Can ants and aliens really get along?
What about camels, cats and dogs?
Do mermaids work together under the sea?
Will wolves play nicely in a pickup game of football?
Trantwood Elementary School counselor Lisa Lee got answers to these questions and more when she asked second-graders to participate in a cooperative coloring activity.
Cooperation is the character trait featured in March as part of the PTA’s Principles of American Citizenship program, and school counselors align their classroom lessons to each monthly trait.
Lee asked second-graders to illustrate as well as demonstrate cooperation working together in groups of three and four students.
The catch?
Each student could only use one colored marker throughout the entire process. They had to ask one another to draw with their respective colors as needed after coming to consensus on an idea.
There was potential for frustration and conflict; however, according to Lee, students in Ms. Delashmutt’s class passed with cooperative flying colors.
“Let me tell you what I saw. I saw lots of cooperation,” praised Lee. “I didn’t hear any arguing, which is really great. I saw people compromising on their ideas.”
Lee asked pointed questions in a classroom discussion to encourage students to talk through their process.
“Was this activity difficult?” Lee asked.
“No, because we talked to each other and knew what we were going to do,” said Jasmine.
“You cooperated by talking about a plan that everyone agreed on,” affirmed Lee.
“It was a little bit hard because sometimes people tried to snatch markers out of people’s hands even though you couldn’t,” admitted Anna.
“That’s frustrating when you want to be able to draw something but you have to ask others to help,” acknowledged Lee.
The school counselor extended the discussion about challenges.
“How did you handle conflict? Did anybody have a disagreement, and how did you compromise?” Lee asked.
“Elena and Brooklyn wanted to do a wolf pack and I wanted to do football,” said Elias. “So we ended up with wolves playing football.”
“So you compromised. That’s wonderful, and I didn’t hear a single argument,” praised Lee.
One group used the hand-game rock, paper, scissors to select the group’s idea, while other groups decided to incorporate the ideas of every group member.
“I said that I wanted to put camels in it. And they wanted to put cats and dogs. So we put camels, cats and dogs,” said a second-grader.
“So you were open to other people’s ideas and you didn’t say, ‘No I don’t want any camels! No I don’t want any cats and dogs!’” reinforced Lee.
It was time for each group to present its cooperative artwork with Lee holding the artwork for all to see.
The first group’s illustration featured aliens, fish and ants.
“Everybody wanted a different thing,” explained the group, adding that the aliens had just crash landed on earth.
“How are they helping each other?” asked Lee.
“The aliens wanted food, and the ants brought it to them,” said a group member pointing to ants carrying food on their backs.
Another group incorporated their second-grade social studies lessons.
“Since we’re learning about Ancient Egypt, we drew Ancient Egypt people,” explained one student. “These are the pyramids, this is the Nile River, these are the camels and this is the papyrus to make paper.”
“They are cooperating by building the pyramid,” added a second group member.
“Could they have done that by themselves?” Lee asked the class.
“No!” was the group’s collective answer.
Lee agreed, “Definitely not. They couldn’t lift one brick by themselves. We even have a Pharaoh in here.”
The purple and yellow headdress on the Pharaoh was drawn by two students taking alternating turns to add their respective colors to the striped headdress.
A third group drew a scene that was closer to home – their own classroom.
“This is our classroom during choice board,” explained one student noting the Promethean board in the illustration. “You’re there too, Mrs. Lee.”
“And Evan’s birthday is today, so we added Evan’s birthday,” said another group member.
“Happy Birthday, Evan!” exclaimed a classmate watching the presentation.
“It’s showing how the class cooperates,” Lee summarized. “It shows that this class is one big team, right?”
The last group’s illustration featured colorful mermaids. Lee noted the uniqueness of each drawing as group members walked to the front of the room.
“I love how every idea is different,” recognized Lee. “Do you think you would have been able to be as creative by yourself?”
“No,” responded the class in unison.
Lee prompted the group, “Your mermaids are working together to collect what?”
“Um, they’re actually baking,” corrected a group member.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize they are baking,” confessed Lee.
“Yes, absolutely, mermaids baking,” said Lee smiling and encouraged the group to continue.
The school counselor concluded the lesson by commending all of their efforts.
“Ms. Delashmutt, I want to compliment your class. This cooperation coloring can be challenging for some. It’s hard not to always get your way. And I didn’t hear any unkind words. I heard respectful compromise. They used their skills to figure out who was going to do different tasks. I was really impressed. So give yourselves a round of applause. Excellent job,” said Lee as students clapped and smiled.
After her second-grade lesson, Lee described the cooperative activities she is conducting with other grade levels at Trantwood this month.
First-graders are creating and presenting their own new species of animal in pairs of two. They might combine a snake and a horse. Maybe a new cat-dog breed is in the works.
Third-graders will be working together to set up what Lee called a “Leaning Tower of Feetza.” They will use their own shoes to create the tallest possible freestanding structure.
“I haven’t tried that yet, but it should be a lot of fun,” said Lee.
Fourth-graders already created their own countries — complete with student-selected names, flags and national anthems.
“They loved it,” said Lee. “There was one country dedicated to the pickle and so their national anthem was all about pickles; their country was shaped like a pickle. It was just great, and they have so much fun together.”
“They did it all in 20 minutes, no less” she added.
“There are some kids who struggle with it,” said Lee, noting that cooperation is an important skill for both children and adults to develop and demonstrate.
“They really get the point of it,” Lee said of the activities. “It takes communication. It takes not always getting your way and solving and compromising.”
Just ask Trantwood second-graders and their cooperative wolves, ants, aliens, Egyptians and mermaids.
Way to go Lisa!! Your lessons are always so meaningful and the children get so much from them. We are soooo lucky to have you here at Trantwood.
Congratulations to Trantwood Elementary &Mrs . Lee & Mrs. Dalshmutt’s class!