A sports theme has endless possibilities, and stressing the "teamwork" aspect is a great way to get your students working together all year long. Here's a collection of ideas to help you get your own sports themed classroom started.
How about...
--Team Spirit!
--All-Star Team
--Ms. __________ Team
--Ms. __________ (Third) Grade Team
--There is No "I" in Team!
--Teamwork Works!
--Welcome to Ms. __________ Team
--We Make a Great Team!
I am attaching information I found in the ProTeacher archives connected to the TEAM theme. It might give you other ideas.
I bought sport theme stickers (the ones that are for scrap books) and then put magnets on the backs to use on my white board. They not only show school spirit, but are also useful! I purchased mine at the "local" Wal-Mart for $2.96 a card... the stickers come as a cheerleader, football player and baseball/softball player. I haven't seen a basketball player yet, but I'm looking!
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
I was thinking of using the same theme. Your student of the week could be the MVP. Also, if you use behavior cards (different colors to move for behavior) you could do a three strikes your out. Post 3 "K"s and attach a clothes pin with their names on them. Good behavior is "At the plate." After one warning they move their name to strike 1, strike two, etc. You can develop consequences for strikes, etc. You can also develop rubrics using the words "Home run," "base hit," or "strike out." You can label a bulletin board with the words "Home Run Work." A class behavior goal could be labeled "On the way to the World Series of Good Behavior," or something similar. Your welcome board outside could be "Grade 4 has a great starting line up," and you could put everyone's name on a baseball, glove, or bat......You could also put up a bulleting board that says "Catch a great book!" and write the names of books you read on baseballs and write names of authors you introduce on gloves. Stress the idea of teamwork....."There's no 'I' in team," etc, and that when they're in the room they play with home field advantage meaning that they need to work together....they're all on the same team. Hope this helps! WoW! I'm excited about this theme now too. I was just going to use a general sports team, but now I think I'll just focus on baseball- my all time favorite sport!
ok, how about Flags/penants for areas - use words like "play book" maybe for math straitagies... definate red flags for behavior...are they going to call you coach? Long jumpers/track and field when you study measurement.
omm make board games using basketball court. Get some pom poms for spirit before you take a test :) Learn some chants.
Some baseball bags use red electrical tape for the diamonds (square pillows for bags) for the reading area. ... some cheap turf for your area ...you can use dry erase markers on green chalkboards - draw a soccer field or football field use a damp sponge to clean. hope those help to get your wheels turning!
Well, I am one of the many who is doing a sports theme this year. I went to a scrapbooking store this weekend and punched out a whole bunch of titles (I am too impatient to wait for the school's workroom to open and I know it's going to be super-busy the week before school starts).
So here are my pictures and explanations of what I am doing with each. Hopefully this can help other people out. Let me know if you think I should add anything or tweak something!
We are Bowled Over By Math Facts - This will be a semi-perm. BB where the students will be keeping track of their timed-tests for Math. They will be building a bowling lane as they master their facts (first for addition and then subtraction). For 1's they will get a lane, then bowling pins 2-10 and the bowling ball for 11's.
Reading Dugout - This is the name of the classroom library. I added red stitching to the words to make them look like baseballs. I will add this to a green poster board, cut it, and hang it from the classroom library area.
Our Second Grade Goals - The first day (maybe second, because it's a half day for the first) of school, I will talk to the students about all the exciting things we will be doing in second grade. They will then write their goals for second grade onto soccer balls (I found a soccer ball notepad big enough for this) for this BB. I will have them write them on scrap paper before they finally write them on the balls.
Kicking Off a Great Year - This is for the hallway BB. The BB will resemble a football field and the students names are written on the footballs. My name is written on a helmet. It's just to show off our class and let the kids be excited to see their name in print.
Lunch is Served - This is for the morning area where the lunch menu is posted, along with the magnetic board where they choose hot or cold lunch. I am going to try to find some cheap, Dollar Tree racket to hang on the wall in that area.
