Leadership and Teamwork
Year 1: Together we can achieve things that are difficult on our own.
Core Story:
The Giant Turnip by Henriette Barkow. In this Russian folktale a grandfather grows a turnip that is so large he cannot pull it out of the ground. He asks his wife for help, but still they are unable to pull it up. Successively more people join until the whole town is helping to pull. Finally, with the help of a tiny mouse the turnip is pulled from the ground and there is enough to feed everyone through the cold winter.
Drawing out the virtues:
What difference did it make when the mouse joined in at the end? Ask the children to think of times they have asked for help to do something.
Activity 1: Routines
Identify a classroom routine which pupils could complete more efficiently by making it into a team game, and use this session as an opportunity to teach and practise this new routine. Ideas for routines which pupils can improve through team work are:
Handing out books, collecting coats at the end of the day, tidying up.
This clip shows Doug McCurry, teacher at Amistad Academy in New Haven, Connecticut teaching his class a routine for handing out papers. The teacher explains that pupils need to take one piece of paper from a pile and then pass the pile to the person next to them. He adds an element of competition by timing his class with a stopwatch and giving them a target to aim for. In order for pupils to complete the task efficiently pupils need to work together as a team.
Activity 2: Team Spring Clean
Tell the children that today we’re going to serve the rest of the school by cleaning the white board rubbers/cloths (or chairs/desks etc.). Sitting on the carpet, ask the children to come up with a plan for how to get them all washed and dried by tomorrow.
String up a washing line to hang them on, and a tub of hot soapy water. Divide the class so that some wash, while others dry, to complete the task as a team. Praise the perseverance of the children who really scrub their rubbers/cloths to get them clean!
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Classroom language
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Sayings
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Well done for working as a team. You have all shown that when you work together, you can have fun and get more done.
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Pulling your weight.
Many hands make light work.
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Library books
The Bundle of Sticks – Aesop’s Fable
Mr Grumpy’s Outing by John Burningham (bad teamwork)
Ruff and the Wonderfully Amazing Busy Day by Caroline Jayne Church
Henny Penny by Vivian French and Sophie Windham
Little Croc and the Whale by Tony Maddox