February Lesson #1 and #2 - "Synergize"

Post date: Apr 01, 2016 6:27:26 PM

For the month of February we have been working on Habit #6 - "Synergize"

Habit #6 is "Synergize" and this means together is better. I get along well with other people and work well in groups. I value the strengths of others and allow myself to learn from them. I know that by working as a team we can come up with better solutions and get more done then we could by working alone.

In Kindergarten we read the story "The Big Bad Badgers" in which the 7 Oaks friends played a game of soccer against the Big Bad Badger team. At first, all of the friends on team 7 Oaks was doing their own thing, not paying attention and not truly working as a team. They soon found themselves losing the game. At halftime, Sophie Squirrel rallied the team and helped them to realize that they would all have to use their individual strengths and work together as a team in order to be competitive and even win! Each member of the 7 Oaks team did their job and by working together won the game in the end!

In 1st grade we read the story "Sophie and the Perfect Poem" in which Sophie and Biff Beaver were assigned to work together on a poem for their class. Sophie and Biff Beaver had a hard time deciding on what to write their poem about and ended up just arguing and getting nothing accomplished. When they decided to work together, and agree on things that they both like for their poem, they were finally able to complete the assignment. Better yet....their poem was voted best in the class!

Our discussion focused on these few questions - What are some things the you are really good at? What are some things that you see other people being good at? What makes a good team member? What makes a poor team member? How does it feel when you accomplish something as a team?

In both Kindergarten and 1st Grade, we carried the idea of teamwork over in to the second lesson. The students were able to pick out their own partners and we divided up into groups of 3 or 4. Their task was then to work as a team and put together a puzzle in the allotted time. This lead to some great discussion and lessons in both grade levels. Many times, the students realized how hard it is to truly work together...sometimes we need to make decisions to not work with certain people because we get easily distracted....or sometimes people that we don't think would be a good teammate actually have a lot of great skills! Other lessons for discussion included how to communicate with each other instead of everyone telling each other what to do.

Being able to work in a team can be a very difficult task, but is very important in everyday life and can lead to a great sense of accomplishment when done successfully. What a great skill to work on for both students and adults!