Who Might Benefit From Team-Building Exercises?

I've always used team-building activities in my classroom. My dad was a football coach. Of course team building was important to him! I've taught theatre to children. Yes, we used team-building exercises as part of our program. In fact, I've been in a lot of plays and musicals. (Yes, I sing and dance, in my spare time.) We often start each rehearsal with a team-building activity. 

Team-building exercises can benefit a wide range of groups across various contexts: 

Nonprofit Organizations: Teams working within nonprofit organizations can use team building exercises to enhance cohesion, increase motivation, and align efforts toward achieving the organizations mission.

Educational Institutions: Student groups, faculty teams, or administrative staff within schools and universities can benefit from team building exercises to foster a positive learning environment, enhance teamwork skills, and improve academic outcomes.

Healthcare Teams: Healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses, and support staff, can benefit from team building exercises to improve patient care, strengthen interdepartmental relationships, and reduce workplace stress.

Sports Teams: Athletic teams, whether amateur or professional, can use team building exercises to enhance teamwork, trust, and communication among teammates, leading to improved performance on the field or court.

Community Groups: Volunteer organizations, neighborhood associations, or community service groups can utilize team building exercises to strengthen relationships, increase engagement, and improve collective problem-solving abilities.

Project-Based Teams: Teams working on specific projects, whether temporary or ongoing, can use team building exercises to establish clear roles and responsibilities, improve coordination, and boost morale throughout the project lifecycle.

Family or Social Groups: Even informal groups such as families, friends or social clubs can benefit from team building activities to strengthen bonds, improve communication, and create memorable shared experiences.

Overall, any group that relies on collaboration, communication, and mutual support to achieve common goals can benefit from team building exercises tailored to their specific needs and dynamics.

So, as classroom teachers, how can we help build these important life skills?

We build these skills with team building activitiies!

Try these: 60 Team Building Games and Activities to Build Classroom Community 

or try these blog posts for more information about team building:

Why encourage team building in the elementary classroom?

Six Ways to Integrate Team Building into Your Curriculum

How do you encorporate team building activities into your classroom?

Ten Activities to Keep Them Engaged!

As elementary teachers, one of our biggest challenges is to keep our students engaged in the learning process!

Capturing the attention of the students is not always easy. But children are naturally curious and have that infectious enthusiasm. Here are ten ways to help capture their attention, making learning fun and memorable!

Books!

1. 

2. 
   

3. The right books can capture their attention and their hearts! I am committed to reading at least one picture book (or a chapter) to my students every day. Sometimes the book is related to something I'm teaching, and sometimes it is just to bring out the joy in books. See the image for a link to 10 of my favorites!

Educational Games!

1. 
   

2. Integrating educational games into your lessons makes learning more enjoyable. Whether it's math bingo, spelling races, or science jeopardy, games provide a hands-on approach to learning and reinforce important concepts. Plus, they're fun, which means children will want to play them over and over! See the image for more about learning games:

3. 
   

4. 
   
   
   Hands-On Science Experiments!

1. 
   

   Bring science to life by conducting simple, hands-on experiments. From creating a volcano eruption to exploring the properties of magnets, these activities not only make science more tangible but also stimulate students' natural curiosity. These monthly sets are a great source of science experiments:

2. 
   
   
   Themed Days!

3. 
4. 
   
5. As much as children need consistency and routine, they also need novelty. Infuse excitement into the classroom by organizing themed days. Whether it's a historical era, a cultural celebration, or a scientific exploration, themed days allow students to delve deeply into a topic and make connections across different subjects. See the image for more about novelty.
6. 

   
   

   Outdoor Learning!

1. Take the classroom outdoors! Plan nature walks, scavenger hunts, or even simple math games on the playground. The change of scenery can rejuvenate both students and teachers, making learning a breath of fresh air. See the image to read more about getting them outdoors

Integrate the Arts!

1. Incorporate the arts into your lessons to tap into students' creativity. Whether it's drawing, painting, crafting, or even singing or drama, the arts not only reinforce lessons but also provide a creative outlet for self-expression.

2. 
   

3. Guest Speakers or Virtual Tours!

1. Arrange for guest speakers to share their expertise or take virtual field trips. These experiences broaden students' perspectives and connect classroom learning to the real world, making lessons more relevant and engaging. Parents of students can be a great resource for guest speakers, and virtual field trips are easily accessible through Google!

Classroom Puzzles and Brain Teasers!

Stimulate critical thinking by introducing puzzles and brain teasers. These activities encourage problem-solving skills and perseverance, while also making learning enjoyable and challenging. Don't they just love word finds and crossword puzzles?

Role-Playing and Drama!

1. Incorporate role-playing and drama activities to make learning more immersive. Whether reenacting historical events or performing a play related to the curriculum, these activities allow students to embody what they've learned. See the image for more about dramatics in the classroom.

Student-Led Projects!

1. Empower students by allowing them to take the lead in projects. Whether it's creating a class newspaper, organizing a STEM project, or planning a cultural exhibition, student-led projects foster collaboration, responsibility, and a sense of accomplishment.

What do you think of these ten ideas?

What could you add to this list?

Six Ways to Use Seasonal and Holiday Printables

Seasonal and holiday printables are a real time saver! 

Plus, they bring valuable skills practice. 

Oh yes, and the children LOVE them!

Here are 6 ways I have used these in my classroom:

1.  Leave for a substitute teacher.

This is why I originally created seasonal printables. If I know I'm going to be out, I will make packets for my substitute to use for each of the subject areas. It's easy to differentiate both up and down. 

