Building Teams with Color Jacuzzi

Welcome back to school everyone! I hope you all have great years!

I'm a huge fan of teambuilding at the beginning of the year, for a number of reasons. Here is one of the activities I love. Unfortunately, I don't know who to attribute its creation to, but please know I didn't invent it, I just adapted it to suit my classroom needs.

Color jacuzzi

1. Have a bag full of colored paper strips, one for each student in the class. I use green, blue, red, purple, and orange.
2. Students draw a color strip out of the bag; this is their group and tells them which prompt to respond to. (Prompts listed below.)
3. Students respond individually in writing to their prompts, then share their responses with their other group members.
4. Once all members of their group have shared, the group writes a "We Are" poem that combines information from each of their responses. You can modify an "I Am" poem template, or leave it more open-ended for the students.
5. After "We Are" poems are completed, groups share them with the whole class.

Prompts:
green: If you had unlimited money, what would you buy yourself, and what would you do to benefit at least one other person?
blue: Water and sky. Which is your favorite, and why?
red: Write about a time you were so angry you saw red. Or, if that has never happened, write about things that COULD make you that angry.
purple: You are the ruler of your country. What law would you pass to make yourself happy, and what laws would you pass to help the citizens of your country?
orange: What motivates you? Why?

You can modify the prompts to fit your curriculum. Give a shout if you'd like some ideas.

They're reading, they're writing, they're talking, they're sharing...it's a great day! (Or, when you have 47 minute periods, a great two days!)
Happy teaching!
Christine