I'm getting ready to start my 18th year teaching and my classroom has been many things over the years. I've had a Star Wars room design for the last 5 years or more and I was ready for a change, but never had the final push to recreate my room. Well, that final push came when we heard the news at the end of last year that our school was going to be painted and EVERYTHING needed to be taken down and all the furniture needed to be stacked into what I affectionately dubbed "music mountain" in the middle of the room. Out goes Star Wars and in comes Harry Potter. My daughter and I read all the Harry Potter books together and I just fell in love with the whole series. On top of that my best friend had a Harry Potter room and she moved out of state a year ago and frankly I think it'll remind me of our awesome times when we worked together. So all in all Harry Potter has some awesome feelings and good vibes attached to it for me and I'm ready to be surrounded by all that all day at work.
Today I'm just going to explain how I use teams in my classroom. I started using teams with my kids when I first started the whole Star Wars theme in my room. If you're interested in those Star Wars teams you can check them out in my Teachers Pay Teachers store
here. This worked so great for team building and positive reinforcement in my classroom. I helped teach the kids not only responsibility, but also accountability. Needless to say I've become a HUGE fan of the team system.
I teach elementary music K-5 at my school - I use these jobs at the team system for grades 1-5. Depending on the class I may start with K in the last quarter of the year just to get them use to looking at the chart and figuring out where to sit. Everything I have is color coded in addition to the team names so they know they are the Red Team instead of the Gryffindor Team. Here's a run down of how I operate in my music room. It can seem a little complicated at first, but it totally works - I promise!
"Where do we sit?"
In my classroom the kids sit on two risers - which, if you are not familiar, is essentially six stair steps. It seemed only natural to divide those stairs into teams when I started up the whole Star Wars thing. Well with my Star Wars - it was relatively easy to divide into six teams - Harry Potter however seems to naturally have 4 teams or four Houses. This is where I really did a lot of thinking. Here's what I came up with. Each student in the class is going to be randomly assigned to one of the four Houses - Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or Slytherin. Those four teams will be assigned to the bottom two rows of each riser. On my door I have the team jobs hanging up with a circle marked with each house. When the students enter, they look at the job chart, find their team name, and sit on the corresponding riser. Here's where the top rows come in. Two students from each team or House will be chosen as prefects and get to wear fancy badges. So 2 students from the 2 houses on each riser makes 4 students total. That puts 4 students on the top of each riser. At the end of each class I choose a Head Boy or Girl. The Head Boy or Girl will also sit on the top riser during the next class. If their jobs are on the left side of the door they sit on the left riser and if their jobs are on the right side of the door they sit on the right riser - easy! (sometimes...ha) There is also a Headmaster's Chair - which is just a tall chair that sits between the risers. I'll tell more about that further down in the post.
"What do we do?"
Who doesn't love a little help in the classroom right? My kiddos have LOVED having some jobs around the classroom. It was hard for me to get used to not doing everything myself, if fact the kids were always fussing at me for doing their job for them - ha! I'm slowly getting the hang of relinquishing a tad bit control. My six jobs are: Teacher Helpers, Compliment Crew, Supply Helpers, Cleanup Crew, Line Leaders, and Door & Light Helpers. These signs stay static on my door - only the team circles move. The top two signs are always Teacher Helper and Compliment Crew , which makes them the prefects. The bottom riser closest to the door and light switch is always the Door & Light Helper - the step closest to the supply cabinet is the Supply Helper - etc. You get the idea - organize the teams where it makes sense to you.
Teacher Helpers
As I said above the Teacher Helper Team is always a prefect team. My Teacher Helper team is in charge of taking attendance for the day, for general help I need around the classroom - taking things to the office, getting bandaids from the safety bag, passing things out, etc., and for keeping a record of prefects, Head Boy and Girl, and Head Masters. I have three binders where they will keep track of prefects, Head Boy and Girl, and Head Masters. The kids have to find their class and mark the right boxes for the right kids. Prefects are just checked with an X - but Head Boy or Girl and Head Master will need to be marked with the date. This is just a great way of keeping up with who has already had a turn. I make sure every kid on the team has had a chance to be prefect throughout the year. Prefects are just chosen at random. New prefects are chosen each class. Head Masters are chosen by the Compliment Crew - more about that later. Head Boy or Girl is chosen by me at the end of each class. I choose the person who has done a great job that day - they will receive a Positive Reinforcement Card to take home, be the line leader for that class period, and will get to sit on the top riser for their team the following class. That's why the date is important. I see my kids every 3 classes - and we just don't ever remember who got the card last time - so if the date is marked by their name - it helps keep us all on track. My positive reinforcement cards are available in my Teacher Pay Teachers store - here. My data sheets are available here for FREE! You will need one of each of these for every class.