• For an extra challenge, write in an extra challenge. (Example: in math, you can ask these students to write story problems with 2-digit numbers, then solve them!) 
• To differentiate for more challenged students: give them fewer pages, or circle only some of the items for them to complete. (This is a trick I use all the time for both classwork and for homework. They know to only do the problems I have circled. If they finish early, they can attempt the other ones, but there's no "have to!" I am strategic when I circle the "have to")

2. Leave for when someone has to cover your class for a meeting.

You know those days: You'll have to leave your classroom with someone else. You don't want to leave complicated directions, especially if you don't even know who will be covering your class. But you want to leave meaningful skills practice that your students will enjoy. 

3. Use on a day you just don't have the time to prepare.

We all know these days as well! Perhaps you were at school late the night before with parent conferences. Perhaps you've put in lots of hours preparing report cards. Maybe your child was up sick last night. Maybe you were up sick last night. There are a million reasons for running out of time to plan ahead. Seasonal printables to the rescue! Kids love them, and they'll make your life so much easier!

4. Use for independent practice.

Sometimes they just need something quiet to work on while you're working with reading or math groups. Seasonal printables will give them extra practice with their literacy and/ or math skills while letting them have a little fun. They really do enjoy the work a bit more if it has an element of fun!

5. Use for guided practice.

Your lower-abled students don't want to miss out on the fun of these seasonal pages! I've been known to use some of these printables during reading and/ or math groups for skills that are just a little beyond the abilities of my cherubs. (It might be the same thing some of the others are working on independently!) With a little bit of help, they'll feel a great sense of pride!

6. Use as partner work.

There are a lot of ways to partner up the students and a lot of good reasons to do this! Sometimes the partners would be relatively equal in abilities. This is a great way to get them talking! Yes, sometimes that's a good thing, isn't it? When they're talking through how they get their answers, that discussion internalizes learning! That's a good thing!

Sometimes it's ok to partner a stronger student with a weaker student, but this must be done very carefully. There is never a reason for a student to feel inferior to another. But with the right combination of students, some great conversations could happen, and they can both could learn from each other!

Here is a collection of Printables that could help you through the whole year: No Prep Activities and Worksheets for the Whole Year

Looking for some Science and Social Studies Printables? Try these! Science and Social Studies Activities for the Year!

What are your ideas for using seasonal and holiday printables?

Sunflower Learning Fun!

Seriously, sunflowers? 

Well, what makes learning fun in your classroom? 

It's usually something the kiddos are excited about, isn't it?

Well, it's sunflower time right now, and that's what I'm using to keep the enthusiasm going for learning!

Here in New England, it's harvest time! That means everywhere you look, there are pumpkins, scarecrows, cornstalks, apples, and yes, sunflowers! The biggest country fairs of the year are among us! Since they're excited by their surroundings, let's work with it! After all, you've got to have a gimmick, don't you?

(Flashback to a post I did ages ago, called Gotta Get a Gimmick.)

Well, my gimmick for this week will be sunflowers, since that's what they're excited about!

Seriously, sunflowers are just the "vessel," but there's some real learning that's going to happen!

Mental Math Game: Adding and Subtracting Tens and Hundreds With a Sunflower Theme

This is one of my most popular math games! It's an important skill, (mental math with tens and hundreds) it's easy to differentiate, and it's so much fun, they'll want to play it repeatedly!

Sunflower Informational Text Mini-Book

Then, of course, there's a fun mini-booklet to read! Although I'm sure you have several books about sunflowers in your classroom, don't they just love to have a book they can hold in their own hands! Plus, these printable mini-booklets are perfect to use in reading groups, since the students can write in them! ("Underline the short a words in yellow." or "How many times can you find the word seeds on page 1?")

Fun Facts About Sunflowers: Boom Learning Digital Task Cards

src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyPABTCAMgKSTUcWieiAJTbL7fSgHANHBHsqC1RshrxWZiXYLzF7Y3XiaS76jA9RVIYvn_j3S_PQnxvQso8FyXUXnS1_6q8i3yH8jKYc6Qj3_3WAAHz3uZiMjBnnRF5r957CLZMnUMGnoAe8Lp8pnhULqpqLEHjwGZGMOjksr5YEoj2Er3x_ywHxoOIvw2/w640-h360/Slide6.JPG" title="Explore this image for a link to this fun digital resource!" width="640" />
These boom learning cards are a perfect accompaniment to the hands-on booklets! Almost all the questions come from the booklets! Plus, the more they play, the more they'll remember!

Sunflower LIfe Cycle Activities, Crafts, and Printables

Oh, and did I mention there's a bundle?

Sunflower MIni-Bundle

I always put a huge discount on my bundles! Enjoy!

I also have other seasonal life cycles!

You can find the autumn bundle HERE.

Oh, yes, and there are books! Here are a couple of my favorites!

Sunflower House by Eve Bunting

A Sunflower's LIfe Cycle  by Mary R. Dunn

Here's a fun one for your budding artists:

Van Gogh and the Sunflowers by Lawrence Anholt

Not specifically sunflowers, but I'm a huge fan of Gail Gibbons!

From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons

Some other ideas for celebrating sunflowers:

• Roast some sunflower seeds!
• Plant some sunflower seeds outside your school! (Yes, this needs to be done in the spring, but last year's students are still watching the ones they planted, and this year's students will want to continue this tradition in the spring!
• Google some other recipes that use sunflower seeds. (There are plenty!)
• Make a craft with sunflower seeds. (Again, google!)
• Write a story (fiction or non-fiction) about sunflowers!
• Estimate a sunflower's seeds. Or just a jar of sunflower seeds.
• Measure the heads of the sunflowers in your sunflower garden and graph them.
• I'll bet you can think of plenty more ways to enjoy sunflowers!