Mimio Classroom Technology Blog

Collaborate to the Core! Mimio’s collaborative guide and lessons for grades K-12

Written by Paget Hetherington | Mon, Nov 18, 2013

Mimio is pleased to offer Collaborate to the Core, an excellent guide to a variety of techniques and suggestions for creating collaborative learning in your classrooms. In addition, the guide offers a number of engaging collaborative lessons, organized by grade levels K-2, 3-5, and 6-12 in the following subject areas: math, language arts, science, and social studies. All lessons meet the Common Core State Standards, include tips, and can be used with or without educational technology.

K-2 students will enjoy working in pairs to practice translating a written time to the face of a clock, and working in small groups to distinguish between short and long vowel sounds. You can check their understanding of the frog life cycle after dividing the class into groups tasked with reaching their own conclusions about the stages of the cycle. And they can break into small groups to practice recognizing the difference between a fact and an opinion, as they discuss sentences related to Martin Luther King, Jr.

In grades 3-5, students can divide into groups to practice making change from a dollar when buying objects with specific price tags. Groups of three can practice putting words into alphabetical order, and then work as a class to check each group’s work. You can determine students’ understanding of the properties of matter by having them work in groups to sort examples of solids, liquids, and gases into their proper category. Groups can also enjoy a friendly competition, as they race against one another to recognize the 50 states by their physical shape and position them correctly on a map of the U.S.

Students in grades 6-12 can work in groups to practice classifying polygons according to the sum of the angles, and then come together as a class to review how to find the sum of internal angles in a given shape. A lesson on the types of authors’ purposes can give groups of students practice using a Venn diagram to make connections between types of media and particular purposes. Groups of students can practice making precise measurements, given a random set of numbers and two different scales, and then each group can come up with measurement challenges for the other groups. To check students’ understanding of the three branches of the U.S. Government, have them divide into groups and “fill in the blanks” for each branch; afterward, discuss what was learned as a class.

These are just a few of the collaborative lessons you’ll find in this comprehensive guide. Download Now!