What, I wondered aloud the other morning, does it mean to be co-operative? Has anyone heard the word before?
A few hesitant hands waver in the air. Bianca thinks she once knew what it meant. ‘But I can’t remember.’ I know just how she feels; happens to me all the time!
‘Maybe,’ suggests Tanisha, ‘it means you look at the teacher.’ And I suppose that it does – indirectly!
‘Does it mean help?’ asks Melchior. Well yes, that too!
Which gives Bianca the required ‘nudge’. ‘Maybe it means helping each other,’ she thinks out loud. And yes, it means that as well!
And we look together at the front cover of the book on co-operation that we are about to read.
As Luna tells us, ‘they are making castles together’.
As we read, we find out that co-operation is many different things. It is working together…..
and playing together. It is sharing and taking turns. It is helping others – as well as asking for help! It is following instructions and it is listening to each others’ ideas.
And now it’s time to think. What does a co-operative class look like? What does it sound like? What does it feel like?
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