Fall Sorting

This week in math we have been learning to sort by one & two attributes and identifying sorting rules.  For Science we have been talking about Fall and Leaves.  For math today, I integrated the two and had cooperative groups complete Fall circle maps.  Cooperative learning is something that has always been difficult for me because it's student led learning and I like to be in control!  Also, I'm not huge on a lot of talking, but y'all this lesson was AWESOME!  It was out first cooperative lesson, so I had to explain cooperative groups, rules, and jobs which took a decent amount of time.  (Thank God for the SMART Board, which made it super easy!)  I made necklaces for the students to wear with their job and a picture to help them remember what to do, which is something I had not done before, but I think it really helped.  The jobs were: Cutter, Gluer, Page Turner, and Cleaner.  I gave the students stacks of magazines and they had to find fall pictures and glue them on to the circle map.  We did the frame of reference together which was slightly chaotic, but I will change how I do that next year! :)  The best part of the whole activity was that there was so much meaningful conversation going on!  Also, LOTS of encouragement.  I told them I would be listening for encouragement and kind words and the group with the most tallies would get a treat, so I think they really were working hard for that.  None of the groups fought or argued and they worked so well together.  Several of the students commented on how much fun they were having!  Here are some pictures of my sweet students working together.

Kameryn and Josh cutting out pictures. 

Amy waiting for something to glue.

Kevin looking for fall pictures. 

I'Dereis cutting out fall pictures.

Nick showing I'Dereis a fall picture. 

Meredith and a friend working together.

The finished product!

Job Cards - Created by a teacher friend using MS Word Clip Art.

I printed these on white card stock & laminated them.  

Then I punched a hole in the middle and put them on a string.

How do you guys incorporate cooperative learning into your lessons?