3rd and 4th Grade Team Building

This afternoon the third and fourth graders are doing team building. Mrs. Keily has been working with the children in their grade levels to improve their cooperation, collaboration, decision-making, and problem solving skills. Today the children will be trying up to 5 games where they will work with their team to complete a challenge. I am actually sitting in the gym right now with the teachers and children, hopefully to record some of their observations and comments. The children were very excited when they came into the gym and saw all of the equipment out. The teachers are excited too because the children have really given us some thoughtful feedback about their experiences with the challenges.
Here are some thoughts from our third grade friends:
"I liked the Lifeline the best of all the games because I think it was fun that we had to encourage each other and we had to have teamwork to do it. It was really fun. I hope we can do it another day. My teammates said "keep going, keep it up, and don't give up!" - a third grade girl
"We used good teamwork and encouraged each other. I liked the one where we had to get the colors (balls) in the basket. People said "good job and do your best and stuff like that." - third grade boy
"In Mission Possible, we couldn't get the ball in the bucket but we still had fun. We had to hold the ropes that were attached to the crate and turn it so the balls would go into the bucket. I heard someone say "We can do this!" - third grade girl
"People cheered other people on and said we can make it and keep trying. I liked the Lifeline because we used a lot of teamwork and it was a fun game. It was hard not being able to put body parts on the ground and going the whole length. We got 3 people across out of 5, but it was fun trying." - third grade girl

Wow, what great observations from the third graders. What a positive experience the children had today. Lots of encouragement, interesting ideas, and working together physically and mentally. Now the fourth graders are arriving for their games.

"I liked the game because you have to use memorization and you had to remember where you were supposed to go and make a choice. My teammates pointed or said what number was on the dot." - 4th grade boy

"The Juggler's Carry was hard because we had to touch the ball with a body part along with the people next to you without tripping over the ropes or dropping the ball" - fourth grade boy

"The Maze was really fun but really difficult at the same time. At first you had to guess where the spots were and when you found out, the person who made it first would help you. They would say good job or go to that circle. And when you made it everyone was cheering and it felt really good." - fourth grade girl

"i liked the Pearl game because it was really fun but also the smallest mistake could mess it up, but we got to try a lot of times. We encouraged each other and I liked that too." - fourth grade boy

"People were very kind to each other and they worked together nice and they were not mean and they were not being sarcastic. When we made mistakes people laughed with us and not at us, and that is pretty much what made it successful." - fourth grade girl

"Well, at first it was sort of like figuring out where to go but as the game progressed it was more like getting to the end of the maze you had to figure how to remember it. Your teammates helped you where you needed to go and encouraged you saying things like "good job, nice work, and yeah yeah yeah! " - fourth grade girl