LESSON PLAN - Group Cooperation

Theme – Developing Self

CAREER SKILLS – Developing Self

KEY SKILLS – Communication, Problem Solving, Working With Others, Improving Own Learning and Performance

WORK RELATED LEARNING – Learning For Work

COMPETENCIES – *ai, *aii, *bi, *ci, *cii, *di, **ei, **eii, **eiii, **eiv, **evi, ***fiv, ***kiv, ****li, ****mi

SUGGESTED SUBJECT AREA – Personal Development, English

Learning Outcomes

By completing this task students will be able to:

  • Use this activity to support their social and emotional development, as well as providing positive guidance. The goal during this activity is to observe communication of thought, feelings and ideas.

Preparation and Materials

  • A ball of thick white yarn.
  • A group of ten students or more
  • Ask the students if they think people can spin webs like spiders. This question usually stirs up the curiosity, and next comes the rules of the game.

Method

  1. Introduce the activity with the above question & suggest that we should try to spin a web as a group...
  2. Put the students in a big circle (sitting down) and show them the white yarn.
  3. Explain that you will begin spinning the web by holding the end of the yarn ball tightly in your lap and then picking a friend to toss the remaining ball to... "I pick John to help spin our web"...
  4. When the first student catches it, share something you like about him (i.e., "I like how John shares with his friends")...
  5. Remind the student to hold the yarn string tight in this lap, as he chooses the next person to toss the ball of yarn to.
  6. The activity proceeds until the web is complete and everyone has had a go, and the number of times a child is picked doesn't matter, unless of course the circle has gone through everyone (with teacher assistance, "I think Sally would like to join our web")...
  7. Sometimes it's fun to see if all the students can stand up together without getting tangled in it too!

Additional Comments:

This activity successfully provides experience in sharing materials, responsibilities, and social problem solving. And most importantly...the children enjoy it! I bet you'd never know that I the teacher was reluctant to introduce it due to a lack of her own self confidence! This activity is for all ages:) Try it today!!