Now -- I guess I am only allowed to post 5 pics. So I guess I will leave this post at that and post another one.
I really hope this helps out. Look for Part II :s)
Okay, here's part 2! :)
Rookie of the Week - This is my student of the week. I am taking ideas from Beth Newingham to make the whole week special to them. These ideas include, sharing sack, reading their favorite picture book, parents come to lunch, and the class poster!
Team Stears Scoreboard - This is the name for my individual student behavior board. It's just a changing cards system. They start on green and get three strikes (blue, white, red) before they are "out." I got a green pocketchart that was meant for flashcards, but it looks a lot like a scoreboard!
Slamdunk Spelling - This was an idea from Homerun Spelling (an idea I have seen a lot on this board), but I was thinking that Baseball was taking over the theme, so I went with basketball. I will have a chart where when a student gets 5 100% or -1 on their spelling test, they will get a basketball. When they get 5 basketballs, they get a small prize. I think I might set up a small Nerf basketball hook somewhere so that when they get a passing score, they can make a basket.
Homerun Writing - This is the name for the writing center. It's a normal writing center just with a catchy title.
Teamwork - This is the name of the job board for our classroom. Of course, being a Chicago girl, Bears' colors.
I have two more pictures, but I am not making a part 3 to this, so I will just describe...
Welcome to Stears Stadium - I am Mrs. Stears, so our classroom will be called Stears Stadium this year. When I was putting the title together, I actually realized I somehow missed making a T for Stears, so I will have to fix that! :rolleyes:
Centers - There's nothing really sports with that title -- I thought it was cute with the polka dot paper I found! :) It will be paired with a small pocket chart that has the centers/groups schedule.
So, that's about it. I hope you like!
I also do the team theme. My students' team name is "The Can Do Kids", and our motto is "You can do it!" We make pennants the first week of school that complete the sentence prompt, I can... and display on a bulletin board. Throughout the year as one child or another struggles, you'll often here the kids pipe up, "You're a can-do kid. You can do it!!"
I also give the kids a magnet with that phrase to hang on their refrigerator at home. I hang a class picture on the outside of our door with Can-Do Kids under it. Last, I hope to make t-shirts this year in Sept. for us to wear throughout the year, maybe every Friday or once a month.
I have found that spending the first month of school, building "the team" and a sense of community has really helped the classroom environment and enables me to to teach without any kind of behavior mod. plan. Guess it depends on the group of kids you have, but they do buy into it!
Those are both good ideas, I like those. I am doing a sports theme and I love this site and am getting to many wonderful ideas.
IDEAS:
"All Star Words" (could do just about any sport as a background or keep in general with sports border if any border at all because if like me I have to use wall space that is there and not a bulletin board)
"Homerun Words"
"Slamduck Words"
**I can't think of any more right now**
OK, this is long, but here are some ideas that I used this year. I got lots of ideas on the archive, and I made up some additional ideas. I may have a picture, too.
Meet the Teacher Night Snacks – popcorn, bottled water, chocolate “sports ball” candies
Meet the Teacher Night Wish List – “Pitch In”: title on glove and donation items on baseballs
Welcome (DOOR) – “TEAM Hill’s Starting Line-Up”: a team roster and jerseys…I got “jersey” shaped plated at HEB (a grocery store) and wrote their names on them. I think the party store has them, too!
Homework Board – “Batting Practice”
Info Board – “TEAM News” (newsletter), “Concessions” (lunch menu),
“Have a Ball on Your Birthday” (birthdays…names and bdays on different sport balls), “Team Schedule” (schedule)
Work Board – “Together Everyone Achieves More”, “Three Cheers
For ______”, “Give it Your Best Shot”
Behavior Board – Create a home plate and three K’s (strikes). Write each scholar’s name on a clothespin. If a rule is broken, that scholar’s name is moved to the first K and he/she receives a conduct mark. After strike three, the parent is contacted. Make a list of “home run scholars” each week. Celebrate the “gold medal scholars” each nine weeks…those with home runs EVERY week.
