Working in Groups

A big part of our Castle Connections inquiry unit has been working collaboratively to use the knowledge we have acquired. 

Our first step in group work on the inquiry was working in 4 groups on a newspaper challenge.  The groups were called Dragons, Knights, Castles and Nobles.  Each group was given 5 big sheets and 3 small sheets of newspaper and a roll of cellotape.  We had to work together to see who could make the tallest stand alone structure in 20 minutes.  Some of our groups worked really well, remembering that only one person should be talking at a time whilst the others listen; and that each persons ideas should be considered.

With a few minor group changes we felt we were ready to begin creating our castles. 

The first step was for each group to make a plan of their castle and to gather recyclable materials from the mat to use to make it.  We had to talk lots in our groups at this stage and we found that sometimes it is frustrating when people don't listen or understand what we are telling them.  It was best when we each took turns at talking. 

The next step was to make the basic structure and the walls of the castle.  Luckily we had some parent help for this and each group had a parent to help guide them.  We had to use our plans and the recyclable materials we had collected to make the castles.  Each time we connected two materials together we had to write down what we used.  We had a choice of materials that Lesley put on the jellybean table.  They were rubber bands, paper clips, packaging tape, masking tape, cellotape, string, a hole punch, bamboo skewers, a stapler and a hot glue gun.

On Thursday we added more smaller things to our castles, like drawbridges, flags, portcullis's etc.  and next week we will paint our castles.  I think some of us might need to paint some windows onto our castles, too!