Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Tried It Tuesday - Clock Buddies

I'm so excited that it is Tuesday so I can link up with the amazing Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried it Tuesday!

This week I'm sharing about something that has really saved me lots of time in the classroom...Clock Buddies.

The concept is pretty simple.  Students are given a clock template.  They walk around and "schedule" a classmate for each hour that they both have open on their clocks.  (If a classmate is already scheduled at that time, you have to move on to someone else.)
Then when it is time to work with a partner, I will say something like "Please work with your 3:00 partner" and change it up every time. 
 
This avoids students always working with the same person when they work in partners and gives everyone a chance to get to know each other.  I also specifically gave the direction that half of your buddies had to be girls and half had to be boys to avoid the problem of always wanting to work only with your besties.  :)
 
I found this template online and you can grab one for yourself here.
 
I love Clock Buddies!  They save time, energy, and hurt feelings!  :)
 
Head on over to Fourth Grade Flipper to see what else everyone has tried this week!

12 comments:

  1. Thanks for reminding me of this and for the template!

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  2. Love clock buddies - you are right it is a great way to avoid hurt feelings and in my class the same besties pairing up over and over again.

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  3. Love this idea. My husband who is a Middle School Health teacher told me about this and it has saved so much time. Instead of "Go get a partner!" It easily, "Go get with your one o'clock partner." There is no arguing. I like your tip of 1/2 boys and 1/2 girls.
    Theresa
    Pinkadots Elementary

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  4. LOVE THIS...I'm going to do this in my class. Thanks for the idea. My class has started this whole boys can't be near girls this year. They so were not like this last year. Hormones!
    Alison
    Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin'

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  5. I love using clock buddies, and so do my kids! It saves so much time and hurt feelings.

    Hunter's Teaching Tales
    Find me on Facebook

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  6. I grabbed the template. Thank you for sharing this! I have heard of this system before. It's one of those things that I thought sounded great, but then forgot about. I'm going to get this printed and copied tomorrow while it is still fresh.

    Thank you!

    Mary
    Fit to be Fourth
    Follow me on Bloglovin

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  7. I haven't used this tool in years...thanks for the reminder & template!

    Jess
    I {Heart} Recess

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  8. I love this template! Thank you for the link. :) Clock buddies work great and the students really seem to enjoy it. One thing that drives me bonkers is no matter how well I seem to go over the directions for pairing up with the buddy, SOMEONE always seems to mess up their paper. If I did it more often, I think they would really get the hang of it better though. Thanks for linking up! :)
    ~Holly
    Fourth Grade Flipper

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  9. Oh I've been thinking about using this! Thanks for the extra "push"!
    A Tall Drink of Water

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  10. What a great idea! Thanks for the template, too.
    ~Deb
    Crafting Connections

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  11. I like using clock buddies too, but I'm sending you a goodie I think you'll think is a little more stylish! haha
    Joanne
    Head Over Heels For Teaching

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  12. I saw Dr. Marcia Tate this summer at a Common Core conference and she had us do this strategy the first day within 20 minutes of starting her workshop. I had this on my "TO DO" list and unfortunately hadn't gotten around to it. Thank you for providing a template to make it so much easier for me to go get it and start it. I started it this past week and it was a smashing hit.

    Susan

    LopezLandLearners

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