Rules Board – “Life Has Rules…Play Fair”: social contract
Job Chart – “Special Teams”: coach’s assistant (runs errands, helps teacher), team manager (helps during stations), equipment manager (passes out/collects papers, checks stations, gets more supplies for stations), clubhouse attendant (organizes library), field crew-2 (picks up floor/room), referee (checks desks)
Compliment Board – “Good Game”
Word Wall Mini Book – “Can You ‘Tackle’ These Words?” (footballs)
Reading Area – “Field of Dreams” (green turf, stadium cushions) or “Locker Room” with big lockers and the title (the O’s are basketballs)
Scholar of the Week – “MVP of the Week”: Have MVP get special attention each day of the week…share photos and bio, read aloud favorite book and display favorite books on top shelf of the library (“___’s Picks of the Week”), share secret letter from parent, free ice cream at lunch, lunch buddy, line leader (every day)
Reward Board – “Scoreboard”: keep score for home team…class receives reward when they reach a given number of points
Decorations – pennants, trophies, medals, individual baseball cards, Sports Illustrated covers, basketball hoop, jerseys, teamwork books
Sayings –
•TEAM…Together Everyone Achieves More
•There’s no I in team
•Home Field Advantage
•All on the same team
•Bounce on in to ___ Grade
•Kick Off the Year With a Good Book
•Attitudes are contagious…Is yours worth catching?
•You’ll always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take
•We make a great team
•Get in the game…READ
•All Stars
•Keep a winning attitude
Sports Words – Tackle, Catch, Throw, Hurdle, Touchdown, Goal, Spirit, Cheer, Basket, Strong, Strike, Hit, Homerun, Walk, Base, Stretch, Punt, Ball, Kick, Shot, Hoop, Set, Spike, Net, Serve, Pass
Activities –
•Discuss cooperation, teamwork, responsibility, flexibility, listening, fairness, patience, organization, perseverance, integrity, common sense, effort, courage, determination
•Have scholars write goals on soccer ball paper. Then put them on a bulletin board with a big soccer goal. Title it “Aiming For Our 3rd Grade Goals”
•Call warm-ups “kick offs”
•Name tables after professional sports teams
•Break scholars into groups. Give each group a box, scissors, wrapping paper, ribbon, tape, and a card. Put a paper bag over everyone’s dominant hand and have them work together to wrap the box. Have another teacher vote on which gift is wrapped best. That team wins a prize. Discuss the importance of working together.
•Play “Football Frenzy” to review all subjects. Scholars draw a card that says 5 yards, 15 yards, fumble, interception, etc. Ask questions pertaining to review material. If correct, their team moves that many yards. If incorrect, their team gets a down. They get two downs before they punt.
•“Pigskin Geography”: Have scholars choose an NFL football team and post helmets on a map to represent them. 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 the game.
•Team Building Activities – HULA HOOP: Stand in a circle and hold hands. Move the hula hoop around the circle without breaking hands. Time it and work together to get faster. TEAM WEB: Stand in circle and hold onto the yarn. Scholar throws it to someone. They say the name of the person that threw it and hold onto the yarn and throw it again. Keep it going until everyone has thrown and caught the yarn. It will end up a big spider web if everyone holds onto their piece of yarn (teamwork). Then have scholars let go one at a time to see the web fall apart when we don’t work as a team. Everyone is important.
•Everyone earns their Varsity Letter at the end of the year
In the spring I made a bulletin board with different bases. At each base there was work for students to do if they were done with all of their other work (there were sudako puzzles, crosswords, math mazes, etc.). When a student went around all the bases and made it to home, they put a sticker on their baseball. At the end of the time that I did this board, students got a piece of candy for each sticker they had.
Hopefully this picture attachment works...first time trying to do a picture!