Here are some links to download these data sheets FREE!
Compliment Crew
The Compliment Crew - also a Prefect team - has one job which seems easy, but sometimes it can be tricky for them. Their job is to choose a person at the end of class who they think deserves a compliment - and then give that person a compliment in front of the class. The compliment can be for anything that happened during music class - something they did in class, something they said, their effort level - literally anything from class. In the past I opened it up to physical compliments, but then they all just started saying - "We like your shirt," or something like that - ha! My hope for this job is to get kids used to noticing the good in someone and expressing it out loud. It's harder than it sounds for a lot of the kids, which is why it's one of my favorite jobs. Whoever they choose to compliment will become the Head Master for the next class and sit in the special chair. They will also get to be the end of the line for the current class period. A record of this is kept by the Teacher Helpers in the Head Master binder. After the first half of the year I let the Compliment Crew look in the Head Master binder at who has never been Head Master and have them choose someone who hasn't had a turn - by the end of the year every student in the class will have a turn to be Head Master. Every kid should have the opportunity to be complimented by their peers.
Supply Helpers
The rest of the team jobs are super easy. Often times even though I teach music, we are doing some type of craft or project in class. Each team has their own supply bucket which contains all sorts of crafty goodies. The Supply Helpers are in charge of getting the buckets for the team and making sure the buckets are organized before they are put away. The Supply Helpers are also in charge of helping pass out instruments, scarves, beanbags, or any other items we might be using in class. If we are using Orff instruments and it's a big job getting everything out, I use my Teacher Helpers as backup as well.
Cleanup Crew
Kind of obvious, but the Cleanup Crew is in charge of...... cleaning up! At the end of each class the Cleanup Crew does a final check of the room and make sure it's returned to it's former glory. Shelves straightened up, trash off the floor, chairs put back in their place, etc.
Line Leaders
Another obvious job. At the end of the class, the Line Leader team gets to line up first behind the Head Boy or Girl. Easy peasy.
Door & Light Helpers
One of my pet peeves in the class is having kids sprint to the door every time someone knocks. We have locked doors at all times, so there is a lot of knocking sometimes. Having this be a team job really cuts down on the arguing about whose turn it is to help. Door helpers need to make sure to follow safety protocol of checking to make sure we know the person at the door before opening it - a sad reflection on our society in my opinion. The light helpers just help turn the lights on or off depending on what we need. The kids on that team will have to work together to take turns without disturbing the rest of the class - perhaps the trickiest part of the job.
Wrap it up already....
Well, that's about it as far as teams go! It seems like a lot, but it really runs like a well oiled machine once the kiddos are involved. They take pride in their jobs and they absolutely love helping. Using jobs in my classroom has helped with behavior management, class morale, the cleanliness of my room, and respect for classroom supplies and instruments. As I opened with, when the kids had more responsibility, they definitely gained more accountability. I hope this explanation has helped you understand how I use teams in my classroom. You can download my Harry Potter Themed Team Bundle which includes the team signs, House Markers, and Supply Bucket Markers, and prefect badges from my Teachers Pay Teachers store - here.
As you continue across the front of my room you can see the Harry Potter Signs and Symbols Poster on top of my white board. You can also see where I post my PBIS posters.
This is where I keep the majority of my large drums - though they are pretty much scattered throughout the room. Behind the curtains are my guitar storage, and the colorful baskets hold my non-pitched percussion instruments. Behind my time period posters I keep my story books, CDs, and small manipulative and other classroom odds and ends.
Around the corner I have my three binders where we keep track of all the special things that go on in our classroom. You can read more about that in my blog post about classroom teams - here. Above the piano I have my Harry Potter solfege posters. I love having these huge windows and large amounts of storage in my room - but I am lacking some wall space. I made some good use of paper clips here - and turned my blinds into a make shift bulletin board.
On the side of my shelf next to the risers I have my Orff Instrument posters. This is also where I keep my Orff Instruments, movement props, textbooks, and extra art supplies.
