How do you maintain great classroom management in December?
Classroom management can be tough anytime of year, but classroom management can be especially tough right before a big break. Tinsel Teams are a fantastic (and inexpensive!) way to maintain great classroom management while also adding some fun and excitement in your classroom leading up to the winter break! How many teachers do you know that don’t love fun, inexpensive, and great classroom management?! It’s a win, win, win!
Classroom management can be difficult anytime you’re coming up on a break. We always find the month before summer break and the month before Christmas to be the trickiest times to keep up your high expectations because let’s be honest, we are all excited about the break, too! While we know this year is unique and things can’t be done the same way they’ve been done before, Tinsel Teams can still be done in a COVID friendly way!
What are Tinsel Teams?
Tinsel Teams are a way for students to work together in teams in a low stakes competition for best classroom behavior, work ethic, etc. Typically, my students would be seated in table groups as teams, but for COVID purposes, this year students would just be assigned a team at random. For the sake of simplicity, we will explain what Tinsel Teams look like in a normal year. Then, you’ll find all of our COVID friendly modifications all together at the end of the post.
We always have a small crate (like this) in the middle of our tables that can be used to hold general supplies. During the Tinsel Teams competition, we decorate each table’s crate with a different style/color of tinsel. If you don’t already have the table-top sized crates for your room, they are a great addition. They are super inexpensive and can be used for a wide variety of things throughout the year! The holes in the crates make it super easy to weave tinsel in and out around the crate. You can either just wrap the top of the crate or the entire thing! You want each table to have a different color/style of tinsel. This will be their team identity!
A Fun Competition and Great Classroom Management = Win, Win!
As with most anything, getting buy-in from your students from the very beginning will make your competition more successful! There are three easy ways to do this.
Step 1: Allow the students to create their own teams of 3-4 students per team. We let our teams sit together for the month of December. Of course we always have the discussion of including everyone. If you feel your students may not handle this responsibility well you can make the teams for them.
Step 2: Once teams have been established, allow them to pick the tinsel that will represent their team. I love how inexpensive tinsel is, yet it really adds some festivitiy to your room! I always have a few extra on hand so the last team to choose doesn’t get “stuck” with the tinsel no one else wanted.
Step 3: Have the teams brainstorm a list of positive behaviors and habits that would be worthy of earning a point. Trust us, they will come up with some doozies! We always include one called, “Teacher’s Choice.” I’m sure you know why! Today’s freebie includes a brainstorming sheet for your students!
How do you track the competition?
Once your students know the expectations, the competition can begin! Anytime a team demonstrates a positive behavior choice, mark a tally on the Point Poster. Be sure to tell the class why they are getting a point. “Red team, you are earning a point because all of you have your math journal out ready to learn.” During the first day or so give out points freely! You really want to use the first days of the competition to encourage those positive behaviors! We always tell our teams that if they ask for a point it will not be given.
At the end of the day determine the totals and announce the winner! We have a basket of small individually wrapped Christmas candies. Some of the candies we typically get are Hershey’s Kisses, candy canes, Candy Bells, RM Palmer Santa Mix (available at Wal-Mart), mints, etc. The members of the team with the most points get to choose one piece to eat at the end of the day.
We suggest having the Point Poster laminated and using Vis-a-vis wet erase markers for making tallies. This way it can be easily erased at the end of the day and used year after year.We also included a teacher point tracking sheet for you and a poster sized tracking sheet to display for the class in today’s freebie.
COVID Friendly Modifications:
- Instead of sitting with their teammates for the month, teams can be the students already sitting together at tables with dividers or in the same row.
- If you are using dividers, the tinsel can be draped on them.
- If students are not sitting together, designate a place where the names of the teams (Red, Silver, Gold, etc.) and the team members are listed.
- Make a bulletin board with the different types of tinsel to display the teams and points.
