In my classroom, all of my desks are in groups/teams. I can’t stand to have them any other way. Because we are learning about money, the teams all have a money related name. When I first introduced the “money teams” they had to earn tallies for their teams individually. We only did that for a couple of weeks.
Here are the team signs I put at the front of each team.
I put them on with Velcro so I can change the team names, depending on what we are learning about.
The money team names are still up, because I still use them to call the students to the rug or to line up at the door. However, instead of earning tallies per team, we are now earning pennies as a class. They are trying to earn an extra recess and they have to pay $1.00 for it. Every time they get 10 pennies, I trade it in for a dime and put it on top. My students know exactly how much money they have and how much more they need. They also know that they need 10 pennies for a dime and 10 dimes for a dollar. This management program makes the learning more meaningful for the students, because they really want the extra recess.
It’s just one more way that I “trick” them into learning!
(FYI: I put magnets on the back of the money so it is always on the board)
This management strategy would work great with quarters and nickels.
I have also done it with shapes and tallies.
How do you integrate learning into classroom management?
