Thursday, August 1, 2013

Clock Buddies {Thursday Throwdown }


Hi everyone! Today is my first day back at work! I'm excited to get the year started and look forward to seeing my teaching friends. Today is a special treat because we get to work at school ALL day without meetings! I don't know about you, but for me those inservice days before school begins are always packed with meetings! 
I'm linking up with I'm Lovin' Lit for Thursday Throwdown. This once monthly linky is for us to share ideas on how we make the classroom more interactive for our students. 

I like to have my students work with partners often! We will work with a partner at least 2 times a week and usually more often than that. I'm always looking for different way to pair up my students and one of my favorites is clock buddies! 

Students get a blank clock and have their classmates sign up for different times on the clock. Here is a picture from ReadingQuest.org of what a completed clock buddy sheet would look like. 


When it is time for kids to work with partners all you need to do is say find your 2 o'clock buddy and start working! It is so easy and saves so much time when pairing kids up! 

I like this method because it forces kids to mingle. Kids don't have 12 BFFs, so that means they aren't always going to be with the person they want to socialize with instead of work. Yes, there are always exceptions to this and some kids will socialize with anyone! 

This offers your students choice and there is always an element of suspense when I ask the kids to get their clocks. No one knows which time I will call! 

I got this great idea from a fantastic website called ReadingQuest.org. You can click here to go straight to the page that gives the scoop on clock buddies as well as the printable clock sheet I use in my classroom. 

If you haven't visited ReadingQuest.org before you really should head over and check it out. The site is labeled as being for Social Studies, but I've gotten some amazing reading strategies there! 


11 comments:

  1. I absolutely LOVE this idea! Thanks so much for sharing it :) Makes too much sense!

    Lisa

    Fluent in Fourth

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  2. That is a great idea! I have not see anything like it before. What a great way to get kids interacting with each other. I really love how you can just call out a time. Thanks for sharing! Have a great day back!

    Amy
    Eclectic Educating

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  3. I love clock buddies! Thanks for the great idea!
    -Lisa
    Grade 4 Buzz

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  4. I love giving kids clock buddies! My students love it too. No one ever has hurt feelings because they aren't the last student chosen.

    Hunter's Tales from Teaching

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  5. Oh my goodness - this is an absolutely precious idea! I love the concept of clock buddies. Thanks so much for sharing. :)

    Catherine
    The Brown-Bag Teacher

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  6. I love clock buddies but hadn't seen it done with 12 like this! Thank you so much for sharing!!
    ~Holly
    Fourth Grade Flipper

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  7. That's such a cute idea! Love it!

    Sarah
    MissKinBK

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  8. Love clock buddies - thanks for the link!!

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  9. I've only done clock partners with 4, not all 12. What a great idea! I assigned two of the partners (one same ability and one mixed ability) and then let them pick the others so that I could control the ability pairing for some activities.

    -Dani
    A Place to Thrive

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  10. Oh my gosh. So simple and cute! What an easy way to *somewhat* manage the pairings while being random and on-the-spot at the same time!
    THanks so much for linking up!
    :) Erin

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