Bulletin Boards: "Batter Up! It's going to be a Great year!" "Look who's hitting a home run in ____'s class!"
Behavior: Give everyone a baseball glove with their name on it. Put four baseballs in the glove. On the top one write "Home Run", second one write "Third Base." For every infraction, students move one of their baseballs during the day. The goal is to stay on Home Run all day. OR call each
infraction a "strike."
Name Tags: Use a clipart program to put students names on baseballs and print on cardstock.
Reading Corner: A green rug, posters/pictures of famous baseball players around, a couple of baseball beanbags (check Wal-Mart) and a sign that says "YOU ALWAYS HIT A HOME RUN WHEN YOU READ!" Hang large cardboard baseballs around the room with character words written on them. I've seen baseball notepads and pencils at my local teacher store.
Hall Pass: Use a minitature baseball bat or ball with a string tied to it and your name on it.
This would be a great theme to emphasize teamwork! Give each cooperative team in your room a baseball team name like "Cardinals" "Mets" etc.
I teach 1st grade and did a sports theme last year. What a hit!! I made sure to include gymnastics, cheerleading and dance. However I feel that the most imporant part of the sports theme is just focusing on teamwork, practice (classwork and homework) makes perfect (assessment), determination, etc...
I have never had a class work so well together and I think the theme had a lot to do with it.
A few cute ideas: Hang hula hoops and use them to display student work, hit up the local college or HS to get donated Jerseys. I hng them and the kids loved them! Also, I had a "locker"/cabinet filled with treats of different point values. For every day of super behavior they were awarded with a game ticket. On Fridays they could trade in tickets for their prizes should they choose to. Some were worth 50 tickets so they also learned about patience and the art of saving!!
Good luck!!!
I used Proteacher to help out a lot with my theme last summer. I took lots of pictures to share this summer, but for now all I can do is describe...
Winning Words - Word Wall
Racing to Read - Reading Minutes: Race Track with the kids names on cars (I move them once a week according to their rdg calendar).
Slamdunk Spelling - Kids' names on basketballs - they get a sticker for every 100% they get on a Spelling test and after 5 stickers, they get a prize and a new basketball.
Lunch is Served - Lunch menu and other info...I have a tennis racket (a real one) and tennis ball hanging up next to it.
Teamwork - Job board -- each kids' name is written on a baseball cap diecut
Reading Dugout - Classroom library
Homerun Writing - Writing Center
Team Scoreboard - Behavior Chart: It is set up as 3 strikes and you're out (detention). They color in their baseball chart at the end of the day to show their parents their behavior for the day.Beginning of the year activity - I had them cut out pennants from foam (already marked out for them) and they added letter stickers for their names and sport balls stickers to decorate -- they hang from the ceiling edge all year.
Team Names - I have the desks in groups of 6 and each team has a sport name - we are from Illinois so we have the Cubs, Bulls, Bears, and Huskies (for Northern Illinois University).
My classroom is a bilingual 2nd grade - so our take home binder is a form of the BEE/MOOSE binders that are out there, but it is called an EQUIPO binder which is an accrostic for (loosely translated in English) Students Who Use Intelligence For Organization (Estudiantes Que Usan Inteligencia Para Organization). Oh! And EQUPIO means TEAM in Spanish.
I have Sports related posters all over - I use sports stickers for their team points (an incentive chart for each team - which ever is the quickest table for transitions gets a sticker/or a team that is working well together - when it is filled up, the team gets to eat lunch with me).
I have had a lot of fun with this theme -- next year I am doing the beach though. I think I am going to switch my theme every year for 4 years and then go back to the sports.
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!!
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 teach 8th grade, and I have a sports theme this year. I'll try to share my "baseball" ideas.
