On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the community inside your classroom? My first year of teaching, I probably would have said maybe a 2 or 3. Now, I’d say that the community I have intentionally fostered would be close to a 7 or an 8.
Don’t be fooled: It’s hard work. But starting, that’s easy.
And to prove it to you, I’m sharing 8 team building activities you can easily incorporate today.
One thing to remember about team building activities is there are three kinds:
- Students getting to know each other.
- Students working towards a common goal.
- Students learning to trust each other
Setting up Your Classroom
The way my classroom is set up, I sit students in groups of 3. You can read more about my philosophy behind that here! But just because students sit together doesn’t mean they automatically work together. They need to see that they can trust each other and that they are safe. That is where these middle school team building activities come into play.
Activities for Getting to Know Each Other
The goal of these activities is for students to find commonalities with their peers.
Mystery Student
This is a fun thing I have students fill out at the end of the first day. On an index card, students will put their initials and answer three questions:
- What city/state were you born in?
- What is your favorite subject in school?
- What is one interesting fact that no one else in the class knows about you yet?
Then I collect them. Throughout the first couple of weeks, as time permits at the end of class, I will read one off. Here’s what that looks like:
Say the card answers the questions like this: 1. Oregon 2. Math 3. I went snorkeling with turtles in Hawaii
“It’s time for mystery student! Everyone stand up. Alright, remain standing if you were born in a state that starts with a vowel. Remain standing if your favorite subject in school is math. Remain standing if you snorkeled with turtles! Tell us about that experience.”
And then the student who is left standing will elaborate on their interesting fact. Its a fun way to get to know students in the class.
A to Z, Get to Know Me
This is one I use on the first day of school!
In their groups, have students introduce themselves.
Starting with the first letter of their first name, they will answer the question that corresponds with that letter. Then the next person will go. Students continue to go around until all the name letters have been shared.
Here’s an example:
The “J” question is “Just so you know, my least favorite snack is ________ but my favorite snack is ________ .
“My name is Johanna. Just so you know my least favorite snack is grapes, but my favorite snack is cheese and crackers.”
Then the next student would go using the first letter of their name.
Skit-Tell Us About Yourself
This one is exciting because not only is it quick, but kids get to eat some Skittles!
Start by giving each group either a mini “fun” size bag of Skittles or a small handful from the big bag of Skittles. Have them divide the candies evenly amongst their group members.
Then using the colors of their candies, answer the corresponding question.
You can make this yourself, or save time by getting these activities here! The Mystery Student and Skit-Tell Us About Yourself are editable so you can customize it for your students
Activities for Working Towards a Goal
Guess that Slogan Activities
These are my own creation! The idea came from a candy activity where students are given a description of a candy bar and they have to come up with the name of it. But most of them on the activity were old ones that aren’t around anymore. So I had to think of something else. Hence, Guess that Slogan activities were born!
In these activities, students are given the slogan for a brand. Let’s use the example of cereal. In this Cereal Slogan activity, students are given 14 cereal slogans. They have to come up with what cereal goes with that slogan. Like “Be Happy, Be Healthy” is a slogan for Cheerios.
These activities also come with a word bank if you want to use that version instead. They also include a digital version to accommodate for a paperless classroom or online learning.
These middle school team building activities are great for the beginning of the year! I use this on the first day of school.
The current slogan activities include Cereal, Candy, Fast Food, Popular Brands, Cars, and Holiday Songs. Or you can buy them all in this bundle here! It includes free updates when I post more of these slogan activities!
Learn about how I incorporate brain breaks into the school year! Read the blog post or listen to the podcast.
Activities for Trusting Each Other
Cup Stacking Challenge
I got to participate in this activity when I went to the Academy of Best Practices conference in Seattle. It started off smoothly, but as the levels increased, our team’s ability began to waver. That being said, I use this during the third day of the first week of school.
The goal of this activity is to have students stack 10 cups in a variety of ways without touching the cups. You will need 1 rubber band, 3-4 strings, and 10 solo cups for each group.
Students have to build 4 different stacks without using their hands and only using the rubber band tool.
I give more details in this blog post here as well as linked a video containing a demonstration.
What's Next?
If you want to hear about more team builders I use in my classroom, here are two options!
- Listen to my podcast about 8 team builders to start off your school year strong. {Apple|Spotify}
- Read through the activities I do the first week of school in my blog post here.
If you try any of these out, post a picture of it on Instagram and tag me! I’d love to see these team builders in action. You can find me @misskuiper.
And with that, I’ll calc-u-later!
