Integrating the Core Curriculum Through Cooperative Learning. Lesson Plans for Teachers

Cooperative learning strategies are used to facilitate the integration of multicultural and multi-ability level students into California regular education classrooms. This handbook is a sampling of innovative lesson plans using cooperative learning activities developed by teachers to incorporate the core curriculum into their instruction. Three papers introduce the cooperative learning process and give guidelines for its implementation. Twenty-seven lesson plans are then presented, with each plan outlining grade level (K-12), necessary materials, and procedures for setting the lesson, conducting the lesson, monitoring and processing, and evaluating the lesson. In the language arts/reading area, lesson plans include: "Show and Tell,""We'd Rather,""The Goop,""Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales,""Jobs, Jobs, Jobs,""Facts in Fives,""Identifying Denial,""Writing Complete Simple Sentences," and "Garden Plot." Math/science lesson plans are titled "Let Me Count the Ways,""Gummy Bears,""Beansticks,""Magnets,""Are You a Square?""Places on the Tongue,""Teddy Bear Math,""Volcanoes," and "Take Me to Your Liter." History/social science lesson plans cover "Our United States,""Exploring the Continents,""Political Cartoons,""Buying American," and "The 1920's." A miscellaneous category includes "Santa Claus,""Roses Are Red,""Family Squares Game," and an overview of cooperative learning for parents and teachers. Four excerpts from published works, one concerning competition and the others concerning aspects of cooperative and group learning, conclude the handbook. A list of contributors, an index by grade level, and a list of additional resource materials are appended.