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In Round of Applause, students pass a hand slap on the floor or tabletop, or a handclap, around a circle, striving to slap/clap at the exact same time. This activity requires listening, collaboration and focus to achieve group success. The strategy can be used as a metaphor to prompt dialogue about collaboration and problem-solving strategies.
Invite students to sit on the floor, with both hands out in front of them, flat on the ground. If students are in desks, hands should be on desks, as close to each other as possible. To begin, slap your left hand on the ground, as the student to the left, Player 1, slaps her right hand on the ground. The hands nearest each other hit should slap the ground at the same time. Player 1 then slaps her left hand at the same time that Player 2, next to Player 1, slaps his right hand against the ground. The slap continues to move around the circle. The same process can be used with students standing in a circle and clapping their hands together at the same time to pass the sound around the circle. The group challenge is to clap at the same time and to keep the sound moving around the circle. Whatever version is being used, after a few rounds, add a second clap or slap, so that two slaps/claps are moving around the circle at the same time.
- How did you do in this activity? On a scale of 1-10 how successful were you?
- What do we need to do to be successful at this activity?
- What skills does this help us to develop that we can apply to our current inquiry?
- Pay attention to which hand are you using?
- Really listen to the rhythm.
- See if we can establish a steady tempo.
- (If clapping) Make sure you make eye contact with your partner.
- Introduce a double clap, in which players have the option to hit the ground (or clap hands) twice in a row. When this happens, the clap reverses the direction it is traveling around the circle.
- MUSIC: Develop a steady rhythm with the clap/slap equally different types of notes (half note, quarter note, etc.). If interested two claps can move around the circle at different beats (such as a quarter note and a half note).
- Create a circle on the floor; students alternate hands on the floor with the person next to them. (Other people’s hands will be between their two hands.) Make the slap sounds in the same way, with the added challenge of moving sound sequence while hands are intertwined.
- Science: Have students represent a circuit or a food chain (What happens when one part is pulled out? – The movement can’t continue or we must find a way to adapt or evolve).
Megan Alrutz