A jar of jelly beans is easy to share. Count the jelly beans out one by one. You can share a sandwich in halves or in quarters. A pizza is shared by the slice. But what about things that are harder to share equally, like a single-dip ice cream cone, or a new puppy, or the teacher's attention? Discuss with your students things that are easy or hard to share and record these items on the board.

Divide the class into small groups and encourage them to work together to find ways to share the items on the list. Give each group time to formulate and then share their ideas. Point out the different strategies groups came up with for the same items. Help students see that some of the same strategies, such as "taking turns," "dividing up evenly," or "playing together" were often suggested. Create a chart of these "sharing strategies" and hang it in your classroom. The next time children are having difficulty sharing, encourage them to use the chart as a resource to solve their problem. Add new strategies as they arise, based on real situations in your classroom.
— Natalie Vaughn, Rancho Encinitas Academy, Encinitas, CA

Create a Shared Story
Involve students in writing a schoolwide, creative, and crazy collaborative story to show what can be achieved when efforts are shared. Consult with your principal or colleagues to choose a title for the story that reflects a special school event or theme. Have the principal write the title at the top of a roll of paper. Pass the story on to every class and request that each adds one paragraph or one line (depending upon the size of your school) to the story. When the story is complete, share it with everyone by posting it in the hallway or having students from each class read it aloud.

Share and Share Alike
Not everything is meant to be shared, as Robert Munsch makes clear with great humor in We Share Everything! (Scholastic, 2000). When the teacher says share everything, the kids take her statement absolutely literally, with hilarious results.

Ask children to brainstorm words to fill in:

We share __________________ .

We share __________________ .

We share __________________ .

But we don't share __________________ !

Read the chant together! Discuss why some things are not for sharing.

A Safe Place to Share
Children are not always comfortable sharing their work, whether it is reading a story aloud, displaying an art project on a bulletin board, or trading homework papers to review. Help your students to become more comfortable using the following tips and techniques:

• Keep the stakes low. Let your students understand sharing time is not a contest.
• Everyone's contributions are appreciated.
• Give students the option to sit or stand while sharing.
• Read and discuss, What Mary Jo Shared by Janice M. Udry (Scholastic, 1991) with students. Many will be able to relate to Mary Jo's resistance to "share" each day.
• Create a list of "audience" rules, with consequences, to post in your classroom.
• Provide students with something to hold during verbal shares, such as a Koosh Ball.
• Allow students to "pass" when they don't feel up to sharing.

— Janet Worthington-Samo , St. Clement School, Johnstown, PA

Schoolwide Penny Drive
Helping others is a wonderful way to share during the holiday season! Start a penny drive in your school to raise money for a local charity. Penny drives have been remarkably successful all over the country.

You have to get the word out. Make announcements on the PA system, write letters to parents, and create posters to urge others to donate. Provide each classroom with large plastic containers to hold the pennies. At the end of the drive, collect the containers, using a cart or wagon. Work together with students to count and roll all the pennies. Challenge them to convert the amount to dollars and cents. Invite children to estimate and measure how much the pennies weigh altogether. Get your students involved in deciding where to donate the proceeds. You will all be surprised at how pennies add up!
— Bob Krech, Dutch Neck School, Princeton Junction, NJ