*Problem+Solving

 // **1.** Tools For Citizenship // : Chapter 24 (pgs. 24.1-24.12) --> Read Aloud Ideas - page 24.10 --> Lesson Ideas – page 24.6 and 24.7
 * Small School Gathering #2**
 * Tuesday, November 17, 2009**
 * Citizenship Focus:****Problem Solving**

** 2. Lego ® (Unifix Cubes) Tall Tower ** For each team to work together on a common project. Group Size ** 4 or more = Materials Lego  ® type building blocks (Unifix Cubes) = = Description Prior to the activity, hide Lego  ® pieces around the room or simply scatter them about. Divide the group into teams of four or more and challenge the groups to build as tall a tower as they can out of the Lego ® (Unifix Cubes) building blocks. On the “go” signal team members must try to find and gather as many Legos ® (Unifix Cubes) as they can and then put them together. The winning team is the one with the tallest tower after a given time limit (or after each team has completed the task). Some teams will end up with fewer Legos ® (Unifix Cubes) than the other teams and will have to be more creative to make their building tall. You may give different awards to each team at the end (i.e., tallest tower with fewest bricks, fastest gatherers, fastest builders, etc.). = 1. Was your team very competitive during this game? 2. How did the competition effect the performance of your team? What if there had been no competition and you simply had to build a tall tower out of Legos® (Unifix Cubes) you were given? 3. Do you feel competition when on different teams? 4. How do you deal with this competition? 3. __Morning Meeting Games:__
 * Objective**
 * Discussion Prompts **
 * Hot and Cold, page 142
 * Cooperative spider webs, page 143
 * What did I do?, page 150

4. I thought about doing something with __puzzles__. I have little blank puzzles that I bought one time that I thought about letting the children color and decorate. After they're done, they could then travel around to the different puzzles and work to put someone else's puzzle together. Another idea could be to take an 8 1/2 X 11 piece of oak tag and draw about 10 different puzzle pieces on that paper. Children could then draw their picture on the piece of oak tag and then cut out the 10 pieces after they were done. The older children could help the younger children finish cutting after they are done. Then they could travel around to put the other puzzles back together. Depending on which you do, you might have to wait to put them back together again until the next SSG.

5. __Balloon Frantic__ Materials Two to three inflated balloons per person are needed and a stopwatch. Description:** Each person has a balloon, with the rest in a nearby pile. Everyone begins bouncing their balloons in the air. Every five seconds, another balloon is added. See how long the group can keep the balloons bouncing before receiving six penalties. A penalty is announced loudly (to create stress!) by the leader when a balloon hits the floor, or once on the floor, if is not got back into play within five seconds. The leader keeps a cumulative score by shouting out "one", "two", etc. When the leader gets to "six", time is stopped. After some discussion, the group tries to better its record with another attempt.
 * Resource: http://wilderdom.com/games/descriptions/gamesballoons.html

6. __Community building/ Problem Solving activity__ On page 9, there is an activity called Human Knot. I did this last time we met and am thinking about doing it again. Everybody gathers in a huddle and puts in their right hand and grab someone else's right hand. Then you do the same with the left hands. The goal is to work together to untangle the "knot" of people until you have formed a circle. This requires a lot of team-work and problem solving to do. The kids liked it last time.
 * Resource** - Guide to Cooperative Games for Social Change (photocopied packet handed out at SSG info meeting at the beginning of the year)

7. __Alphabet Song__ **Description:** The group sits in a circle. One member starts by saying the letter A. No one is designated to continue the alphabet. The group members just keep saying the letters until the alphabet is complete. However, the trick is for only one person to say each letter. If more than one person say a letter, then the group needs to start the alphabet over again.
 * Resource:** http://www.youthwork.com/activitiesinit.html

8. **Balloon Unity** Resource: the brainpower of many wise people This is a variation of "Keep It Up" in a team format. Time Limit: approximately 10 minutes maximum Supplies needed: 2 or 3 balloons and space Separate the students into two or three small groups with no more than six students. Each group will need to form a circle and hold hands. An adult will toss a balloon up into the air in the middle of the group. Without releasing the hands of anyone, students work together to keep the balloon in the air. If necessary they can move their circle of unity to keep the balloon in the middle as they tap it upwards. Asks the students to count out loud how many successful times they are able to tap the balloon upward and keep it within their circle of unity. The problem solving comes into play as the students are of different heights and strengths, so they need to work together to succeed.

9. **Puzzle Fun** Students of different ages working together on a large-sized piece puzzle. I haven't tried this one, but I plan to give it a whirl tomorrow. Supplies: 1 -2 one-hundred piece puzzles Ask the students if they have ever worked on putting a puzzle together with someone else. How did they begin to solve the puzzle? Did they start with the border or edge pieces? Did they sort the pieces into different piles by the colors shown? Does everyone need to have a job? How can we help each student to feel a part of this activity? Once the brainstorming and sharing of ideas is done. Help them to separate into 2 groups. Give each group a puzzle. Facilitate them working as teams to piece their puzzles together. Help the students to learn and to practice problem solving strategies.

10. **A Tangled Web** Gather students in a circle sitting around you on the floor. Hold a large ball of yarn. Start by telling the students something about yourself. Then roll the ball of yarn to a student without letting go of the end of the yarn. The student who gets the ball of yarn tells his or her name and something good about himself or herself. Then the student rolls the yarn to somebody else, holding on to the strand of yarn. Soon students have created a giant web. After everyone has spoken, you and all the students stand up, continuing to hold the yarn. Start a discussion of how this activity relates to the idea of teamwork -- for example, the students need to work together and not let others down. To drive home your point about teamwork, have one student drop his or her strand of yarn; that will demonstrate to students how the web weakens if the class isn't working together.

11. I think I'm going to start out by reading "Joesph had a Little Overcoat" by Simms Taback. It's about a man who has an old ratty overcoat. He loves it so much he cuts it into different types of clothing so he can continue to wear it. It's a short, cute story that will show an example of how you can problem solve. Then I will do one of the activities suggested above

12. **Turkeys Materials:** a bunch of various colored paper, glue sticks
 * Students work in small groups (3-4) to create a turkey out of colored paper. The trick is they cannot use scissors to cut out the shapes. Students work together and //problem solve// to find a way to complete the task. *I separated my kids into groups ahead of time and put my fifth graders with kindergarteners* After students are done discuss how they approached the task and how they delegated jobs. **