I am writing a children’s story and I have a scene in which a boy (Rob) and a girl (Rose) are paired up to do a small group activity. During the activity, Rob will discover an animal in Rose’s backpack. I haven’t been able to write this because I, for the life of me, cannot think of a single small group activity that I participated in during 4th-6th grade. Any suggestions?
Think back to science class maybe? Dissecting something, burning something, trying to identify a ‘mystery chemical.’
Maybe during a history class writing a small play based on some small part of history.
Reading a book outloud and taking turns with each other
English, writing a short story, or proof reading each others homework (peer reviews).
Sometimes, I have my elementary kids complete a crossword puzzle together. I do this in groups of three or four.
How long should the group activity take? Is this something they’re paired together on for an afternoon, for a week, or for a semester? If it’s longer than a day, are they working on it in school, or out? Should there be other students in the group as well, or just the two of them? Do you have any preferences for the subject matter (English, social studies, science, etc.)?
I had sixth graders determine the mass and the volume of a series of small objects like a rock and a block of wood using a scale and a graduated cylinder.
Is it supposed to be a fun activity, or just something pertaining to a subject? If the latter, just try to think of a concept that any teacher would try to teach, and then just have a few kids working on it. Group work in classrooms is a good way to get kids to talk to each other and bounce ideas off each other while working, so the activity doesn’t have to be anything special.
This is just a short activity, an excuse to get the two of them working together so that Rob finds out about the animal. No preference on subject matter, as long as it’s a subject a 4th or 5th grader would take. (This is more of a children’s story than young adult, so actually 4/5th grader activities are probably better than 6th, which is starting to get into middle school and young adult territory.)
I like the idea of getting the mass and volume of objects…
I’m trying to think of a reason why Rob would go into her backpack. (The animal wouldn’t come out on his own, he’s smart and knows that if people find out about him there will be trouble.) So maybe an activity that involves rulers, or colored pencils, or something else she would carry with her…
A related question then is, what do kids carry in their backpacks these days?
They’re teamed up by the teacher to go and help the Moms who are rehearsing the spring play, and the Moms need them to shuttle many armloads of props back and forth from the storage room to the auditorium.
And they have the bright idea of taking their backpacks and using them to transport stuff, and Rob grabs her backpack and dumps it out before she can stop him.
ETA: What falls out, besides the animal, is not germane to the plot, so you can just say, “Besides her school stuff, an armadillo fell out…”
Perhaps the teacher asks them to try and find the mass/volume of something they each brought from home. (Pencil, jewelry, flip-flop etc…) and she sends Rob to get her object out of her backpack. OR, maybe the water/beaker that they are using to find the volume get’s knocked over and spills all over her backpack, from there either of them can open it up to get everything out of it before it all gets wet.
ETA or just a simple “Do you have a pencil…yeah, there’s one in my backpack”
At my daughter’s school (5th and 6th grade) they don’t have lockers, so she has everything she needs for the day in her backpack: class day planner, binder, textbook, pencils, jacket, lunch, water, etc.
I know they’ve put together some reports in small groups. A play about an event in American colonial history, a report on a particular Indian tribe, a report on a particular ecosystem, etc. They would make related crafts, posters or PowerPoints (yes, really.)
Here are some group activities I had my 5th graders do.
In science: split water (electrolysis), dissect sea stars, dissect a pickle, make an electromagnet with batteries, and a continental drift puzzle.
Social studies: write an newspaper article about a an event from the last x sections, write a diary entry as if you live though an event during x time, (Individually written but partner proof read), make a pamphlet to convince people to help colonize New France or New Spain (this took multiple days and work at home)
Also, at the 4th -5th grade range around here, the kids wouldn’t have their backpacks with them as the classroom is self-contained for the most part and they unpack at the beginning of the day. 6th graders carry theirs around with them though as they switch multiple times.
As for what they carry? In my experience anything they can fit and think they need to bring for some odd reason. However this typically includes: writing and coloring supplies, text books, note books/binders, stuff for after school sports, and small electronics such as iPods, games, or cell phones that they (usually) aren’t supposed to have.
The last category could give Rob a reason because an electronic device could go off or be accidentally be set off causing Rob to go into the other child’s book bag to turn it off before the teacher noticed. Also, some kids have book bags that are identical or nearly so and things can get quite mixed up during some group activities. It is also possible for one student to go into another’s bag to get their homework for them or something for a project they had to work on at home.