I don't know about you, but I am always looking for fun and new ways to tackle classroom management. What better way to get your students to buy into positive behavior than with some games?! These games are so engaging, create instant student buy in and can be adapted and individualized. And I love anything that makes teaching life easier – and these games do just that!
I get so many questions about how to use and implement these games in the classroom, I thought I create make a blog post with the how tos, FAQ and my tips and tricks for easy implementation.
Bingo
Classroom Bingo is my FAVORITE because:
- it creates instant engagement and buy in
- there are so many different themes and boards to keep it interesting all year
- can be used for a whole class, groups or individual students
Here's how I prep and use classroom management bingo:
- Decide on what behavior you and your students want to work on (I love having a classroom discussion on what my students THINK we can improve on! Again, creates student buy in!)
- Print board, game pieces, laminate, and add velcro to both (I use these velcro circles!) This ensures you can use the board and pieces AGAIN AND AGAIN! Prep once and you are good to go!
- Display on whiteboard (use these magnets!) or anywhere around your classroom!
- Randomly pull pieces when you see that behavior or focus area done well by your students. EXAMPLE: If you are working on transitions bingo-if you see a quick and quiet transition, pull a piece! You can pull one or more pieces a day or even go a day without pulling any pieces. It is totally up to you and your students!
- Once they earn 5 in a row, (or whatever you decide on) they earn the prize!
Table group bingo:
This is great for helping table groups work together. Each table gets a card (each table card is different) and a bucket with their pieces in it. They also decide as a group what they want their prize to be. Here's how it works: when you see a table group working together, on task, or doing what they need to be doing, they will come and pick a piece out of their bucket. Once a table earns five in a row, they will earn their prize. You can play again, pick different prizes or choose another game.
Individual bingo:
Individual bingo is great for those students who might need an extra incentive or behavior plan. These small boards are in full color and perfect for the corner of a desk. You can let the student pick their prize so they are more excited to work towards it! When a student is meeting expectations, you can pull a piece and then use a whiteboard market to cross it off. Once the student earns the prize, you can play again or just transfer it to another student!
FAQ about Bingo:
Q: How many pieces do you pull a day?
A: This is totally up to you, but I definitely pull whenever I notice the positive behavior. I don't have a limit on how many I pull.
Q: Can students lose pieces?
A: Absolutely! If we are working on “No Blurts” bingo and they have been blurting out a lot, I have taken a piece away. This is teacher discretion!
Q: What prizes do you use?
A: I LOVE prizes that cost nothing. I usually have students vote on this but there are tons of prizes included in the form of a printable page! Ideas include: lunch with the teacher, no shoes, extra recess, and more!
Classroom Connect
This is another classroom management game that you can add to your toolkit. I love how this game could even be adapted for older classes, where you can have two classes play against each other. You can also play teacher vs students, girls boys vs. or any 2 groups together!
If students are working on transitions and they are doing what is expected, they get to go and add a connect piece. Here's the kicker: they have to drop the piece in and have it fall down to the next available blank space. They cannot just pick where they want the piece to go!
When you see that my students aren't doing what is expected (or whatever skill we're working on) it will be the teacher's turn to drop a piece.
FAQ about Connect:
Q: What happens if the teacher wins?
A: That is totally up to you. You can decide to clear the board and start all over, or you can use a classroom economy system and students have to pay you a dollar or whatever system you use.
Tic-Tac-Toe
Tic-Tac-Toe is another hit in the classroom because students will love any chance to face off against the teacher. I love this classroom management game because it can be used for daily management of behavior, expectations or strategies. This game is usually completed faster than the other games, so it's a great game to run alongside of Bingo or Connect or to introduce between other games to spice it up!
You can play this game very similarly to Connect and it can be adapted to boy vs. girls, groups or different classes. When you see students meeting expectations, they get to place a piece on the board. You can pull sticks to have a student come up and place their piece on the board. If the class wins, they get the prize or if the teacher wins, you can choose how to proceed (very similar to Connect above)
MY BIGGEST TIP:
Lastly, here is my biggest tip to create even more buy in and get students excited about these classroom management games: have your class vote on which one they want play! It takes no time at all and it gets students SO excited!
For the assembly for all my games, I recommend laminating the boards and pieces and then adding velcro dots. I use the regular size for whole classroom games and these smaller size dots for individual games. Insider tip: I put all the velcro pieces on the back of the game pieces BEFORE cutting them. This saves so much time! You can also just use a whiteboard marker if you don't want to cut them out (this might work good for table group or individual games) I also love these small buckets for holding my pieces while the game is in session and I use these magnets and hooks to display on the whiteboard.
You can check out my entire classroom management games bundles below and you can also snag this FREEBIE to give this a try in your classroom tomorrow! Enter your email below to get Kindness Bingo straight to your inbox!
Classroom Management Bingo
Classroom Connect
Tic-Tac-Toe
Classroom Management Games Bundle
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