I still have my desks....I know the current trend is all about ditching the desks and implementing flexible seating. I just feel like for my room, every student needs a consistent seat at a desk. With that being said, I continue to focus on Flexible and Collaborative Learning Spaces. We definitely don't stay at our desks all day! Movement is still so important and keeping students active and engaged.
So in the meantime, since my desks are arranged in groups...I use this to my advantage! I love to reward my teams with points during the week (I use Class Dojo) then reward the group with the most points. My favorite reward is to "eat with the teacher". They love it and it costs me nothing but my time. The super fun part is.....I let them choose their group names. Every couple of weeks, I usually rearrange desks, then I decide how we are going to name our groups. Here is a list of ways to name groups:
The students love working together to decide on their group names, this week we are candy names like the Smarties, Lifesavers, Herseys, Poprocks, and Tootsie Rolls!
I got those cute little chalkboard labels from the Target Dollar spot, just write on them with a chalk marker. This makes it easy to rearrange groups. Works like a charm to get everyone working together as a team!
Deanna
Good post! I use the same idea in class. My students love it. I have used countries often because that way I teach them about their capitals too.
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