First of all, I have two great "Brain Teaser" books for sports. The first one is "Sports Math" by Fran Schaffer Publications; the second, is "Sports Brainteasers 4th Grade and Up". I have the class divided into teams (groups of 4). I found a diagram of different sports fields (football, baseball, etc) at a sporting goods store. It is actually a coach's clipboard, with many different sports. I enlarged them at Kinko's on the poster machine. Each team competes by completing brain teasers from the sports books and other activities. In football, the teams have a football at the 50 yard line, and each time they "win" a contest/activity, they move 10 yds. The team with the most touchdowns or the first to a certain number is the winner.
Back to baseball, I found baseball bags of popcorn. The kids love it. I also found a lot of baseball decorations at Party City, if you have one close. You could have a "World Series Party" for the winners of your "game".
I have several signs in my room:
Teamwork: Jobs
Attitudes are Contagious, Is Your's Worth Catching?
You'll always miss 100% of the shots you don't take.
We make a great team
I guess this ended up being all sports, but I have a ton of ideas if you need more, email me, at jswear1
msn.com
Have Fun!!
I have an "MVP" board for my student of the week.
I have a board for writing that says "Grand Slam Work!" (baseball)
I have a homework tracker board that says "Slam Dunk Success!" (basketball)
I have a math fact board "We've ACED Our Facts!" (tennis)
I have a reader's area (library) called the "Reader's Dugout"
I have an AR tracker for reading called "AR Stadium" (football)
I also have my conduct & effort area called "The Penalty Box" (hockey)
My classroom helper area is called "Team Players with a Goal!" (soccer)
Maybe these ideas will help you out... good luck!
I just wanted to share what I used last year with my fourth graders. I had this tin piggy bank in the shape of a fairly large baseball...bought it from Hallmark years ago. I used it in addition to my discipline plan though. I would reward students for good behavior by putting their name in the baseball. At the end of the week, Friday afternoons, they couldn't wait for me to draw my five names from the baseball. I gave them a choice of what they'd like as their reward. There were times when all I had to do was lean over the table, start writing names on my hot pink slips of paper, stick them inside the slot and wa-lah, they were finished talking...because they knew I was looking for those who were following directions. Sometimes I would give them a choice if we were playing a game with our vocab. words or something...they could get a piece of candy or put their name in the baseball and almost every time they'd rather have their name in the baseball! It was so funny. The room would be silent on Friday afternoons as my assistant drew those names...some kids would comment that they prayed the night before that their name would be drawn...haha.
Even if you didn't have a baseball bank like mine you could come up with a way of making one look similiar out of a coffee can or something...who knows?!?
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.
Here's a list of sports bulletin board headers and misc. ideas I have compiled from my searches online (many from Proteacher message boards) over the last 3 years. I hope this helps!
Word Study: Tackling Tough Words and Homerun Spelling
Writing: Writer's Arena and On the "Write" Track
Reading: Reader's Dugout, Catch a Great Book, and Look Whose Been Caught Reading
Math: We've "Aced" Our Math Facts, Major League Math, and Touchdown!
Behavior:The Penalty Box, On Track with Good Behavior, On the Right Track, and 3 Strikes and You're Out! You could also have some type of scoreboard for rewarding positive behavior.
Classroom Jobs: Team Positions and Special Teams
Morning Work: Morning Kickoff
Other Management Ideas: Arrange desks into "teams" and have each team choose a college or pro sports team name, for your birthday wall you could use the phrase, "Have a Ball on Your Birthday!"
Displaying Student Work: Grand Slam Work, All-Star MVPs, Shoot or Aim for Success, Wall or Hall of Fame, Racing to Success, and Give it Your Best Shot
Beginning of the School Year: A Great New Line Up, Have a Record Breaking Year, (Your Name) All-Star Line-up, Start Your Engines, (Your Name) Starting Lineup, Batter Up for a Great Year, and Get a Kick Out of Learning
Let me know if you need any ideas on what supplies to use or how to create any of the boards listed above. I think I have tried all of them at least once.
Good Luck!
-Stephanie
