Hello there!
Wow has May been hec.tic. for
me. We still have about 6 weeks to go,
but the kids and I are definitely feeling the end of the year fever. The kids more so, I think it’s gonna be a
long 6 weeks.
Anyway, I have seen a picture
or two floating around on Pinterest featuring Team Points. I’ve used team points since my first year of
teaching, and I thought I’d share how it goes in my room.
First let me say, I’ve done
team points as a behavior management tool since my first year of teaching. It works so well, and is so easy to
implement, that I don’t see myself ever NOT doing team points. I sit my kiddos in groups from the very first
day of school. I usually do 4 groups,
but I’ve done five and six, and also three super groups (about 7-8 kids per
groups). I don’t find students to be
more chatty in groups versus rows at all, and I don’t like the amount of space
rows take up. I start them in groups
from the beginning, which results in one less procedure to teach later in the
year.
I assign each team a color
name at the beginning of the year, but their names do change throughout the
school-year. Their names often change
with what we’re learning. We’ve had the
Polar Team during habitats, the Verb team (after learning many parts of
speeches), and the cube or cone team during geometry. However, the end of the year team names are
best. I let them pick their own names. I
don’t give them any rules, just that their name needs to be school appropriate,
and everyone gets a say. This year, three out of four of my groups decided
quickly and unanimously. My fourth group
just couldn’t compromise. So, I let them
each contribute a word to their team name.
And it turned out really strange…but they thought it was a riot. So even when the “naming ceremony” doesn’t
work out… it works out!
I use team points for many
different reasons. One of the best ways
I use points is to encourage speedy un-packing, clean-up, and preparation. Sometimes my kids dawdle. Like taking 8 minutes to tear out a workbook
page dawdle. The minute I offer up team
points for the first team to have their materials ready, it’s like I gave them
a Red Bull IV. They can suddenly move at
the speed of light! So, team points
definitely help my classroom run more efficiently in that manner.
I use team points for healthy
competition. “I just love how the Purple
Team is sitting up straight. I am going
to give them 3 points”. Presto! Every student in my class suddenly has the
posture of a finishing school student.
If you really want your
students to do something all you have to do is up the ante. I usually give 3 points for the 1st
team who does what I ask, then 2, then 1.
The last team sometimes will get a point as well, but not usually. When I really want them to do something
really quickly, I say, “The first team who is ready gets 8 points!!!!!” These kids will move like they have never
moved before. And what they don’t get is
that it’s all pretty relative, because 2nd place will get 7 points
and so on and so forth!
The winning team gets a star at the end of the day. Once a team recieves 5 stars, they get lunch with me. In the eyes of a 2nd Grader, there is nothing better than that.
Besides team points and team
names, every team needs a captain. Team
captains often record their team points on the board, or collect materials. The team captain title just rotates through
the group in a clock-wise position. Each
morning, there is a new team captain. At
the beginning of the year, there was a lot of confusion over whose turn it was,
so I made Team Captain signs that they keep on their pencil boxes, and hand off
each morning. They're nothing too fancy, but they get the job done, and they get it done well!
I strongly encourage using
team points! Even at this point in the
year, they’re still a saving grace of mine!
Do you use team points, or something similar?
Halle
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