Together Twins

Once upon a time in a class at Devonshire Infant School, there were two children who didn’t like each other very much! One was a boy and one was a girl. The boy thought the girl was bossy and always had to be right. The girl thought the boy had silly ideas and he didn’t try very hard. Both of the children loved being at school but didn’t like it when they had to work in a team with each other.

One day the teacher gave all the children a challenge. They had to make a coat for a teddy which was waterproof and would keep the teddy dry. They were put into teams of two. The boy and girl couldn’t believe it when their teacher told them they were working together.

“Now don’t forget”, the teacher said “you need to co-operate and share your ideas for this challenge to work!”

The boy and girl started to make their coat. But instead of listening to each other and working out the best way to solve the challenge they started to make their own coats. The boy began to put his coat on the teddy, but the girl snatched the teddy away to put her own coat on. As she pulled it, the boy’s coat broke, so the boy pulled the teddy away from the girl and hers broke too. The coats were ruined!

The teacher asked the children to bring their designs to the carpet so they could test them. The boy and girl sat down and watched as the other children showed their coats.

One team said “we decided that one of us should cut the material whilst the other one stuck it together”.

Another team explained how they had both had different ideas but they collaborated until they got to the best solution.

When it got to the turn of the boy and girl the teacher saw their teddy without a coat on and felt disappointed. The children were very embarrassed that their teddy didn’t have a coat.

The boy and girl wished they had listened to each other a bit more and tried to work together! They were sure they could have made a great coat if they had worked as a team!

The next week the children had to make a boat that would float. Once again the boy and girl were put in the same team. They were about to start the task on their own when they remembered what had happened the week before.

“Why don’t we share our ideas first” the boy said.

“Yes I would really like that” the girl said.

The boy and girl listened to each other. The girl realised the boy did have great ideas and the boy realised the girl wasn’t bossy after all.

They really enjoyed collaborating and working together to make the boat. They laughed when they got the sellotape in a muddle and helped each other with the really tricky bits.

When it was time to float their boats the boy and girl were proud to stand up and explain how they had worked together to make the boat and of course it floated brilliantly!

From that day on the boy and girl ALWAYS worked well as part of a team, whoever they were with. Sometimes it was a team of 2, but sometimes it was a team of 4, or even more! Their teacher called them the ‘Together Twins’ because they were so great at working as part of a team and all the children wanted to be like them. The Together Twins didn’t always get the challenges right, but they realised sharing your ideas with your team makes learning much more fun!