Category: We are communicators.

Yesterday, we met with our big buddies from Division 1 for the first time! Big and little buddies got to know each other by recording their similarities and differences on a Venn diagram based on the Buddy Interview questions. They were encouraged to come up with some of their own questions to ask of each other as well.

What we saw were genuine smiles. We heard lots of chit chat with giggling and laughing too. With some students away, not everyone was with the buddy they have been assigned to but they all had a good time getting to know someone new. 

We worked on one of our core competencies: communication. Click here to view.

We are already looking forward to our next big buddy time next Thursday!

Last week, groups of students were tasked with the challenge to move plastic cups from one location on the table to another. They were given a number of cups and one elastic band with four attached pieces of string. Each group member was responsible to control one string. No hands were to touch the cups!

Upon first attempts, they realized how much there was a give and take with controlling the elastic band in the middle. It was more difficult than it first appeared so they had to use their communication and critical thinking skills. Their first task was to move all of the cups from one side of the table to the other side. Once successful, they were to try the challenge of stacking cups like a pyramid. I wish you were there to see how happy they were to work together, how well they persevered when they weren’t successful yet, and how elated they were when they were eventually successful. A few were jumping up and down excitedly and one exclaimed as she jumped in celebration, “We did the challenge! We did the challenge!” What a positive bunch of children with great communication and teamwork skills! 

During our debriefing, we discussed what went well in our groups as teammates and the strategies to get the work done:

• Myel: We did planning.
• Mehr: We stayed focussed.
• Olivya: We talked a lot and tried to communicate a lot.
• O: We communicated with other people.
• Priscilla: Being nice with your words.
• Sasha: We used tools properly.

It helps when we use positive language to support and encourage our teammates. These were some examples of what we heard:

We can do it! Good work! Yay, we did it! Good teamwork! Go team!

Isla summed it up nicely: We enjoyed learning through playing.

Core Competency – Communication: I can work with others to achieve a common goal; I do my share.