One of the best things you can do for
your collaborative classroom is occasionally host team building activities.
Team
building activities are activities done for fun - no content required. Team
building activities strengthen the relationship between a group of students (a
class!) and help students communicate more effectively with one another.
Activities can be quick - 10min activities, or long whole class period
activities. I always make
sure students understand that comments made throughout the activity must be
positive. Students who berate each other, or act negatively sit out.
Here
are some of my favorite team building activities:
1)
Hula Hoop Hop
This
is one of my favorites! Students hold hands to form a circle. Place a hula hoop
between one set of students. Students then work together to get the hoop all
the way around the circle, holding hands the entire time. Occasionally I’ve timed students
and the next day students compared their classes time to that of other classes
mathematically.
2) Tic Tac Toe
Human
tic tac
toe is super easy, and super fast. Use tape (or paper) to lay out a tic tac
toe board on the ground. Divide
students into 2 groups – X’s and O’s. Groups switch off sending a student to
the board. Once a team has won the game, or once the game is tied, the game
begins again. To show which team they are on, students make an “X” or “O” with
their arms.
3) Rope Shapes
Bring
a long rope to class. Have each student grab a section of the rope. Then,
instruct students to create various shapes with the rope. Squares, rectangles, triangles,
pentagons, etc. This activity in a great way to give students practice being
group leaders. For each shape you can assign 2 (or 3) students to be the group
leaders, while the other students must quietly follow directions. Group leaders
instruct students on where they should move to help form the shape. This
activity can also be done with 2 groups of students and 2 pieces of rope.
4) Plastic Cup Tower
Divide students into groups of 5 or 6.
Give each group a stack of plastic cups. See which group can build the tallest
tower in a certain amount of time (2-3min is really fun!). This activity can be
done in less than 10min, or you can play once, then have students switch groups
and do it multiple times.
5) No Talking Line
Divide students into 2 groups. Then have
each group form a line without talking. The easiest lines to form is one where
students sort themselves by birthday. Another way is to have them sort
themselves alphabetically. Alphabetically is fun at the beginning of the year
when students are still learning each others names. They can use hand signs to
show letters or numbers, but no words. First group to form a line, wins!
5) Balloon Pass
Divide students into 2 groups. Each group should form a circle. Have each student bring two pencils (or pens) to the activity. Give each group a balloon. Have each group blow up the balloon. Then, have students pass the balloon around their group using only the pencils.
For more ideas, check out these Pinterest links: http://www.pinterest.com/4theloveofmath/team-building/
Do you have a favorite team building
activity? How do you incorporate team building within your classroom?
Leave a comment and let me know!
Clip Art from: Illumismart@ Teachers Pay Teachers, Ashley Hughes, Krista Wallden
Clip Art from: KG Fonts
Pictures from Kevin Lawver, Matthew Faltz
