-teacher doesn’t have the time for planning before or after school, digital planning is the next plan of attack. In the past we have set up a shared folder in Google Drive (with a variety of docs, slides, etc…) that can be worked on collaboratively from home or when there is free time. This allows both parties to be involved in the planning process, but they don’t have to be present at the same time and place. This format also provides for a written history of your year that can be used for future reflection and planning.

DISCIPLINE

Co-teaching can be tricky when it comes to discipline. The two teachers have to be on the same page for behavior and management expectations. This also comes with being comfortable with each other as co-teachers. Creating a solid classroom behavior system makes it easier for both teachers to keep the expectations clear for the students. At the start of the year, include your co-teacher in the process of designing and introducing the classroom expectations. Students need to see that both teachers are on the same page. Each teacher will have their personal level of patience, but the way the students are handled needs to be consistent. Consistency will allow the students to respect the teachers as equals as well. It is fine to play good cop - bad cop with situations, but make sure that the roles switch because the good cop teacher will be viewed differently by the students.

GRADING

It is amazing when your co-teacher takes on some of the grading of homework and assessments. I have always had co-teachers that wanted to be involved in the students’ progress and seeing the assessments first hand allowed them to be. When co-teachers don’t share everything, expect there to be stress in the co-teaching relationship.

In the purest form of co-teaching, the general educator and the special educator are equally responsible for every student in the class. The mindset of “my kids” “your kids” needs to be discarded. Special educators should be grading the entire stack of assessments, not just the “sped kids’ papers”. Yes, special educators (in collaboration with the general educator) will need to assess and inform regarding a student’s IEP goals, but that should not be done in a vacuum.

To avoid a “my kids” “your kids” mentality, make very clear expectations of what each teacher will be responsible for and split it from the beginning. This obviously can be modified as the year goes on, but don’t assume that the co-teacher knows what you expect. Again, using a cloud-based system of recording assessments helps share the information in real time and allows for flexibility in who is grading which assessments. Plus, if everything is kept in one place, it helps speed up the process when annual reviews come around.

TEACHING/PRE-TEACHING/RE-TEACHING

Co-teaching provides an amazing opportunity for pre-teaching and re-teaching to occur. The concepts and vocabulary can be pre-taught to everyone (or certain students in need) so when the introduction of a unit occurs, the new information is able to be connected to prior learning. Having two teachers to split up the teaching is valuable as well. Just as no two students learn the same, no two teachers teach the same. It is great for students to be able to hear information through different approaches and multiple times.

In closing, being in a co-teaching relationship can be amazing for everyone involved. But it doesn’t come without frustration or trying a million things before it feels right. Don’t give up on it right away. And, don’t be afraid to scrap what isn’t working and try something new. Use your creativity to find the right blend that works for everyone involved. It takes a few years to build the trust between teachers so that everything flows without a hitch. In the end, co-teaching is amazing and the kids will love having two teachers that can love and support them on different levels.

End of the Year Behavior Management

When it comes to classroom management, routine consistency is the key. Seasoned teachers know that when time is invested early on in classroom routines, the success will carry through the rest of the year. But by the time May comes along the necessity turns to novelty. Even though the normal schedules get interrupted by assessments and play days - the students still crave structure. Here are a few ways to make school fun while still keeping them under control!

Voice Levels Board

This simple hand-made poster can be made on poster board or on a Google slide. It creates a visual for the students to self monitor their noise in a fun way. Every student wants to keep working with a buddy as long as they use a “Spy” voice. As the year goes on their classroom talking voices increase. This poster is a great way to keep them thinking about their inside voice!

WOW Board

Another simple hand-made poster that I laminate for longevity: I create a grid with letter/number coordinates. Throughout the day, I put their initials on the squares (in dry erase marker) to reward them for good behavior and academic excellence. At the end of the day, I randomly pick 2-4 squares and they receive a candy pick. The students love to get as many squares with their names on them as they can.

Compliment Stars

Hallway behavior is another thing that goes down the drain as summer approaches! I award stars to the students that receive compliments from other teachers/staff members or even other students for their hallway behavior. I put the stars on the board when we receive them. Once we receive 10 stars they get a class reward. I usually choose things that don’t cost me too much time or money. Their favorite is having lunch bunch in the classroom. Another variation of this is earning fuzzies in a jar. The more they earn the bigger the prize!

Class Dojo

Class Dojo is an app that you can download for free. When you upload your student names into the app, each student receives a monster avatar. The teacher can assign points to different behaviors or actions. There is an option on the app that allows for it to randomly choose a student. If that student is following the classroom expectation, they earn the point. If not, the teacher randomly picks another student. Each Friday, I give each student the points that they earned in real paper Dojo cash. I have also created a paper menu that has rewards that the students can purchase when they earn their dojo points and dollars.

