Teaching Routines / Give One, Get One
Give One, Get One
Write down your own ideas first, then go round the room trading — one of yours for one of theirs, with every person you meet. You cannot trade what you have not got, which is why the writing comes first.
A timer for each stage, with what the children do in each · free to try · no sign-up
The sheet it prints — optional
What is give one, get one?
Give one, get one is a structure in which every child first writes their own ideas on a sheet, then circulates, exchanging exactly one idea with each person they meet — giving one of theirs and writing down one of the other person's, with a name beside it.
The economics are the teaching. Because you can only get by giving, a child who wrote nothing in the first stage has nothing to trade with, and they discover that in about ten seconds. It is a far more effective argument for doing the individual thinking than anything a teacher can say.
How do you run it, step by step?
- Write yours (about three minutes). Silent, individual. Aim for four or five, but any is enough to start trading.
- Trade (about five minutes). Find somebody, give one, get one, write theirs down with their name. Move on. Five or six exchanges.
- Best of them (about two minutes). Which collected idea would you never have thought of yourself? That question is where the reflection is.
Ten minutes. Writing the name beside each idea matters — it makes the exchange real, and it means you can ask a child to go and check something with the person they got it from.
How is it different from a class brainstorm?
In a whole-class brainstorm, the ideas come from about six children and everybody writes down the same list. Here, thirty children each end up with a different collection, assembled by them, from people they chose to talk to.
It is also self-levelling: a child who found the first stage hard can still collect five good ideas, and a child who found it easy has to explain theirs five times, which is its own kind of practice.
Names next to the ideas was the small change that did the most. Before that, children collected ideas anonymously and half of them wrote down things they had not understood, because there was no cost to it. Once the name goes in the margin, I can say “go and ask Priya what she meant”, and they know I might — so they ask at the point of trading instead. The other thing I had to fix: the strong writers finished their own list in a minute and started trading while half the class was still on their first idea, which meant the early traders got the best stock and the late ones got leftovers. Now nobody stands up until the timer goes, no exceptions. With Year 6 I add a rule that you may not trade with the same person twice, which sounds obvious and is not — without it, two friends will happily trade the same two ideas back and forth for five minutes.
What usually goes wrong?
- Trading starts before everybody has stock, so late finishers get the leftovers. Nobody stands until the timer.
- Ideas are collected without being understood. Names in the margin, and the credible threat of being asked.
- The same pairs trade repeatedly. Ban repeat partners.
- The reflection is skipped, so it is a collection exercise rather than a thinking one.
Which year groups is it for?
| Year group | US grade | What to change | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
| Years 2–3 | Grades 1–2 | Two ideas each, three trades, no names. | 6 min |
| Years 4–5 | Grades 3–4 | Four or five ideas, names in the margin, five trades. | 10 min |
| Year 6 and up | Grades 5–8 | No repeat partners, and they must be able to explain any collected idea. | 12 min |
Compared with the other collecting structures
- Stand Up, Share Up is the lighter version — same movement, nothing written, no obligation to bring stock.
- Quiz & Swap trades questions rather than ideas, so there is a right answer.
- Snowball narrows a set of ideas down instead of widening each child's collection.
Free to try · no sign-up · the sheet is optional
Written by a practising primary school teacher, and part of the free-to-try Teaching Routines set on Sage Teachers. Last checked August 2026. Everything here is free to try.