Theme - Sports Theme

I teach fifth grade. I have used a sports theme for the past two years now, and love it. I try to focus on teamwork, so the theme fits in very well.

Beginning of the year board: I give each student a soccer ball piece of paper and they have to write a few goals that they hope to achieve in fifth grade. Then on a green bulletin board, I staple a net to look like a goal and put their soccer balls on there. I title in Aiming for our Fifth grade goals.

I have two sayings in my room: Teamwork Works and There is No I in team. I have a pencil on each of their desks the first day, that says Teamwork Works.

On the Door, I put Welcome to Mrs. R's Team.

Jobs-Special Teams, I put each child's name on a foot ball, and the name of the class job is on a goal post.

Reading Corner is called Reading Arena, each reading group gets to vote on a sports team name, ex: Yankees, Bulls, Blackhawks.

Reading Centers are called Reading Dugouts.

Have a ball on your birthday- I write their birthdays on various sports balls.

Spelling- I created a baseball diamond and named it Homerun spelling. If students earned a 100% on their test they have a baseball on the Home Plate, 1 wrong - 1st base, 2 wrong- 2nd place, etc. Then when a child earns 15 homeruns, they earn a baseball pen. Works great.

Behavior Management- I call it Swoosh. Similar to the other poster, but I keep a little scoreboard looking grid. When the class makes a basket they receive two tallies, when the teacher earns a basket I receive two tallies. If the students have the most tallies at the end of the week, they earned a Fun Friday Recess. If the teacher has the most tallies at the end of the week, they don't earn a Fun Friday Recess. I usually have a perfectly behaved class on Fridays :-).

I know I am missing somethings, but if I remember, I'll post again.

I also do a sports theme in my 2nd grade classroom.

I do All-Star Behavior, which is similar to the stop light or card pulling system. The students earn fouls that are posted on their basketball around the room. I also have used football helmets and penalty flags for 1st down, 2nd down, etc. Another teacher in my school used 3 strikes and baseball.

My job board is a field goal post. Jobs are listen on the uprights. The horizontal bar says "Teamwork." I use clothespins with the students names to point to their job for the day.

I made an ongoing game for the whole year called Football Frenzy. We had set teams and used this game for all subjects. Students would draw a card that said 5 yards, 15 yards, fumble, interception, etc. I then asked them a question. If they were correct, their team moved that many yards. If not, their team got a down.I even had a nerf ball that they could throw through the goalposts to score an extra point. The kids really loved this game. I'm thinking of adapting it to a basketball game this year. We also play spelling baseball.

This year, my reading corner is going to be "The Dugout" I bought a green rug to look like turf and bought blow up baseball cushions from Oriental Trading Company for the kids to sit on around the room (a dozen was $6.95) They also have basketball, football, and soccer cushions. They were very cheap. I also bought a blow up chair ($4.95) that looks like a glove that I will use as my "Author's Chair" when a student wants to share something that they have written.

I read somewhere about Pigskin Geography. Students have football helmets for their chosen team posted on a US map. Each week, they have to find out how many points their team won or lost by and which direction and distance they had to travel for their game. You could adapt this idea to any grade level. One teacher said that she used the local football team with her first graders each week as a class activity. I'm thinking of adapting it with my 2nd graders to possible have them do it individually as well. Football season could be a warm up for basketball season, whenthey would have to do it more times a week The kids could also get familiar with finding scores on the internet or in the newspaper. They could keep a journal about it.

Hope some of these ideas help. I'm still working on more for this year, so if I get any more, I'll try to post them.

Kristin

This theme is a "ball!" Here are some ideas that I have seen:

Hang team pennants from ceiling or on the wall. You could have your students design their own pennant or sports t-shirt for display or nametags.

"5th Grade is a BALL!" Write students names on different types of balls.

"Reaching our Goals!" Have students write goals down on a football or basketball or soccer and have the balls heading towards the appropriate goal.

"Kicking the year off in 5th grade!"

There's still more, but I just went blank.

I am planning on a sports theme for my 2nd grade class and have the following planned. Some are not definite, but I am tossing them around.