I love using Class Dojo! You can read about my experience with this app here:

How to Create the Best Home/School Connection with Just One App!

You can find materials to support a Dojo classroom here:

Fourth and Fritcher 3-in-1 Mega Pack Bundle

Reminder Anchor Chart

Sometimes you need to have a chit-chat with your class. In the past I have gone over the rules in-depth and created an anchor chart to help them remember the expectations.

You can read about this process here:

Refocusing For the Rest of the Year

Reminder Anchor Chart

Every teacher as time goes on creates a “tool box” of management techniques that work for them. But having a May/June arsenal is a must for surviving the last 2 months of every school year! Good luck - the end is very near!!!

End of the Year Tasks in an Elementary Classroom

It’s that time of year to start thinking about what worked this year and what we can do to improve next year. I’ve had a lot of “end of year” school years. Throughout that time, I’ve learned a few tricks to help make the start of next year a little bit smoother.

1. Copies for the Fall

I start going through all the activities and original copies that I used for the year. Then I make a list of all things that I want to use again. This list works as a rough draft for plans but also a check off list for my printing assignments. Our district uses digital printing so I can upload the PDFs for the copies I want printed. I know I will add and supplement with new activities, but I like to send all of my copies for September and October before the school year ends. I set the copies due date for the first week of June so I can check it off my list and store it for the summer. It will be one less thing I need to do as I prep my room for the new students coming in!

2. Packing

Each year we have to take everything off our walls and pack up as much as we can so they can move out all of our furniture to wax our floors. This year we have to move our classroom to another building so we have to do “real” packing. But I use the same process either way!

As a team we make a label sheet on standard copy paper that has my name, room number, and a place for a box number. We send this to printing and request about 100 copies for each of us. Each teacher has a designated paper color for his/her sign. It’s a quick way to differentiate which box belongs to which teacher. With a complete move (including the furniture), everything gets a label sheet and number: chairs, tables, bookcases...everything.

As I start packing, I tape the label sheet on the box and number it. I also create a spreadsheet that will tell me which box has which items inside. When I unpack later, the spreadsheet will help me know which boxes contain what. I use the spreadsheet to determine which boxes to unpack and where. I also use the chart to organize the order I unpack boxes. For instance, I’ll put all construction paper-containing boxes near the cupboard where I will store construction paper. I might just move them there during the initial sorting phase and empty them out at a later time. As I empty boxes, I check them off my spreadsheet. The spreadsheet also helps me realize if a box or group of boxes doesn’t make it to its new destination.

Label Your Boxes: Name, School, Room #, and Box Number

3. Bulletin Boards

Most years we can keep our bulletin boards up as long as we cover them. We hope that the summer staff doesn’t get anything wet and most times we are good. But if you have to take them down each year here is a quick idea to keep all of your bulletin board materials together.

I usually spent a lot of time layering and mix and matching different borders. To save time later on, I keep the materials together to replicate it for the next year. I dismantle a bulletin board one at a time. I take all the staples out so they are ready to go in the fall. I roll up the borders in a rosette shape. As soon as all of that bulletin board stuff is rolled up, I use a large binder clip to hold it all together. Then, I also label which bulletin board it belongs to. This way in the fall you just have to put up new paper and your borders are matched and measured for easy assembly.

In the past we have used plastic dollar store table cloths or fabric for the backing of the bulletin board. But some years the district has given us issues over them being a fire hazard. So I found a better solution! I found rolls of white wrapping paper at the dollar store. This works great and matches any color combination that you use to decorate.

4. Planning Spreadsheet

My fourth grade team has created a google sheet to lay out our content literacy and standards plan of attack. This is powerful when you see what articles and books you are using for each lesson. It demonstrates where you have gaps and where you need to incorporate different lessons for different standards. This also leads my team to the discussion about spiraling curriculum. We want the students to work towards deeper learning over mastery. The more exposures and applications students have to standards and skills, the deeper the learning will be. It is even more powerful when we are hitting those areas in Social Studies and Science!

The NYS standards (NYS Next Generation Standards) have been revised to combine the old literature and informational standards. So, instead of keeping track of 2 sets of reading standards, it has been condensed into one!

These are some simple things that will help you think about how you will wrap up your school year while still preparing for the start of the next. As we get more experienced as teachers, we learn a few tricks that make us say, “Why didn’t I think of this sooner?”