The Season To Share Super activities that develop sharing skills.

New Ways to Share

A jar of jelly beans is easy to share. Count the jelly beans out one by one. You can share a sandwich in halves or in quarters. A pizza is shared by the slice. But what about things that are harder to share equally, like a single-dip ice cream cone, or a new puppy, or the teacher's attention? Discuss with your students things that are easy or hard to share and record these items on the board.

Divide the class into small groups and encourage them to work together to find ways to share the items on the list. Give each group time to formulate and then share their ideas. Point out the different strategies groups came up with for the same items. Help students see that some of the same strategies, such as "taking turns," "dividing up evenly," or "playing together" were often suggested. Create a chart of these "sharing strategies" and hang it in your classroom. The next time children are having difficulty sharing, encourage them to use the chart as a resource to solve their problem. Add new strategies as they arise, based on real situations in your classroom.

Natalie Vaughn

Rancho Encinitas Academy

Encinitas, CA

Create a Shared Story

Involve students in writing a schoolwide, creative, and crazy collaborative story to show what can be achieved when efforts are shared. Consult with your principal or colleagues to choose a tide for the story that reflects a special school event or theme. Have the principal write the title at the top of a roll of paper. Pass the story on to every class and request that each adds one paragraph or one line (depending upon the size of your school) to the story. When the story is complete, share it with everyone by posting it in the hallway or having students from each class read it aloud.

Share and Share Alike?

Not everything is meant to be shared, as Robert Munsch makes clear with great humor in We Share Everything! (Scholastic, 2000). When the teacher says share everything, the kids take her statement absolutely literally, with hilarious results.

Ask children to brainstorm words to fill in:

We share__________.

We share__________.

We share__________.

But we don't share _______/

Read the chant together! Discuss why some things are not for sharing.

Sharing Soup

Remind children of the way the Native Americans shared when the Pilgrims first came to the new land. Then create "sharing soup" to celebrate the commitment you have made with one another to share within the classroom.

Work together with students to create a list of ingredients for your soup. Have each child choose one item to bring to school on a specific day. Following a recipe, have students measure and add the ingredients one at a time. Give each child the opportunity to stir the soup while reciting the following:

Sharing soap. sharing soup

Stir it now with care.

Each spoonful a reminder

To be a friend and share!

Adapted from an idea by

Wendy Weiner

The Parkview School

Milwaukee, WI

Schoolwide Penny Drive

Helping others is a wonderful way to share during the holiday season! Start a penny drive in your school to raise money for a local charity. Penny drives have been remarkably successful all over the country.

The first step is to get the word out. Make announcements, write letters to parents, and create posters to urge others to donate. Provide each classroom with large plastic containers to hold the pennies. At the end of the drive, collect the containers, using a cart or wagon. Work together with students to count and roll all the pennies. Challenge them to convert the amount to dollars and cents. Invite children to estimate and measure how much the pennies weigh altogether. Get your students involved in deciding where to donate the proceeds. You will all be surprised at how pennies add up!

Bob Krech

Dutch Neck School

Princeton Junction, NJ

A Safe Peace to Share

Children are not always comfortable sharing their work, whether it is reading a story aloud, displaying an art project on a bulletin board, or trading homework papers to review. Help your students to become more comfortable using the following tips and techniques:

* Keep the stakes low. Let your students understand sharing time is not a contest. Everyone's contributions are appreciated.

* Give students the option to sit or stand while sharing.

* Read and discuss, What Mary Jo Shared by Janice M. Udry (Scholastic, 1991) with students. Many will be able to relate to Mary Jo's resistance to share each day.

* Create a list of "audience" rules, with consequences, to post in your classroom.

* Provide students with something to hold during verbal shares, such as a Koosh Ball.

* Allow students to "pass" when they don't feel up to sharing.

Share Your Activities!

Dear Teachers,

Thanks so much for sharing your great classroom activities with your colleagues by sending them to us! It's wonderful that so many of you are willing to share your personal experience, your great tips, and classroom ideas with teachers across the country Right now at Instructor, we're thinking ahead to those long winter months. What do you do to brighten them up? Tell us what you're planning for the 100th Day of School. Share your sweetest Valentine's Day ideas. Do you have a magical Harry Potter activity? If we include your idea in Activities, we'll send you a $50 gift certificate for Scholastic products with our appreciation. Looking forward to hearing from you,

Dana Truby, Activities Editor

Include your name and school's name and the best way to reach you. Email [e-mail], or send to: Activities Editor, Instructor, 555 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.