My Favorite Lessons
Cooperative Hands Project
Lesson Objective:
- This lesson is used to establish our class contracts for the new school year and is completed during the first PE class of the year.
Grade Level: 3-5
Materials Needed:
- Plain construction paper, crayons, markers, or colored pencils (Students usually use their own), and one large poster board per class.
Description:
- Begin the class with a discussion of what a contract is. Explain that all contracts are promises and are signed.
- Ask the students to tell you what behaviors are necessary for a class to work together and be successful. Write these items down.
- Explain to the class that each person is going to trace his/her own hand (or have a friend trace it for him/her) and decorate it as an expression of himself/herself. For example, favorite colors and activities could be drawn on the hand.
- Ask students to sign the hand as it is each student's promise to do his/her best to follow the class contract that the class has created.
- Collect the hands and glue them to a piece of poster board or other sturdy paper. Write the class contract in the middle of the hands.
- Display the contracts on the wall of the gym as a constant reminder to students. Laminate the contracts if necessary.
- Refer to the contracts as necessary.
- Invite parents to view the contracts during open houses or other school events.
Assessment:
- Since this lesson is done in grades 3-5, I evaluate the complexity of the contracts as the students grow. The contracts should become more complex and center around cooperation, unselfish behavior, safety and trust as the students grow and develop.
