Friends and Enemies

July Blogging Challenge Day 20

Today I'm going to blog about an idea for an activity I want to try out this year.  First a little disclaimer, I can never think of things myself, everything is always stolen from much better educators!  So I was reading  David Coffey's blog and found this great post about worksheets and in that post he talks about a little twist to make boring worksheets better like asking students to pick 6 problems to solve and then explain why you picked them. After he presented the idea to student teachers they came up with fun stuff like "What items would you assign your best friend?  Your enemy?  Why?"  That is where I got the idea for this activity.

First start off with a boring worksheet.  I have Kutasoft's Pre-Algebra and Algebra 1 worksheet makers that I loved for 7/8, but I think for 5/6 I will use some online worksheet makers more often like  http://www.math-drills.com/

Next students would be asked to pick either 6 items they would assign their friends or 6 items they would assign their enemies and why.  I'm thinking that students will work off of one sheet and record everything on a separate piece of paper.  Then I would have students choose a slip of paper from a jar that is either red or green.  If they pull a green they are a friend and a red would mean they are an enemy.  Then each student would give and get the appropriate problems based on if they are friends or enemies.

While they are working, if an "enemy" gets stuck, they can ask a "friend" for help.  After they have completed the 6 problems, they have the person who gave them the problems correct them.

I'm thinking I would use this activity at a station or center with a group of 4 students.  Still not sure how my centers/stations/math workshop is going to work, but this is one of the activities I will use!