Practicing Collaboration and Communication Skills with Hula-Hoops at GWL

To further demonstrate North Shore’s Shared Valued Outcomes (SVO’s), students in Ms. Mayo’s class at Glenwood Landing School went outside to the GWL outdoor classroom to practice their collaboration and communication skills in a fun-hands on activity.

On the second day of class, students shared not only in fun team building experiences but  were asked to hold hands and not let go while moving a hula-hoop around a circle of children. As they wiggled and squirmed, the hula-hoop was not allowed to hit the floor or be held in anyone’s hands. You could hear the children’s laughter as they contorted in different positions to quickly get the hula-hoop from start to finish!

But that’s not all! The students then practiced with two hula-hoops in silence to see how fast they could succeed at this fun game. Should one go clock-wise while the other went counter-clockwise or should they both go in the same direction? The students had to use their critical thinking skills to determine how best to solve this challenge!

Students then broke into small groups and worked with their peers in challenging and fun games. Thank you to Ms. Mayo and the GWL teachers for this fun hands-on experience. 

Article and photos by Shelly Newman