Reading area: Reading Zone-put goalposts
Word Wall: A "hoop"ful of words or Catch a word
Student Work: Winning Work, or Something to Cheer About, or Cheer-ful Work, or Wall of Fame
News/Weekly Info: The Dugout
Behavior: Swinging for Good Behavior
Writing: Sliding into Writing (Baseball bases with steps)

Hope this helps. Some (most) are pretty corny! :o

I am also using a sports theme in my classroom. I also found a lot of really good ideas posted in the Archives, and also on the Bulletin Board and Theme Board. There are some good postings from back in June. In addition, I have made pennants with a month written on each one. I punched small holes in the ends and tied yarn onto them so they would look more like real ones. I then wrote in the kids names and birthdates on the appropriate months.
I've also used yellow poster board to make a large bat. On the bat I have written "Hit the Books!" This hangs over my library area. I plan to have the kids write the titles of books they have read throughout the year on baseballs which we will hang either from the ceiling or on the wall behind the library area.
Good luck with your theme planning.

Hi Jennie,

I teach 5th grade and have used the Sports Theme for three years. I love it.

Our theme is "There is no I in Team"

I have that hanging on my front wall along with pennants I made with each child's name on it.

Some of my subjects:

Homerun Spellers-Baseball diamond with baseballs with students' names on them. If they score a 100% on tests, they get a baseball sticker on a chart. 15 stickers they earn a baseball pen.

Reading Dugouts- These are my reading centers. Our reading library also has a pair of wooden bleachers that my dad made with sport bean bag chairs.

Writing- Writing Arena

I also used the homeworkopoly and made a homework Sportsopoly. The students really like this.

Our behavior system is set up with bowling pins, good behavior gets pins taken down to try to get a strike.

Every week I give out clean desk awards- "You hit a Grand Slam with good behavior" and they get a baby ruth.

Jobs: Special Teams- I wrote the jobs on mini goal posts and their names are on small footballs that I changes.

Birthday- Have a ball on your birthday their birthdays our written on various sport balls

I can't think of any others that I use. Oriental Trading magazine has tons of sport stuff. I purchased a lot of blow up balls and bats and hung those around my classroom.

HOpe this helps.

I am also doing a sports theme. I may have posted these ideas already on this baord somewhere
so I apologize if I am being repetitive. I'm getting some green carpet that looks like a baseball field for my reading area. I found some blow up chairs at K'Mart that are shaped like baseball gloves. I'm going to sit that over there. The title for my reading center is Field of Dreams. On my lunch count board it says, Look
at What They Are Serving for Lunch. I put a tennis racket up there with tennis balls around it. By our weekly schedule it says Team Schedule. I use Writer's Workshop in my class
by the Writing Center it says, "Dive into Writer's Workshop!" I have a poster of a diver there. Finally, I have different types of balls outside of my room with the students names on it. It has a banner above it that says "We Are Having A Ball in Fourth Grade!" I was having trouble with my pen pal board. I finally came up with a hockey board that says, " Check Out Our
New Pen Pals." I'm sorry this is so long. I hope it helps.

I had a sports theme last year. I had a large bulletin board that said "Give it your best shot" with a child's basketball hoop (Purchased at sporting supply) attached to the board. On the board I had basketballs with kids' names which I used to add stickers to for our reading contest. For our class jobs, I used the heading "teamwork" and had the jobs written on construction paper baseball bats -- the children's names were written on baseball mitts. For our good work board, I used the heading "Get a Kick out of learning" with a soccor ball border.

I am doing a sports theme in my 1st grade room this year. Here are a few ideas for baseball... On parent night we always have a "wish" list with items that we need for the classroom such as markers, paper plates, etc. Label a poster size baseball glove with "Pitch In", put class needs on cut-outs of baseballs and have parents take a baseball and return the donated item to the class. We also participate in the "Character Counts" program at our school, so for my bulletin board I chalked a cute baseball boy with his glove in the air and it will be titled - Get "Caught" With Good Character. When another student sees someone demonstrating one of our character traits, I will write their name on a baseball and put it on the board. My students are seated in cooperative groups, I used clipart to make small baseball fields and each time I see the group being good listeners, being prepared, etc. I will move a small baseball around the bases on their field. I will use tallys for homeruns. At the end of the day the winning team will choose a treat from our treat basket. Hope these ideas are helpful!

I also have a sports theme in my 7/8 classroom. I found many of my ideas on here last summer!!

**Citizenship Awards (MVP's)
**Classroom Library (Field of Dreams...sports pillows and green carpeting..)
**Get in the Game...READ!
**We Make a Great TEAM!!
**8th Grade All Stars
**Newsletter (All Star News)
**Jobs (Teamwork)
**Keep a Winning Attitude
**Kicking off for a Great Year!
**Give it Your Best Shot!
**The teacher stores have a ton of sports posters

Good Luck!! I'm sure I could think of more, if you need it!!